From N64 nostalgia to life-sized pop culture creations, Saskatchewan Retro GameCon pressed “Start” on a new annual tradition in Moose Jaw last weekend, inviting fans of all things pixelated, costumed, and collectible to celebrate their favourite throwbacks.

Held Sept. 13 at the Temple Gardens Centre, the inaugural convention transformed the venue into a nostalgic hub for fans of classic gaming.

“Since the con in Regina is dispersed, this is something for the community to come out and enjoy. It has seen great foot traffic — I can’t complain,” said Moose Jaw vendor Darci Voss, owner of Samurai Sam 3D. “I love to see people from other towns come in. I think this is a great thing for tourists.”

Organized by four local gamers and pop culture buffs — Jared Dormer, Andrew Fath, Scott Benson and Jared Robinson — the convention was built around community-first principles. Dormer said the team wanted to build something they’d be willing to travel to themselves.

“It’s a focus on all things pop culture, but really focuses on that retro gaming aspect. So for us, retro gaming is any two consoles and back, so we’re talking about the Xbox 360 era and earlier,” Dormer noted. In an earlier interview, he summarized the goal: “We’re trying to transport people back into the living room with friends ….”

During his interview, Dormer was momentarily interrupted by a satisfied visitor who offered her positive feedback, congratulating the team on a job well done.

One local group, the Moose Jaw Gamers, played a role in the convention and anchored the “retro corner” — a playable museum of sorts, complete with classic board games, console setups, pinball machines, and a TV cycling through VHS-era favourites.

The vibe was unmistakably GameCube meets garage basement: tournament brackets were filled with Super Street Fighter 2 and Halo 3 face-offs, button-mashing mini-challenges in Super Mario Bros. 3, and cosplay contenders ranging from Super Mario to Link from The Legend of Zelda.

Among the crowd was Swift Current artist Tommy Kirk of Tommy’s Puppet Lab, who showcased his handmade Five Nights at Freddy’s paper mache puppets — sculpted entirely from newspaper, cardboard, and re-used materials.

“My creations represent rebirth — you’re taking something old and giving it a new form of life, in this case, a puppet,” he said. Over the past seven or eight years, Kirk has built a following through his YouTube tutorials and now hopes to attend more Moose Jaw-based conventions in the future.

Joe’s Place was also on-site, bringing props and costume builds developed through its mentorship program. For John Hepting, a long-time volunteer newly hired to staff, the show was a chance to showcase youth skills built through the venue’s large-scale productions, including Voltage.

“It has been a great way to develop work skills with the youth,” he said. “We’ve been able to teach them how to use tools, how to show up when they say they’ll show up, and that their contributions have value.”

Hepting, who has attended similar conventions elsewhere, said organizers brought together a great show and “did a really good job of getting the word out.”

“It has been a consistent flow, no real ebbs, so it’s been good to see that,” he said.

Whether you came for the Pokémon cards or the PlayStation ports, GameCon was a clear critical hit with attendees. The convention may have started as a small questline — but based on Saturday’s turnout, it’s safe to say a new annual tradition has just been unlocked.

“It’s blowing all of our expectations out of the water,” Dormer said in the midst of the convention. “We have plans to grow it even bigger next year.”

For more information, follow “Saskatchewan Retro GameCon” on Facebook.

Aaron Walker

Reporter

Moose Jaw Express