A little more work done on the arcade machine this afternoon, a lot of Easter eggs consumed and a chill out session with footage from Revision 2013.
In particular, the old school demo competition has once again produced some amazing sequences on the early 8-bits like the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX and a great demo on the Ammy CPC as well as some dizzy 16-bit escapades on the Amiga and ST.
Looking back through some very old gaming magazines, I notice that most of the screen shots for those early arcade games often look kinda blurred – I’m guessing because screen capture was all about some bloke with a camera standing in front of an arcade cabinet and shooting at high speed to reduce the amount of blur? It got me thinking, what if I went the opposite way shot with a loooong exposure?
I set my camera up this evening, manually focused on my Netbook running a selection of arcade games, set the iso to 100, exposure to 30 seconds and with joypad in one hand, remote release in the other, I switched the lights off.
Asteroid shower
Intruder Alert
Vintage Invaders
Retro Zapper
Robotron 10,000,000.
Stay on Target.
Tempest Warp.
Day tripping to Neptune.
They’re coming in too fast!
Raiding
One of the things I like about the Mattel Intellivision Lives! game pack on the Nintendo DS is that the second screen is used to display a recreation of the card overlays that were used on the original Intellivision controllers.
I’m also loving the designs on some these vintage overlays even if the game itself is a bit iffy.
I’ve put together a little gallery below containing some of my favorite designs.
Check out some of these Donkey Kong inspired movie scenes by pixel artist BazNet. All we need now is a talented coder who could actually mod DK for us so we can actually play these 
This first one from ESB has got to be my favourite.
Check out even more from this great artist and also links to purchasing prints and tees at – http://baznetart.blogspot.co.uk/
So tempting to go for the ESB t-shirt.
It always make me smile when you see a computer and video game advertisements from the 70′s and 80′s. They all seemed grouped into only a handful of themes.
The celeb endorsement.
Bill
another Bill
a Bill you don’t want to make angry
..and Isaac, who would probably have preferred to be called Bill
Back to the future.
The serious businessman’s computer for doing serious things and wearing ties.
Oi, get them sleeves rolled down, we’re serious business men.
and it’s worth every penny. And I know, I’m a serious businessman.
I’m a serious businessman as well, I just fancied wearing different coloured trousers today.
The incredibly super super happy family.
They should put sparkles on our teeth.
Hah, you won’t be smiling when Minestorm hands you your ass.
Look, Timmy’s fraggin!
Which one of us is actually playing Mario?…Shut up and keep smiling.
The man’s man club. Moustaches at the ready.
Pfffffph
Snigger
Super fly awesome-ness
Retro cool
Sifting through another box from my parents loft and I’ve found the remaining parts of my Return of the Jedi weekly (uk) comic collection. Right, time to get organised for sorting and rebagging.
Here’s the first issue which uses the same artwork as found on the ROTJ annual (or vice versa?). Badge is long gone now though.
Inside, there’s the beginning of the comic adaptation of ROTJ. Gotta love that ink work by Al Williamson. Him, Archie Goodwin, Starwars = winning combo.
..and moving on to ESB. Dammit, I’m supposed to be sorting these out but can’t help browsing through so many of them 
…and it’s not just the comic stories I’ve been enjoying too, the advertisements and back covers are super retro cool too. Does anyone remember these…and does anyone still use the word ‘Jeepers’?
Yeah the Videopac should do the job, heavy bugger it is.
I recall, Chewie’s fudge was particularly nasty, and I’m still staying well clear of Yoda’s gooseberries That Action Transfer set picture bring back a lot of memories too and remember many a book cover,whether the owner liked it or not, containing an ewok or three.
I always wanted that C-3po watch on my wrist but it just wasn’t to be….eBay to the rescue?
Here’s an interesting find from one of the Christmas covers. Well I’ll be, the artist is famed computer game artist Bob Wakelin.
