Blog: Portland Retro Gaming Expo! (10/10/21 - 10/16/21)

Hello Patrons! This past weekend, I attended the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. I also made more progress on the Mario Kart video. Let's take a look.

Super Mario Kart Progress

I made some good progress on Part 2. Studio Goblin is providing another animation for this episode. During development, designers experiment with all sorts of ideas. And sometimes, they mention them in interviews. Every now and then we will find visual evidence of these experiments, but most of the time we don't. In this instance, Miyamoto mentioned that they had a concept of driving around an amusement park in a car. I've worked with Studio Goblin in the past and they always do a great job with their pixel art animations. So we came up with a fun little animation to show this concept. 

Portland Retro Gaming Expo 

This past weekend, I attended the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, although I almost didn't! On Thursday night, I ate something that did not agree with me. I almost had to cancel because I was definitely not in any shape to get on a plane. But by Friday morning, I was feeling well enough. I changed my flight to the afternoon and survived.

My last appearance in Portland was 2018. The expo was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. So I was really excited to see everyone again. I had a panel at 4pm on Saturday. My plan was to talk about the Mario Kart video and host a game of Jeopardy. As I was making my way to the panel room, I noticed a huge crowd gathering outside. I had no idea what it was for. But I soon realized...

...It was for my panel! I was absolutely blown away by the turnout. Unfortunately the internet was painfully slow at the convention center, so I couldn't do the panel exactly the way I wanted. But we had a Q&A and I previewed the Mario Kart video!

Speaking of Mario Kart, I checked out the "Art of Nintendo Power" exhibit and got to snap a pic of the original drawings for the Super Mario Kart Nintendo Power cover.

I was scheduled to fly out Monday afternoon. Luckily, my friend Ian (from the CU Podcast) and his wife, Vani, were staying until Monday as well. So we hit up a local sandwich shop called Lardo that was absolutely delicious. 

Overall, Portland was a ton of fun and I can't wait to go back. Thank you to everyone who came up to say hello or attended the panel. I always feel really motivated after these events. 

This coming weekend, I'll be at my last convention of the year: Retropalooza in Arlington, Texas. Hope to see some of you there!

- Norman