It’s one thing to read about classic 80’s gaming, but it’s another all together to have lived through it. And while we can’t exactly replicate the experience — face it, that rat tail that we’re sporting doesn’t go well with the faux-hawk — we can still bring a bit of the flavor to our daily lives. Before it gets annoying, at least.
I’ve scoured the web for ways to “8-bitify” our lives, from apparel to music to social networks, that will make the rest of 8-Bit Week seem like a cakewalk. The collection of retro goodies that follows should (hopefully) satisfy even the most hardened fan.
ThinkGeek
There are plenty of ways to get retro clothing and items, from the Donkey Kong shirt at Target to the old Atari boxers at your local Salvation Army, but none of that is really 8-bit. ThinkGeek is thankfully here to make real pixelated items. A simple search for 8-bit on the website returns goodies including the iconic tie and oven mitt, as well as Asteroids wall decals and pixel watches. And for the coup de grâce on your wallet I’d suggest the solar-powered Super Mario plants.
Eightbit.me
If you grew up loving the Sierra Online adventure games of the Eighties like I did (Space Quest shout-out!) then you also appreciated the character art that went along with it. Using just a few blocks of color to convey motion and emotion the designers were able to make memorable, life-like characters on the screen. Today’s Avatars and Miis have much more detail, but this makes them less a reflection of our minds and more a reflection of our physical bodies.
Website eightbit.me takes avatar creation back to the Sierra days with an online character customizer for Twitter. With the ability to change the color of a few blocks for hair, clothing and, and background a blocky caricature is made, ready to be inserted into Twitter profiles everywhere. Since Twitter is kind of an adventure game in and of itself, it works out well.
Chiptune Music
The NES era brought with it so many memorable themes that we can whistle the music from any 80s RPG overworld in our sleep. And while there are several purchasable soundtracks of music of the time, flash forward to today to listen to modern 8-bit sounds. Chiptune.com is one of our favorites, designed like an old computer OS to display all manner of information on the subject.
And even though you can’t make it out to the annual Blip Festival, you can pick up Reformat the Planet, the fest’s documentary vid. Finally, you can still hear modern 8-bit jams via 8bitcollective. They make great ring tones, by the way.
iam8bit
Even though their website is being revised (it will be back up this weekend) iam8bit productions has their work showing up all over the web. The company focuses on creating modern art of classic video games, through paintings, audio, video, and everything in between. They put on gallery shows and publish books, so there’s no excuse to pass on some great (and often disturbing) works of retro art.
Wallpaper Me
Since the moment Windows 95 was released, users of computers have been adorning their desktops with images of video games. Even with modern devices, like iPads and Android phones, uses are still customizing their experiences with classic gaming scenes. The folks over at FreakyFonts have assembled a few nice images to use for your PCs, but scouring the web will find you even more. The folks over at the Retroist constantly dig up classics, and a search through Deviant Art always returns something fresh.
On the mobile front, the amount of wallpapers in the genre are plentiful. So. Sexy.
There are plenty of ways to make yourself 8-Bit, so if you come across one feel free to share in the comments.
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