SoCal Retro Gaming Expo 2019 Gallery

We stopped by the SoCal Retro Gaming Expo, now easily more accessible in Pasadena, to check out some arcade action. It could keep you busy for a few hours with a number of booths selling older games, gear and some nice imports from Japan. The masses were looking through old boxes for some fair-priced or hard-to-find goodies. Our favorite part was probably the open arcade.

*The only downside, pricing. $30 in person seems kind of unfair for checking out the gaming convention. It was cheaper online to buy tickets, but a day of  Saturday pass could only be purchased at the convention, when it use to be $25 online. SoCal Retro Gaming Expo needs to announce pricing surges earlier or clarify that info.

However, once inside, arcade machines of yesteryear and old favorites get you going. The free arcade section had some titles we had never seen.

One outstanding, never-played titled was Namco's Lucky & Wild. An arcade machine that let's you drive and shoot a gun, plus a partner who can also shoot a gun. You drive around some iconic cities in America both having to shoot and dodge enemies with a friend. The game is like watching an action movie unfold, but created by the Japanese set in the early 90's. Bosses in the game can actually get away if you don't stop them in time. And as a fun bonus if you do catch the boss you"ll visit the Pink Cats Garage, with some lovely ladies in cut-off jeans and cat ears servicing your vehicle.

Taito's Landing High Japan was another unseen title. From a series out of Japan, this arcade unit continues in the series of trying the super hard attempts at landing commercial airliners. Watching a friend utterly fail at a landing was truly a joy. The game will not show a real crash, but merely stop the plane in the air and put  the word "crashed" on the screen to show your failure.