Up close and personal, a weekend at Super! Bitcon 2015

For those of you who don’t know, Super! Bitcon is a gaming convention in Oklahoma City, hosted by the Retro Gamers Society. This past weekend was the second year in a row it’s been going, and just as fitting, it’s almost twice as big as it was when it started. While I had never had the opportunity to go the first  time, I was finally able to make it.

Upon entering the front door I was greeted with a beautiful sight: Dozens upon dozens of booths packed with games from the atari 2600 to the Xbox One, pixel art booths, gaming merch, t-shirt vendors, starving artists, YouTube celebrities including Projared and The Game Chasers, Cosplay stages and more… it was more than enough to keep me entertained both days I was there.

After gawking at the whole thing for a little while (two hours), I snapped back into reality and started searching for one of my favorite YouTube personalities, (and I won’t be ashamed to admit, a major reason I went) that being ProJared. He was incredibly approachable once I found him, and I was even able to get a few pictures with him (shown below)! We talked for a few more minutes, and I also scored an interview with him the next day, which I will be posting a text form of later.

Through the whole convention, I picked up several NES games (which were all pretty common), but I’d wanted some of them for a long time. One such game I played when I was about five years old, and snuck in to play it when I thought no one was looking, as I wasn’t supposed to because at the time it was a ‘big kid game’. I of course got in trouble for it and the game was taken away, and I’d never seen it since. I could remember the game vividly, except for the actual name, and my description never seemed to ring a bell with any vendors. Finally, I took the opportunity sought help from the masters of game hunting… The Game Chasers.

The Game Chasers consist mainly of Billy and Jay (pictured above), and if you’ve never seen their show on YouTube, think American Pickers but for classic video games and toys. I hadn’t even finished describing the game when Jay said “Yeah, that sound like Ghoul School”, and to be honest, I’m not sure I said bye before running to look for it. And yes, I found it.

The second day I focused more on Cosplay than merch or games. There were some fantastic ones including an incredibly detailed version of Deathstroke from Injustice: Gods Among Us, a gender-swapped Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, and a gender-swapped Link in the blue outfit. Some other notable cosplays included my friend’s brother dressed as Ness, and a girl dressed as Lara Croft (though I never got a picture with her, sadly).

Other than cosplay and stuff to buy, one the main draws for many people at the show are the panels. This year featured not only the previously mentioned ProJared and Game Chasers, but also Smooth Mcgroove, Gaming Historian, AlphaOmegaSin, Patrick Scott Patterson, Ortpro,and Midwest Retro Gamers. I was only able to make it to Projared, Game Chasers and Smooth Mcgroove, however. Hey, this is a packed con, theres a lot to do! (and buy)

The Game Chasers panel also included AlphaOmegaSin and Gaming Historian, and they did a 101 on tips for hunting down rare games and haggling. Jared did an awesome Q&A panel as well, which you can probably find on YouTube within the next few days if you’d like to check it out.

With all that happening, I had an amazing time this year at Super! Bitcon 2015, and I can’t wait to go again next year. If you’re in the area, or up for a little travel time, don’t hesitate to give the con a peek and see what’s on the schedule for 2016. You just may like what you see and have a heck of a time!