The Long Island Retro Gaming Expo returns to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City from Aug. 7 through Aug. 9, bringing three days of playable video game history, tournaments, exhibits, special guests and free-play gaming included with admission. This year, the expo will put a major piece of 1990s gaming history in the spotlight as it celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Nintendo 64.
The annual convention will spread across three levels of the museum, with arcade games, home consoles, vintage computers, panels, vendors and gaming experiences covering more than half a century. The 2026 event will run from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Nintendo 64 Takes Center Stage
New for 2026 is a Nintendo 64 30th Anniversary Exhibit featuring a playable display of games, accessories and collectibles tied to the console’s legacy.
Rather than placing everything behind glass, the exhibit will give visitors a chance to pick up a controller and revisit the console’s move into polygon-based 3D gaming. Access to the Nintendo 64 display and the expo’s other exhibitions is included with admission.
The Nintendo 64 celebration also extends to this year’s merchandise, including an oversized N64 cartridge with a commemorative LI Retro 2026 label and a complete set of labels for the tops of Nintendo 64 game cartridges.
More Than Half a Century of Games to Play
Hands-on gaming remains at the center of LI Retro. Gaming zones will be arranged by platform, era, genre and level of competition, with original hardware connected to hundreds of CRT televisions.
The free-play selection will include fighting games, puzzle games, adventures, open-world titles and games that use special equipment, including light guns, racing controls and music peripherals. The organizers also plan to mix familiar classics with games that many visitors may never have played before.
Open tournaments will give players of different skill levels a chance to compete across retro and modern games. High-score challenges are also planned, allowing visitors to chase traditional arcade records or attempt unusual challenges in lesser-known titles.
Home-console LAN play will recreate the days when multiplayer competition meant connecting several systems in the same room. Announced setups include multi-screen Halo 2, the Xbox mech simulator Steel Battalion, eight-player Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and a two-player Virtual Boy experience.
EON Gaming will also hold competitions with prizes for everyone who participates. Sign-ups will begin at the start of each day, with the game list and competition schedule available through the expo’s app and program.
Playable Exhibits Bring Gaming History to Life
Beyond the Nintendo 64 celebration, several returning exhibits will explore the development of home consoles, arcades and computer gaming.
The LI Retro Gaming Museum will feature rare consoles and software donated by collectors. Many of the systems will be playable, including the Sharp X68000 computer, 3DO M2, FM Towns Marty and Amiga 500.
One of the expo’s signature attractions, the Hangar Arcade, will return with arcade hits from the 1990s and modern games set beneath the wings of fighter jets inside the Cradle of Aviation Museum.
The Arcade Age Exhibit will feature historically important arcade machines restored to their original condition, while the Console Timeline will allow visitors to play major home systems from the earliest generations through modern gaming.
The Classic PC Gaming Exhibit, curated by DOS gaming specialist Anatoly Shashkin, will cover the early DOS era through the height of Windows LAN gaming. The selection will include first-person shooters, simulators, point-and-click adventures, text-based games and multiplayer favorites running on PC and Apple hardware.
PC Freeplay will offer another look at computer gaming from the 1980s and 1990s using systems such as the IBM PC, Apple II and Commodore Amiga.
Retro Imports will focus on games that were never officially released in the United States, including Japanese exclusives that many Western players missed during their original runs.
Pokémon fans can bring compatible Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS games to the PokéLab, where they can obtain rare Pokémon tied to limited events that are no longer normally available. Additional Pokémon activities are also planned.
For visitors interested in how games were presented and marketed, collector Steve Reid will bring back the Original Video Game Art Gallery. The exhibit will display physical airbrushed paintings and illustrations used for game boxes, magazine covers and concept designs during the 1980s and 1990s.
Developers, Artists and Creators Join the Expo
The 2026 guest lineup includes people who created classic games, preserved gaming history and helped introduce retro games to new audiences.
Veteran designer Dan Kitchen is credited with producing more than 240 commercially released games across 15 platforms. His Atari 2600 credits include Crackpots, Ghostbusters, Crossbow, Kung-Fu Master and Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator. He has also returned to the Atari 2600 with the newer release Casey’s Gold!.
Garry Kitchen’s credits include the Atari version of Donkey Kong, Keystone Kapers, GameMaker and The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants. He also serves on the advisory board of the National Video Game Museum.
Frank Cifaldi, founder and co-director of the Video Game History Foundation, will bring the topic of preservation to the expo. Before forming the nonprofit archive, Cifaldi worked as a video game journalist, producer and designer, with credits that include Mega Man Legacy Collection and SNK 40th Anniversary Collection.
Paul E. Niemeyer is best known for creating the artwork for the original Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet, control panel and header, including the game’s dragon logo. His work also appeared on arcade games including TRON, Tapper, Spy Hunter, Satan’s Hollow, Super Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus.
Sierra adventure-game fans can meet Josh Mandel, who designed Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist and Space Quest VI. Mandel contributed writing, text or music to more than 20 other games and was the original voice of King Graham in five King’s Quest titles.
Voice actor Sean Chiplock will represent a newer generation of games and animation. His roles include Revali, Teba and the Great Deku Tree in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Diluc in Genshin Impact, Rean Schwarzer in the Trails of Cold Steel series and Subaru Natsuki in Re.
Sonic fans will find several familiar voices in the creator lineup. Anthony Wagers, known online as AFWagers, creates Sonic challenge runs, tutorials and speedrunning content. He has showcased Sonic speedrunning at Games Done Quick and earned a Top 10 ranking in the Sonic Adventure DX Sonic Story category.
G to the Next Level will bring a focus on Sega history and streaming, while AshSaidHi will represent the family-friendly side of Nintendo and classic gaming content.
Pokémon, StreetPass and Japan’s Forgotten Mobile Games
Several smaller events will give fans a reason to bring their old handheld systems out of storage.
The Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 Funfest Meetup will run Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Moon Room. Players will work together to earn rare in-game medals, take part in Funfest missions and compete for additional prizes. Each participant will also receive a special Pokémon distribution.
The event will lead into a Nintendo 3DS StreetPass Meetup from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Activities will include eight-player Mario Kart 7 races, four-player Pokémon Sun and Moon Battle Royales and four-player Super Smash Bros. matches.
Another unusual attraction, the Keitai Arcade, will explore Japan’s mobile gaming era before smartphones. The second-floor display will feature Japanese feature phones and games that largely never left the country, offering a look at the mobile titles that existed years before modern app stores.
Arcade Commons, a collective of artists, developers and fabricators who create independent arcade cabinets and physical game installations, will bring several playable projects to the museum’s second floor.
More Saturday Attractions
Vinny Vinesauce will appear for a meet-and-greet in the Moon Room from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday.
The second annual Video Game Vinyl Swap Meet will follow from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sponsored by VideoGamesNewYork, the gathering will allow collectors to buy, sell and trade video game soundtracks on vinyl. Giveaways and other surprises may also be offered.
With playable rarities, classic arcades, tournaments, gaming creators and a full Nintendo 64 anniversary celebration, the 2026 expo will once again turn the Cradle of Aviation into a three-day tour through gaming’s past and present.
Event Information
The Long Island Retro Gaming Expo will be held Friday, Aug. 7 through Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Charles Lindbergh Boulevard, Garden City; hours are 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; weekend and single-day tickets are available, and advance online purchase is recommended; exhibits and free-play gaming are included with admission; schedules, ticket information and additional details are available at liretro.com.
