Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2025 Review and Exploration

Written by Caden Granger

Originally intended for the LBCC Commuter, ghosted on months ago, so I’m self-publishing it, because I need a portfolio to find a job.

    Retro Gaming Expo, Inc. is a Portland, Oregon-based 501(c)4 non-profit cooperative organization dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for classic video and arcade games through the presentation of events and conventions that celebrate the historic contribution video games have made and continue to make in popular culture.

    The annual Portland Retro Gaming Expo has finally come around again this year to the Oregon Convention Center with plenty of things to draw people in, bringing big names such as Charles Martinet (the voice of Mario for many, many years), David Hayter (the iconic voice behind Solid Snake), Grant Kirkhope (Ivor Novello and World Soundtrack Award-winning, BAFTA-nominated Scottish composer with a very long list of credits), and Samantha Kelly (Princess Peach) to name a couple of people. The CTWC (Classic Tetris World Championship) is running their memorial Jonas Neubauer Cup for the 2nd year, there’s a Delorean time machine, and walls of freeplay arcade and pinball machines. There’s plenty to do and see, and I went to write all about it and give an in-depth review of this year's show.

Games, Machines, and Oddities

    The expo features walls of different machines, all of which maintained by a team of volunteers and are completely free to play. All of them are donated for use by businesses such as Ground Kontrol and others listed on their website, but individuals are also free to offer their machines, and even sell them at the convention with no extra fees, should they want to. The main focus of the hall is the older games like Centipede, Dig Dug, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and all the other classics. Along with these there’s also a large assortment of racing games and a smaller handful of Japanese arcade games.

        By far the most played machines I saw were the pinball machines, ranging from old more mechanical machines with bells and manual features, to ones you’d imagine seeing in an old Pizza Hut like Metallica, Shrek, and James Bond, even some newly released ones (which I was delightedly surprised to see they still make) with a John Wick Chapter 4 theme which was pretty cool.

    This year, Claw City decided to make their claw machines free to play with the intention and signage saying one play per day per attendee, but that unfortunately was ignored by some people, who stood there going at it upwards of 20~ times before an exhibitor stepped in and stopped them, who then stood in view of the machines for the rest of the day. They had small machines with tiny Pokemon keychain plushes, little sushi rolls, and then bigger machines with some Operation game plushes and Squid Game ones, and Sanrio, along with some other things I just didn’t know or were more generic, but were neat regardless.

    One of the notable booths this year was Red Bull’s Tetris booth, as part of their ongoing campaign to host a world championship in Dubai after smaller qualifiers of top players all over the world, where they claim they’ll use 2000 drones and render a playable game in the sky in the Dubai Frame. They say the prize is an “Exclusive Red Bull Experience” that awaits the winner, so I’m curious to see what it will be.

    The Michael J. Fox Foundation had a booth set up to help raise awareness for Parkinson’s disease, with a replica of the DeLorean from Back to the Future that you could take a picture in for a donation. The car was made by Terry and Oliver Holler, two fans who built the car after a doctor gave Oliver six months to live from cancer, but ended up being wrong. The pair joined a branch of the foundation after hearing Michael himself has the disease and admired his work, and wanted to help give back, hoping a cure to Parkinson’s would help translate to other diseases too.

    Surprisingly, not the only unique car to be there, because out in the entrance halls with the restaurants and theaters was The Neontendo, a heavily modified and themed after the NES, 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4, complete with working consoles that let up to 8 people play on it. It was a neat attraction that got people's attention as they walked by, and was something pretty cool to see up close in person.

    Other interesting booths were ModRetro, who were showing off their M64 console and giving visitors the opportunity to play it, as well as their Chromatic, a modernized Gameboy Color, which did feel and look really nice to play. More interesting and unique booths included an artist giving tattoos right on the floor (which I imagine was a nightmare to get permission for), the Old School Gamer Magazine, a physical and digital magazine described as being for “the old school/retro gamer from the arcades to your home!”, showing off contents inside and other older and newer copies of their magazine, which had reviews, interviews, and whatever was going on in terms of retro gaming. I spoke to some of the writers and staff briefly and they were very nice, and it’s definitely something I wanted to check out after the expo.

    Booths this year were definitely a big highlight for me, from Atari, to the Back to the Future DeLorean, to everything else smaller, in between, and all around, there was a lot to see, lot of people to talk to, and a bunch of different things to buy.

Vendors

    There's a lot of familiar and I assume, local, faces I recognize from previous years with a wide variety of products. There's a lady who paints over thrifted paintings with nerdy references, an older Asian couple with an assortment of imported goodies, a booth selling handmade cat toys with catnip, and of course, plenty of different vendors with things like old games, new games,  trading cards, and other collectibles. I personally love to browse the artist alley and see what sort of merch is available from talented artists.

    Booths range in all shapes and sizes, from one-table garage sale-esque setups to people who bring their own display walls and make a room with large glass display cases, and everything in between. A lot of the booths are obviously, older games across every system, but you can also find more recent releases for the switch and other consoles, as well as other trinkets or promotional items or merchandise, but primarily older games are the draw for people. 

