TooManyGames 2021 was neat

 I was too pooped to write this when I arrived home last night but I attended TooManyGames 2021. I typically go all three days but this year I opted to only go on Friday because a large part of TooManyGames is the game hunting and with how much retro game prices have inflated in the past year, so my primary goal was just to follow the events. Typically friday has been the best time to find deals since it's so early on, though Sunday's got its perks with the sellers who just don't want to take their crap home. That said, Friday was a good choice because I got to see lots of neat stuff. 

The guest list in my opinion this year was pretty lackluster. I guess I just typically like a stacked lineup of retro content creators. And while there absolutely were some, it wasn't as much. Which isn't really a complaint, I only wanted to attend one day anyways. I just think it's funny that they opted to book Chumlee from Pawn Stars and Nostalgia Critic. Speaking of Nostalgia Critic, I found it interesting that for their booth on the floor they put up a banner with the Channel Awesome logo, complete with a collage of all the creators Channel Awesome screwed over throughout the years whom cut ties with them. But I digress.

I got to see some cool stuff including panels for Pat the NES Punk, 8-Bit Eric, and live musical performances from Blaze Ya Dead Homie and Twiztid. They were honestly hype and if you told me ten years ago I'd be hyped for that, I wouldn't believe you, but here we are. Other than that, I got to meet some YouTuber pals I only knew through the mysterious jungle of the internet and it was wonderful though I absolutely was way too shy and anxious and should've just vibed. It was lovely though.

In retrospect, I am somewhat bummed about only attending one day, would've been cool to hang with YouTuber friends more, hopefully next year! As for the game hunting aspect of this, it was fairly dry. There was a lot of cool stuff, don't get me wrong but man prices are rough. Especially when you've been collecting for as long as I have and see where they've gotten to. A big thing this year (as I predicted) is the grading thing being very prevalent. In previous TMG's there was a little but it wasn't too bad, you had like the Wata stand but everyone kind of just thought it was a dumb idea.

Wata was apparently supposed to attend this year but backed out last minute from what I heard. Probably for the better. I did find it funny that a lot of booths that sold graded games/would help you move graded games/etc were there, including Heritage Auctions. Just in case you wanted to be a victim of fraud at the game convention, yeah? I think I witnessed a single graded sale happen and it was another reseller so I'm sure it was just somebody pretending to be an investor. I'm sure very few games actually moved like that because there isn't a market for it. Everyone who buys graded games is doing it because they think you're investing. There's very few people who unironically want graded games, and usually it's one to put on their shelf. My favorite part though was that at a lot of these booths you had really sharply dressed men in like business suits working them, as if a bunch of nerdy retro gamers are gonna see that like "damn, better buy in now".

Otherwise, it was a lot of fun, I actually did get a few NES games for two bucks apiece which even when I started collecting would be hype as well as a few other neat things including Maui Mallard on SNES (got a very good deal on that because the cart was in rough shape), Pat the NES Punk's SNES Guidebook, a Commodore 64 Mini, and the NES Speedboard (I love stupid accessories, sue me).

So I guess I got a lot of games to play, plus Metroid Dread was on my porch when I got home, complete with a mug, so I'll be a busy bee. 

That said, I'm working on a lot of stuff on the video end, I should have a new Dippy Egg episode out this weekend, it's gonna be a fun one hopefully. I also want to get a halloween episode out this month based on a game a pal of mine sent me as well as other content. I am planning a Video Conundrum 5, my "cult classic" side series where I discuss random goofy VHS tapes I find (usually home recorded ones), the videos don't get great views but I get asked by friends to make a new one, so one is in the works. Here watch one of my old ones lol. I might do a videos on very specific goofy movies too, depends how well the script comes out, but I got a really strange movie at the thrift store I might dig into. Let me know if that interests you.

I'm also working on a BattleBots related list video and at some point this month I will likely do a video with my predictions for the 2021 field of BattleBots which should be fun. It's time to hype up the new season, and in addition to that, more recordings of Green Square Talks BattleBots (a podcast that I cohost on usually) in addition to a new podcast I'll be helping out with, The Combot Collective. Should be a lot of fun. 

Anyways, thanks y'all for reading, I'll keep you posted with cool things. Meanwhile, check out my linktree to follow me on my socials, subscribe to my YT, and come hang out in my Discord server. Much love <3