Retro Perspective Blog - All things Retro - Movies, TV & Video Games

Hungry Eyes – X-Files meets Dirty Dancing

retroperspective — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:15:38 +0000

For anyone who understands the nature of Moulder and Scully’s relationship, this x-files tribute will surely make sense.. i love it )

The Pacman Car

retroperspective — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:59:19 +0000

The Pacman Car: For anyone that enjoys a bit of nostalgia, or even just unusual cars.
This was a converted hot-rod drag-racing car made to look like the classic arcade-game character Pacman.

Videogame personal ads – who would you date?

retroperspective — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:09:36 +0000

If you trawled through the personal ads in The Gaming Icon Times then you might see some interesting entries from some fairly recognisable characters.. Would you respond to any of these personal ads?

Pacman

Colourful but rotund gentleman felling a little flat and looking for significant other, must be tolerant of pill addiction and crippling fear of ghosts. Would provide exciting trips around mazes and offers all the fruit you can eat.

Super Mario

Diminutive plumber WLTM girl who doesn’t get kidnapped every week and who likes go karting and collecting stars. GSOH and tolerance of facial hair a must, and would prefer an Italian girl with plenty of mushroom recipes.

Donkey Kong

Hirsute gentleman seeking his own princess, often told that there is a resemblance to a major movie star, and is a barrel of laughs but does suffer from bouts of rage. Likes: bananas, bowling and dancing. Dislikes: Plumbers and ladders.

Space Invader

Ship that passed in the night looking for a stable relationship. On a downward spiral and looking for a new path in life that doesn’t take me back into the firing line.

Lara Croft

SWF seeking sharer of adventures. Archaeological background preferred with own fedora hat and bullwhip necessary. A former cover-girl and English heiress who can provide exotic adventures and hidden treasures for right man.

Gordon Freeman

MIT graduate seeking love. Any applicant must be a non-smoker and be capable of handling close encounters with alien life-forms. Own life-protecting robot not a must but would be preferred. Unerring aim and love of adventure a must.

Super Mario – The Best Game Ever

retroperspective — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:28:12 +0000

This was posted on MSN today and i thought it was worth sharing with you all…

In the young but rapidly maturing medium of gaming, there are only a few titles that can lay claim to already being genuinely iconic: Space Invaders, Pac Man, Asteroids, perhaps Doom, definitely Donkey Kong and Tetris and, right at the top of the list, the best selling game of all time, Super Mario Bros.

Of course, the likes of Space Invaders are always going to be considered the most influential games because they were trailblazers for gaming. If you were to compare the medium of games to that of films, then these are the equivalents of Metropolis or Charlie Chaplin movies.

The greatest gaming icons

But where would Super Mario Bros fit into this comparison? I would suggest, with full awareness of Mario’s Donkey Kong roots, that this game is the King Kong of the gaming world.

Let us for one second look at how Mario came to be linked with the silver screen’s most famous beast in the first place. Back when video games were still a novelty, designer Shigeru Miyamoto came up with a game that involved a simple yet devastatingly effective concept.

A diminutive blocky hero tentatively labelled ‘Jumpman’ had to rescue a princess from Donkey Kong, a giant ape that stood posturing at the top of the screen hurling objects down the ladder-laden platforms that needed to be negotiated to reach the goal.

Nintendo knew the game had the potential to break the US market, but having a giant ferocious gorilla named Kong somewhat inevitably attracted the ire of Universal Studios, who felt that it infringed on their own intellectual property, King Kong.

As the battle raged in court, Jumpman was evolving into an Italian American plumber named Mario, and, in a stroke of luck for gamers everywhere, as Universal lost their case against Nintendo, a star was born.

After acquiring a brother in Mario Bros, Mario was firmly rooted as one of gaming’s most memorable protagonists. So it made sense that when Nintendo sought to design a game that would make their Nintendo Entertainment System home console a success, they turned to their main man.

A brief history of… Nintendo

Super Mario Bros – again designed by the genius Miyamoto – arrived as computer games were going through a rough patch, and not only re-launched Nintendo as a worldwide brand but also sparked a renaissance throughout the whole industry.

The game concept slotted perfectly into the Nintendo ethos: the gameplay was simple, the characters striking and, certainly not least of all, the sounds and music were perfect. Most avid gamers could still identify the main tunes in seconds, and the noises that accompanied each jump and every power-up have become as iconic as the hero himself.

