Retro Gamer Pins and Buttons
Description: Contra is a run and gun video game developed as a coin-op arcade game in 1986 and released in 1987. The game was a commercial success worldwide, becoming one of the top four highest-grossing arcade games of 1987. Home ports were released in 1988 for computers and consoles, which were also a critical and commercial success. Contra is set in the distant future of the year 2633 A.D., when the evil Red Falcon Organization have set a base on the fictional Galuga Archipelago near New Zealand in a plot to wipe out humanity. Two commandos, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean of the Earth Marine Corp's Contra unit, are sent to the island to destroy the enemy forces and uncover the true nature of the alien entity controlling them.
Description: Gauntlet is a fantasy-themed hack-and-slash arcade game developed and released in 1985 as one of the first multiplayer dungeon crawl games. The core design of Gauntlet comes from 1983 8-bit dungeon crawler, Dandy, and also bears striking resemblance to the action-adventure maze game Time Bandit. The arcade version of Gauntlet was released in November 1985 and was initially available only as a dedicated four-player cabinet and a two-player cabinet variant in June 1986, aimed at operators who didn’t have sufficient space for the four-player version. The game is set within a series of top-down, third-person, orthographic mazes where the object is to find and touch the designated exit in every level.
Description: Joust is an action game developed by Williams that released in arcades in 1982, and began porting to consoles and PC's the following year. While not the first two-player cooperative video game, Joust's success and polished implementation popularized the concept. Player 1 rides an ostrich, player 2 a stork. Repeatedly pressing the flap button gains altitude, while a two-directional joystick controls direction. In a collision with enemy knights riding buzzards—or the other player—the higher rider dismounts the other. The game was well-received by players and critics, and the mechanics influenced other games. Joust was ported to numerous home systems and was followed by a more complex and less popular arcade sequel in 1986.
Description: MoonPatrol is a Japanese arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1982 and licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. The player controls a moon buggy which can jump over and shoot obstacles on a horizontally scrolling landscape as well as shoot aerial attackers. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, MoonPatrol is often credited with the introduction of full parallax scrolling in side-scroller games. MoonPatrol was among the five top-grossing arcade games on North America’s monthly RePlay charts by January 1983 and received a Certificate of Merit in the category of “1984 Best Science Fiction/ Fantasy Video Game” at the 5th annual Arkie Awards.
Description: Captain N: The Game Master is a series that aired on television from 1989 to 1991 as part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup. The show incorporated elements from many of the most popular video games of the time, and also spawned a comic book version, though it was actually different from the show in many ways. At the outset of the first episode the hero of the series, Kevin Keene, a teenager from Los Angeles, California, and his dog Duke are sucked into a vortex called the Ultimate Warp Zone that formed in his television, taking them to another universe known as Videoland. To fulfill an ancient prophecy, Kevin is destined to become the hero "Captain N: The Game Master" and save Videoland from evil forces.
Description: Tempest is an arcade game released in 1981 that is notable for being the first video game with a selectable difficulty. The game is a Tube Shooter, where the environment is fixed, but is viewed from a 3D perspective. The object is to survive while shooting aliens as they attack from the player controlled spaceship along the near edge of the playfield. The game has 16 unique screens, some of which are tubes that allow the player to fly 360° while others are left to right open fields. When all 16 screens have been played, the sequence repeats with different colors and increased difficulty. Each sequence of levels adds faster and more deadly enemies. The numbered levels stop incrementing after level 99 and become random.
Description: ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco that launched in August 1982. Launching with an initial catalog of twelve games on ROM cartridge, the console offered a closer experience to more powerful arcade games than competitors. Approximately 136 games were published between 1982 and 1984. Coleco released a series of hardware add-ons and special controllers to expand the capabilities of the console. "Expansion Module #1" allowed the system to play competitor games, and a later module that converted ColecoVision into the Adam home computer. Ironically, the ColecoVision was discontinued in 1985 after the costly failure of the Adam, resulting in Coleco withdrawing from the video game market altogether.
Description: Robotron: 2084 (also referred to as just Robotron) is a multidirectional arcade shooter released in 1982. The game is set in a fictional world in the year 2084 where robots have turned against humans in a cybernetic revolt. The aim is to defeat endless waves of robots, rescue surviving humans, and earn as many points as possible. A two-joystick setup was implemented to provide the player with more precise controls, and enemies with different behaviors were added to make the game challenging. Gameplay was designed to instill panic in players by presenting them with conflicting goals and having on-screen projectiles coming from multiple directions.
Description: Zork is a text-based fantasy adventure game series that was first released in 1977 under the title Dungeon. The game was made for PCs, the first version being made for the PDP-10. The game features no graphics or art, and is entirely text based, playing out like an interactive book. The developers, as the company Infocom, expanded and split the game into three titles—Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master—which were released commercially for a range of personal computers beginning in 1980. Players take on the role of an unnamed adventurer who is trapped in a dungeon called The Great Underground Empire and type in contextual commands to escape the dangers of the dungeon.
Description: <b><i>"Zork</i></b>: Your greatest challenge lies ahead - and downwards" Inspired by the 1977 text adventure. This illustration contains every location from the game. Check out the detail in this <a href="http://laurencejenkins.com/post/46334579776/zork-your-greatest-challenge-lies-ahead-and">higher res version</a>.
Description: This Jean Claude Van Damme tee is titled "Double Damme". It is part of the Retro Review fighter series! If you like this design be sure to check out the other actor fighting tees in my portfolio. Actors such as Samuel L Jackson have been seen wearing my designs. With your help maybe Jean Claude Van Damme might see this one too. If you love JCVD movies this tee is for you!
Description: Man: Here's one- Cart-master: Ninepence. Old Man: (feebly) I'm not dead! Cart-master: (suprised) What? Man: Nothing! Here's your ninepence.... Old Man: I'm not dead! Cart-master: 'Ere! 'E says 'e's not dead! Man: Yes he is. Old Man: I'm not! Cart-master: 'E isn't? Man: Well... he will be soon-- he's very ill... Old Man: I'm getting better!
Description: This Robin Williams tee is titled "The Legend of Williams". It is part of the Retro Review fighter series! If you like this design be sure to check out the other actor fighting tees in my portfolio. Actors such as Samuel L Jackson have been seen wearing my designs. With your help maybe Robin Williams might see this one too. If you love Robin Williams movies this tee is for you!
Description: This Eddie Murphy tee is titled "Eddie 2 Rumble". It is part of the Retro Review fighter series! If you like this design be sure to check out the other actor fighting tees in my portfolio. Actors such as Samuel L Jackson have been seen wearing my designs. With your help maybe Eddie Murphy might see this one too. If you love Eddie Murphy movies this tee is for you!
Description: This Denzel Washington tee is titled "DenZel Fighter". It is part of the Retro Review fighter series! If you like this design be sure to check out the other actor fighting tees in my portfolio. Actors such as Samuel L Jackson have been seen wearing my designs. With your help maybe Denzel Washington might see this one too. If you love Denzel Washington movies this tee is for you!
