Looking back at Magfest 2024
January 17 through 21, 2024. On this frigid weekend at the National Harbor in Maryland, and I was right there in the middle of MAGfest 2024 to spend time with friends and enjoy 84 hours of non-stop music, video games and panels with folks from around the world.
After a fairly rough time in December, I considered the chance to spend several days at one of my favorite conventions a godsend, and I’m happy to report that it was one of the best ones I’ve been to do date.
So Much to Do, So Little Time
If you’ve never been to MAGfest, short for “Music And Games” Fest, it can be an overwhelming experience for newcomers. Each floor of the Gaylord Hotel is loaded with things to do, and you can easily find yourself spending your entire weekend on one segment of the hotel. This year, however, I gave it my best effort to split my time between the Music and the Games and, just as importantly, the time with friends old and new.
First off came the games, with one of MAGfest’s biggest selling points: The video game rooms. The massive, always-open arcade and console space were bustling as always, loud and lively with their bright colors and countless CRTs and Flat-screens with booming speakers echoing through the massive convention space.
While there weren’t a ton of new games this year compared to 2023, the biggest thrill for me was playing Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Versus 2: X-Boost, the 2021 update to the long-running Gundam Versus arcade series. While a few years behind the Japanese cabs, this is the first time I had ever gotten to try a cabinet beyond 2017’s Maxi Boost ON update to the original Extreme.
And it was a rush.
Even though there were technical hiccups at first.
And several cases of the cabinets not linking up.
And crowds and lines throughout the weekend for folks to get a turn on the cabinet.
But regardless, even with some settings made rather peculiar through the endlessly looping “Triad Battle” feature, it was a joy to sit down and zip through battles losing to other players and winning against the CPU. I never said I was talented at the game, but darn if I didn’t enjoy it! I may be the worst person to try using the Narrative Gundam B-Packs or Gundam Astray Blue Frame D in the fray of battle, but it’s the rush of smacking around another Mobile Suit and rainbow-cancelling in fifty directions to beat them into the ground that makes all the whole thing so darned enjoyable.
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| I had just built a kit of the Blue Frame D. That doesn't mean I could main it on the game. |
Other cabinets that caught my attention were the plethora of fighters I am bad at, including my beloved Vampire Saviour, Ikaruga, and my favorite arcade staple: Cyber Troopers Virutal-On. Those twin-stick controls are an easy way to make me waste hours upon hours until I inevitably get a Game Over from losing to Z-Gradt in the final battle.
I also had quite a bit of fun with the Densha de GO!! train simulator game for the first time. The realistic train controls and relaxed pace made for a unique experience playing as a Japanese train engineer stopping at real-life locales. I just don't think I'd make for a particularly good engineer given my struggles with the brakes!
The console space, while less of my focus on the trip (so many of those titles CAN be played by other means at home!) still had some impressive games to try when they were actually hooked up and working. And for late nights meeting up with friends, this was a real treat and an area I hope to spend more time in next year.
The Panel Scene
I hadn’t really gone to Panels in the past, but this year was a bit of a change and a pleasant one at that, even with only managing a few panels this time around.
The Music Licensing in Games panel, headed by a trio of lawyers with experience in the music and game industries, provided a new angle to the struggles and strategies with using licensed music in video games, as well as how to hold on to the rights to music you compose and produce. Even though some of the complexities went over my head, I do hope to see these individuals back again in the future for another legal panel.
The “Camp in Gaming” and Game Preservation panels, while both demonstrating thoughtful research and thought-out points, struggled to maintain engagement due to their dry nature and over reliance on awkwardly cutting to YouTube links. It didn’t help that both presentations were too closely booked to other activities I was interested in, forcing me to dip out before they were done. But staying for the majority of both I can say that they need some polish for next year.
As a newbie to the long-running Armored Core series (I’ll be getting to Armored Core VI soon, I promise, I have a copy), the Armored Core retrospective was a fantastic guide through the series and its evolution. The ultra-difficult, detail-oriented robot combat simulator has had a wild path to where it is today, and the panel was equal parts informative history and enthusiastic commentary on the highs and lows that it went through, some of which were hilarious. Watching the breakneck speed and absurd boosting action of Armored Core 4 and Armored Core 4 Answer in particular had me in stitches at looking like several model kits swinging around on strings…good grief, that must have been a mess of a time for fans.
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| The infamous Armored Core 4 "control setup" was addressed at the AC panel. Half-joke, half-serious, all-absurd. |
The true highlight of my panel-going experience, however, was in a 3 AM visit to the SaltyBet panel. Here, the most absurd matchups on custom fighting game engine M.U.G.E.N. led people to place their non-monetary bets on who would win in the most ridiculous combos of fighters. The person with the best winning streak would then win the amazing, irreplaceable, outstanding and coveted prize of…Noah on Blu-ray. A combination of sleep deprivation and a lack of context made stumbling into this event with one of my out-of-town friends to become comedy gold. Watching an awkwardly animated gif of a t-posing character fight a crudely cut out and horribly overpowered Evangelion Unit-01 jpg to a roaring crowd was downright magical. And learning that one of my other friends was putting down actual cash on watching recolored Dragon Ball character sprites fighting the likes of Anpanman and Guilty Gear characters into something that I cannot condone, but can get endless amusement from. The sound was deafening. I was delirious. And I will absolutely be going again next year.
