Ep 116: A Conversation with Chase aka Retro Gaming Guy

[00:00:07] Hello and welcome to episode 116 of A Gamer Looks At 40. I'm Bill Tucker and with me today is a

[00:00:16] gentleman who has made himself a name on YouTube

[00:00:19] by doing what he loves and talking about what he loves and and these are the type of people I enjoy talking to because

[00:00:27] Y'all got history. I am here with Chase of the Retro Gaming Guy YouTube channel. What's going on man? Not too much Bill

[00:00:35] How you doing? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Just glad to be chatting with you about

[00:00:39] Retro Games on a Friday night. I can't imagine. I don't know

[00:00:43] It's kind of one of my favorite things to do and hopefully it's yours as well man

[00:00:46] So thanks for taking that time for sure for sure. Thanks for having me

[00:00:49] Yeah, so just for those who may not know you or know your work

[00:00:53] I'd love for you to share a bit about what you do online what you do on your YouTube channel some of the other

[00:00:59] Projects and we'll just kind of roll from there

[00:01:01] Sure. Yeah, so I started Retro Gaming Guy

[00:01:04] actually

[00:01:04] it was a previous name before that for about a year and then I changed it to Retro Gaming Guy and

[00:01:09] Honestly, I might change it again. I'm not sure but I've always been pivoting on on YouTube a little bit as

[00:01:15] You know things that I do kind of change over the years

[00:01:18] I think that's a big part of it. You got to you got to stay interested yourself and

[00:01:22] My interests, you know, they're very much the same as what they were when I was eight years old

[00:01:26] But you know I throw new things into the mix, but it's it's based around Retro Gaming

[00:01:30] It's based around tech. I do a lot of tech reviews

[00:01:34] Everything tech related seems to tie into gaming a little bit and then I've branched off into other things

[00:01:39] I'm a big fan of pro wrestling more so the old school stuff

[00:01:43] And I found myself in a position where I got to become the producer for Marcus Buff Bagwell

[00:01:48] With his YouTube channel and now I'm co-hosting a live stream and podcast with him as well

[00:01:54] So yeah, one thing kind of leads to another and then you pivot with YouTube to keep it fresh and interesting and I

[00:02:00] Feel like I'm along for the ride sometimes

[00:02:03] You know you just hold on for dear life and hope it takes you in a cool place and it definitely has yeah, man

[00:02:08] They absolutely has and your stuff is really fun and interesting. I really I

[00:02:13] Dabble in the world of emulation and we're gonna talk a bit about that further on as well

[00:02:16] But it's always cool to see

[00:02:19] all the new the new mini PCs that you showcase and

[00:02:22] Just how the tech is advancing so incredibly fast

[00:02:26] It feels like in that spectrum and we're gonna talk a bit about retro about your work in the in that space

[00:02:34] Man, it's really cool. Just seeing you do that work there

[00:02:37] It's fun to do it, you know, and that's and that's the key to anything that you do

[00:02:41] I think it's just to have fun with it

[00:02:43] You know, I'm lucky that it's kind of become my job

[00:02:46] But I don't treat it like a job in that I want it to always be fun

[00:02:49] And as soon as it loses it's you know anything that starts to become like tedious or I mean

[00:02:54] There's there's tedious stuff about editing and all that of course, but the subject matter if it ever becomes not fun anymore

[00:03:01] You got to pivot you got to do something else because your audience

[00:03:04] Their job is to listen to you watch you and they're gonna pick up on anything that you know

[00:03:11] You're not into 100%

[00:03:12] Yeah, people are really savvy in that way

[00:03:16] I and I think we all are as as we were becoming more and more media literate

[00:03:20] We can usually tell if something's not genuine and there's definitely a genuine nature about how you approach your show your inclusivity

[00:03:27] Just how it seems to be very much so hey come on and talk

[00:03:31] You're very kind to let me jump on there

[00:03:33] Especially with your work with perfect storm and all these other different creators

[00:03:36] You really do have this very cool open-door policy and it shines through in a lot of your work

[00:03:41] So kudos to that man appreciate that appreciate. Yeah

[00:03:43] I you know

[00:03:44] I saw so many people that weren't that way and it always kind of bummed me out

[00:03:48] So to be able to embrace other content creators or just other individuals in general is

[00:03:54] It's really fun. So I really enjoyed doing that

[00:03:57] Right now man

[00:03:58] So I'm gonna take it back to the beginning cuz kind of what I like to do on this show

[00:04:02] What was your first foray into video games? When did you first get into the hobby?

[00:04:07] What was your first kind of touch point with gaming in general?

[00:04:11] first

[00:04:11] First game I remember playing was and I you know, I might have played

[00:04:15] It's you know Pac-Man or something like that right or but the first solid memory

[00:04:20] I have was cruising USA in the arcade

[00:04:24] And it was a side-by-side unit so you got to race along with you know

[00:04:27] I raised with my dad back then because you know

[00:04:30] That's who I happened to you know, that's who brought me there

[00:04:32] and that's my first memory and this particular arcade was really cool about

[00:04:37] switching it up. So when I think cruise in USA would have been like 94 95 when

[00:04:42] Cruisin world came out they upgraded and updated so that was replaced in the exact same spot. So oh

[00:04:49] It was it was cool that you know as soon as that came out

[00:04:52] It was available. They swapped out USA and I started on that. So that's probably my my early

[00:04:59] You know my first memory anyways, but it's always arcade for me

[00:05:02] I didn't get into home consoles until years later to be honest

[00:05:06] I didn't even know they existed back then I think that's how my parents wanted it

[00:05:09] You know, they wanted me to have to go somewhere leave the house go somewhere to find games and yeah, that's what I gravitated towards

[00:05:17] Cruisin USA is a fun one man. Yeah, that's that's really cool. I I love that where where are you from originally?

[00:05:22] Where'd you where'd you go Connecticut? Connecticut northeast. Yep. I've moved around a little bit

[00:05:26] But I'm back where I where I grew up now and yeah, that's really fun

[00:05:31] I love that first memory of yours is you and your dad playing it's I the more I talk to people about games

[00:05:37] I think a common misconception about video games is that it's this very solo experience

[00:05:42] It's I think a lot of people in

[00:05:45] Society for lack of a better term think gaming is really like these

[00:05:49] recluses sitting in basements, you know staring at screens sure yeah and everybody I talked to

[00:05:55] The regardless of age has stories like that where they got into it because they were playing with friends because there were there was a

[00:06:02] Community aspect to it. So that's really really cool. Did you have friends you played a lot with to like did you did you?

[00:06:09] Yeah, the arcade that she actually played at was there like a local arcade that she you know

[00:06:13] It was actually had a skating rink

[00:06:16] Yeah, so and I it's crazy

[00:06:18] I can't tell you what I had for breakfast or lunch today

[00:06:22] Accurately, but I can tell you the lineup of all these arcade cabinets. Yes side

[00:06:26] It was it was like a candy crane and then it was another one of my all-time favorites

[00:06:30] And I get flak for putting this before NBA Jam

[00:06:34] But you'll appreciate this. I know you're a hockey fan two on two open ice challenge

[00:06:38] That's next to it. So that game and 25 cents too, which is let's go

[00:06:43] That yeah, that's that's where you end your day because you always have that loose quarter at the end

[00:06:47] So you can you could pump that in and you can play

[00:06:50] You know at least one period of hockey if it's you know if you're down to your last quarter

[00:06:55] So yeah, you know it was it was that one and then it was my all-time favorite game ever gauntlet legends

[00:07:02] Yeah

[00:07:04] Yeah, for sure for sure then it was the area 51 maximum force dual light gun cabinet

[00:07:09] Nice nice. Yeah, and then it was the Adams family pinball that they threw into the mix there dead center

[00:07:16] And then it was those dual

[00:07:19] Cruising world, you know what ended up becoming cruise and world USA in the beginning and then they swapped them out

[00:07:24] So yeah, it's crazy. I remember the layout and you know how I would work my way down the line

[00:07:29] That's amazing. Did your parents give you like the fight like five bucks like here's your quarter allotment?

