The Midwest Gaming Classic is an annual gaming convention held at the Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield, Wisconsin (just outside of Milwaukee). The recent focus is on retrogaming, although I believe it had tabletop gaming in its origins. The event usually takes place the second weekend of April. Advance ticket orderers can attend pre-conference events on Friday night.
This event draws attendees from all over, and hotel rooms fill up, to the point where neighboring hotels open up blocks of rooms as well. This event has grown significantly in size over the last five years. As far as I know, it is the only retro gaming convention in the area. I constant hear of conventions on the west coast in San Diego, Portland, Seattle, and so on, so this is a big draw as it is a rarity in these parts.

The convention offers panel discussions, live podcasts, a history of consoles room, an arcade hall, consoles set up in the hallways, tournaments, club rooms and of course, the giant vendor tent. The first time I attended, it was all quite overwhelming. To truly get to see everything, you need to go both days, otherwise you have to ration your time.

I wasn't quite sure how to write about all of this, as I did not get to see every corner of it, so I'll jsut post all the pics that I took so you can get a feel for what it was like.

This vendor was selling cool 3D Perler bead figures

A vintage Atari game testing unit, originally displayed in department stores.

lots of barcades and minicabs for sale

I thought this history of American Video game cartridges display was really cool

Consoles are setup in most of the hallways, and secured to the tables in one way or another

The conference is free for kids 10 and under; a very family friendly event

Certain hallways have themes for the displayed games, like the fight club shown here

Fighting games on display often boasted arcade sticks for an authentic experience

Younger kids were getting into all of these older games

Two friends playing some Goldeneye next to each other, as it should be

Hey, you're way too close to the tv, thats cheating!

Various tournaments are in progress throughout the day, with judges recording scores and times

Most people probably don't know the the original Metal Gear game was first on the obscure MSX computer system

A Neo Geo (arcade version) and an RGB monitor was one of my favorite things to see

A Pinball merchants room offers parts and repairs.

Always one of my favorite spots

Gradius V was on display - its a lot of fun in 2 player coop

8 player Super Smash Brothers always draws a crowd

The TurboFest room is one example of the club rooms, where a room is rented out and dedicated to a particular system.

Nearly every version of the Turbo Grafx/PC Engine is available to try out here

It's hard to see, but here are the PC Engine shuttle, PC-FX, and PC-Engine Duo RX consoles, from left to right. You won't find these in you local pawn shop.

A newly produced PC Engine game is available to play: Henshin Engine on a wall projector. It was fun, it reminded me of Valis.

The vendor tent is ENORMOUS

Valuable games are kept behind glass

More common games are in bins up front

As a Mega Man junkie, I was heavily tempted

Famicom games have become more popular at the MGC recently

Lots of Japanese Super Famicom games are cheaper than American equivalents. Remember, you can use translation patches on the Retron 5 to save lots of money on RPGs.

So, if you have any interest at all in retro gaming (you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't), check out the Midwest Gaming Classic in Brookfield, WI. I can't compare it to other conventions, as this is the only one that I have attended, but its an awesome experience, and you'll be able to see, play, and buy games that you probably won't find anywhere else!

As a kid, I remember some games just being too hard to finish. Growing up with the NES meant experiencing "NES hard" first hand. It took forever to beat Ninja Gaiden, and that was something that was likely not repeated. Beating Mike Tyson was newsworthy at the bus stop. Beating Contra without the Konami code could make you a legend. But for every NES game that was beatable, there were many that were not.

Today there exists a method to play modified, or hacked games using IPS patching. I am not a computer programmer, but essentially an IPS patch is code that can be attached to existing rom code, changing the rom file. These IPS patches are already written by contributors to online forums and websites.


Be advised that the method I use to play these is with an Everdrive so that I can play on original hardware, but the same method can apply to emulators. I wrote a post explaining Everdrives here.

When I first heard about this, it seemed like it might be too technical, and required a lot of programming know-how. The process is actually pretty easy, if you have the right tools. This is how it works.

1) Download a rom of a game that you own (I am assuming most know how to do this, if not, Google is your friend).

2) Download a IPS patching program (again, Google) like Multipatch, Lunar IPS, etc.


3) Go to Romhacking.net. Click on rom hacks on the left hand side.


