By STACY DRIKS
sdriks@liherald.com
Thousands of video game fans stepped back into the past Aug. 7-9 as the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo returned to the Cradle of Aviation Museum bringing together gamers, collectors and cosplayers to celebrate decades of video game history.
“I wanted to go since I wanted to have a fun day off with friends and play older games, I never had the chance to play while also seeing cool cosplays,” said Isaac De Paz of Uniondale.
The annual convention featured playable classic arcade games and consoles, tournaments, panels, vendors, cosplay and exhibits dedicated to the games and systems that helped shape the industry. Attendees could play games from earlier generations while exploring memorabilia and meeting other fans of retro gaming.
For De Paz, the convention offered a chance to experience games and systems he had missed growing up. He played “Crash Bandicoot” on the PlayStation 2 as a child but had never played the original PlayStation game until the expo.
Another unfamiliar game was the Pokémon pinball machine which drew a line through the aviation galleries. Some visitors waited a whopping 15-minutes to try it out.
“I wonder if people could beat my high score,” Ronaldo Diaz said of East Islip who scored over 200,000 points. “I never knew this game existed but it’s fun to try and catch Pokémon so to speak.”
“I think it’s different than a regular pinball machine because there were way more features than the old school ones,” he said.
According to the developers Stern Pin Ball, “trainers embark on an unforgettable journey across four distinct habitats, discovering, catching, and bonding with many of their favorite Pokémon,” Stern Pinball stated on their website.
There is custom voice work for some characters were added as well. The developers considered it a complete nostalgic journey.
Other retro games were located throughout the museum by years. At one point you are in the 80s and if you walk further visitors were able to play with games from the early 2000s.
Shaun King from New Jersey said Grand Theft Auto on Play Station 2 is his top pick over the newer games. The controls were created different than the current models.
“I don’t think I will ever forget how to play this game,” he said while deeply concentrating.
“I liked playing Crash Bandicoot on the Play Station 2 when I was a kid,” De Paz said. “But playing the original Play Station game for the first time was something I never thought I’d do and ended up having a blast with it!”.
The 2026 expo also highlighted milestones in gaming history, including the 30th anniversary of the Nintendo 64 and the 25th anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast’s North American release.
The event gave attendees opportunities to play hardware from different generations. De Paz said he also played the original Game Boy and Game Boy Advance for the first time.
One of his favorite experiences came while playing “Looney Tunes: Space Race” on a Dreamcast with a friend. “We would laugh whenever we’d hit each other with random goofy items,” he said.
The convention’s exhibits extended beyond individual games. The Arcade Age exhibit featured classic arcade cabinets that attendees could play, while other displays focused on specific consoles, games and eras of gaming.
The mix of playable games, exhibits and social activities allowed longtime fans to revisit games from their childhood while introducing newer players to systems they may never have experienced firsthand.
There was a seemingly endless array of vendor booths, where visitors could purchase mugs, toys, pins, classic games, VHS tapes and hand-quilted blankets.
For attendees such as De Paz, the appeal was not simply nostalgia. The expo provided an opportunity to discover older games, try unfamiliar consoles and share the experience with friends.
