Art Series Retro-izes Pikmin, Bioshock, and More

gregoryg

Mad Scientist
Jul 13, 2010
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Art Series Retro-izes Pikmin, Bioshock, and More

A series of pixellated images reimagining dozens of recent hits as two-dimensional SNES-style releases takes us back to the 16-bit era in style..

Brutal Legend was a hilarious game, but wouldn't it have been better as a point-and-click adventure, in the same vein as creator Tim Schafer's older releases? Would Bioshock's Rapture be as atmospheric in two dimensions? What would StarCraft look like if it had come out in 1988 instead of 1998? These are some of the questions that one Swedish pixel artist, Junkboy, wants to address. The artist has uploaded nearly two dozen demakes from Swedish magazine Level - pieces of pixel art that give us a glimpse of what modern videogames would look like on eight or sixteen-bit consoles - to the online message board Way of the Pixel [http://www.wayofthepixel.net].

This series of mock-ups makes one wonder what this generation's hits would be like without all of the frills of modern technology. If designers had come up with the same raw concepts ten or twenty years ago, what sort of games would have emerged? Without 3D, surround sound, and realistically rendered visuals, would the games be just as fun?

In my opinion, these demakes are beautiful enough to make me physically crave playable versions, but Junkboy takes a more humble stance on his work, posting that "many of these were made quick and dirty (relatively speaking) in order to make deadlines, so they're not all that pretty to look at." He adds that he released them so that they wouldn't "just gather dust" on his hard drive.

He is looking for feedback, positive or negative, and I suspect that many of you will have fun simply trying to guess which game each image represents.

Source: Way of the Pixel [http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=10694.0]

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Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
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Brutal Legend the adventure game...

Yeah. That'd have been awesome.

SOMEONE SHOW THESE TO TIM SCHAFER!
 

Tiswas

New member
Jun 9, 2010
638
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Wow. Some of these look better than the actual games themselves. *cough*XIII*cough*
 

KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
2,846
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Can't get to the pixel site right now, I think their servers choked on the crush of people that are trying to view them. XD

Oddly I don't remember any of my 16-bit games looking near as good as the brutal legends picture you have posted here. I will say this though, I'd play the 16-bit brutal legends PNC in a heart beat.
 

Svenparty

New member
Jan 13, 2009
1,346
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KeyMaster45 said:
Can't get to the pixel site right now, I think their servers choked on the crush of people that are trying to view them. XD

Oddly I don't remember any of my 16-bit games looking near as good as the brutal legends picture you have posted here. I will say this though, I'd play the 16-bit brutal legends PNC in a heart beat.
Cache the link and you can easily view the pictures.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
5,630
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Hehe...what they could have looked like if made all those years ago.

Gotta love point and click adeventure!
 

Blue Musician

New member
Mar 23, 2010
3,344
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Cannot see the pictures right now, but It sounds awesome.

I will need to go and check it out later on...
 

Cyanin

New member
Dec 25, 2009
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I'm trying to find my way to the pictures, what section of those forums are they in? It's a tad difficult to find..
 

SAMAS

New member
Aug 27, 2009
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Holy shit those are awesome!

I especially loved Bayonetta as a Danmaku and the 32-bit Pikmin.
 

dalek sec

Leader of the Cult of Skaro
Jul 20, 2008
10,237
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SAMAS said:
Holy shit those are awesome!

I especially loved Bayonetta as a Danmaku and the 32-bit Pikmin.
What's a Danmaku exactly? I do like the style they did for Bayonetta though, looks like fun! :D
 

Gaderael

New member
Apr 14, 2009
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Cyanin said:
I'm trying to find my way to the pictures, what section of those forums are they in? It's a tad difficult to find..
Click the link at the bottom of the article/

The pics are very awesome. I like the what appears to be the Fallout 3 sidescroller. I'd play that!
 

Cyanin

New member
Dec 25, 2009
209
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Gaderael said:
Cyanin said:
I'm trying to find my way to the pictures, what section of those forums are they in? It's a tad difficult to find..
Click the link at the bottom of the article/

The pics are very awesome. I like the what appears to be the Fallout 3 sidescroller. I'd play that!
*Facepalm*
Thank you kind sir.
 

TsunamiWombat

New member
Sep 6, 2008
5,870
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Cyanin said:
Gaderael said:
Cyanin said:
I'm trying to find my way to the pictures, what section of those forums are they in? It's a tad difficult to find..
Click the link at the bottom of the article/

The pics are very awesome. I like the what appears to be the Fallout 3 sidescroller. I'd play that!
*Facepalm*
Thank you kind sir.
I thought that was Modern Warfare, not Fallout.
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
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TsunamiWombat said:
Cyanin said:
Gaderael said:
Cyanin said:
I'm trying to find my way to the pictures, what section of those forums are they in? It's a tad difficult to find..
Click the link at the bottom of the article/

The pics are very awesome. I like the what appears to be the Fallout 3 sidescroller. I'd play that!
*Facepalm*
Thank you kind sir.
I thought that was Modern Warfare, not Fallout.
There were two guys, so my first thought was actually Army of Two. I really have no idea though.

OT: Legen-wait for it...
...
...
...DARY!!
 

Disembodied_Dave

The Could-Have-Been-King
Feb 5, 2009
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A friend of mine was looking for a pixel artist for a project. I'll have to tell him about that forum.

Sprite based games will never die! heh.