Choose whatever filters you want to help you find the available rom hacks for your game. I chose Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom - Restored as the original was a bit to harsh for my liking. This rom hack lowers the amount of damage that you take, gives unlimited continues, and adds a password feature. That last piece may not be all that necessary today, since you are not playing on an original cartridge and can use save states, but hey why not?


4) Open the IPS patching program. I am a Mac user, so I used "Multipatch", but there are others out there, and they generally work the same way. Select the patch on your computer, select the rom, give it a name and save location, click apply patch, and done. You can now load this patched rom onto your Everdrive or Retropie, or whatever.



This ability breathes new life into games that were formerly thought of as unplayable. Hacks provide all kinds of tweaks, improvements, and other curious effects. A well known example is the hack to make Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest more playable by providing clearer hints from villages, making invisible pitfalls visible, and speeding up night/day transitions. These improvements make the game vastly more playable, and into an enjoyable experience. This is just one example of the possibilities.


Another major benefit is to apply translations to games that were never released in English speaking territories. I know that this is especially helpful to fans of RPGs. I myself prefer action-oriented games, so text is not that much of a factor in gameplay, but I could do it if I wanted to.

For owners of the premium SD2SNES cart, you can apply MSU patches to add cd-quality audio to Super Nintendo games. Super Metroid, A Link to the Past, and F-Zero are shining examples of this done right. Be advised that these patches are larger, since they are audio files, but if you have an SD2SNES cart, you probably already know this.

Genesis owners can get in on the action as well. The process is identical, regardless of which cartridge console you have. I personally prefer the Japanese version of Contra: Hard Corps, which has three hit points per life. This feature was removed for the North American release, but now you can restore that feature!

Notice the three hit points underneath the shot type.

Another type of hack that is gaining popularity are color restoration hacks. For example, The Genesis' color palate for Golden Axe is slightly different than the arcade version. The color restoration hack modifies the colors to better match the original. A subtle effect, but it interests people enough to make them.

The ground coloration is more subdued in the color restoration hack of Golden Axe.

New rom hacks are added all the time, and some games have a plethora or rom hacks like Metroid, Super Mario games, Zelda, Contra, and so on. I particularly enjoy rosters updates to Super Tecmo Bowl.

Super Mario World Return to Dinosaur Land is a popular rom hack.

I hope that some of you found this helpful. For older gamers who appreciate original hardware like me, this is a fascinating ability and makes the hobby that much more enjoyable.

When people get into retro gaming, they want to seek out reviews and lists for the best games to play. There are a plethora of these sources online, but not so many in print form. Perhaps it is indicative of the age range of the primary retro gaming audience that many want a physical product. While there may be books written of about gaming in general, there are not too many on the topic of retro gaming, and even less focusing on the breadth of games available for retro systems.

This is starting to change. Brett Weiss was one of the first to specifically write about the game libraries with his Classic Home Video Game Series (2007-) of books. Jeffrey Wittenhagen chronicled the NES library in his The Complete NES: Officially Licensed US Releases (2015). This review is on the the newest entry in this young genre of video game compendiums, Pat Contri's Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the NES Library.

Pat Contri is most well known for his YouTube channel: Pat the NES Punk. His videos include reviews, skits, podcast discussions, and other gaming related topics. He started his channel in 2007, and is widely credited as a major influence in the retro gaming boom, along with other early YouTubers such as The Angry Video Game Nerd, and Classic Game Room.

Pat has channeled his knowledge of the NES games into an exhaustive guide book, where every game is reviewed, reflected upon, and rated. The reviews are written by Pat himself, as are many of the reflections, with help from other contributors.


My first impression of the book was that it was very substantial, in every way. The weight, the paper quality, the sheer amount of content bursting off of the pages signifies a labor of love, and an obvious level of dedication. Some might even say that it has too much information, as pages may seem a bit cramped, with text riding up very close to the edge of every page. It could easily be mistaken for a college textbook from afar.


Each page reviews one or two games, depending on how influential the game is. Every review provides at least four screen shots, which is awesome. I have always felt that one screen shot does not convey enough information about a game, but having four provides a sense of continuity that may pervade through a game, giving better insight into how the visuals hold up throughout the game, how the gameplay may vary, instead just one moment.