[00:07:36] Yes, that's how it worked. Yeah. Yeah, and and I would I never was daring enough to ask for more

[00:07:41] I might we had a few we had an arcade here in Bloomfield called Electric Circuit

[00:07:46] You know Joey about it one time he'll sure he'll remember electric. Oh, yeah

[00:07:49] There's like a proper arcade, but we had arcades at the mall and it was an era where there was always

[00:07:54] They seemed like there was always a cabinet somewhere, you know, and it was it was a cool era for that

[00:08:00] I think one of my favorites and still to this day is one of my favorites

[00:08:03] Whenever I see it

[00:08:04] I still play on it is the that six. I think it was a six-person X-men beat him up our cabinet

[00:08:10] It's funny you mentioned that because this was the lineup in that line

[00:08:13] But then they had that cabinet and that was a tall cabinet to tall and wide

[00:08:17] And it kind of wrapped around so like your your end seats would be you know

[00:08:21] You wouldn't be perfectly aligned with each other, right?

[00:08:23] But that was actually in like right around the actual rink. So this was all in like the lobby area

[00:08:28] They had a little arcade corner

[00:08:30] This was tucked over in the corner probably because now that I'm thinking about it as an adult

[00:08:34] They had double doors over there

[00:08:36] I don't think you could fit this through all the doors

[00:08:38] You would have had to go through to place it with the other one. So that's probably why it was over there

[00:08:42] Probably why I think exactly that's so funny

[00:08:45] Right, huh logistics as a kid you're just like I have to walk an extra 15 feet to get there

[00:08:50] But yeah, exactly of that monstrosity

[00:08:52] That's that I think if I I'll actually ask this question and this is you have a few k cabinets

[00:08:59] Do you have a few cabinets such in your house now? Like do you have a collection of that or I have?

[00:09:03] I have a virtual pinball machine and I also have

[00:09:07] Three arcade one-ups that I have modded. So oh cool, right, right, right?

[00:09:11] Yeah, so and you know what I used to be so anti-arcade one up because of the scale and now it's the scale that I

[00:09:18] You know that I need because I have them in a

[00:09:21] In a finished basement

[00:09:22] And it's just you can get more of them in there when they're smaller scale and then I customize them too because

[00:09:27] You know, I just wanted to you know get a new wrap on them. I want to add new controls and all that stuff

[00:09:32] So right yeah, it it enables me to have that old school feel without having to take up

[00:09:38] You know a massive amount of space

[00:09:40] Yeah, I think that's really cool

[00:09:42] I don't have any arcade one-up stuff

[00:09:44] But I definitely appreciate what they're trying to do to kind of replicate that feel the classic cabinet

[00:09:49] Um because my one of my questions I used to ask early on in this podcast series

[00:09:53] I used to do a series called the three questions where I'd ask you three random questions

[00:09:56] Uh, that really have no true answer

[00:09:58] There's just more opinion type stuff and one of them was if you were to start an arcade

[00:10:03] Today like an arcade for people to go to

[00:10:06] What would be the first three games you'd put in that arcade?

[00:10:10] Oh, that's such a tough question. There's so many games to narrow it down

[00:10:13] You know and and for me, I'm always into like the weirder games like the ones that weren't super mainstream

[00:10:19] Like I said too on too open ice challenge. I don't know many people that would put that over nba jam

[00:10:24] But I would write, you know, you might but

[00:10:28] So I would say probably nba jam you have to have in there because

[00:10:32] You know, I'm putting out stuff that isn't necessarily what I would run to

[00:10:37] You know above other things, but you want it to appeal to the majority, right?

[00:10:41] So I say nba jam you got to have a pac-man in there even though it's not like it's not the sexy cabinet for most people

[00:10:48] But you got to have it, you know, there's there's no

[00:10:51] Legit arcade out there even if we're talking about like, you know a modern day one they have to have

[00:10:57] Pac-man in there in my opinion. So gotta have that one and then

[00:11:01] You got a ruffle feather. So I gotta say mortal combat even though I'm not a big mortal combat guy

[00:11:07] I've always gravitated towards tekin

[00:11:09] But again, it's not for me. You got to put it out for the majority. That's fair now which original mortal combat or

[00:11:16] two three

[00:11:17] Hmm, I would say so my memories are mortal combat too

[00:11:21] But I mean they're all good. It's it's it's tough to uh, it's a toughy

[00:11:25] I would probably say more combat too. I was never a big fighting game person, but um

[00:11:29] Yeah, if I were to pick a month, I think two would be the one I had probably the most nostalgia and heart for it

[00:11:34] Yeah, that's that's what I remember playing it was mortal combat too for me

[00:11:37] But um, yeah, I was just I was I was terrible at it. So I gravitated towards tekin where for whatever reason I was much better

[00:11:44] Uh, so yeah, that's that's always been my preferred one, but I think the majority would go with mortal combat

[00:11:49] I love that. That's cool, man. That's that's a solid starting three. That's a solid

[00:11:53] I'm going to that arcade that sounds great

[00:11:55] I'm sure I am in when you we started talking a bit about the community around games of that era

[00:12:02] And I started asking this question, but then we got a little sidetracked, which is totally fine

[00:12:05] Um, what would you have like friends that you played a lot with in your arcades?

[00:12:09] Were you do you have a friend group that you were with or was it more like with your family?

[00:12:13] You know, I feel like it was it was a lot of me playing alone for some stuff

[00:12:18] But then yeah, I had I had friends, but

[00:12:20] I'm in Connecticut. Everything's kind of spread out. So, you know, it's not like New York where you could go and you know, walk to somewhere

[00:12:28] Or like a downtown area or something like that. Connecticut's kind of a it's a car state

[00:12:32] You know, you you need transportation to get everywhere unless you're in a major city

[00:12:36] And you know, they're they're few and far between we're pretty small states

[00:12:39] So for me, it was it was more like you had to bring that person with you

[00:12:44] It wasn't like a go meet them down there

[00:12:46] Sort of deal. So yeah, it wasn't always

[00:12:49] Wasn't always with uh with friends, but I did have a you know, a small group of friends that would uh, you know

[00:12:55] You'd get lucky once in a while they'd be able to come out

[00:12:58] You know when you were going and stuff like that

[00:13:00] The most I always had at least one or two friends that I knew would have the birthday party at the arcade

[00:13:07] There you go. Yeah, do you remember the birthday party? Were you a part of that's that world birthday parties at the arcade?

[00:13:14] No

[00:13:14] Was that was that?

[00:13:15] I wish I was yeah, I wish I was that sounds awesome

[00:13:19] It was indeed the best

[00:13:20] It was great because you'd have it was like the doors

[00:13:25] Of heaven were open to you. It's like it's like here's all the core all the tokens you can have

[00:13:30] For a half an hour 45 minutes and eat some bad pizza and a cupcake

[00:13:34] And you're done and it was the best that's that's so fun

[00:13:38] Um, do you have any cool stories from the art from you from your time playing in the arcade?

[00:13:41] Uh, I have one in particular. I can share real quick. I haven't talked about this in a while

[00:13:45] But I'd love to hear if I do you remember the game revolution x

[00:13:50] Yes, aerosmith aeros the aerosmith the aerosmith light gun game. I'll tell the story

[00:13:54] I told the story a long time ago in this show. It's probably due for a refresh

[00:13:58] I'm curious if you have anything similar like that. I was in electric circuit

[00:14:02] And I had my five dollars with the quarters and i'm playing revolution x

[00:14:07] And I usually plunk like a buck into it every time I went there. I always play like I put a dollar which of course is like

[00:14:13] You know 20 percent of my take like that's a big investment into revolution x for some reason

[00:14:18] I just really like that dopey game

[00:14:20] And i'm playing and i'm on my last quarter and some guy comes up

[00:14:24] Some rando dude adult and he starts playing with me

[00:14:28] And all of a sudden we're at the game. We're playing i'm getting now further than I've ever gotten

[00:14:33] On my dollar like now i'm progressing because I have somebody with me

[00:14:37] I run out of quarters

[00:14:38] And we're like maybe on the second or third level. I'm like, oh man. I'm sorry. I'm out of quarters

[00:14:44] My man digs into his pocket and just slams down

[00:14:48] A stack of quarter and he says we're finishing this game. We're finishing this

[00:14:53] He was he was stinking me and i'm sitting there shooting. He's i'm grabbing the quarters

[00:14:57] He's grabbing quarters. He's going back to the cash machine. He must have dropped 20 bucks on that game, but we beat

