The sounds of tapping from the arcade machine brought out some memories that were lost not forgotten. The musical tunes of 8 bit music coming out of the machines led to one thing to all attendees. That one thing that is making us all smile which is the return of Classic Game Fest in Austin, TX. This year they are celebrating their 10 year anniversary with some awesome treats!
Classic Game Fest had some larger than life guests at the event this past weekend. They were able to get the Video Game Player of The Century himself Billy Mitchell at the event. Billy greeted every fan that came through the door with a handshake and let them know about the cool things at today’s event. Billy took time to sign everyone’s autograph, take pictures, talk games and of course do an interview with Drop The Spotlight.
I was able to interview and talk to the man that started it all. He is literally the “Grandfather of Esports” as he organized the Twin Galaxies championship tournaments in the 80’s and did something that no one else has done. He and his team were able to watch and officially proclaim world records to the gamers that would break the games. Walter Day is a trend setter and he created the movement that we see today in Esports.
Classic Game Fest had some awesome vendors at the event. They had some of the coolest things at the event and we made several trips to our vehicle to drop off stuff while we were there. One of the vendors we saw was Richard Seelig. I have him on my Instagram page and was star struck when I had seen his art and himself their at the event. My team members bought a few of his pieces as they showcased some of today’s pop culture icons in cool vintage pictures.
My team member JP came running to me and said you need to come over here quickly. I went quickly and saw one of the coolest things here at Classic Game Fest. I was able to take a picture with the THE FIGHTIN 788TH group and see some awesome G.I. Joe characters. They are a group from Austin that do events and have fun at conventions with multiple chapters around Texas.
The cosplay at Classic Game Fest was pretty good and featured some cool cosplays. We saw an Ash cosplay, spider-man and of course tons of Links as well as princess peach. We did see a ton of Pokemon characters as well but the cosplay was in full force at Classic Game Fest. The pictures from the cosplay’s are located at Dblock’s Photography page on the website.
What can I saw about the music from Classic Game Fest? The music tore the house down at Classic Game Fest! There were huge crowds for the musicians starting with super star Mega Ran as well as nerdcore rockers Bitforce. I will be writing another piece just on the music because there is so much to cover with tons of pics and some live Twitch videos that I was able to show.
The gaming at Classic Game Fest was literally the main headline at the event. We were able to see a child complete Super Mario Bro’s on the NES system as well as play some arcade games ourselves. I was playing some pinball earlier there before I hit the consoles as I enjoyed playing pinball in my youth. All the arcade machines had free play so you were able to play just about anything at the event. There were even tournaments for Duke Nukem and Killer Instinct to win some cool prizes.
All in all, this event was huge for the retro gamers and fans of gaming music. We saw a little of everything that was represented in this con not only from cosplay but from music, gaming, and as well cool retro items for sale. This is my second year coming to Classic Game Fest and I wasn’t disappointed as everyone that came with me left with a huge smile on their face and already talking about next year’s event. We will be back next year and can’t wait to see the cool things that will be there at the event.
