This week’s GenXGrownUp Insider has a little bit of everything: arcade controls, classic console oddities, tiny tabletop nostalgia, one very useful NES trick, and another round of CULTIC chaos on the horizon. Plus, we’ve got a new Pac-Man Gaming Watch winner, a few quick retro news honorable mentions, and one tiny no-pressure favor that can help keep the newsletter rolling another week.

Some arcade classics just don’t feel right on a normal joystick or gamepad, and that’s exactly where the FightBox R10 Dual Flight Stick comes in. We take this specialty controller for a spin with games like TRON, Robotron: 2084, Smash TV, Battlezone, and more to see whether dual sticks, triggers, and a spinner can finally bring that weird, wonderful arcade feel home.

After checking out VENTURE on the ColecoVision, we had to see how the Atari 2600 version held up under much tighter hardware limits. The result is a fascinating little port that keeps the basic dungeon-crawling treasure hunt intact, even if some of the arcade personality got left behind in the translation. It’s blocky, simplified, occasionally awkward — and still way more fun than it has any right to be.

We love making the GenXGrownUp Insider, but right now we’re getting about four ad clicks out of more than 1,300 subscribers — which means our ads are currently being outperformed by a decent garage sale flyer.

So here’s our tiny, shameless, no-pressure ask: if you see an ad in this newsletter, give it a click. That’s it. You don’t have to buy anything, subscribe to anything, sign up for anything, or explain to your spouse why another package showed up. Just the click helps fund the GXG newsletter for another week and keeps the retro fun rolling.

Thanks for helping us keep this thing alive, weird, and wonderfully GenX.

We’re taking a closer look at the 2005 Excalibur Space Invaders Backlit LCD Tabletop Minicade, a tiny tribute to one of the most iconic arcade games ever made. It’s got the classic tabletop shape, glowing backlit screen, and just enough early-2000s plug-and-play weirdness to make us wonder: is this a fun little collectible, or did Space Invaders lose something in the shrink ray?

The CULTIC chaos continues this Thursday, July 9th, as we jump back into this gloriously gritty retro FPS for our second live stream and head straight into Map #2: The Shipyard. Expect creepy cultists, chunky old-school gunplay, suspiciously explosive barrels, and plenty of dockside danger as the GXG crew blasts, panics, reloads, and almost certainly makes a few questionable tactical decisions live.

Here’s a classic NES trick that somehow still feels like playground contraband: in the original Super Mario Bros., after you get a Game Over, go back to the title screen, hold A, then press Start. Instead of getting dumped all the way back at World 1-1 like the game owns your weekend, you’ll continue at the start of the world where you lost your last life. Tiny trick. Huge sanity saver.

Not every retro gaming story can make the main lineup, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth a quick shout-out. Here are a few extra headlines from the past week that caught our attention, sparked our curiosity, or were just too interesting to leave behind.

Look, we know we just featured the FightBox R10 Dual Flight Stick in a video, but sometimes a gadget earns a victory lap. With dual sticks, triggers, and that glorious spinner, this thing scratches a very specific arcade itch for games like TRON, Robotron: 2084, Smash TV, and Battlezone. Are we double dipping? Absolutely. But when a controller makes old arcade weirdness feel this good at home, we’re calling it less of a repeat and more of a public service.

A big retro congratulations to this week’s Pac-Man Gaming Watch winner: Rick L.! The giveaway maze is getting mighty short now, with only two watches left before our weekly prize run comes to an end.

Also, quick reminder: please take a peek in your spam, junk, or promotions folder just in case you missed a previous winner announcement or email from us. Sometimes our messages get gobbled up by the email ghosts, and we’d hate for anyone to miss out because their inbox decided to play Pac-Man with our notifications.

Want to meet us in person? We’ll be listing our upcoming convention appearances and live event stops here, so keep an eye out for where GenXGrownUp will be popping up next.