NOT the NES: 40 Years of Also-Rans | Live at Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2025
Jeremy Parish | Video Works
7,193 views
A year later, just in time for my PRGE 2026 presentation.
While everyone else was out celebrating the NES's 40th anniversary, I was in Portland celebrating all the other game systems that surrounded it. Atari! Intellivision! Atari! Sega! Also more Atari?!
This 45-minute presentation recaps the reasons for the video game crash that wrecked the U.S. console market in the ’80s... but also reinforces the point that video games weren't dead, merely resting, and Nintendo was hardly the only company with a plan to jump on the trend once it kicked off again.
This was a new experiment for me—can I record footage of a live presentation myself? I didn't have room in my luggage for a tripod, so you'll have to settle for this close-up view. Hopefully my face is not too upsetting. Also, apologies for any small sync/timing issues with the inset presentation—I had to recreate its timing after the fact, so the inset screen will sometimes differ by a second or two from what you see in the video footage.
15 Comments
but this actual history, including all the alternate paths that later get sidelined by the later "winner" being made to seem inevitable, surfaces a lot of interesting paths that might later prove interesting, if the mainstream path gets a little too optimized towards whatever made it win out. i've seen this happen to different approaches while working in VFX, where the linear history starts excluding the actual interesting events that happened. so it's interesting to see this version, where it's true that the mainstream story conflicts with what i clearly experienced. but now seeing how it played out for the companies creating the things we saw as kids, that's really interesting to see
That 2600 version of Ms. PAc-Man looks fantastic. Also, I have played through Deser Falcon. Very impressive for its time. I didn't see it back then, but I rather saw it about a decade ago via another Youtube channel, the one whose name I am failing to recall. I really need to revisit your episode on Ballblazers, though, because I remember that music really slaps.
Also, very surprised to see Stadium Mud Buggies on the Intellivision. Did you know there is actually an NES version of it? It's called "Monster Truck Rally." It's a bit rough around the edges, but it is also developed by a team at Intellivision, and it looks very impressive for its time. Worth digging into that one as well, Jeremy. Still managing isometric car/truck driving... With elevation and, from what I recall, a few extra bells and whistles beyond the base game.
And - obviously - I will always, ALWAYS defend SEGA, especially for Phantasy Star. RIP to Phoenix Rie, the patron saint of SEGA. I know people priase Yuji Naka, for obviously well-earned reasons.
Thanks for this deep dive into what the world was up to in gaming while Nintendo was working behind the scenes to revolutionize the game industry.
NOT the NES: 40 Years of Also-Rans | Live at Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2025
Jeremy Parish | Video Works
7,193 views
A year later, just in time for my PRGE 2026 presentation.
While everyone else was out celebrating the NES's 40th anniversary, I was in Portland celebrating all the other game systems that surrounded it. Atari! Intellivision! Atari! Sega! Also more Atari?!
This 45-minute presentation recaps the reasons for the video game crash that wrecked the U.S. console market in the ’80s... but also reinforces the point that video games weren't dead, merely resting, and Nintendo was hardly the only company with a plan to jump on the trend once it kicked off again.
This was a new experiment for me—can I record footage of a live presentation myself? I didn't have room in my luggage for a tripod, so you'll have to settle for this close-up view. Hopefully my face is not too upsetting. Also, apologies for any small sync/timing issues with the inset presentation—I had to recreate its timing after the fact, so the inset screen will sometimes differ by a second or two from what you see in the video footage.