Other information provided includes genre, developer, publisher, release date, number of players, rarity, and Pat's rating out of five stars. The main review take up the bulk of the text section, and reflections are about a third of the section. I like the idea of a reflection after the review, as it offers another persons slant on the game, and perhaps discusses the impact of a game or other interesting tidbits that would not be proper to include in the review itself.


Even the lowliest of games is given proper treatment, with primarily objective reporting. While I do disagree with some of the ratings here or there, that is to be expected, and nothing was wildly off.

Visually, as I mentioned earlier, there is so much information that the pages seem busy. Behind the white test section is a background pic from the game being reviewed, and this may be the little extra that was not needed. With four screen shots from each game, having the extra layer of color behind everything ends up distracting. This is a minor gripe, as I appreciate the amount of content what was included.

Beyond the reviews themselves, the book has extras that are excellent inclusions. Articles from other names in the field, scans of promotional materials, descriptions of peripherals, unlicensed games, and many more extras are included.


So, out of the other game library books out there, this one stands up above the rest. At $60, it is a bargain in my opinion, I can easily see this asking for up to $100 with no drop off in sales. Strongly recommended for any retro game enthusiast.

Blast Wind is a 2D, vertical scrolling shoot'em up for the Sega Saturn, developed by Tecnosoft (of Thunder Force fame). It was only released in Japan, as were nearly all of the good shooters (exceptions being Galactic Attack and Darius Gaiden). If you're reading this, you may be aware of the seemingly endless ascent of prices for games like this. Since the Saturn is one of the few retro systems left that have yet to be emulated with any degree of success, physical copies are in high demand. This game is no exception. Some Saturn shooters are worth the coin, let's see if this one is.


Right out of the gate the game has sharp, clean visuals. The sprite designs are not quite as inspired as other Tecnosoft offerings, but there is lots of color. The sound mixing is unbalanced, as the sound effects of enemies being destroyed drown out the music completely. From what I can hear of the music, it sounds like it would have been good, but I can't be sure. This was a missed opportunity, as Tecnosoft is renowned for is music composition.

The gameplay is pretty vanilla in that the enemy patterns are too straightforward/predictable. It seems like they were programed by their "B" team. At least your craft controls well, and your sense of speed is spot on.  You have a main shot which fires straight, and can hug walls when. Your secondary shot is a less powerful homing shot, which can also be powered up. After a few power ups you become equipped with missiles. These are not that helpful, as they seem to drop out of your ship first, before firing off towards enemies, and this delay is not helpful when in a pinch. Bombs are typical screen-clearing affairs. An interesting mechanic is that every time you pick up a power up icon, you shoot this electrical beam out laterally across the screen, for what seems to be some significant damage dealt. This can be used strategically, if timed right.


The game is known for its branching paths, determined by whether you hit switches as they appear. This adds some replay value, but I think you end up at the same boss either way, so what was the point? There are other switches thorughout levels, some which offer power ups and some which cause some sequence of events (?) - not too sure what the effects are.


Another thing to notice is that throughout the game there are "gorn" markings all over the place. I thought back to where that sounded familiar, and I realized the in the Thunder Force series, "Orn" was the enemy race. So perhaps this game was initially created as a Thunder Force game, but they changed concepts late, and slapped a "g" infront of the "orn" signage? It just seems like more than a coincidence.


The background graphical detail is cool, with little people walking around on cat walks in the base. They're not even ducking for cover, they're just out for a stroll. Later on they are called upon to enter the giant ship to combat you. There are also horses grazing in pastures. This reminded me of the cows in Raiden. The borders on the side are ridiculously obtrusive, it almost seems like the game started out as an arcade, so a vertical aspect ratio was needed, and then when produced for the Saturn, the borders were added to fill space instead of stretch the screen.

The game is pretty short, clocking in at six stages, with no 2nd loop. Personally, I don't mind short games, my life affords gaming is short stints anyway, but many hardcore shoot'em up fans want that 2nd, extra hard loop in their games.

So, in the end, its good, not great. Its definitely not worth the current asking price of $300+ dollars. The shooter market for the Saturn has gotten a lot of notoriety, and collectors are scouring the ranks, so nearly all Saturn shooters are expensive now, whether the game is worthy or not. I'm just glad that I'm not looking for these any more.