I hadn’t done any art since May, so it was time to create a new addition! It’s typical of me to try to create “sets” of three pieces so any art that I put on my Instagram fits to their standard grid. I had previously posted a picture from Commander Keen and then a picture from Lemmingsbefore that. So, the theme of this set became “Old Obscure Computer Games.”
The Humans was a 1992 puzzle game that looked and felt like Lemmings in that it tasked the player with guiding a bunch of cavemen to an exit by using their various abilities. It was the perfect fit for my set! I remember playing the game at a friend’s house long before our family ever owned a computer. I loved it for the cute animations, the challenge of helping each human, and because the only other game my friend owned was Alone in the Dark – which was too scary!
Below, you can see how I made my art – including the final product!
After finding my template, I colored in the black background so I could easily see the defined shapes.Our human’s attire was the only instance of these reds, oranges, and yellows.The browns and greens came next (with a hint of grey) – now we can see our guy!The rest of the background and flooring came together to create our final product!
Thanks for stopping by to check out my art! Do you remember playing The Humans? Share a memory with me in a comment! What game would you next want to see some pixel art from me?
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Are you a music major trying desperately to learn your music intervals but you can’t connect with the old standby tunes that are suggested for helping you to remember each one? Are you a super gamer nerd with an incredible fondness for retro music? Look no further. I’ve got the blog post for you!
For clarity, an “interval” is the distance between two pitches, and it’s common for musicians to try to recognize them aurally as they read through sheet music. Here are a list of themes and melodies from video games that will power-up your memory for intervals!
Minor 2nd (m2)
Fever from Dr. Mario
There are also quite a few m2’s in that opening line!
Underwater Theme from Super Mario Bros.
Another example where the m2 lowers and then raises.
Major 2nd (M2)
Inside Peach’s Castle from Super Mario 64
This sequential melody has two major seconds!
Minor 3rd (m3)
Bob-Omb Battlefield from Super Mario 64
Hits you hard with a minor third right out the gate!
Major 3rd (M3)
Overworld Theme from Super Mario World
The B section of this piece really lays into the major third.
Perfect 4th (P4)
Green Greens from Kirby’s Dream Land
Almost sounds like a trumpet call heralding the grand entry of our hero!
Tritone (TT or A4 or D5)
Lost Woods from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Note that the tritone interval is from F to B (ignore the middle note of A)
Perfect 5th (P5)
Title Screen from Wii Sports
An interval fit for tennis.
Minor 6th (m6)
Title Theme from Metroid
Haunting and isolating – just like the game!
Major 6th (M6)
Title Theme from Donkey Kong
Who else was imagining Cranky Kong playing a music box?
Tifa’s Theme from Final Fantasy VII
Another example where the main theme starts on the pickup to letter B with a clear ascending and descending major sixth!
Minor 7th (m7)
Main Theme from Ducktales
Note that the m7 occurs between the E and the D natural – or “life” and “hur…” for those of you who are singing along!
Major 7th (M7)
Lavender Town from PokémonRed/Blue
Note that the M7 occurs between the C and B ignoring the middle note.
Perfect Octave or Perfect 8th (P8)
Underground Theme from Super Mario Bros.
Octaves, octaves everywhere!
Thanks for stopping by to read my post! Can you think of other examples in video game music that are great for remembering intervals? Let me know in a comment below!
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What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?
A gaming related prompt? On the 34th birthday of Final Fantasy IV? I guess I’m answering a prompt today!
While I’d have a hard time picking a TRUE favorite video game, there are a certain handful of games that are always showing up in my thoughts. FF4 touts iconic imagery, music, characters, and dialogue.
Who could forget Cecil’s ascent to becoming a paladin? Kain’s constant betrayal only to be a pawn of mind control? Tellah’s bold sacrifice by casting Meteo in his quest for revenge? Rydia’s tragic loss of her entire village only to return later as a totally badass, full-grown summoner? It goes on and on!
I first played the game circa second grade at my best friend’s house. Well, to clarify, I watched his big brother play while we tried to make gentle suggestions. I loved hearing the sweeping music in all the caves and the quirky melodies that played while riding the chocobo. The battle music never got old, and now I find myself humming my own victory tune when I achieve some of life’s small accomplishments.
Above is a piece of pixel art that I created with markers that is now proudly hung in my room: parking my airship outside of Troia Castle in the one little square of land that’s available for a landing.
I think what I especially love about the game, besides what I mentioned above, is how seamlessly the story moves from one beat to the next. It’s easy to start a new game and then suddenly be 10 hours in before realizing how long you’ve been playing!