[00:15:04] revolution x together

[00:15:06] It's a lengthy one. It's it's not your it's not your short. It's not your short light gun game. There's some short ones out there

[00:15:12] Yeah, that was good. You know decent length to it. It's a five or six stage game and we completed it together

[00:15:18] He must have spent

[00:15:20] 20 bucks but he got in his brain me and this rando kid

[00:15:23] We are going to save erosmith because rock needs to be saved. That's what has to happen

[00:15:28] Absolutely. Do you have anything similar like that? I do and it's it's funny. It's it's very similar

[00:15:33] So I had this friend he I want to say he was about three four years older than me

[00:15:37] Yeah, maybe I'm probably about four years older than me john spear. I'm i'll call him out and um, he actually uh

[00:15:43] I haven't talked to him in a couple of years now, but he was living in new york

[00:15:46] We were we were never too far. I know he moved to la for a little while

[00:15:49] So it's funny because I've been meaning to reach out to him since I started youtube because I talk about the game

[00:15:55] gauntlet legends all the time right and

[00:15:58] My memories of playing this in the arcade are directly tied to my friend john because he would do a lot of what you

[00:16:05] Just detailed with your story

[00:16:07] He he had he had more money than me his parents sent him with a 10 not a five, you know

[00:16:13] So so yeah, he was he was balling on a budget and I remember when he had his bar mitzvah because

[00:16:20] He had a lot of money on tap

[00:16:23] And I remember so it was a bar mitzvah. I think it was when you turned 13 12 or 13 right something

[00:16:28] Yeah, I felt something like that and um, yeah

[00:16:31] I mean he it wasn't uncommon for him to pull out a 20 and pump that into the coin machine

[00:16:36] And when you pump a 20 into a coin machine, it's like bro

[00:16:40] You you need like two buckets to sweep all that out

[00:16:43] And if you don't because the it's only meant for like a five or so and then you just the coins

[00:16:48] Just start pouring out over the over the little uh, the little tray or whatever

[00:16:52] Hit in the floor. So oh my god

[00:16:54] He would he did that a lot and that's that's how I beat gauntlet legends, which is a

[00:16:59] Super long game. That's very long

[00:17:01] And it's one of those cool midway games where you could put your initials in and it would save

[00:17:05] You know until you know the guy came and reset it or whatever, but um

[00:17:10] You could save your game and you'd come back into your initials and you'd continue where you left off

[00:17:14] So it was cool, you know there, but I remember in one sitting

[00:17:18] And it felt like ours. I don't know how long that game actually is in the arcade

[00:17:22] But it felt like hours that he was pumping in coins

[00:17:25] And I mean I probably put two dollars into this thing and he dumped, you know

[00:17:29] Multiple tens 20s whatever it was. So yeah, that was that was crazy. Yep. That was uh the bar mitzvah money. So

[00:17:39] That's where it went. I love that

[00:17:42] That's so funny. That's crazy. It's you got we got wrapped into these games and it was it was such an economy

[00:17:48] It was always of economy of like, all right, how much fun am I gonna have for my quarter?

[00:17:52] You always kind of knew what that was going to be like and I I actually love

[00:17:57] I love that story. That's great. Yeah

[00:17:59] It was an educational experience because you had to budget you were learning budgeting at you know

[00:18:04] Six seven eight nine ten years old and beyond because yeah, you you started to look at all right. This one's gonna caught, you know

[00:18:11] Time crisis is going to cost a buck but open ice challenge is going to be 25 cents

[00:18:16] So, you know, you can kind of pick where you're going to invest your time and and your money. So yeah

[00:18:21] It teaches you a lot kids don't have that now

[00:18:23] They really don't man. They just they don't understand the value how much of your how much time your quarter is worth

[00:18:29] That's there. There was a time value

[00:18:32] Associated with that stuff right now. It's just fortnight skins and uh and all that so

[00:18:37] Robux and whatever else it is. There you go. That's basically the story

[00:18:41] Uh moving forward a little bit. When did you first start getting into console games?

[00:18:44] Um, when do you start getting to that world?

[00:18:47] Um, you know, I got into it late 90s. I would say I mean n64 was a big one

[00:18:52] I didn't have one though

[00:18:53] Not until years and years later

[00:18:55] So that was one that you played at you know at friends houses and stuff like that

[00:18:59] And I actually remember going on vacations and

[00:19:03] I believe it was an n64 that you could get like

[00:19:06] Certain hotels would have them and you would rent like an hour of time or whatever and they were like

[00:19:11] Fixed and encapsulated on top of the uh the tv screen and certain

[00:19:15] Uh hotels and I I can't imagine what what it cost for an hour

[00:19:19] But that was that was a way to kind of sample games, you know and stuff like that too. So

[00:19:23] You know, I didn't get into n64, but there were some, you know

[00:19:26] n64 specific games I played at friends houses and then I think my first console that I bought

[00:19:33] Um was probably I want to say playstation the the first playstation. So that was

[00:19:39] Yeah, so I didn't get into Genesis

[00:19:41] I got into all that stuff at like cousins houses and stuff like that but my first console playstation

[00:19:47] And what games do you remember fondly on the playstation?

[00:19:51] It was let's see. So I was a big arcade guy. So I liked games that were ported, you know, two consoles

[00:19:57] So it was solid legends. It was

[00:20:01] Tekken Tekken would have been Tekken 3 then

[00:20:05] NFL Blitz um what else was there?

[00:20:09] NBA, uh, what was it NBA on NBC showtime? I think that's that was a long one

[00:20:14] Yeah, that one. Um, yeah, it was always hydro thunder was another great one a lot

[00:20:18] It was just for me. I was geared towards arcade and if I could bring the arcade home with me

[00:20:22] That was a win medal of honor was probably one of the few that wasn't

[00:20:27] You know ported from an arcade. I remember playing that too and the multiplayer on that ahead of its time

[00:20:34] Totally totally now the original playstation still only had two controller ports if I remember I never own one personally

[00:20:40] So that okay, so that is that is correct

[00:20:42] Why do you think you went with playstation? Was it because they had the ports you looked for like?

[00:20:45] Is that was that a big driving factor? I think that was just what fell in front of me more than anything because I because honestly

[00:20:52] I never had a ps2 3

[00:20:54] 4 ps5s in my house for my stepson

[00:20:57] But I don't gravitate towards. I've never been a playstation guy

[00:21:00] I actually switched to original xbox when that came out and I stayed with xbox, you know for the last for the

[00:21:07] last what 20

[00:21:09] Yeah over 20 years

[00:21:10] So that's been um, yeah, it's funny that playstation was the first because I'm just I'm not geared towards playstation at all

[00:21:17] Interesting. That's fair and that's and and and these days the lines are so blurred anyway

[00:21:22] They are it doesn't matter at that much anymore really but in those days it did were you a big halo guy?

[00:21:28] Very big halo guy. Yeah, that was the first big game that I got into for original xbox

[00:21:32] And then halo 2 as well and I I pretty much stayed on I think I've played all of them beaten all of them

[00:21:38] but

[00:21:40] Yeah, that was I I loved that franchise it did get there were a few games there that weren't great

[00:21:45] But the first two for sure are among my top 10, you know favorite games. That's awesome. Did you play a lot of multiplayer?

