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So, October 1, 2016 at the Hilton Hotel, I had the pleasure of being able to attend the first annual Southeast Game Exchange in Greenville South Carolina. It was a bit of a trip. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to stay long because my debit card decided to shut off due to “suspicious activity” but I stayed as long as was reasonable.

This convention was not brought to you in part by Dr. Pepper.

There was so much to see, tournaments on retro games (Smash Bros Melee, Super Mario Kart, to name a couple), a cosplay contest, unsure who won, but I know my pick. The people running each booth were so nice, and I wish I had the time to speak with each one individually, but time is short and there was so much to see. Links to the booth owners will be listed down below.

First off, were the venders. You had your choices of retro games with companies like Play It Again, modern games like half the stock of the Video Game Cavern, or if you are in the mood for some video game-related art, there was some pretty impressive splatter art at Watercolor Cove. There were door prizes and more. I got to speak to the man in charge, Carson, and he has confirmed that the event will take place next year, so if you were unable to attend the event because you didn’t know about it, or you don’t live in the heart of the Southeast like I do, there’s always next Fall. My personal favorite vendor was the Play it Again, where they were just so kind to me and very cooperative. They had a number of retro games, and two portable consoles, PS1 and Gamecube, the latter with GBA attachment.

Have you ever seen anything so tempting before?

A few of their stock.

If I had any more money, I so would’ve gotten that A Link to the Past game.

I honestly couldn’t resist.

One of the vendors featured a fast-talking salesman (Stan S. Stanman? Monkey Island ref – Robin) who sold strange cartridges for the NES, SNES, and GBA systems. The ones on the NES included Final Fantasy VII, Mother 1, plenty of Zelda hacks, etc., while the ones included on the SNES were names like Chrono Trigger, Clock Tower, and Final Fantasy V. The GBA had mostly Pokemon Hacks put onto cartridges and Mother 1 and 3. My friend who was with me picked up Metroid Zero Mission for the SNES, and found it to be much harder than the original.

Do you recognize any of these Snes games?

So many games, so little time.

Expensive, but plenty seemed to be way worth it.

Second were the tournaments, by the time I reached them, they were in the middle of their tournaments, whether it be for Mario Kart 64 or Super Smash Bros Melee, so I didn’t get to speak with them at the time. If I had the time or the competitive ability, I would have joined them. Who doesn’t like playing a Smash game?

Jeez those old TVs… I have to wonder where they got them.

Next was the cosplay contest, which allowed anyone who had the time, money or patience to create their own costumes to be judged on whose is the best based on accuracy to the character, etc (DFTWH). Unfortunately, they picked a winner when I was busy haggling with a vender on the price of a video game, so I don’t know who won officially, but I certainly know my pick.

Yeah, not the best place to take pictures, but the rest of the building was extraordinarily crowded at the time.

This fantastic Pyramid Head cosplay was, in my opinion, the most impressive cosplay at the convention. I got to talk to the cosplayer about the process of making the costume. She said for the cleaver, she used cardboard and foam for the shape, followed by painting over it. For the helmet, she did the same, but added some springs for the face area, and the inside of the helmet had a mesh to make it more comfortable to wear as well as it in place.

I even got to meet a new YouTuber from the area. He was really excited to see press (however, small press I may be) and asked me to mention him in the article. He seemed like a pretty cool guy, so why not? On YouTube, he’s known as The Dolphin King and his channel will be provided down below. He told me about one of his videos where he and his friends ate the world’s hottest pepper, the Carolina Reaper. Dude’s crazy for that.

Strange talent to have, in all honesty.

There were plenty of artists around too, from really impressive splatter art of video game characters, to neat pixel art. Either way, many vendors will have links to their pages down below. So why not check them out? I absolutely loved being able to go, and it was fantastic for the price. Five dollars at the door doesn’t just include entry, but also the fee to the cosplay contest and the video game tournaments. I think it’s fairly worth seeing. Lord knows I’m going next year, and nothing will stop me. Lesson number one for my next convention, bring cash.

Sources and resources:

The Video Game Cavern

Super Sweets Hero Treats

The Dolphin King YouTube Channel

***Disclaimer***
I did not know any of these vendors or people prior to this day.