Many a Bothan spies and Kenner action figure card backs died in the quest to obtain the Emperor promotion figure. I cringe now as I remember attacking those card backs with a pair of scissors. If only we’d know eh?
We’ll here is a nice surprise, tucked down one side of the box was a bag, containing a white mailer box containing his greyness himself.
He’s not fully sealed but he’s still minty fresh, and walking stick is present. That’s probably due to the fact that on receiving the figure all those years ago it was deciding that as a Kenner action figure the Emperor pretty much sucked compared to the coolness of Boba Fett (always the top choice), cloud car pilot (something about that cool uniform) and a whole host of others. Back then and pre-prequels, he wasn’t that somersaulting sabre welding kick ass Darth Sidious/Palpatine we now know him as.
As a result, the Emperor didn’t feature in many of our battles and so today, my action figure retains all of his paint and his joints are still stiff as new.
I’d thought him long gone to be honest and so it was a such a nice surprise to find him tucked away back there. Thanks to a backdrop from Deviant artist Robert Plintott on my laptop I can proudly display him again – Although…as an action figure, he still pretty much sucks
Following on from my brief look at Pinball on the NES, I came across these fun, fan based images I wanted to share.
Here’s artist Jordan Baugher recreation of what Nintendo’s Pinball might have looked if created as a proper pinball table.
http://peachycomics.com/graphicdesign.html
This next image is rather cool and appears to a recreation of Nintendo Pinball using Visual Pinball/PinMame.
Now that really would be cool to play around with, especially with descent pinball physics. Sadly I can find no working link to a download this table so maybe you’ll have better luck?
Want a new case for your loose NES Pinball cartridge? How about treating it to a funky archive box?
http://www.retrogamecases.com/shop/nintendo/pinball/
…or I guess, Photoshop and create your own
Hehe, checkout these fun Gameboy cartridge labels on the designer blog 3liter
Can you image how cool these would be if they was real? Gimme Nintendo Soundcloud!
Awesome weekend, thanks y’all.
Quick photo of my second home edited with Pixlromatic
Check out this hilarious Punch-Out! comic from Zac Gorman – Had me in stitches.
Zac is one hellava talented chap and you can see more of his work at -
http://magicalgametime.com/tagged/Comics
and
I picked this up via a friend knowing that I was a Sensi fan.
It’s a kickstarter project who’s aim is to publish a biography of Sensible Software from 1986 – 1999.
If you’ve played Wizball, Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder, Parallax or spent ages churning out a half descent Schmup with S.E.U.C.K then you know that Sensible Software was a producer of damn fine computer entertainment.
For more info, including the project trailer (because I’m having difficulty embedding into this post) and to make a donation, please head on over to –
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darrenwall/sensible-software-19861999-by-read-only-memory
I was browsing through some of the software donated by the visitors to RCM’s gaming event the other day and came across a great looking game cover for the Phillips Videopak/Odyssey 2. It’s such a great cover for a video hybrid board game I wanted to see if I could find a digital copy.
Mmm, neon grids!
Here’s a few more Odyssey 2 game boxes rich 70′s Sci-Fi artwork. They should bring this style back!
Here’s a great gallery showcasing the classic graphic design styles used during early days of video gaming. The websites clutter free design really let’s the artwork stand out and I especially like way you can scroll left and right through the image sets.
Definitely a site I’ll keep returning too, especially if the content increases.
http://artofthearcade.com/165-2/
The unforgettable Activision ‘rainbow’ design used on many early box covers for titles like Pitfall, Barn Storming and Freeway.
Atari Logo – Surely the most iconic gaming logo of all?
George Opperman – Creator of many, now iconic, video game art pieces.
Check out that mini Star Wars arcade cabinet!
Retro heaven!
Saw this and thought of you.
Love seeing examples of pixel art in real life photographs, especially classic video games.
William and James shopping.
Play catch?
For more great images, please visit the artists page – http://www.aledlewis.com
Added to my todo list are a few ideas I’d like to try myself.