I most recently completed the Pixel Remaster and found it to be a wonderful retelling of the original story – with amazing updated graphics and sound. Highly recommend!
Did you play FF4? I’d love to hear your experiences with it! Check out my other posts for my video game-related content.
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This weekend, the United States will celebrate Independence Day, a holiday commemorating the ratification of the Declaration of Independence. 249 years! Can you believe it? That’s a lot of history!
History has had a fun way of showing up in video games. So, today, I’d like to explore the Top Ten instances of historical figures who appear in them! Can you think of any others? Do you have any favorites of your own? Tell me about them in a comment!
10. Liberty or Death (DOS/SNES/Genesis, 1993/1994)
Before we had Lin-Manuel Miranda rapping to us about the history of America, we had Liberty or Death, a strategy game where you played out the events of the Revolutionary War. Think Risk combined with very very basic Fire Emblem. One of the most interesting components of the game was that you could choose to either play from the perspective of the Americans or try to get the ultimate alternate reality revenge as the British!
9. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure (NES, 1991)
No way!? Yes, way. They made a video game out of the iconic 1989 Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure movie, one of my favorite movies of all time. But, the adaptation itself is maybe one of the worst games of all time. The main gimmick revolves around shooting your time machine phone booth through the circuits of time to spell out a phone number, sending you to your destination where you meet all sorts of historical figures after a series of seemingly random fetch quests. It’s just too bad that this game is so non–non–non–non–heinous – I think there’s a lot of potential!
RembrandtElvis
8. Mozart Requiem (Various, 2008)
“Mozart has 24 hours to unravel one of the greatest mysteries ever.” There’s a sentence I never thought I’d read under a game description. Well, as it says, Mozart’s Requiem is a “point and click” adventure where you solve a conspiracy surrounding the Hungarian Emperor. I don’t remember learning about this in music school!
One thing’s for sure, if this game doesn’t have Mozart’s iconic laugh, I’ll be deeply disappointed.
7. Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics 2 (NES, 1994)
Distancing itself from the “tropics” part of the game’s title, StarTropics II sends our beloved yo-yo touting baseball star, Mike Jones, through the tunnels of time to collect what are obviously blocks from Tetris. Along the way, he meets all sorts of famous faces – my favorite being his run-in with Leonardo DaVinci who lets Mike pilot a flying machine (via an amusing cut scene) to his next destination. Still waiting for StarTropics III over here!
6. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (PC, 1998)
In the universe of Red Alert 2, Albert Einstein rids the world of Hitler through the magic of time travel. But, this doesn’t stop the war as the Soviets fill in the gap left by the now non-existent Nazis. Command & conquer your way to victory in this real time strategy game which uniquely uses live actors in their cut scenes!
Larry Gelman as Albert Einstein
Is this the same timeline where Einstein helped Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan fall in love?
5. Eternal Sonata (XBox 360/PS 3, 2007)
“On his deathbed, Chopin, the famous composer, drifts between this life and the next. In his dreams, happenstance encounters with a young girl facing a terrible destiny and the boy who will fight to save her, leads to Chopin’s discovery of the light that shines in each of us in this enduring tale of good and evil, love and betrayal.” – Amazon Product Description
We are striking absolute gold with these composer-related game descriptions. What’s next? Rachmaninoff’s Reckoning? Super Beethoven Brawl? Erik Satie Falling Block Puzzle? In any case, Chopin and his music are front and center in this JRPG that really showcases the guy’s incredible sense of melody – and fighting style?!
4. I Am Jesus Christ (PC, 2025)
“Your [game developers] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Good news, everyone who thinks they’re God – now you can live out your dreams! This game caused quite a stir when it was announced, proclaiming that players could “perform powerful miracles, meet biblical figures, and explore the Holy Land from Jerusalem to the Galilee.” Truthfully, the footage looks pretty incredible with gameplay akin to the likes of Skyrim and Witcher 3. It’s just the…content that seems a little sacrilege.
I Am Jesus Christ will have people asking if you really can “walk across their swimming pools.”
3. Bionic Commando (NES, 1988)
While Command & Conquer erased Hitler entirely, Bionic Commando took a different route which tasked you with facing him (er…*mAsTeR d*) head on. It’s totally obviously Hitler and even the Japanese straight up called it like it was. Nevertheless, there was nothing quite so rewarding as spiderman-swinging off a high platform and bazooka-ing the guy right in his face – resulting in a rather *explosive* scene!