    Pokemon is also one of the major booth attractions as of recent years, with PSA and CGC both having their own grading submission booths on the expo floor, and a lot of people are selling or trading Pokemon packs or decently expensive cards, but also selling smaller pieces under $10 in a binder. I saw display cases full of cards worth hundreds and money and cards constantly trading hands at some of the larger booths.

    It was as expected, there was a large variety of everything you could want, with games, cash, and other nerdy things trading hands constantly, you could wander for a few hours before you had seen everything once, and the organization of booths was well done so nothing felt too clogged or messy.

Auction

    For the richer collectors looking for something more unique, the expo also holds an auction using hand-picked submitted items. In previous years, there have been rare store display signs, different veteran industry employee awards and staff items, consoles, and other items very much out of my affordability range, but I enjoy seeing what's there anyway. 

    This year, the formats changed to a silent auction rather than a live auction, I assume to compress needed space and save time, as the live version usually ran much, much later than intended every time. There wasn't a ton that was interesting to me compared to previous years, mostly just loose store promotional signs that were either cardboard or big neon and lit up. I don’t think the format change to a silent auction is bad, but the auction wasn’t really advertised this year either compared to previous ones. It was tucked away in the Nintendo Power museum with no indication across the expo unless you sought it out, I found it by accident not knowing it would be there looking for something else.

    It wasn’t the worst change, I like that you don’t need to stay late to participate in it, and it ended at around 11 am the next day, but the items felt very lackluster and it felt like it was more hidden away, years prior you could see the items in a glass display when you walk in with an advertisement for the auction, but this year it felt like it was brought back late after almost being scrapped.

The Jonas Cup

The Classic Tetris World Championship organization had a nice setup, despite declining a pretty big sponsor for the tournament after community discussion (on whether or not their values fit the tournament) somewhat late this year (ModRetro) due to being owned by Palmer Lucky, who also founded military industrial company Anduril Industries. Despite this setback and the smaller set of equipment from turning it down, they put on a very good show, with donations helping fund the prize pool to $7,762, sending the top 2 players to Cologne, Germany, to play in a larger version of the tournament and represent the USA. The tournament had its usual contenders people in the community would recognize, Fractal, Blue Scuti, PixelAndy, and Sharky to name some, but was also open to anyone to try and get in on Friday if you paid $50 and were one of the top scorers on the console stations they had set up. 

    This year, this led to there being a 48-player gold bracket, and a smaller side 32-player silver bracket, which helped provide content for a C-stream, while the gold bracket had a max of 4 matches going on at once, split across a B-stream, meaning there were 8 players playing at once, keeping commentators, viewers, and fans busy. Eventually it started to compress itself once the contender count got lower, but this method helps keep the tournament from going on super long, as the games best of 3 single elimination, and tend to go for a bit. 

    This year’s tournament was a fun watch! I stopped by every now and then after wandering just to sit for a few and there was almost always a game going on, and it’s simple and easy for everyone to understand. The on desk commentators were also really good (despite not being able to hear them sometimes over the loud noise at the Red Bull booth next door) and were very dedicated to and good at their roles.

Cosplay

    Cosplayers, like most conventions, will always be there and be everywhere. I saw a POSTAL Dude, Cuphead and Mugman, Agent 47, and plenty more. Most people dress up for fun (as I have in the past), but the expo also features a yearly cosplay competition. I always attend this to watch and take pictures, I love to see people dressed up in all ranges of outfits with all different sorts of skill levels. That being said, it doesn't feel like the organizers really know what to do with the competition. The location changes every year, earlier it had its own panel room and big stage, the next it's in the main expo hall, competing with all the other nearby noise, and this year it's tucked away in a much too thin and long room for people to comfortably view it.

    The on-stage announcer was quiet at times, and perfectly fine at others, it did go an hour and a half, but the energy just seemed to waver most of the show with some conversations with cosplayers and announcements being quiet, and others being perfectly energetic and audible. She had lovely banter with the cosplayers on stage however, I know they learned about the contestants and their characters at check-in but she had a decent bit for everyone. 

    It looks like the event could've been streamed to an extent too, with two camera operators taking plenty of shots, but checking at the PRGE Twitch, they haven't been live in two years, so I guess they'll use the footage for something else. I hope we get a bigger room and stage for the next show.

Panels and Special Guests

    As mentioned earlier, a lot of popular and iconic voices in games were at the convention this year with their own autograph areas and planned panels. Panels are a really cool part of the show, and I definitely recommend people to at least attend one each year for the unique opportunity. I poked into the “The Man Who Voiced 1,000 Snakes - A Pseudo Game Show with David Hayter” panel and it was a good time! The show was entertaining and engaging, and closer to the end there was an opportunity for a Q&A with David using a microphone passed around in the crowd. 

    I had plans to attend more panels, such as “The Charles Martinet Experience” and “Playing Secret Agent: The Voices Behind Metal Gear Solid” which would have been more in-depth career explorations from the past and about the legacy of their games, but the times just didn’t work out for me. Popular speedrunning documentary and runner himself, SummoningSalt, was also supposed to appear this year and do a signing and premier a new video, but unfortunately had to cancel some time before.

    Despite the changes from previous years, it was a great time overall, and I would definitely recommend attending for a day or two to anyone interested or looking for something fun to do for the weekend when it comes back around.