Rudy J. Ferretti

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1) The Elevator Pitch: If a stranger approached, knew nothing about you, and you had 15 seconds to introduce yourself, what would you say?

Hi I’m Rudy J. Ferretti, BIG time retro video gaming champion, and trying become an actor. I do voices and voiceovers etc… and I would add I love sports video games and helping others… and how is your day going and what are your plans? Lol, I can speak fast so I can very much say all this in 15 seconds ha.

2) A glance at your scores reveals that you are obviously one of the world’s top and most competitive gamers. You have dozens of world records, and are in the top five scores (many of which you once held the first) for dozens more. Of all your gaming accomplishments, is there any one in particular that you are the most proud of?

I think all scores in themselves have a special meaning to them, I don’t think I can pick one per say, I can tell you what makes any score special is the occasion, month and or date reasoning behind it etc…

The ones I’m most proud of are the ones I was first gamer ever to get a perfect score on and or 2nd to do it… Especially perfect scores.

3) A closer look at your scores would reveal that you just plain love video games — across many different consoles, handhelds, arcade cabinets, and even novelty titles. But you have an affinity for the NES in particular. Can you explain why you hold a special fondness for the 8-bit Nintendo machine?

It was my first real true system I grew up on, the system was first of its kind and changed gaming forever, with the massive variety of titles and fun factors of the games over the years, the NES never got boring and will always stand the test of time, besides the start of gaming with other systems, NINTENDO was actually around before the NES was around so it’s the reason we have anything still being made today, and the games are all remakes in some form of retro games only in my opinion and MANY others NOT nearly as fun and or original in any way… RETRO was first and it will be last to stand CLASSICS paved gaming period…

4) How are you doing? What are you up to nowadays?

I work as a bellman on the strip here in Las Vegas and love what I do, I go on auditions for my acting and play video games and go the gym, recently I found a new knack for cooking just by looking at cook books, and I specialize in chicken dishes, as well as stopping at nothing to fulfill both my acting and pro gaming dreams. I also detail cars on the side, I’ve been told I’m a jack of all trades and master of NONE lol, well that might be true but I think being great in many areas is better…

5) How about future projects, especially in terms of record scores? Will you continue to expand your horizons, or do you still have a few NES max-outs up your sleeve?

My plan is to one day hold every single perfect score that is possible on the NES platform. The nice thing about it is that we and many experts like myself still don’t even know how many can be maxed out to date, I know that I put a few up by changing the image of a max score unlike the ol’ 999,990 and/or 999,999, I made a few oddball scores of maxed out so I’m very excited to see what else I can do on MANY platforms and what is possible. I get criticized for my uniqueness and difference of a player more than most, I don’t wanna be like every other common gamer, I wanna be different, I have always been a leader and I tend to stay that way, I wanna be my own and change gaming forever and when I’m gone people will say he was a one of a kind, somebody has to do it, so why not this guy Rudy J. Ferretti…

6) Now, Rudy, let’s be honest: It’s no secret that you are not afraid to put forward a message that some would consider harsh. You do not have a perfect relationship with everyone. In fact, I would say that you even pride yourself on not “sugarcoating” anything. You truly tell it how you see it, and if someone has beef with it, you’ll let ‘em have it, no matter how big or small they are as an individual or organization. In the gaming realm, is there any particular trend or area that you want to warn people about, or voice any complaints about any organization or person?

Like I have said before I wanna be different, I’m sick of politics and hearing what others THINK the public wants to see, and what’s the market for, NO no, we should have by now created something similar to all around gaming like myself and Todd Rogers created BEFORE anyone else did, we all should be paid six figures to play and go to events etc… people talk about modern is where it’s at, well a little wake-up call: Commando for Activision, your so-called 1984 version lol of C.O.D, had we had the technology we have today Commando would have sold just as much and had as many players online back then IF not more. I’m not impressed by sales and record breaking, it’s stupid, just because a game gets millions of copies made it breaks records, and it’s a copycat gaming world and that is not how it should be, just like the food network they all specialize in areas to make it enjoyable to watch and that is WHY Julia Child is someone we can say YES SHE DID. Well I want people to say thanks to me someday when we have a real future to play games and not have to work a regular job just like any other athlete, I’m sick of hearing “you play stupid titles and games that nobody plays,” well so it’s a double edged sword: IF I play a popular game with 50 maxouts lol like Contra I’m not only NOT original I’m a copycat, BUT BUT If I play Mario Land that was GAME BOY’S all-time seller and was first to get 999,999 on, BECAUSE it has only 4 submissions, it’s still not good enough lol. I mean really games are games in my view not many submissions because the others obviously cannot hang, and the others want to be like everyone else… Rudy is not that way and will never be, I’m the original gamer of my kind, a voice, a champion and an oddball title kind of guy, I play what I like… you can call me a poser, a fake, whatever, I have been around longer than many of the gamers that think they were a name before me, well that’s okay they can think whatever they want, I will always still be standing and when I got knocked down and even KNOCKED out by politics, lies and corruption, who is one of the most popular names love me or hate me RUDY J. FERRETTI…

7) What advice would you give to someone wanting to become a more competitive gamer, especially on the classic retro scene?

I would tell them you have to crawl before you walk, play it all, you don’t have to be GREAT at all games BUT when you can play multiple systems and games and do it well THAT is a PRO, anyone can play Street Fighter, or COD and get good ANYONE, to be a PRO you gotta do it all, every athlete can do any position at any time THAT is why they are ONE of the best in the world. COMPETITIVE gaming today is very sad and biased, win or lose you should get paid, so my advice to him or her is good luck and that we need more voices out there to make it happen, I realized even if I had the CASH to give I could not make it happen alone; play play play, and when you think you got the game down play it some more, play the same game ‘til you wanna take it and chuck it out the window, and never say I can’t BECAUSE you can and will define the odds and be yourself…

8)When you are long gone and dead and buried (excuse my morbidity), what do you ultimately want your legacy to be? Gaming or otherwise, up to you.

I want people to say Rudy J. Ferretti was a person who was loved and hated, a true competitor and fighter and ONLY listened to himself and stood up for what he believed in and because of him we have a TRUE all around gaming professional opportunity today, and that my life story as a gamer will always be talked about, once published and put out for both view and reading MANY will be in shock…

One day the world will know my story and it will be told in full, of how I started, and what I went through and WHY I’m back now in the business making big money or not…

Last I want everyone to remember me as different and special in my own way and I know they all will….

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Thanks again, Rudy, for taking the time to answer some questions – I may not always agree with you, but I love your advocacy for retro gaming, your passion for getting every game recognized, and your huge amount of crazy NES game scores.

Ferretti on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/26starRetrochampion