From a technological standpoint, Super Mario Bros and its smooth side scrolling was enough to inspire some of gaming’s other great innovators. John Carmack and John Romero – the men behind such classics as Wolfenstein 3D and the seminal Doom – have often talked of their own joyous reaction to the game.

From the first jump onto a Koopa Troopa, to the first time you hit a block to knock out a coin; from the first mushroom you collected, to the opening bars of the music; from the first time you venture down a pipe, to the first secret area you discovered – this was a game that screamed classic, that shouted seminal, that deafened you with its claims to be iconic.

Packed with wonderful moments, Super Mario Bros was an experience, a joy and enough to elicit a gasp from wide-eyed fans everywhere. Just like a film that had left audiences screaming with delight more than half a century before in 1933.

If you were to compile a list of the most influential games of all time and then compare it to 100 others, you would be almost guaranteed to find Super Mario Bros on each of them. It is a game that was ahead of its time and defined its time – a time when vision and gameplay were more important than graphics and Dolby stereo.

Likewise, if you picked out the most striking moments in the history of cinema, you may well find that a giant gorilla climbing the Empire State building makes many lists – that or the beast being exhibited to a New York audience, or grasping a blonde damsel in distress in a giant fist.

Assemble a list of the most famous film icons and King Kong might well be among them. Likewise, top of the computer gaming list comes Mario – a character with the history and pedigree to sell games over quarter of a century since he made his debut.

Super Mario Bros was one of the first blockbuster games. So good that people bought the Nintendo console in order to play it, the game sold millions of copies and left very few disappointed despite the growing hype. In short, Super Mario Bros has to be considered the King Kong of gaming – a title so powerful that it shook up the entire world and set a whole generation of creators thinking about that would come next.

Official Dangermouse Mugs

retroperspective — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:58:52 +0000

Official Dangermouse Mugs – Only £4.99 including Free Delivery!!!

I couldn’t believe the bargain price of these Retro, Licensed Dangermouse Mugs, They are made to last and are completley dishwasher proof.

Boxed in lovely packaging they would make great gifts. Each Quality mug features a large printed Dangermouse character on the outside of the mug as well as a smaller decal actually inside the mug.

Click an image below see more info and buy these mugs online..

Retro Super Mario Dot Pin Scenes

retroperspective — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:38:54 +0000

You can now buy some fantastic Dot Pin super mario scenes that allow you to create characters from Super Mario Bros.

Each Retro Super Mario Dot Pin Scene lets you to rearrange the different colour pins to recreate many different characters from the Nintendo Super Mario Bros games, including Mario, Koopa Troopa, Mushroom, and more!

Each scene costs £6.99 and includes free delivery. These make great additions to your gaming cabinet and compliments any retro console collection.

If you have the pleasure of owning these, please send us your pictures of the characters you’ve created and we will showcase them on our blog for you.

Click here to buy the Mario or Luigi dot Pin Scenes

Our Brand New Retro T-Shirt Site…

retroperspective — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:55:10 +0000

Hey Peeps,

Sorry we have been away for such a long time, but we have been quietly crafting a new website..
Drum Roll please… Introducing www.cool-retro-tshirts.co.uk!

This our brand new Retro T-Shirts site.. with all our products provided by Truffle Shuffle clothing. It has a similar feel to our blog, with some great videos of original film trailers and cartoon introns in each of the t-shirt deparments..

So… Please Have a look for us and let us know what you think… www.cool-retro-tshirts.co.uk

Oh.. and if anyone fancy’s designing us a new logo for the site.. then i’m sure theres a retro tshirt in it for you somewhere ;o)

Pulp Muppets – Muppets meets Pulp Fiction

retroperspective — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:48:02 +0000

Pulp Muppets

Pulp Fiction mash up trailer with the Muppets

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

retroperspective — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:33:27 +0000

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

Movie Quotes counting down.. you’ll get the jist

Eddie Izzard- James Bond

retroperspective — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:29:32 +0000

Eddie Izzard- James Bond

A lego animation to comedian Eddie Izzard talki… (more)
Added: June 26, 2007
A lego animation to comedian Eddie Izzard talking about James Bond.
Jam Trousers Anyone?