[00:21:53] um, I remember

[00:21:55] Playing multiplayer with halo 2 not I remember the first one just being obsessed with it

[00:21:59] And I had to get through campaign mode and I was you know dedicated to

[00:22:03] Getting through that on my own

[00:22:05] So no, I didn't play the original one much with multiplayer

[00:22:08] But halo 2 for sure and I think that's the one where they brought it into like the live and

[00:22:12] All that stuff, you know started to get big and that was at the forefront all that

[00:22:17] No, absolutely. You're right. And I that I was never a big xbox person again

[00:22:20] I I I didn't ever played halo. So for me, that's a world. I will definitely do a halo

[00:22:26] Series at some point on the main show

[00:22:28] Because there's it was such a formative thing for a lot of people especially in the world of multiplayer and land parties and all that

[00:22:34] So absolutely. Yeah

[00:22:37] You should do you should do something where you're maybe jumping onto youtube playing for the first time

[00:22:41] I know joe hell also hasn't played halo either and I've been giving him such a hard time like the last two weeks since I found that out

[00:22:48] That's awesome, man. I would be so down to just there's your concept with joe

[00:22:53] That's it. I would be so down to play playing halo for it for some time

[00:22:59] It's amazing. It would be a lot of fun

[00:23:09] It is time once again to thank my amazing patrons starting with terry canair games with coffee

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[00:23:53] I actually have one other question for you. This is kind of out of left field a little bit

[00:23:56] But um, this is one of those three questions i've asked before and since it's been a while since i've done this

[00:24:01] I'll just kind of dust it off for this conversation. So here's the sin

[00:24:04] Here's the question you have the ability to create a new game in a video game franchise

[00:24:10] Like a brand new game. Uh, this game is going to be good. All right

[00:24:13] It's not like a monkey's paw situation

[00:24:14] However in order to create this game to conjure it from existence

[00:24:19] You have to kill an entire franchise

[00:24:21] In order to store up the kinetic energy to will a game to existence you need to destroy the entire franchise

[00:24:28] There are two rules to this hypothetical situation

[00:24:32] Rule number one is that the franchise has to have at least three games in it and dlc does not count

[00:24:38] Um, so if you let's say they say i'm gonna get rid of the last of us to bring back

[00:24:42] You know something else but the last of us only has two main entries

[00:24:46] So remakes and dlc doesn't count. So series has to be pretty established

[00:24:50] And secondly and most importantly

[00:24:53] Everyone knows you killed the franchise

[00:24:56] Everyone knows you they know that chase from retro gaming guy

[00:25:00] Killed kingdom hearts and you they know your they know your social media

[00:25:05] They know where your online presence is

[00:25:07] So you have to deal with the fan base

[00:25:11] Of the franchise you were destroying so chase. I set it to you and i'll give you some time and i'll edit it

[00:25:16] So it sounds like you had an immediate answer if you want

[00:25:19] What game do you create and this will be a good game, right?

[00:25:21] It's not a monkey's paw situation

[00:25:23] We're into games terrible and you would just now like twilight zoned it

[00:25:26] What game do you create?

[00:25:29] And and what franchise do you destroy to make that game possible?

[00:25:32] And the game that I create is an extension of a already established franchise. Correct. Okay. Yes

[00:25:39] Oh, man

[00:25:40] That that is tough. That is tough. Well, I feel like this is a boring answer

[00:25:44] But I guess i'll make it exciting when I go to kill a franchise that's so well established

[00:25:49] But fantastic i'm a huge gauntlet fan and I like the old school

[00:25:52] You know the old school original gauntlet all the way through to legends and then they had seven sorrows

[00:25:58] And they actually had one I haven't played that was released on the I think just steam

[00:26:03] Maybe like 10 years ago or maybe eight years ago something like that

[00:26:07] They got to put out a new

[00:26:08] You know 2024 2025 edition of this

[00:26:12] So i'm gonna say gauntlet and they got to make it something, you know something big and

[00:26:17] Just dramatic because it's been so long since the old formation of these games and

[00:26:23] Now what do I kill to make this happen though? That's that's that's tough

[00:26:27] And i'm gonna be for this. That's the biggie. I mean I you said you're an open book before we started so I figured you know what

[00:26:33] Yeah, let's let's let's just go all out. But um, yeah, man

[00:26:36] What do you kill me to happen?

[00:26:38] I would love to see a new gauntlet because the gauntlet is such an interesting concept

[00:26:42] And it's and it'd be so fun like online multiplayer

[00:26:46] Like like a gauntlet 99 or something like, you know, just yeah, you could really do a lot with that

[00:26:51] But who who are we what are we destroying? You know what all right?

[00:26:55] I feel like I feel like I got to put a hit out on a franchise. I'm gonna put a hit out on hitman

[00:27:00] That's what i'm gonna do hit man really? Oh, that's interesting

[00:27:05] Yes, just because and and because i'm already gonna get heat for this. I might as well just double down

[00:27:10] I don't think that the games have evolved all that much from the original

[00:27:15] Um, you know from the from the original versions of this anyways

[00:27:18] It's a lot of the same stuff and i'm not saying that graphically obviously things have advanced sure

[00:27:23] Storylines maybe a little bit, but I feel like it's it's very much the same sort of deal

[00:27:28] I was I was stuck between Tomb Raider and that and I figured

[00:27:33] Tomb Raider would just be too much because I have attachment to that more so than hitman hitman

[00:27:38] I was a little bit older when you know that got really big. Yeah. Yeah, i'm gonna take hitman out

[00:27:43] I'm gonna put the hit on hitman

[00:27:45] I love it. That's that's a good pick and also hitman is a bit of a redundant franchise as well

[00:27:51] I mean you had me yeah, you know, but hitman has its own has its own charms, but that's a good one

[00:27:56] I like that. That's a good answer. Excellent sir. Well done. Well done. I feel like I feel like I kind of you know

[00:28:03] Strategize with that one because I feel like they're also it's got a fan base that

[00:28:07] You know, isn't really shouting from the rooftops how much they love it

[00:28:11] It's not if you take halo out. I mean people are gonna come to your home

[00:28:14] I had some I feel like it's it's a little safer

[00:28:17] I had somebody who that was always my strat on that question is

[00:28:21] What can I get rid of that? I'm not gonna get a lot of blowback for it. That's really right

[00:28:24] And I think hitman is definitely one of those that you could definitely do that with I had someone answer pokemon ones

[00:28:29] I was like, how could you possibly he's like, I just thought I just don't like pokemon

[00:28:33] I mean I I missed the whole pokemon thing

[00:28:36] I mean I was around for it as a kid but never got into it

[00:28:39] But same I would never mess with that franchise. That's I am I don't want that he yeah

[00:28:46] I am only into pokemon now because my son likes pokemon cards

[00:28:49] So now by proxy I like pokemon and now I sure I'm constantly barraged on youtube with creators

[00:28:55] Opening packs of pokemon and I just watch it because it's fun. They spent the money and I didn't and it's it's fun and exciting

[00:29:01] Kind of transitioning a bit into into your work on youtube man

[00:29:05] So why did you get started on youtube? What was your first phrase into that arena?

[00:29:10] Obviously your channel has been very successful over the years and you've been doing a lot of stuff

[00:29:15] I'd love to hear a bit about your content creation and how you got started in that world

[00:29:20] So I started on youtube because this was 2020

[00:29:25] And we were all home, you know, we weren't doing anything. We were all trying to stay sane however, you know, however we could

[00:29:32] And you know games was a part of it might my steps on at the time

[00:29:35] I forget, you know what what age he would have been this is now four years

[00:29:39] So maybe he's eight years old something like that

[00:29:43] So he's you know, he's getting into games and I think it was pushed forward a lot more

[00:29:47] Because of the fact that we were all home and we couldn't go out and do much

[00:29:51] We're all social distancing and all that

[00:29:53] so

[00:29:54] I decided I want to get him into I want him to see at least what I grew up on

[00:29:58] And I started looking into emulation because before that I had, you know

[00:30:01] Dabbled in it a little bit just recreationally and hadn't really

[00:30:05] Figured out a whole lot and at the time the raspberry pi 4 was just booming

[00:30:09] So I got into raspberry pi 4 and retro pi on the raspberry 4 figured out how to add games and

[00:30:15] You know, then I start dabbling in all right

[00:30:17] How can I make this the coolest looking interface possible and all these different things and as I start to navigate this with

[00:30:24] You know, not a great background in tech

[00:30:26] I start figuring I I start going in and to youtube and looking up tutorials on how to navigate through this stuff

[00:30:32] And I'm realizing that it's really advanced tech people that are covering this stuff

[00:30:37] And they're starting from like step 10 to 20. They're they're not covering like the basics

[00:30:42] So as I started to do trial and error and figure my way out

[00:30:45] I figured you know what let me let me do a youtube video

[00:30:48] I had no background in this no idea how it even worked

[00:30:51] Just doing it on my iphone and I start doing these really terrible tutorials, but

[00:30:57] You know the the audio is trashed the video quality. I'm not on screen

[00:31:00] I'm just like basically the camera's on my computer and I'm just trying to show people how to do this

[00:31:06] And I'm just breaking it down

[00:31:09] In you know the lamest possible way so people understand it and I was getting good feedback

