05/06/2019

A Picture Of Flat Shaded Polygons, On A Fuzzy Arcade Monitor, With An iPhone Photo Filter Applied (From The Attract Mode Archive: #012)

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

The following post originally appeared on attractmo.de, on October 9, 2012.
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Codependent No Moe by Hilary Florido, one of the custom arcade cabinets that graced Heavenly Symphony.

The poor thing has been through a lot over the past two years, with battle scars to prove it. At least it’s now safe and sound, thank goodness, at its new home: NYU Game Center! And with that, how about another dose of the Super Instagram Entertainment System?

The following is from earlier this summer; before heading up to Seattle for PAX Prime, I usually spend August a couple miles south, in my hometown of Tacoma. There you’ll find the B&I Marketplace, which houses the biggest arcade in the entire Pacific Northwest.

Unfortunately, it’s a shell of its former self these days. Most games are glitched like crazy, or totally dead. Codependent No Moe still functions, whereas Galaxy Force 2 is not nearly as lucky…

Over the years there have been various attempts to revive the arcade. The most recent one involved local artists who were hired to spruce up the place. With this charming depiction of DDR players being my favorite example…

My love for Sega’s arcade heritage stems from the B&I. Too bad the super deluxe model of Virtua Racing bit the dust some time ago (with its still present carcass a beyond depressing sight). At least Virtua Fighter is still hanging in there…

Those interested in seeing more can do so here. Moving on, we have yet another rough around the edges arcade. This one is from the back alley of Shinjuku, courtesy of Dan Szpara, aka one of the dudes who runs Tokyo Scum Brigade

Meat Bun’s very own Mike McWhertor was also in Japan recently, for Tokyo Game Show. Where he spotted a manga-fied version of Quan Chi from Mortal Kombat at Super Potato in Akihabara…

I too wonder why Nintendo dropped this art style for Link…

I also have no idea if Grace “Thymine” V‘s pixelated monster girl is from a game. I sure hope so…

I’m confident that anyone with even the slightest bit of familiarity with Adventure Time knows what Jenn De La Vega is going to be this Halloween…

Cory recently moved to Chicago with his girlfriend. So here we have a common sight: someone in their brand new apartment, one that is empty, except for a huge-ass TV on the floor, with a PS3 hooked up (or maybe there is furniture present, out in the darkness)…

My good buddy Dave Roman, while on his latest book tour, recently stopped by some pop culture themed restaurant in St. Louis, which had a rather tricked out looking Pac-Man room…

At the local game store that Ted frequents, this is what they use as a door stop…

Asif recently attended the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, where he nabbed Batman for the NES. I have no idea if his copy was like this already, or if it’s the result of whatever voodoo magic that he’s responsible for…

Everyone knows Maré for his super cute Pokemon, but he likes draw Sonic too, you know…

For as long as I’ve know Lamar Abrams, he’s been obsessed with the idea of a Game Boy being his cell phone…

If you follow Lamar on Instagram (and you totally should), you’re guaranteed to get one of two things: work in progress sketches of stuff he’s working on, and screencaps of whatever Mega Man rom hack (or some other curiosity from Japan, like Cocoron)

Lots of game related events have been happening these past couple of weeks. Here we have the prize that Capy Games nabbed at Fantastic Arcade, for Super Time Force, courtesy of Kris Piotrowski‘s Insta feed…

More recently was Indiecade, and Mister Raroo was there to capture the most interesting bits. Including Live action Frogger

Castle Crasher pinball…

And just a bunch of kids enjoying a game that looks vaguely familiar, but which I can’t quite put my finger on…

Meanwhile, I have no idea what this shot, taken by my pal Mal(lory Blair), is about. All I know is that it’s Clive Thompson explaining the first easter egg in a video game…

I also have no idea who “thefuturetoday” is, who just started following me on Instagram. But the dude is rocking a Genesis Midi interface, crafted by Aussie chiptune superstar Little Scale, on a Nomad. Which makes him a cool cat in my book…

And one last pic from myself, from this past Friday night. In which Bit Shifter, one of the living legends of the NYC chip scene, is tearing the house down at I/O third anniversary shindig…

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