Video game

Mo Game Con Is a Retro Video Game Paradise – Riverfront Times


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Fans of old-school video games hunt for treasures at last year's Mo Game Con. - CHAD HAGER/MO GAME CON

  • CHAD HAGER/MO GAME CON
  • Fans of old-school video games hunt for treasures at last year’s Mo Game Con.

Despite all the advances in video game graphics and storylines, there’s still a hardcore audience for retro video games. For those who love Metroid Prime, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting and Chrono Trigger, the MO Game Con is as vital as the Contra cheat code. Now in its third year, convention will bring in a slew of YouTube gamers, cosplayers and local players alike. MO Game Con founder and attorney Chad Hager expects this year’s attendance to be bigger than ever.

“It will be a good time for people that love old games or maybe for people who want information about old games. There will be a lot of good people to meet and a lot of fun to be had,” says Hager.


Held at St. Charles Community College (4601 Mid Rivers Mall Dr, Cottleville; www.mogamecon.com), the convention features arcade gaming, tournaments, old school Nintendo consoles and a cosplay panel. Gaming YouTubers such as Jay Hatfield (The Game Chasers) and Brett Weiss (Tales from a Retro Gamer), and the Kansas City, Missouri, based Video Game Dads Podcast are all scheduled to attend.




“We’ve got interesting stuff going on,” says Hager.


“We’re also going to have the Nintendo-Playstation prototype, which is a one-of-a-kind thing,” says Hager. The Nintendo-Playstation was a hybrid cartridge and CD-ROM console that was made by Nintendo and Sony Entertainment in the late ’80s. The project was shuttered in 1993 and the prototype was picked up by a man named Terry Diebold, who now travels to various gaming conventions showing off the old hardware.


When it came to forming the convention, Hager says the idea originated in a now-closed St. Charles gaming shop owned by his friend Chuck Shaw. “He and I were discussing that there were no conventions close by for retro gamers, and it’d be nice to get one started,” recalls Hager. “He and I got the ball rolling.”


With the help of Shaw and friends Jake Friedel and Jason Hoefe, the group launched their first convention in 2016 in Affton, Missouri. In their first year, Hager says 600 people attended the event with the subsequent events have welcomed around 1,000 participants.


MO Game Con takes place from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, August 3, at St. Charles Community College. Tickets are $15, and limited VIP tickets are available for $100. VIP members will be given early access to the event at 9:30 a.m. and will receive a t-shirt, badge and an invitation to the Mo Game Con VIP party that will take place Sunday, August 4.


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