[00:31:14] You know nobody nobody showed us how to do it this way or talk to us

[00:31:18] You know in a way that we could understand and comprehend it. So that was the start

[00:31:22] I was just doing these really rough tutorials to try to share

[00:31:26] My results after probably two hours of pulling my hair out

[00:31:29] You know how to how to put all this stuff together

[00:31:31] So it started with tutorials like that and I just kind of

[00:31:34] Yeah, I had no aspirations to become a youtuber. That was the furthest thing from my mind

[00:31:38] And then I don't know one thing that led to another and now i'm producing youtube channels for people

[00:31:43] It's it's crazy how things you know

[00:31:46] And and a short time period like you're talking, you know

[00:31:50] About three years I guess or four years

[00:31:52] Maybe it was about three and a half years from when from zero to a hundred thousand subscribers

[00:31:57] And then that you know, it's been a couple months since I hit that

[00:32:00] I think i'm at like 108 thousand now or something like that. So yeah relatively small window of time. Yeah

[00:32:06] That's I get obsessed with things so

[00:32:09] I started doing one tutorial, you know every day at one point and that's you know

[00:32:14] And every you got to think every video reaches a different slightly different audience or

[00:32:18] You know different people that are struggling with one specific task and

[00:32:23] You know and now I have like 2000 plus videos on that channel so

[00:32:28] Everything goes out and finds its own audience and they all you know come back to the channel

[00:32:32] And I think that's how the growth happens

[00:32:34] What advice would you give to someone who's just starting out on youtube or starting out in content creation?

[00:32:40] This is usually what the questions I ask later on but for some reason I just want to ask it now

[00:32:43] Yeah, what advice do you give to someone who's just starting out who who's looking at that giant mountain?

[00:32:48] You know they're releasing those first couple videos are getting 10 15 views, you know, yeah

[00:32:54] What what advice brutal? I remember those. Yeah, I remember those days and you know what those days

[00:32:59] Still happen, you know later on too. So you have to you have to get used to that but

[00:33:04] find

[00:33:05] A topic or theme that resonates with you that you were passionate about because I see so many people now

[00:33:11] you know ask me that question and

[00:33:14] They're thinking about how much money am I going to make from this?

[00:33:17] And I think if you're thinking about money on day one

[00:33:19] Just quit now because it's not going to work out for you because you will make less than minimum wage for the first two years

[00:33:27] I promise you honestly

[00:33:29] Year four now going about to go into year four

[00:33:32] If you break down the amount of time I put into all this stuff

[00:33:35] I probably make less than minimum wage still because

[00:33:39] There's so much more than people think it's it's not about when you hit record

[00:33:43] And how long you know you're filming for there's so much more that goes into every video that gets posted

[00:33:49] I spend the majority of my day every day creating content and if you broke it down that way

[00:33:55] The money is as a try as sexy as it can be for people, you know

[00:34:01] It's not that much money for the amount of time and work that goes into it

[00:34:05] So pick what you love and that you would do as a hobby you would do for free

[00:34:09] And as long as you're passionate about it and you want to do it long term the rest will fall into place

[00:34:14] So just find what you're really into and that's going to be you know the the best starting point

[00:34:20] I think that's really wise advice. I I think

[00:34:23] I think finding that thing that you really love and want to share with the world

[00:34:28] I am a firm believer that everybody should make things

[00:34:31] Make something if it's not a youtube video or a podcast something painting macrame

[00:34:35] I don't know. What whatever. I think creation is a really important part of the human experience

[00:34:40] That's to get too heady on it

[00:34:42] And 100% is you're you're absolutely right and I think everyone should I think I

[00:34:47] Genuinely believe everybody is creative and if you're out there listening and you don't think you are

[00:34:52] I'd argue you just haven't found your medium yet. You haven't found that thing you are creative in

[00:34:57] Um, so I love that idea of just find that thing you love to talk about or do and just do it

[00:35:04] Just for sure, you know and today I um, I actually went before starting with you today

[00:35:09] I went to a restaurant where the the lady that owns the restaurant is a huge johnny depp fan and I actually

[00:35:15] I knew her a while back and um, I went to this hollywood vampires concert and ended up in the front row and I look over

[00:35:21] And she's sitting next to me and this isn't in our state like this is like a four hour drive away

[00:35:27] and um

[00:35:28] So I got acquainted with her who owns this restaurant two minutes down the road and tonight

[00:35:33] I saw her there and she tells me johnny depp's got this

[00:35:36] He's got this uh brand new gallery in new york city that's opening. I think next week

[00:35:41] So i'm interested because i'm a i'm a fan of his films and his in his you know

[00:35:46] Everything that he's pretty much touched and I go on the website tonight

[00:35:49] And it says on there the big banner across there is

[00:35:52] Don't be bored create and that ties directly into what you're saying and I love that

[00:35:57] It just instantly jumped off the screen at me and I hear so many people say i'm bored, you know

[00:36:03] What are you doing tonight? I'm bored. I haven't been bored in four years because I put

[00:36:08] So much into this and I love doing it

[00:36:11] I may complain sometimes about the tedious process that it is but

[00:36:15] I'm never bored because there's so much you can do by creating and whether it's youtube like you said or whether it's

[00:36:21] You know podcasts whether it's music

[00:36:24] Filmmaking art of any sort there's so much you can do out there. So

[00:36:28] Don't be bored create. I love that. That's an amazing. That's a great mantra. I love that mantra

[00:36:34] I I have a sticker on my work laptop that that reads get dumb ideas and make them awesome

[00:36:41] That's kind of like that's that's a good one too. Yeah, that's one of my favorite little saying get just get dumb ideas

[00:36:46] And make them awesome

[00:36:47] And I I truly believe that's uh, that's a that's a really good piece of advice for a lot of people

[00:36:52] Just do that thing, you know, because you never know. Absolutely. Yeah, I love your live streams too

[00:36:57] I loved how it's such an inclusive hang and people just you've built a really incredible community of people

[00:37:03] Who enjoy what you do fellow enthusiasts in the world of um, again

[00:37:08] You're mainly focusing on the emulation side of things and those mini PCs and whatnot

[00:37:13] But you could do a brand shout obviously

[00:37:15] but how how how was it building that community do you feel like uh, it was organic or

[00:37:21] Because building community is not a thing. I'm particularly good at I'm good at making things

[00:37:26] But the community side of it is something I'm always working on so I'd love to hear your experiences of

[00:37:30] Building a stable community of people who just did what you do

[00:37:34] Yeah, you know what I wish I could say that it was intentional. I had no idea. I was creating it for four years

[00:37:41] Uh, but yeah, it fell into place and and I'll tell you this

[00:37:44] A little cheat code for anybody that wants to get into youtube

[00:37:47] I started with this thing called premieres and basically it's just it's just kind of celebrating

[00:37:53] I refer to it as celebrating the release of a video and it doesn't have to be

[00:37:57] Like your best video. It could just be a video and what I would do is I do these things called premieres where basically

[00:38:03] it gives people a um notification if they opt into that when they subscribe

[00:38:08] 30 minutes before you premiere it and it kind of just makes it like a sort of an event if you will

[00:38:14] Rather than just like a blanket it posted at you know 9 37 tonight and um, you know, whoever happens to see it

[00:38:21] Toons in they watch by themselves. Yeah, and you're you're just watching it as you would if you just jumped on youtube and clicked a video

[00:38:28] You have no connection to anybody else that's watching it with a premiere because it's kind of a mini event

[00:38:34] You get kind of like a live chat sort of vibe in there where anybody that is ready to watch this from half hour before

[00:38:40] To when it starts and you know throughout the whole process of viewing this for the first time

[00:38:45] They can all have this what I

[00:38:47] You know, I think best would describe it is an open forum

[00:38:51] They can talk to each other and for four years. I've always done this just because I didn't

[00:38:56] You know, I just thought that it can't hurt, you know, it yeah, you know

[00:39:00] It can't hurt to

[00:39:01] Offer this premiere and if people don't want to watch it they don't watch it

[00:39:04] You know, you have nothing to lose in this and what I gained was

[00:39:07] People that have become friends from tuning into the premieres to to now where it's like

[00:39:13] I don't even think they care about what i'm posting. I don't think if I don't even think that

[00:39:17] They could just have the whole thing on mute just because they want that forum where they can talk to their friends

[00:39:22] And it's like, you know, john will come in and say hey

[00:39:24] Hey, what's up to sam and sam comes in and he's oh, how's how's um, how did the interview for tim go last week?

