The Pop-Culture E-Zine
We got quite giddy when we came across John Henderson’s tweet depicting his bitmap creation of Palace Software’s Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior as C64 Barbarian He-Man Edition.
To say we hope this coding continues to fully recreate the ultimate slash’em up game on the C64, is an understatement! I have the POWER!
[image and story source: John Henderson via Twitter]
Everyone loves a nostalgia trip. They take you back to a time once forgotten, and with these awesome gifs, done by car leasing company Select Car Leasing as part of a quiz, you’ll get that two-fold, with these legendary movie motors, re-vamped into an iconic, old-school 8-Bit style.
First, we have everyone’s favourite time-travelling vehicle, the DeLorean, Marty McFly’s mode of transportation to go back and forward through time in the unforgettable Back To The Future films. The DeLorean, which had to reach 88 mph in order to time travel, is actually back in production, being pieced together in Texas, rather than in Northern Ireland where the original was produced.
This Aston Martin V12 Vanquish is probably more famous for the epic ice chase/battle it had in the James Bond film, “Die Another Day” than it is as a standalone classic bond car. Going up against Zao’s Jaguar XKR, the two cars had possibly the greatest one-on-one battle of the Bond franchise, flipping over missiles and crashing through ice walls, with the baddy meeting his demise after being impaled by an ice chandelier.
The guys at Select Car Leasing couldn’t do work on iconic movie cars without putting at least one Batmobile in. Here is the first Batmobile that hit the movie theatres back in 1989 when the first Batman film arrived starring Michael Keaton as the caped crusader.
Not all of movies’ most iconic cars were restricted to driving on the road you know? Here we see the Spinner from the classic cyberpunk film, Blade Runner that featured Harrison Ford as main character Rick Deckard. These flying Police cars were used to survey the general public from the skies and will be seen again in the upcoming remake, Blade Runner 2049.
And finally, another motor that could take to the skies, possibly the most iconic car in movie history, the amazing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This vehicle looks fantastic but according to lead actor Dick Van Dyke, saying that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was “a little difficult to manoeuvre, with the turning radius of a battleship”.
You can see more awesome 8-Bit movie cars by taking Select Car Leasing’s quiz here, which includes vehicles such as the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, Mad Max’s Interceptor, Herbie and a really cool transforming Bumblebee!
Witness these super-cool 8-bit animations of the vehicles from Mad Max: Fury Road – illustration by Evgeniy Yudin (Mazok Pixels) and animation by Misha Petrick. OMG, I want to drive these cars in a game!
Source: Behance via Laughing Squid
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter
Stockholm’s Thorildsplan Tunnelbana (or ‘Tunnel Rail’) station is a thing of 8-bit beauty. The station is covered in mosaic pixel art by Swedish artist Lars Arrhenius featuring Mario Bros and Pac-Man, among others. If you’re ever in Sweden, be sure to stop by Thorildsplan a.k.a. ‘Retroville’!
Video source: MadCraft on YouTube
Source: Digital Versus and Laughing Squid
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter
French artist ‘Invader’ identifies himself as an ULA or an ‘unidentified living artist’ – he always uses his pseudonym and appears behind a mask. Invader has been working on an awesome, enormous, ongoing street art project, code named ‘Space Invaders‘, since 1998.
‘Space Invaders’ is about liberating art from museums and bringing our 8-bit friends into the real world. Invader creates 8-bit images with tiles and installs them on on walls in cities around the World (currently 3096 works in 64 cities)! In his own words: ‘Each of these unique pieces become the fragment of a monumental installation.’
The project is brilliantly chronicled on the fantastic interactive map on the ‘Space Invaders’ website.
As well as city walls and bridges, there are mosaics installed 2362 meters above ground in the village of Anzère in Switzerland, on a series of underwater sculptures in Cancun Bay in Mexico (installed with the help of sculptor Jason deCaires), and even on the International Space Station!
Anzère, Switzerland
Cancun Bay, Mexico
International Space Station, Space
Each piece is given a score of 10 to 100 and every city has an overall score which is the sum of all the Space Invaders on its walls.
Melbourne, Australia
(See this map for some of Melbourne’s Space Invader locations)
Vienna, Austria
Côte d’Azur, France
Miami, USA
Bangkok, Thailand
Tokyo, Japan
London, UK
NYC, USA
Paris, France
Take a look around your own city, you may find some unexpected friends!
Source: Space Invaders
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter
Winter is fast approaching in the Southern Hemisphere and we are on the lookout for cool ways to keep warm. With just a few weeks to go, you had better get knitting (or crocheting) if you want to be able to rug up with one of these 8-knit retro beauties.
Looking Hot In Contra & Super Mario Sweaters By Sweaterrarium
Don’t Let The Cold Invade Your Feet Or Head (Space Invaders Socks & Woolly Hat)
Wow! A Multi-Panel, Queen-Size Super Mario Bros. Blanket
A Beautiful Mario Tunisian Crochet Blanket (With Pattern)
If I Made This, I Would Be Thinking ‘Waka’ Every Time I Made A Stitch!
(Pac-Man Blanket By PiNiKoLi On DeviantArt)
This Super-Cute Pikachu Blanket Contains 1,680 Crocheted Squares & Measures 2.5 x 2 Metres! (Pikachu Blanket By PiNiKoLi On DeviantArt)
Awesome Donkey Kong, Pac-Man & Space Invaders Crocheted Gamer Blankets
(Via Nerd Approved)
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter
Inspired by his love for classic video games, Barcelona-based graphic designer and illustrator Octavi Navarro ‘Pixels Huh’ creates simply beautiful, unique and highly-detailed pixel art scenes.
He remembers ‘being blown away with the rich worlds those (classic video game) designers and artists were able to create with such heavy limitations’.
Here are a few of his works – I could literally spend hours looking at them! Be sure to visit the Pixels Huh website to see the rest.
Cats
1979
Moon Base
Midnight Carnival
Ben
Watch Octavi create the gorgeous ‘Ben’ image (and visit Pixels Huh on YouTube to see his other videos).
Source: Pixels Huh on YouTube
You can buy prints (and many other items) or even learn how to make your own pixel art via Octavi’s tutorials!
Source: Pixels Huh, Pixels Huh on YouTube
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter
Could you imagine the media frenzy if our beloved 8-bit video games had gruesome fatalities just like in Mortal Kombat? Now that would be an awesome dream come true. You can never have enough fatalities in video games (Ed: settle down!). I would personally like to see those pesky Galaga bugs get obliterated in the most brutal way!
Hang on a second! Steven Lefcourt has made this dream come true in his great artwork depiction of 8-bit fatalities. Splat – take that Goomba! Damn the ignorant media!
source: Steven Lefcourt
