joe randel's art dump

Today I was discussing with a friend our love of old games.  She loves old PC games and I love old console games.  But regardless of the system/device we play them on, we both agree that our love of old video games far out weighs our love of current ones.  Not to say that we don’t like what’s current, but there is something more appealing to what was being played in the 80’s and early 90’s.

Some might say that we’re just looking back through rose-coloured glasses, but I disagree.  I get far more pleasure playing old, or even older style games then I do out of most current ones.  My favorite game on the DS is Retro Game Master.  It’s a collection of 80’s style NES games and challenges the player with accomplishing specific tasks to unlock the next title.  It’s based off a Japanese show called Game Center CX which is one of my favorites.  What’s the show about?  Well, you watch a guy play retro games to completion… usually.  If I can’t play old games, I like to play indie titles that are made to be like old and retro.  Classic arcade games also have a special place in my heart.  If I had to pick a system to make a game for, it would be the GameBoy.  I love the idea of having limits and having to work with in them.  Today’s systems and titles have just about everything, but sometimes I think they lose the scope and focus that older games had.

Sometimes I feel like I was born too late.  Too late to make these old games that I love, but at least born at the right time to play and enjoy them.  I so wish I could have been a part of the teams that made those beautiful pixel games.  Most people who I know don’t care to play old games anymore.  They say they have a hard time going back to games gone by.  I’m ready and willing to go there all the time!  Do you like to play old games or do you find it hard to play them when newer things are out.  Do you even still have your old consoles or games?

It’s well known fact that I love retro things.  Cartoons, video games, it’s all cool in my books.  Well, my son today went and bought (with his own money) the entire series of the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon.  No, I wasn’t there to influence him.  I fact, my wife made it clear that this would take pretty much all the money he had on him.  He didn’t care and bought it anyway.

I couldn’t be more proud. ^_^

Last week I wandered in to the local comic shop and I saw something.  Something wonderful.  Something I knew I just had to have.  It was a sexy pin up book of Bruce Timm’s art called Naughty and Nice.  Who’s Bruce Timm you ask?  Well, did you watch Batman the animated series in the 90’s? Yes? Then you know who Bruce Timm is.  He was actually the co-creator of the series.  He also has this amazing retro style in his art and his girly drawings are fantastic! Continue reading