[00:39:30] You know, that's cool. It's really awesome. And that's totally organic. It just happened

[00:39:35] I had nothing to do with it. I was just you know, the

[00:39:38] The attraction if you will that they happen to gravitate towards so

[00:39:42] Yes, it's it's crazy. It's um people ask me that all the time. Hey, how do how can you do that?

[00:39:47] I'm like just offer premieres. I guess I mean, that's cool. That's a great. That's how fell into place. Yeah

[00:39:52] That's a great that's a great tip and I there is something to be said for that communal experience of enjoying something

[00:39:57] You know, there is there is something fun about being

[00:40:00] About experiencing that

[00:40:02] It in your live streams have been a lot of fun too

[00:40:05] When did you start doing the live stream? Was it around the same time as the youtube channel or has that been like an offshoot?

[00:40:10] No, I got into I got into lives so late because you know, originally I never wanted to actually be on screen

[00:40:16] I just I never aspired to do this. I didn't want to you know

[00:40:20] I think a lot of people sometimes get into youtube because they want to be a star

[00:40:23] They want to be

[00:40:24] Logan or jake paul they want to be mr. Beast and right for me

[00:40:27] It just it was the furthest thing from that. I didn't even want to be on screen and

[00:40:31] The only reason I transitioned to being on screen was I felt I hit a wall where

[00:40:37] People just didn't have anything to relate to other than what you were doing and um, you know, I figured you know if I kind of

[00:40:45] Give them, you know, they're they're getting to know my voice and you know little

[00:40:49] stupid quirk quirks or quarks or um, you know

[00:40:52] Little jokes that I would throw into things right smart astro marks and stuff

[00:40:56] And I was like they just don't have any relatability because they don't know who's behind camera

[00:41:00] so

[00:41:01] You know, I jumped on camera and um, I think it just gave people something more to kind of relate to so

[00:41:08] I think that's uh, you know a big part of it too sometimes

[00:41:11] You know

[00:41:12] You have to you have to be relatable and all that no totally and I think that's

[00:41:17] A big part of that whole that whole puzzle for sure. That's why I like on my show

[00:41:21] I like having dozens of people on every episode because I love having all the different voices like all these different people

[00:41:28] combining to

[00:41:30] Talk about whatever game or system or franchise. I um, I'm talking about I enjoy

[00:41:36] That piece of it like that collecting part of it for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah

[00:41:42] so I don't think I started the live streams until

[00:41:45] Probably I think it's only been a year now. So yeah, this would have been, you know

[00:41:49] Somewhere in the year three, you know

[00:41:52] Timeline I would say yeah

[00:41:54] And yeah, it's it's funny because I don't have like you would think with a hundred thousand subscribers

[00:42:00] I would have, you know hundreds and hundreds of people in there and it's not that we don't promote them or anything

[00:42:06] We just you know, the people that tune in regularly tune in they know every Tuesday

[00:42:10] You know, I typically do a live and now it's become a little bit harder to keep up with it

[00:42:14] Sure with my schedule getting busier, but you know, they come in we don't really promote it much

[00:42:18] We do giveaways we have different people come on and I don't choose, you know big name guests necessarily

[00:42:23] I choose people that I connect with and that I think will have a good conversation with so it's kind of um

[00:42:30] You know a cult following. I always call it. That's cool. That's really really cool

[00:42:34] What are some of the do you have any fun stories or cool stories of your community?

[00:42:38] coming together for a certain

[00:42:40] purpose or reason or

[00:42:43] Because again, you have a really great group of people and i'm just curious if that's ever kind of happened

[00:42:48] Yeah, um, you know it's unfortunately not a

[00:42:53] It's not an up, you know, it's not a super positive story

[00:42:56] But I'll I'll you know, I'll touch on it because it showed me the power of this and how amazing the the community is

[00:43:03] You know, we had another content creators. He was small. He was just starting out

[00:43:07] He started as a viewer. Uh, his name was josh

[00:43:09] He started a channel called broke daddy gamer and he started out

[00:43:13] You know watching videos for years

[00:43:15] He was you know, one of the guys that came in and he was there a half hour before a video would actually premiere

[00:43:21] Um as soon as the premiere, you know was available. He was in there chatting with people

[00:43:25] He's a big part of the community

[00:43:27] And um, you know, he always would talk about you know, I'd like to do this someday and we all we all urged him to

[00:43:32] Do that and he finally did and unfortunately he um, you know, he started feeling ill one day. Um, and then

[00:43:40] Very very quickly everything kind of went downhill. He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and within I think three weeks

[00:43:47] He was gone. So it was it was devastating, but

[00:43:50] In this time he had just had his third child

[00:43:54] Um was born I think

[00:43:56] Two or three weeks before he passed away

[00:43:59] so

[00:44:00] You know, as soon as I found out, you know

[00:44:02] I think we found out like a week before he passed that he was diagnosed or maybe two weeks before and then when I found out

[00:44:08] He passed I was like, you know, let's let's try to do like a go fund me for him. All right and um

[00:44:13] I have no idea how to do any of that stuff. So

[00:44:16] We all kind of you know, there's a couple content creators that were close to him

[00:44:20] People got in touch with his wife. She started it and then we all kind of shared it

[00:44:24] And um, we were able to raise thousands and thousands of dollars

[00:44:28] I forget what it ended up with but you know, it was last I saw it was like six or seven thousand dollars

[00:44:34] You know to help the family and then um, there's another channel out there

[00:44:38] by a guy named pat man and uh pat man has been a part of the retro gaming community for a long time. He's a quadriplegic he

[00:44:47] You know had some health issues and um

[00:44:50] Actually retro rob who's another amazing content creator reached out to me

[00:44:54] he told me about the situation because

[00:44:58] Keep in mind I've watched this this man's channel always always from afar

[00:45:01] I had actually talked to him many times without realizing it was him

[00:45:06] And um, so I had this connection to him without even really knowing that I had this connection to him

[00:45:10] And uh long story short. He's in and out of the hospital

[00:45:13] He's still in the hospital and we decided that we were going to

[00:45:17] Do a go fund me just to kind of help with his medical expenses because his job was youtube now

[00:45:21] He's in the hospital for over a month

[00:45:23] He doesn't have ad revenue anymore because he's not putting out new content

[00:45:26] Right, so it takes a major hit when you're not, you know creating anymore totally. Yep

[00:45:31] So with that they um, you know, we set a goal that we thought was kind of

[00:45:35] Really high it was $10,000 and we hit that in a week and um, it's yeah, it's it's sailed past that and now

[00:45:42] You know other content creators have kind of rallied around him too and just shows you the positive

[00:45:48] Effects of youtube you don't hear about that you hear about you know the negative stuff out there

[00:45:53] But this was a really cool way to see that we could do some good with this audience with this platform and um

[00:45:59] We did and it was awesome

[00:46:01] I love that and I promise you I wasn't setting you up because as as I was asking a question

[00:46:05] And I I was scrolling through videos and I saw broke daddy gamer up like oh

[00:46:08] I

[00:46:09] I promise you I wasn't setting you up for that, but i'm glad we got to share that because

[00:46:13] It's it you're right

[00:46:14] It's a testament to what this platform can do and I think you hear a lot of negative stuff about youtube

[00:46:21] Pro creators and because that's the stuff that sells that's the stuff people click on

[00:46:25] That's just negative these cells. You're absolutely right exactly

[00:46:28] And so I love highlighting those stories. I'm so glad you able to share both of those. I remember both of those

[00:46:33] Both of those

[00:46:35] Obviously telephones, but that's the closest that I know

[00:46:37] You know it's funny that's kind of what they were

[00:46:40] Yeah, and we we did it in a way though that where we got to talk highly of these individuals and yeah

[00:46:46] Pat's doing well now. Luckily, right? Everything seems to be you know head in the right direction

[00:46:51] He's still in the hospital, but he's he's getting better. He's has has little setbacks here and there

[00:46:55] But um, we did it in a way where we could tell fun stories

[00:46:59] We could you know have an uplifting sort of vibe to it because that was one of the things that we talked about before

[00:47:05] We did this we were like, you know, I don't want this to be you know a cryfest. I don't want this to be

[00:47:11] you know a downer because

[00:47:13] You're gonna lose people and and that's not what it's about and that's not what josh would have wanted it to be

[00:47:18] About too, you know, it's a tragic story with him and you know

[00:47:22] It was devastating on so many levels, but he wouldn't have wanted people to be

[00:47:26] You know sitting there with tears in their eyes

[00:47:28] So we tried to talk about positive things and you know it came off that way

[00:47:33] Which was really cool that we were able to pull that off and I'm just one tiny part of this

[00:47:37] It's the community that really

[00:47:39] You know brought it to life. Yeah, man. And it was and it was a celebration. It absolutely was

[00:47:44] I definitely I sat on both of those and it was an absolute celebration of the work those people have done

[00:47:50] And just a spirit of giving and the outpouring was really cool

[00:47:54] It's it's it shows what what this but this little corner of the internet can do right?

