The N! Day: A Celebration of Retrogaming5

by Eric “Butter” Levy

I am both cursed and blessed at the same time, living in a third world country. Sometimes I feel that the term ‘Banana Republic’ was coined to refer to my little stretch of land and not to the fancy (at least to me) store you can find in most malls all across the good old U. S. of A. A little bit over a hundred years of being a Republic, and you would think things would be a tad different, no? Then again this is the one, the only… The Republic of Panama: Bridge of the World, Heart of the Universe (as some Tourism slogans advertise).

[Miro Suicide in Strangeling]

I like living here, when I get to go to the some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, just a couple of hours away; when a meal at Mickey D’s is still under $5, and where I can safely drink the water right outta the faucet ANYWHERE without being afraid to get sick and all that. On that same note, I hate living here when the only comics we can buy, are old $1 discount bin comics being sold in the yearly Book Fair; when it rains just short of a tropical typhoon as I am ready to walk home… and when cool movies get overlooked, because they are not “appealing” enough to the local crowd.

Would you believe that there is a HUGE chance that Scott Pilgrim vs The World might not even get shown in theaters down here? I know! It gets ridiculously infuriating sometimes.

I used to complain and moan and be all sourpuss about it… until a friend of mine said “dude, shut the fuck up! If you wanna go to cool events like the ones you read online, just fucking organize ’em yourself… and stop being such a whiny bitch!”

Harsh words for sure… but that was one of the best pieces of advice I have ever had in my three decades of existence here on Planet Earth. I took heed of this, and proceeded to launch what would eventually will become the foundation of my empire!

One of the gigs I decided to organize down here, was a celebration of oldschool and retro gaming…

I grew up in the 80’s, coveting my friends’ Atari 2600. My dad would not get me one, as he thought videogames were the spawn of Satan’s left testicle, or something along those lines… and it was not until 1989’s Xmas that I scored a NES. Since then, games have been a cornerstone of my life, and a good indication of that is the Hyrulean Royal Crest I wear tattooed on my right arm.

To show my love and appreciation of those oldschool titles that enthralled me so much as I was growing up, and influenced by my local underground rock promoter connections, I managed to find a band that specializes on playing covers of these great old titles and booked ’em to play a gig called THE N DAY -in honor of Nintendo’s birthday: September 23rd 1889.

Yes, 1889. That is not a typo. They started as a small company that hand made Hanafuda playing cards, and have grown to being the mammoth they are today.

So, aside from booking the band, I scoured the area and managed to get a still functioning NES, a Super NES and a N64. Finding oldschool equipment like that here in Panama is quite difficult. It was tough back in 2007, and still today it feels like quite an odyssey. Not to mention finding games to run on those rickety old consoles as well; there is a lot of contribution from friends and family but in the end, we manage.

So it was three years ago we had the first N-Day in a local bar, that has now been demolished since then. We had a datashow projecting Time Attacks on the ceiling of the place, TVs hooked up to the old systems and veritable queue of people lining up to play those relics… and a band playing live: it was mind-blowing.

This year, we will have another one of this celebrations. I would urge you to spread the word… and if you can, do the same in your neck of the woods. Go out there, get your old consoles fired up, and celebrate your games of old… and relieve those days you would spend in front of the TV and veg’ed your youth way! My opium dream would be to book The Miniboses and fly them down here for this, but finding sponsors for this type of event is a bitch down here. Back then I wrote to Nintendo of America, and all I got back from them was a “have fun playing with our old systems”, which was fine by me… but they are overlooking one mighty fine opportunity to reach out to their fans, if you ask me.

Here, I leave you with a few images from that fateful night, three years ago… and a couple of videos from the band, Animedley, rocking away. Hope you like it.

Rawk on!