Off the Shelf Media

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. What started off as a Facebook Group meetup has turned into a massive event for the gaming community. I had the chance to speak with one of the event founders, Joel Albino. Albino informed us that this year the event expects “approximately 7,000 unique attendees, a few hundred vendors, and 26 special guest speakers.” With a variety of guest appearances, vendors, and a plethora of activities to choose from, it is no surprise to see such a large turnout. 

Located in Garden City’s own Cradle of Aviation Museum, attendees can expect hundreds of retro games set up throughout the venue. On its own, the venue offers an incredible and unique place to visit, but this time of year, it also hosts every iteration of retro gaming imaginable. Whether you’re 15 or 50 years old, you can find what you’d define as “retro” at the Expo. 

Taking place over the course of three days, visitors can not only find classic games like The Sims and consoles such as Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, but they can also play as many of the games as they would like at no additional cost, besides the cost of attendance. Eight years ago, Albino and his organization were invited to the Museum as it launched its first video game exhibit. With the help of the Director of Special Events and Curator of the Arcade Age Exhibit Seamus Keane and his team at the Museum, they managed to form much of what the Expo looks like today. Since then, it has steadily grown. 

The event’s long-standing success and clear lasting impact on the attendees highlight the importance of the legacy of retro games. 

For fans in the United States, 2025 is a particularly important year in gaming history. Originally launched in Japan in 1983, the Nintendo Entertainment System made its first splash. However, for U.S. players, the system was not available for another two years. Thus, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the console’s release, which was a large focus of this year’s Expo. 

The launch and success of the NES ushered in a new era of gaming. Prior to its release, the videogame market was saturated with a number of competing consoles often lacking in identity, while many of the games on the market were simply falling well below expectations. 

The late 1970s and early 1980s, known as the Golden Age of Arcades, solidified the market through classic arcade-style gaming such as Pac-Man, Dragon’s Lair, and Donkey Kong. However, as the interest in at-home gaming grew, developers’ issues compounded each other. In an attempt to capture this new niche, developers flooded the market with a variety of consoles, much of which was done through trial and error. 

This flood of products left gamers in a state of confusion over which console was worth the high price tag, and it was often accompanied by little to no information about the products themselves. The internet was not even invented until 1983. With the lack of regulations regarding who could be licensed to develop games for each console, third-party programmers also began to push out their independent games. 

This onslaught by developers and the warranted confusion by gamers almost brought gaming to an end with the infamous “Video Game Crash of 1983.” As sales began to plummet, studios had to adjust to survive. Developers attempted to fill the hole left by the lower sales numbers with higher prices across the board. With the market shrinking, it became impossible for most third-party developers to remain afloat. Eventually, consumers began to lose faith in the market as a whole. The stigma of bad games being rushed to fill the shelves hit console developers in equal part. Even if they made good games, they could not regulate another third party from making their own games, which were often worse. It hurt the industry as a whole. 

Meanwhile, home computers were taking the lead. As major computer companies vied for control, they entered a pricing phase that brought them down low enough to be comparable to the flurry of gaming consoles. Much like personal computers today, the machines could also be used for practical reasons that consoles simply did not offer. The market shifted toward these options, which seemed to leave gaming consoles in the dust. 

Nintendo leaned into the quality control issue directly, using many of the same practices they carry today. By using lockout chips, Nintendo prevented third-party developers from making games without its consent. In order to be used on the console, the game had to be certified by Nintendo, a seal you can still find today on every game sold for their consoles. In doing so, consumers knew to expect a similar consistency from their products. The practice of regulating these developers became the industry standard, as well as ensuring that the released products were ready for consumption in their market. 

Without the Nintendo and the NES, the gaming industry today could have looked very different. Certainly, it would not carry the same cross-generational weight. 

Jeremy Lardieri, host of The Nostalgia Alchemist podcast, was attending the event with his son. On attending the event, he said, “Started coming to the Expo as a family affair. I wanted to bring my son to a great convention to start his love of video games, and what better way than to come back home.”

Lardieri was originally from Queens but now calls New Jersey home, adding that the Expo is well worth the travel. When asked what game cemented his love for the hobby, he told us, “I received my NES when I was 4. I remember my father coming home dressed to the nines in his suit, sitting down with me to play the Super Mario Bro’s and Duck Hunt cartridge… I think that the true love of videogames for me was Super Mario World, which became my favorite videogame of all time, both personally and nostalgically…It’s a foundational game for anyone who wants to get into retro gaming.” 

He went on to say, “It’s a matter of understanding history and preservation…this event is crucial for those that want to make it a hobby or a career. To see and explore the history.”

The videogame industry has been around for a long time. Though it might seem entirely distant from its origins, it is an industry that has not only evolved as its ever-advancing technology has progressed, but it has evolved along with its fanbase as well. 

Unlike when the NES was initially launched, modern consumers are more informed than ever before. Meanwhile, only a few major consoles dominate the market. Yet, indie developers are progressively being able to compete with major publishers, as seen with Minecraft prior to its acquisition by Microsoft. While this movement has resulted in a similar flood of content reminiscent of the 1983 crash, a simple fact remains true: good games always triumph, no matter who makes them. 

Videogames were once a niche market believed to be nothing more than a fad that has now turned into the most dominant industry in media. So much so, it has become the conceptual basis for traditional forms of media such as film, television, and books. Videogames are not going away. The critical importance of events like the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo puts gaming into a much better perspective while also being incredibly fun. 

Lardieri was not alone in using the Expo as a family event. As we conducted our interviews, we came across several families simply enjoying their time as guests, but a number also attended as vendors. The shared experiences across generations have become a staple of the gaming industry, one that makes experiences like Lardieri’s increasingly relatable. While it is easy to dismiss the value as nothing more than a game, they are also artistic expressions that transcend across demographics to offer a singular, immersive experience. 

It is not just the fun of the Expo that keeps the event growing, but the legacy it reminds its attendees of and builds upon. You can still find Halo tournaments to play there, even after Major League Gaming (MLG) has been largely phased out, or participate in an NFL tournament on the NES, as we did. These small gestures of nostalgia should not be cast away as only a simple game, but offer insight as to why games like those left a mark on their players. 

It isn’t just fun, it’s practical for any modern developer to understand and make a great title without simply trying to fill a sales void like in 1983. Gaming is the relatable pastime, and it’s here to stay.

We want to offer a special thanks to the Cradle of Aviation staff for the work they put in year-round, and also the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo team for letting us cover their event this last weekend. 

If you are interested in attending, you can mark your calendar for next year’s Expo or join their Facebook group. Let us know what you thought of this year’s event if you attended or comment other events you would like us to cover. To remain up-to-date on the latest coverage from Off the Shelf Media, subscribe to our site and the YouTube channel for more content.