I’m heading to Houston, Texas for Comicpalooza, a massive pop culture expo that feels more like San Diego Comic-Con than a traditional gaming convention. Between surprise thunderstorms, humid Texas heat, incredible anime-inspired Itasha cars, celebrity guests like Pam Grier and Edward James Olmos, and exploring downtown Houston’s murals, parks, and food spots, this trip turned into way more than just convention coverage. I also checked out Replay Games, a cool retro game store, where I even found a rare Sharp Famicom Titler capture device I’d never seen in person before. From tacos and espresso to skyscraper views and retro treasures, this Houston adventure had a little bit of everything.
Part 2 of our Olympic Peninsula road trip is where things get a little louder, a little weirder, and a lot more fun.
I meet back up with Paul and we waste absolutely zero time doing questionable (but highly entertaining) things on the beach. From there, we hit the road toward a place that changed music forever, the birthplace of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, and the entire Seattle grunge movement.
Along the way, we dig into some seriously cool retro game shops, hunting for hidden gems and soaking in that nostalgic magic.
And to wrap it all up, I’ll show you everything we scored during this epic 5-day adventure.
Hit the road with me for a five-day adventure through Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. In this travel diary, I’m joined by my friend Drunken Master Paul as we explore a part of the state I’ve never experienced before. Expect rain-soaked highways, coastal fog, and small towns that feel like they’re full of untold stories. Along the way, we hunt for retro games in hidden gem shops, explore abandoned coastal forts, and take in some incredible Pacific Northwest scenery. Buckle up and let’s hit the road.
Covert Dock 3 is a sleek 65W travel dock built for Switch 2 and handheld gaming on the go, while ShadowCast 3 shrinks a full 4K60 capture card down to pocket size. Together, they transform your laptop or iPad into a portable gaming command center—no bulky setup required.
In this review, I put both to the test to see if this ultra-compact combo really delivers the ultimate travel gaming experience. WATCH > https://youtu.be/Pxdmsi6800M
Seattle’s retro gaming scene is basically a treasure hunt disguised as a coffee-fueled lifestyle. It’s where flannel-wearing collectors, caffeine-addled speedrunners, and nostalgia historians roam the aisles of dusty game shops like archeologists hunting for buried cartridges. Somewhere between Pike Place and a Side Street arcade, you’ll find people debating the superiority of NES controllers while sipping $6 lattes, all with the intensity of a Seahawks game.
The city has enough retro game stores, conventions, and collector meetups to make you think it’s secretly powered by a giant SNES in a basement somewhere. Local arcades still glow with CRT screens and the comforting hum of pinball machines, while garage sales offer the occasional jackpot—sometimes literally, if someone left a working Neo Geo in a box. In Seattle, retro gaming isn’t just a hobby; it’s a lifestyle, a mild obsession, and an excuse to justify owning more plastic than IKEA.
They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas… unless it’s video games, then it comes home with me. Game hunting across Las Vegas, chasing retro gems and making zero promises about self-control. If you live in the Las Vegas area, check out Retro City Games: https://www.retrocitygames.com
Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code METALJESUS at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/metaljesus
Las Vegas is a sun-baked mirage where common sense checks out at the front desk and never comes back. It’s a city powered by neon, bad decisions, and the unshakable belief that this pull of the slot machine is “the one.” Time doesn’t exist here—clocks are banned, sleep is optional, and breakfast can legally be a margarita served in a yard-long plastic guitar.
The Strip is like if Disneyland, a midlife crisis, and an airport gift shop had a baby. You can visit Paris, New York, ancient Rome, and a pyramid with a laser on top—all without leaving Nevada or learning a single useful fact. Meanwhile, someone dressed as Elvis is marrying a couple who met four hours ago, while another Elvis watches, quietly judging.
Vegas is the only place where you’ll see a man win $20, lose $2,000, and still say, “I basically broke even.” It’s loud, ridiculous, unapologetically extra, and somehow proud of it. Las Vegas doesn’t ask why—it just asks, “Cash or credit?”
Join me on an awesome trip to Portland Retro Gaming Expo, where retro dreams come alive! I check out incredible new hardware like the ModRetro M64 clone system, the adorable Vectrex Mini, and even the Intellivision Sprint!
Plus, I had the honor of hosting a panel called “The Legends of Sierra”, celebrating some of the most influential creators in adventure gaming history. And of course, it wouldn’t be PRGE without a massive game pickup haul at the end — from hidden gems to wild finds!