2. Day of the Tentacle (PC, 1993)
We already saw George Washington in Liberty or Death, but his best appearance is easily from the classic Day of the Tentacle game from LucasArts. Featuring another time traveling heist spanning the past, present, and future, our main characters solve puzzles across generations in order to return to their own time and stop the evil purple tentacle from taking over the world. Washington’s puzzle, amusingly, involves his infamous wooden teeth being set ablaze by a cigar, only to be replaced by a set of chattering teeth from the future, leaving his fellow founding fathers thinking that he’s cold.
Honorable Mention:
NBA Jam (SNES/Gensis/Arcade, 1993)
You weren’t a true gamer if you didn’t use the secret code to play as Bill Clinton in NBA Jam.
1. Civilization (PC, 1991)
An easy first choice for me, Sid Meier’s Civilization series puts us in the shoes of famous world leaders from all generations as they try to expand their cities while peacefully (or not peacefully) dealing with those who have the same ambitions. I loved that each nation had benefits relating to your chosen leader, cities were named automatically after real places, and players could construct famous “Wonders of the World.” I learned a lot about geography simply by playing this game, and my knowledge of world leaders deepened because of the graphic interactions that commonly took place throughout each session.
Famously, Gandhi made a name for himself in Civilization V when a weird software glitch caused the peaceful pacifist to resort to full-on nuclear warfare!
Thanks for stopping by to read my post!Can you think of any other historical figures in video games? Leave me a comment, and tell me about them!
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The markers came out again the other day. This time, in order to keep my Instagram looking symmetrical, I decided to theme my subjects around peace signs. Ness (from Earthbound) and Mario (from Super Mario World) fit the bill splendidly!
Due to my slightly poor selection of marker colors, Ness got a little bit of an outfit change, but I love it. Mario looks exactly as he should!
Better yet, now I have the perfect artwork for my Ness Is Mario blog post I wrote a couple years ago. What do you think? Is Ness a younger version of Mario?? It totally makes sense.
Scroll further to see my art!
Thanks for stopping by to check out my art! Are you a fan of Earthbound or Super Mario World? Leave me a comment, and tell me your experience with the games!
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I was a huge dinosaur fan as a kid, quick to grab a book about the Jurassic era and easily excited by any toy shaped like my favorite creatures (with pteradactyls topping my personal list!). Well, June 1st is Dinosaur Day, so let’s celebrate by exploring the top instances of these radical relics in video games!
If you think of any others after finishing my list, be sure to share with me in a comment!
Starting as a mere fish, work your way through the ages of the Earth through the power of evolution! Just a quick stop through the age of the dinosaurs. They won’t be here long, though. Right?
For a game about visiting “Dinosaur Land,” there really aren’t that many of them! But, I’d be remiss not to include the iconic first appearance of Yoshi in a Mario adventure!
You’re a Native American time-traveling warrior tasked with keeping prehistoric pests away from the Earth. Man, Nintendo was really experimental back then, huh?
Honorable Mentions:
Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U/Nintendo Switch, 2015/2025)
Image from personal Nintendo Switch screenshot.
I’ve been playing the Definitive Edition since it released on Nintendo Switch and am in love with the variety of life on Mira. I mean – look at these things!
A fighting game where dinosaurs beat up other dinosaurs? This was an easy choice for my top spot! Congrats to Primal Rage!
Thanks for stopping by to read my article! Can you think of any other great games that feature dinosaurs? Leave me a comment, and let me know about them! Also, if you enjoy my work, be sure to “like” my post, and consider following my blog for first access to future content!
Awhile back, I challenged myself to write a few elevator pitches for reimagined arcade game movies. With the rise of AI, I decided to plug in my prompts to see what kind of pictures it would spit out. Below are the results along with my original prompt!
Pac-Man
A man with a severe eating disorder begins seeing ghosts and finds that the only way to remove these nightmarish images from his life is by consuming more food.
Q-Bert
An interior designer struggles to correct the mistakes of his predecessor while dealing with an untimely pest issue.
Dig Dug
A local gardener releases a hoard of demons after accidentally tunneling a portal to Hell. Armed with only an air pump, he takes the fight below ground to fight off these horrible creatures.
Frogger
Due to the addition of a newly-built highway, a family of frogs attempt to return home while dealing with the perils of mankind.
Breakout
When the atmosphere of Earth becomes too thick to allow in any light, a group of scientists band together to come up with a solution.