[00:47:59] I feel like we all have these little corners like these little little pockets

[00:48:02] And it sometimes can feel like you're a little pocket in this large sea of stuff, right?

[00:48:09] But when things like that happen and you're able to contribute on even that micro level

[00:48:14] And really impact

[00:48:16] A person or family

[00:48:18] It just shows how how much people can do at the power of community. It's it's pretty awesome

[00:48:23] It was it was really surprising because yeah, like like we said you don't hear about that stuff and

[00:48:29] You know, you can you can it's easy to feel alone

[00:48:31] You know with with youtube or whatever you're doing because you're putting a lot of time into this stuff

[00:48:36] And you the interactions with the people that view it or sometimes don't view it or listen to it

[00:48:42] Whatever it is, you know, it's very uh few and far between sometimes

[00:48:45] But it was it was really shocking to see that overwhelming

[00:48:49] You know amount of support there just it really opened my eyes to what the uh the community here and the retro gaming or tech

[00:48:55] Community really is all about at the end of the day. That's awesome, man. That's awesome

[00:48:59] I'm gonna pivot a little bit to uh, we'll try to have some maybe to a little more fun topics

[00:49:04] I mean

[00:49:05] I I I tend to do this on the show sometimes where we get a little more serious and a little more

[00:49:09] But again, I'm really glad we can highlight that stuff man because it's important

[00:49:12] Yeah, it doesn't get talked about. It definitely is and it's and it's fun to see where organic conversation like we're doing

[00:49:18] Takes us, you know, so I'm I'm always along for the ride wherever we go. Awesome, man

[00:49:22] Um, well, I would say so how did you also?

[00:49:26] So, obviously you are very much so into the um emulation side of the world

[00:49:30] That's a big part of your channel

[00:49:32] When did you start emulating games and

[00:49:35] And why like what what drew you to that to that world because again, I knew you're a big arcade fan

[00:49:41] Was it because of that arcade fan and to start like mainman things of that nature and then just move on to other things or

[00:49:46] It was, you know, you hear about emulation

[00:49:48] And I think that the big companies that are fighting it and a lot a lot of people that are passionate about original hardware

[00:49:55] Which I am as well. I have I have retro consoles here. I have

[00:49:59] Um, you know the the arcade one ups, but they're modded

[00:50:01] So I feel like I've basically just used the shell and scrapped everything else

[00:50:05] But right, right, right. You hear a lot of well people are just trying to download

[00:50:09] You know games for free and and side step, you know paying for them and stuff which yeah, yeah

[00:50:14] That's that's an element to it for some people

[00:50:16] But for me

[00:50:17] I always wanted to get games on in one of these arcade cabinets here

[00:50:21] And I can't do that because I have an indiana jones in the temple of doom cabinet

[00:50:25] I have a russel mania cabinet

[00:50:26] They have a lot more games than just those on there

[00:50:29] But I wanted to take arcade games put them on a cabinet. I didn't care if it was original

[00:50:33] In fact, I didn't want it to be original because I can't fit it into my home

[00:50:36] Right, so that's that's why I got into emulation. They're not making these old cabinets anymore and the ones that are in existence are massive

[00:50:45] Um, or some of them are rotting away because you know wrestle fest for example

[00:50:50] That's uh, that's as old as I am

[00:50:53] Right, you know just about as old as I am indian jones in the temple of doom would be six years older than me

[00:50:59] So

[00:51:00] That's why I got into what I wanted to take maim like you said and um get it onto a new version of a

[00:51:06] You know arcade cabinet sort of form

[00:51:09] And uh, that's that's exactly what I ran towards and with those you're not stealing anything, you know

[00:51:14] It's sure it's copyrighted trademark stuff, but

[00:51:18] I've never heard of an arcade um game fighting anybody on that stuff because you don't have access to those right and the other way

[00:51:24] This is not accessible. That's right

[00:51:25] And you need you need emulation to preserve the history of gaming and you know, I don't get into

[00:51:31] You know, I've done some stuff with nintendo switch emulation just to

[00:51:36] Just to do it and to see what it's all about and stuff

[00:51:39] But the only times i've ever actually played games on it or when i've played games that I actually have sitting on a shelf right here

[00:51:45] So I don't feel like I've never stole

[00:51:47] Um anything like that from from nintendo or you know all that stuff. I don't condone that

[00:51:52] I I always hate when emulation gets to current modern day consoles because

[00:51:57] That's where you start to get that heat, you know

[00:52:00] That's where the companies have a legitimate beef with people because they are essentially robbing them, you know

[00:52:06] I I agree with that my my line for emulation was always if I can't get it in a legal means then

[00:52:12] Then then it for me is free game

[00:52:14] But if it's something that's available on switch online or something I can buy I

[00:52:20] I'd almost rather it's easier. I'll pay for the convenience of just having to pop up on my switch and say

[00:52:24] Hey, here it is great. That's fantastic

[00:52:27] Um that was always my line as well. That's kind of where where I always fell in the retro world and I

[00:52:31] And again, like you said with with uh when it comes to that world of now or in our digital world where you know

[00:52:38] Marketplaces can just go down like the 3ds marketplace

[00:52:41] Yeah, doesn't exist anymore

[00:52:42] And there are so many games on that thing that are just will never be seen again

[00:52:46] Because yeah, they weren't preserved or they weren't kept or held on to and they're just now gone

[00:52:51] And that's shame. That's a real shame

[00:52:54] It is it is and like um, I I'm a big indian at jones fan

[00:52:58] There's uh one of the I forget the name of it. It's actually sitting just out of view for me right now on the shelf

[00:53:04] but um, they they released the game for the original xbox and

[00:53:07] I I searched high and low to find it and I finally found one

[00:53:12] It was like 15 bucks and then around that time xbox put out the

[00:53:15] Original version that you could get on your xbox x or s or whatever you have okay now

[00:53:20] And it was 999 and I was like wow this is one of the few times where you can actually buy it

[00:53:26] The right way from the company get it to your modern day console and it's actually cheaper than tracking down

[00:53:32] You know an old physical copy that may or may not work just because you get through the first two levels

[00:53:36] Doesn't mean that disc is in great shape doesn't mean it's going to get you to the end. Good point very good point

[00:53:41] So yeah, I have I actually I have one now

[00:53:44] That I found for five bucks. I've never even opened it

[00:53:47] I have an original xbox here and I just I play the game on you know the xbox series x and

[00:53:52] If the companies would do more of that

[00:53:54] I think that you know, we'd all be able to get along a little bit better in the emulation world because we would have

[00:53:59] A way to do things, you know the way that they want us to do them right so

[00:54:04] I think that's a balanced fair way of of assessing that

[00:54:06] Um, do you yeah in your collection? What would you do do you consider yourself a collector of sorts or do you have?

[00:54:14] I

[00:54:15] Really don't um

[00:54:17] Yeah, you know, it's funny. I have parents that are attached to everything like they're not quarters

[00:54:23] But they have a sentimental attachment to like every like piece of this piece of paper over here

[00:54:29] I don't want to throw it out because you know, I might need it, you know

[00:54:33] Yeah, I don't have that and I think it's because I fight

[00:54:36] Them and their generation where yeah, they hold on to physical items and I don't like yeah

[00:54:42] Yeah, I I could leave in a backpack and you know as long as I have my computer

[00:54:47] And the only reason I need the computer is because it probably has files that I haven't released yet for videos and stuff like that

[00:54:52] Other than that I I travel light man. I I don't have attachments to much of anything. I am not a collector

[00:54:59] I don't have that gene. I sometimes with collectors last like what's your favorite piece in your collection?

