Back in the day, video games were displayed in pixelated animation. From Mario to Pong, to Pac-Man, these games were known less for their wondrous displays and more for their content.
These days, there are movies being announced left and right that are appearing in 3D. 3DTVs are hitting the market with a stride, and 3D films like Avatar have done very profitably in the theatres. Sure, there are some great movies that make excellent use of 3D technology. There are also some not-so-great movies that hop onto the movie bandwagon in the hopes of hogging some of the market share for themselves. I wouldn’t be so extreme as to say that it’s all in corporate interest; perhaps, it’s just because the filmmaker didn’t see eye-to-eye with some audiences.
I’ve noticed that these days, the simpler forms of display have been neglected for more visually-sweet eye candy. Enter Tomas Redigh and Daniel Larsson, two amigos who decided to create a video of them emulating 8-bit animation with the use of a lot of quarters. Using a black carpet, Redigh and Larsson animates a variety of things – from 3D text to a short Mario sequence – using nothing but a nice heaping chunk of quarters and apparently manual labor.
Although this sounds very primitive, the visual effect actually turns out quite powerful. It’s amazing how with all this technology out there, not many decide to create a sequence of clips that demonstrate the power of visuals. I’m not talking about the technical aspect, but rather the detail that was put into this clip.
The contrast between black carpet and shiny, silvery quarters is quite great. Featuring a sweet retro-based synth-focused beat, this video has clips from a lot of video games, including Dance Dance Revolution, Pac-Man, and some Super Mario Bros.
The end of the video shows off the magic that went into the video known as “Insert Coin”. I still find it marvelous how quickly and accurately that these effects were meticulously created.
If you liked this video, you definitely need to have a look at Tron Legacy 8-bit and the 8-bit Trip Video.
