Hand Drawn Vintage Video Game Maps

I love these hand-drawn vintage video game maps by various unnamed artists. They remind me of Joan Miro, Brice Marden, Julie Mehretu and Mark Lombardi. Great stuff - especially the Zork I map.

from Zelda Legends
from Zelda Legends
from Atari 2600 dot com (available for purchase!)

via Twigsta666

from Secret Fun Blog
Zork I from Secret Fun Blog
from a forum thread on hand-drawn video game maps at theshizz.org
from a forum thread on hand-drawn video game maps at theshizz.org

Christmasasaurus

If you're already tired of Nat King Cole and the rest of the department-store Christmas music - head over to the Christmasasaurus page and get free mp3s of chip-tune/8-bit renditions of the classics. If you're not familiar with chip-tune music, it is basically made by hacking vintage video game systems - often the original Gameboy and 8-bit Nintendo. It's a real fun sound, guaranteed to help you lighten up a little. I especially enjoyed Bit Shifter's version of "Winter Wonderland."

Virtual NES

I made a very entertaining discovery yesterday by finding a website with "virtual NES" - You can play vintage 8-bit Nintendo games online. It really kills productivity at work, so use it with caution - can be hard to stop when there's 500+ games you can play. I discovered the game "Ufouria" - which has pretty great graphics for being an 8-bit game and it's super cheesy fun. Recommended.

Alex Paik - Nintendo Paintings

Alex Paik, "Super Mario Bros. 2 (Sunshowers)"
acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 inches
2006

Alex Paik, "Super Mario Bros. 2 (Mountain of Sound)"
acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 inches
2007

See also:
Amy Chan: Works on Paper, and my New Media Monday: Nintendo feature

New Media Monday : Nintendo

Cory Archangel reprogrammed an original Super Mario Bros. game for the Nintendo NES system to include only the digital clouds. He's done several other pieces based on vintage video games and clever internet programming.


Ben Fry, "Mario Soup" - click image for link

Other related links include this NES sample art - similar to "Mario Soup"


Also, Ryan Hennessy has been using Nintendo graphics as subjects for paintings like this:



And a hand-painted NES system on eBay