The 1968 Chevrolet Corvette was basically America’s way of saying: “Why settle for subtle when you can drive a spaceship with a V8?”
This thing rolled off the line looking like a shark that got lost on its way to an Evel Knievel stunt show. Chevy called it the “C3,” but it was really the automotive equivalent of bell-bottom jeans: long, low, and screaming 1960s cool.
Some highlights:
Design: It had curves on curves, the kind that made other cars look like filing cabinets. With those swoopy fenders and a body that looked like it was flexing in the mirror, it didn’t park—it posed.
Pop-up headlights: The car literally winked at you before blinding you with high beams. Very James Bond, if James Bond lived in Ohio and sold insurance.
Interior: It had more chrome inside than a diner, and the dashboard looked like a pilot’s cockpit—perfect for people who thought parallel parking was basically a space launch sequence.
Performance: Under the hood, you got a thumping V8 that could rocket you forward with enough torque to rotate the Earth slightly. Of course, handling was… let’s call it “dramatic.” You didn’t steer a ’68 Vette; you negotiated with it.
So the ’68 Corvette was less a car and more a declaration: “I have arrived, I am loud, and I’m leaving a trail of tire smoke as proof.”
A Retrocon no Brasil é como entrar em um carnaval pixelado onde os anos 80 e 90 nunca acabaram, os CRTs nunca morreram, e a única coisa mais intensa do que o campeonato de Street Fighter é o cheiro de nostalgia depois de 12 horas seguidas de pura empolgação gamer. É um caos glorioso de fãs do Mega Drive discutindo com puristas do Super Nintendo em português, enquanto alguém vestido de Mega Man tenta não tropeçar em um emaranhado de cabos de controle que parece um obstáculo de fase final. Você encontra de tudo, desde cartuchos de Atari cuidadosamente preservados até jogos piratas do Mario onde ele inexplicavelmente luta contra dinossauros com uma metralhadora — e sinceramente, isso só deixa tudo mais incrível.
Mas a Retrocon não é só uma convenção — é uma peregrinação. Pessoas viajam por horas para trocar cartuchos obscuros, conhecer YouTubers com nomes como “Joystick João”, e exibir consoles modificados que rodam todos os jogos já feitos… incluindo Pong em 4K por algum motivo. A energia é parte Comic-Con, parte feira de usados, e parte reunião de família se a sua família só se comunicasse por bleeps, bloops e recordes. Tem cosplay, torneios, música de videogame saindo de caixas de som mais velhas que alguns participantes, e radiação de tubo o suficiente pra transformar suas obturações em antenas. É estranho, maravilhoso, e o melhor lugar do mundo pra discutir se Battletoads era difícil… ou só emocionalmente abusivo.
Ah, the Oregon coast — where the Pacific Ocean crashes into the land with the force of Poseidon throwing a tantrum, and the mist kisses your face like a moody, damp poet. But let’s talk specifically about Brookings and Coos Bay — two coastal gems with the charm of a Wes Anderson movie and the weather of a suspense thriller.
Brookings:
Brookings is like Oregon’s secret garden — if that garden had banana slugs, 70 shades of green, and waves that could bench press your kayak. Known as the “Banana Belt” of Oregon, Brookings gets surprisingly nice weather, which in Oregon terms means “only light rain and occasional sun-induced euphoria.” The beaches are dramatic, with jagged sea stacks rising out of the ocean like ancient stone guardians, or maybe like a goth band posing for an album cover. It’s the kind of place where you half expect Bigfoot to walk by sipping a latte, nod politely, and disappear into the fog.
Coos Bay:
Coos Bay, on the other hand, feels like the blue-collar poet of the coast. It’s equal parts working port town and nature’s showroom. You’ve got tugboats doing real work while sea lions heckle them from the docks like salty old men. The forests surrounding it are so lush and mossy you’ll wonder if you’ve stumbled into a Tolkien fever dream — all that’s missing is a hobbit bar with artisanal microbrews. And don’t even get me started on Shore Acres State Park, where waves crash against cliffs so hard they basically scream “LOOK AT ME, I’M DRAMATIC!”
In short, the Oregon coast — especially Brookings and Coos Bay — is a place where nature shows off like it’s auditioning for a soap opera: full of beauty, mystery, and a little bit of emotional instability. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