[00:55:04] Do you have because you do have some stuff like what's what would you say?

[00:55:07] I have a stuff. Yeah. Yeah, what would you say your favorite piece of your either video game collection or other collection?

[00:55:12] Maybe sure. What would you say your most?

[00:55:15] Like that pride not necessarily the most expensive or worth the one that means the most to you

[00:55:20] Yeah, I'm looking around my room here. I've got some stuff that a lot of people have sent me

[00:55:25] Like I've got some old backstage passes that are cool

[00:55:28] But you know and some old wrestling figurines and stuff

[00:55:31] It's it's stuff that's cool, but I'm not I'm not really attached to it

[00:55:35] I would say I've got a painting that's in my background if you ever watch my videos

[00:55:39] It's usually cut off because I zoom in quite a bit, but it's a painting of Tony Soprano

[00:55:43] And it's I'm a huge Sopranos fan. Love. It's my favorite series ever on television

[00:55:49] I'll watch it every single year. So I've watched all six seasons. It was really seven seasons

[00:55:55] But all six official seasons time and time again, but I have this painting and a close friend of mine

[00:56:02] Gave it to me. It was actually he um

[00:56:04] I had a dog that that passed away about a year and a half ago and

[00:56:08] I told him about it

[00:56:09] He knew where my vet was and I was you know, I was taking him in to you know

[00:56:13] Essentially be put down and he showed up didn't tell me he was coming

[00:56:16] He showed up. He was there by my side through this awful, you know experience of putting the dog down

[00:56:21] And I have kids too. So, you know, you have that element that you know has a big impact too and

[00:56:26] You know, he came with me sat with me for this whole, you know awful experience and we walked out

[00:56:31] You know, I'm devastated. Of course. I've had this dog since I was 18 and I'm now

[00:56:35] I'm 34 years old or 33 at the time and

[00:56:39] He reaches into the back of his truck and he goes, um, you know, I found this and um, it made me think of you

[00:56:44] Because you're a big fan and he gave it to me and I you know, I've had it up ever since and it's

[00:56:49] I'm not attached to the physical painting or the picture of the frame or any of that

[00:56:54] I'm attached to you know, my connection to my very close friend that you know showed up for me unannounced

[00:57:01] To this, you know, tragic sort of day in my life and you know, he brought this along that, you know, just because it

[00:57:06] You know, it made him uh

[00:57:08] Think of me because I'm a big fan of this

[00:57:10] So it's stuff like that that I'm attached to the story behind it more so than the the item itself

[00:57:15] Absolutely

[00:57:16] And that's kind of where I was going with it because a lot of these things do have

[00:57:19] A certain amount of attachment to it. That's that's that's exactly the kind of thing I was thinking about

[00:57:24] I'm a big Sopranos fan as well. I love the Sopranos

[00:57:26] I love it. So it's so good man

[00:57:28] I every once a once a year I get into a Sopranos youtube loop where I just watch some light the scenes and then

[00:57:34] YouTube he's feeding me the combinations on youtube

[00:57:36] Yeah, and now the algorithm feeds me stuff and then I'm just like, oh man

[00:57:40] So so so incredibly good

[00:57:42] That algorithm can be dangerous man

[00:57:44] It really is it knows me better than I know myself sometimes

[00:57:47] It is yeah, I went down this rabbit hole and I've talked about this before

[00:57:51] I look I watched one Chris Farley video and then it was like you watch this you might like this

[00:57:57] And I was like, I do like that and I watched like two more next thing, you know, I'm like

[00:58:02] I'm like the historian on on everything Chris Farley. I've watched every little mini documentary

[00:58:08] And for months though, yeah, YouTube would just feed this to me

[00:58:12] So it was like yeah, I haven't been is like and if I didn't click on it

[00:58:16] I feel like they wanted me to go in that direction

[00:58:18] They would send me like six more things like you haven't been getting your Chris Farley fix. What's going on here?

[00:58:23] Are we not giving you the right stuff you want this one over here? How about that one over there? It's like

[00:58:28] I imagine the algorithm has just

[00:58:30] taken over my world here

[00:58:32] I imagine the algorithm is like the oldie time like guy who sells like watches under a trench coat like hey

[00:58:38] I got watches here. I got ties here. I got bracelets. What do you need?

[00:58:43] He's opens up the trench code and they're all just they're all just hanging off of every every threat

[00:58:49] YouTube is the giant canal street of the internet

[00:58:52] Whatever you want man. Just come on and get it come on down 100%

[00:58:56] Awesome, man. Here's the question. All right. What's next? What's what's next for retro gaming guy?

[00:59:02] What's what is down the pike here?

[00:59:05] Yeah, I'm at one of those points man where I'm like

[00:59:07] I'm like what what what is next, you know, because I've um people ask me all the time like how do you have

[00:59:13] 100,000 subscribers and your live streams only have you know a hundred or you know, sometimes sometimes we've gone in kind of unannounced

[00:59:21] And we've had you know 40 50 people in there

[00:59:23] And I always liked it instrument because I can engage with everybody but

[00:59:26] People always say like maybe this guy bought his subscribers

[00:59:30] Maybe you know, maybe something fishy is going on here and it's because I've pivoted

[00:59:34] So like I talked about the tutorials early on I changed from tutorials

[00:59:38] I went into

[00:59:39] Original hardware and I got away from emulation entirely and then that threw me down the reseller market and I started

[00:59:45] You know covering content there. So I feel like every year I've pivoted and I'm so far away from where I started

[00:59:51] So you have people that you've

[00:59:53] You know, you have accumulated along the way for different

[00:59:56] You know topics that you've really dove into

[00:59:59] And now I've been doing this to this um review stuff for a while. I really enjoy doing that stuff but

[01:00:06] I want to do more, you know, I want to

[01:00:08] I want to you know, try to tackle something else and I have some other opportunities in front of me with

[01:00:13] A little bit more tech and less gaming. So then it's like, all right, do I maybe

[01:00:18] Transition more into like a broader tech sort of space

[01:00:22] um, I also am involved with uh buff bagwell former

[01:00:26] Pro wrestler wcw briefly wwe so I do stuff over there and i'm just kind of in a weird spot where i'm like

[01:00:35] You know, what what is the next

[01:00:37] Thing for me and how do I combine everything because all of these different

[01:00:42] Extensions of me are still me at the end of the day and I I sometimes feel like retro gaming guy

[01:00:47] Um, I'm doing something in las vegas with ces um big tech event and you know, I've I've talked to them about

[01:00:55] Different areas where they want to they put me on the press team there and they want me to cover some different things

[01:01:00] And every one of them has been like well retro gaming guy guy

[01:01:04] So you just do gaming and just old gaming too

[01:01:06] Then they look at it as like i'm into such a small niche of you know, what's already us a relatively small sector of gaming

[01:01:14] so

[01:01:15] You know, I might end up doing a name change in the in the um

[01:01:19] near future before before january. I'm really considering that and then um

[01:01:23] Just kind of expanding and just being able to do more of what makes me me

[01:01:27] Without feeling like I you have to stay in this very narrow sort of sort of corridor. So

[01:01:33] That's kind of where i'm at. I'm gonna stay on youtube. I love doing this

[01:01:37] You know, it can be tedious and overwhelming sometimes

[01:01:40] But I love doing this and I get to do this for a job now. I mean it's i'm so grateful and um,

[01:01:47] You know the community has supported me and it all goes back to them at the end of the day

[01:01:50] So totally that's where i'm at. I might change things, but i'm not going anywhere

[01:01:53] I'm always going to be right where I am

[01:01:56] Just may change the name and do more. That's it. Love it. Love it. Absolutely love it

[01:02:08] Thank you so much for checking out this edition of a gamer looks at 40 if you enjoyed this episode

[01:02:13] There's a whole bunch more out there on the internet waiting for your listening ears

[01:02:18] Just go to a gamer looks at 40 for zero dot com and check out everything we have on offer

[01:02:24] Thanks again to chase for joining me for this conversation. Thank you for listening and until next time just be kind to yourselves and each other