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| Not pictured: The outrageous riot over a giant blue diamond glitching out and floating off screen for a TKO. |
But what about the MUSIC in “Music and Gaming”?
The concerts were varied and unforgettable this year. I made a point of going to as many of them as I could after failing to do so in the past two years. And, furthermore, made a point of going to a variety of styles. And for the sake of filtering out the best of them, I’ll give the major highlights here.
Dom Palombi’s Game Night was a group I was partially familiar with from last year’s Magfest, where several of their performers were with 8 Bit Big Band on stage. A mix of new covers for a wide range of game tracks mixed with brand new jams, Palombi and his band bring a brass-heavy jazz & funk energy to every track that is positively infectious. I found myself bobbing and swaying to these amazing renditions as a tremendous fan of jazz myself. The energy was high as he played tracks from his newest album, which went on sale that weekend, and I and the rest of the audience were regularly clapping to the beat with plenty of sax, trumpets, bass, and Palombi’s own stellar drumming filling the concert hall. I felt a particular smile creep up on my face when he threw in a funkadelic cover of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters English dub’s theme into the mix. The entire album is available for free on YouTube if you wish to give it a listen. I’m hoping they come back again next year!
I had no knowledge of ZAKU going in. I went to see them on a whim after reading their description of being 80’s Japanese synth influenced Jazz Fusion (and because their name had to have been based on one of my favorite Mobile Suits). What I got was the kind of synthetic bliss that I could listen to day in and day out. Fast paced with that retro electronic keyboard and EWI combo that screams mid-1980’s arcade energy. It’s like everything I love about the likes of ZUNTATA but amped up even further. These guys rule, and I highly recommend checking out their adrenaline pumping beats and slick instrumentation here. Needless to say, they’re on my radar now and I hope we get another album from them in the near future.
The biggest draw on the musical side of things, however, was seeing the Mega Man inspired rock opera juggernaut that is The Protomen live. I grew up in high school regularly listening to their Act I and Act II albums. “Light Up the Night” is a song burned into my mind. I still beg for them to hurry up with Act III after nearly two decades. And seeing these enigmatic and melodramatic legends on stage, I can say it was worth the years of waiting. The crowd was in awe, snapping and clapping and singing along even when the vocalists were drowned out (shouting “WHAT WAS HER NAME?” to the cold response of “It doesn’t matter” in ‘The Hounds’ had me grinning ear to ear), and it was legendary. The band got into playing with the audience too, encouraging the infamous “Colossus Roar” you hear shouted again and again throughout the halls of the convention center and hotel every waking hour of the event.
They also brought in surprise guest Cybertronic Spree, an 80’s Cover Band made up of Gen 1 Transformers cosplayers, to collaborate on a rendition of Barracuda by Heart. Flashing lights, outstanding performances, and a look at that eventual Act III with some brand-new tracks made The Protomen an unforgettable capstone to the three-day weekend. And being up close for it all, and even recording bits of it, was something I will never forget. I truly hope I can see them again someday.
Art Halls and Old Friends
The artist and vending space was quite solid this year, although I Found it particularly difficult to navigate through the booths and remember where some things were. I got lost and went in circles more than once, but managed to support several artists and buy some cool keychains, prints and stickers from some of my favorite franchises. Special shout-outs to Cheripi for having the first Konjiki no Gash!! merchandise I have seen at any convention ever, and as a die-hard fan of that series I had to go for it. Just need to get a nice frame or it soon enough!
More exciting than any program, game or band, though, was seeing some of my best friends around. Not only did I catch up with my usual group of New York buddies who first invited me to MAG in 2021, but I also managed to meet up with other long-time friends who I regularly bump in to throughout the year at other gatherings and have been pals with online for several years. This included one of my longest-lasting friendships with an artist buddy of mine who I have known for 10 years. Finally meeting him in person was great, along with seeing some friends who came from as far as Holland to visit America for the first time just to be here with everyone. IT was in the small moments of laughing, goofing off, getting tipsy and singing karaoke in a room with broken controls that I found myself laughing and savoring every minute with these people.
As I prepared to leave early on Sunday morning after saying my goodbyes, I felt more bittersweet than ever at the end of a con. I even found myself thinking I would miss the sharp, frigid air and swirls of leftover snow and ice smacking me in the face. This was a trip that went smoother than I could have ever imagined. I know I’ll see many of these folks again. I know I’ll be going back again next year. I even know I’ll never accomplish everything I hope to in one given year, and that’s fine! Goodness knows, nobody ever can truly follow a strict schedule at such a jam-packed event. What matters most is that I have memories to hold on to, and even more memories to make in the year ahead.
MAGfest 2024 was the first sign of what I hope will be a wonderful year ahead. I can only hope the highs I felt that weekend will carry on or, even better, be outdone by whatever comes my way the rest of the year.
Oh, and special shout outs to the Sonic R Karaoke speedrun for charity. That was beautiful.
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