Retro Power

Retro Power: Goodbye, 1 More Castle

Val’s Thoughts

In its own words, 1 More Castle describes itself as a “retro gaming destination,” & a “gaming site,” To me, it is a community, more than it is anything else. When I have excitedly explored the content on 1 More Castle, it hasn’t been because I am raising a gamer, or because my life won’t be complete until I know what the eff IS on that disc. This is of course not because the content isn’t inherently good, I mean obviously it’s great content (you’ve read some, right?), but because of the real sense of family & goodwill on this site, which has always been my motivation for visiting the Castle. I made a point of following most of the contributors (& some of the readers!) on twitter from the start, & that habit has made 1 More Castle so much more than just a site to me. I read the articles, I become fond of the people… & so I read more articles, & the cycle is enriched.

If you’re reading this, THANK YOU, for being a part of what 1 More Castle means to me. I’ve always felt welcome & comfortable here, & that’s not something I (or anyone on the internet) can just take for granted. It is my sincere hope that you & I can keep in touch on social media, & even if we don’t, I wish you the best in all of your adventures. Remember… it is dangerous to go alone.

All 1 More Castle contributors, current & past, it has been so great to see the work you’ve put into this. You’ve taken your passion & put it out there to be part of something bigger, & you should be proud of that.

A special thank-you, plus my eternal undying love, to those of you I’ve known for years (&/or will know for years?). To the ones who say hi to me at the podcastle recordings, my BREAST friends, the guys who have played video games at my house, the ones that jump into my twitter conversations & let me invade theirs. Let’s meet up sometime. I’m serious.

A shout-out is due to 1 More Castle’s diligent support team– people like Mrs. Goguen, Mrs. Hunter, & Mrs. Bailey. They are worthy & talented in their own rights.

Eric Hunter & Jason Lamb, you are bad enough dudes to rescue the president. I hope you know that even though I started following the podcast because of Bailey, it came to be so much more than that, & I’ll miss you at least once a week.

Andrew Carreiro, you are my favorite wizard & web designer. With you as co-founder, I knew gears would turn smoothly (& look fantastic, too). That has meant a lot to me.

Alex Weiss, you crazy guy, getting me into this! You know you’re stuck with me for life now. I hope you’re up for years of me texting you little smilies.

Eric Bailey, my favorite sibling, I’ve been so proud of you for so many things. 1 More Castle may likely always be pretty high on the list. I’ve always been the awkward tag-along little sister, & you’ve done an amazing job of being okay with that, even embracing it to an extent where appropriate, more than I could ever ask of you. It has been such an honor, & I really appreciate it. Thank you. I’ve seen you make sacrifices & tough calls for this site, incorporating it into your life with laughter & eye rolls alike. It’s been a neat way to get to know another facet of who you are & what you can do. On to the next!

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Al’s Thoughts

Gosh, I have been a part of this website since the very early days. Almost since its inception. I don’t think I have shared publicly why and how I got involved with the site. It all began with a man, who is larger than life. No seriously, have you met Eric Bailey? He’s like 6 foot 4. Anyways, I found him on Twitter because someone I followed retweeted something that seemed very odd from Mr. Bailey. To the best of my recollection, the tweet was “What game am I thinking of?”, and whatever game it was was so obvious, but everybody who responded acted like they did not know the game, including myself. I thought it was so bizarre, yet refreshing, that someone could have so much fun on Twitter talking about video games.

My discovery of @nintendo_legend (the underscore is important) could not have come at a better time in my life. You see, shortly after I started following Eric on Twitter, I moved out of state, all by my lonesome. As such, I had no friends in the new state. And because of tight budgetary constraints, I resorted to socializing on social media rather than some place like a bar. In hindsight, this may have been a bad idea, but I did make two very good connections by going the route I did. First off, I became friends with Valerie, aka the co conspirator behind Retro Power. Secondly, I found out about 1 More Castle. I remember leading up to the launch of the site, I kept hearing what amounted to whispers on the Internet. I would see someone mention it, then I would mean to look up the site, then I would forget. I did this a few times before I actually read about the site.

As soon I read about just what exactly the site was, I knew I had to be a part of it. So I contacted Andrew, and after some brain storming and exchanging of emails, I had my spot on the site as a video contributor. Something I have not shared publicly is that while starting and sustaining D-Ported I was always scared, and never felt like I knew what I was doing. Through doing the show though, I learned how to overcome some of my fear of rejection. I also got to be a part of some of the most fun (and funny) conversations. By being a part of the 1 More Castle community, I have seriously laughed harder than I can ever remember. I don’t want to get all sappy, and say stuff like it will never be the same, and these were the greatest times of my life. But not having the familiarity of the podcast weekly, paired with a strong steady stream of excellent content WILL leave a very big hole in my heart.

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Fear not readers, should you want to continue to interact with either of us, you can always follow us on Twitter. You can find Alex under the username @chronoslinger, and Valerie under the username @the_valerie. Alex will also continue making videos on his YouTube channel. There may be a new collaboration on the horizon involving Alex, and some other former 1 More Castle contributors, so pay attention to his Twitter and/or his YouTube channel for details. Valerie is also pretty fond of instagram, where she goes by chaidragon, & she’s involved with the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club (which is actually not just for girls), so you can totally check that site out & maybe find something of interest going on there.