Burgertime
An optimistic chef tries his hand at opening up a burger shop for giants. Before long, the stress of his new job causes his mind to play tricks on him while his ingredients seemingly come to life.
Thanks for stopping by to read my post! What are some other premises for arcade games as movies? Leave me a comment and share your thoughts!
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May 1st is “Learn To Ride A Bike Day!” I remember vividly when I first learned – I was visiting my grandma in the summer and was determined to show off a new skill when my parents came to get me again. Grandma had a long, paved driveway that was easy for practicing. She’d hold onto my seat and run with me to get me going and then, when I didn’t know it, she’d let go – leaving me to fend for myself. As long as I was pedaling, I was okay! After awhile, I got the hang of it, but I had no idea how to use the brakes. So, I did the next best thing – I ran into the fence.
To celebrate the occasion, I’ve selected my Top Ten instances of Bikes in video games! Now, let’s get pedaling!
10) Street Fighter II (1991, SNES/Sega Genesis)
Street Fighter II did a great job of bringing to life the unique locations where each bout was taking place. Having been to China myself, I can personally attest to the abundance of bicycles in the streets. I wonder what brand is owned by Chun Li!
9) Punch-Out!! (1987, NES)
An homage to the Rocky movie, Little Mac trains with Doc Louis who rides ahead of him on his two-wheeler.
8) Barbie Super Model (1993, SNES/Sega Genesis)
Barbie dreams of being a super model and needs to stay fit! Biking is a wonderful activity for exercise!
7) Grand Theft Auto V (2013, Various)
Sick of carjacking strangers? Grab a bike and find the hottest hill in San Andreas!
6) Earthbound (1994, SNES)
Gifted from the cashier of the “Punk-Sure” shop in Twoson, Ness not only gets a sweet ride, but he’s also treated to a whistly riff on “Sweet Georgia Brown!”
5) Mountain Bike (Release Date Unknown, Flash)
In the early days of Flash games, navigate the perils of the mountain in this 2D bike adventure!
4) Free Rider HD (2014, Mobile)
A successor to Mountain Bike, Free Rider brings the challenge to your mobile device (and is easily accessible to play here: https://www.freeriderhd.com/)
3) Lonely Mountains: Downhill (2019, Various)
Continuing the trend of the previous two games, Lonely Mountain: Downhill is a cool 3D biking game I discovered via a demo on the Switch eShop when I was looking for “relaxing” games. Was it relaxing? I think I fell off the mountain too many times to truly relax. But, I had fun!
2) Wii Sports Resort (2009, Wii)
The Cycling event in Wii Sports Resort made full use of the system’s Wiimote controllers. If you weren’t tired after playing this game, you were doing it wrong!
Honorable Mention: Uniracers (1994, SNES)
California Games
(1987, Various)
Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow
(1996, Game Boy)
Shoutout to JAVGB and Singing Gecko for reminding me about this one. I’m ashamed to have forgotten it! While it should probably be a part of the numbered list, it will have to be just an honorable mention for now – a punishment for my lack of memory!
1) Paperboy (1985, Arcade/NES)
Nothing is quite as iconic as the original Paperboy game! And one of the game’s most unique features is that the arcade cabinet actually included a controller shaped like handlebars! It doesn’t get more bike-y than that!
Thanks for stopping by to read my post! Can you think of any other instances of bikes in video games? Leave me a comment, and let me know! Also, if you enjoy my content, be sure to click “like” to show your support. “Follow” me to see more of my stuff in the future!
I’ve got a new blog post in the works for May 1st, and while I couldn’t think of any new categories this year for Easter, I did the next best thing – a compilation! (If there’s a top ten list about videos games related to Easter that you’d like to see, please do let me know!)
Below are my last three years of Easter posts – the first exploring our favorite bunnies, the next about digital eggs, and finally the last about saving in games. Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by to read my post! What are your favorite connections to Easter in video games? Leave me a comment, and let me know!
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While I never finished Secret of Evermore, I’ve always been intrigued by the vivid fantasy worlds that our main character visited and how each new location changed our canine companion. Dinosaurs and prehistoric plants filled the lands of the game’s first main area causing our dog to take the form of a hulking wolf, matching the surrounding flora and fauna.
My memories of this game remain strong and I was happy to put them down on paper in the form of pixel art. Below is what I created!
Smells like alchemy!Some guy with a stick!
Thanks for stopping by to check out my art! Did you play Secret of Evermore? What are some of your memories of the game? Leave me a comment, and let me know!
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Eric Hagmann Music 