videogame history

purple alien creature, green eyes, huge mouth, long teeth (clenched together, grinning), green gloves, is taking off a human punk face with green spiky hair and a massive safety pin pierced through the cheeks. behind them a person is flying a plane, someone is driving a tank, an alien with a super elongated head is also there as well as a young woman. a platform is high above.

h.e.d.z.: head extreme destruction zone, inside cover, pc (1998) www.mobygames.com/game/18824/h...

a dude relaxing on a floaty thing in a pool, holding a sword, shield resting on one of his legs. he has a straw hat and sunglasses on, bare chested but wearing a metal armour dress with a thick belt. text font: live life to the maximo.

maximo: ghosts to glory, print ad, imagery, ps2 (2002) www.mobygames.com/game/5806/ma...

a beaver, porcupine and a badger(?) are using computers at desk in a classroom. a raccoon is up the front, dressed neatly, holding a book, teaching the class. the beaver and badger look like they have games on their screens. the badger has stuck a 'flunk me' note on the porcupine's back. the beaver is throwing a paper plane. a rat is in the front corner of the classroom, sitting on a stool, facing the wall, taking a time out.

print ad, art (1986) archive.org/details/pers...

black and white in game magazine screenshot of barbie, who is at the entrance of a clothing shop with various small dresses, pants, tops on either side in the windows.

barbie, magazine screenshot, commodore 64 (1985) archive.org/details/Comp...

a man and a woman (faux shocked looks on their faces), each holding a creepy ass looking creature with a kinda-human/doll head, gleaming eye, smiling mouth, crab/spider body with a sharp claw on the end of each leg. the illustration seems to be in relation to an attraction at namco theme park namjatown in tokyo.

art, nours, magazine (1999) archive.org/details/nour...

a very happy looking time traveller in a space suit, in a space craft, standing with his hands touch or near a large orb. outside the round window of the space craft, you can see a planet with a ring around it and another planet without a ring around it further off in the distance.

time traveller, commodore 64 (1984) www.mobygames.com/game/131548/...

bright green closed coffin, thin red cross on the upper part of the coffin, darkish blue background.

castle of doom, game over screen, dragon 32/64 (1984) www.mobygames.com/game/85557/c...

kinda top down view of a library, two game characters speaking to one another. text font: i'm well versed in lore, and yet i've never heard of a sleeping sickness.

shining wisdom, screenshot, sega saturn (1995) www.mobygames.com/game/11135/s...

illustration: lucifer, dark mustache/beard, neatly slicked back hair, small horns, high curved collar, a chain around his neck with an s in a circle pendant, hanging from it. text: your task, having sold your soul to the dark one for power and wealth in this life, is to slip into hell, retrieve the contract by which you are bound, and escape.

dante's inferno, type-in listing, compunovel, imagery & description, trs-80 (1980) archive.org/details/soft...

to the left, text: the voice if you own an apple and have a child learning to read, you should have this program. your child selects a sequence of words from the standard vocabulary and demo man happily repeats them. your child instantly hears the sense or nonsense of the sentence. easily record your own words and make your apple say anything you like without adding hardware. allows you to include speech in any basic program using print commands. caution: you will enjoy this program as much as your kids. (48k) $39.95. to the right, a simple illustration of an apple II with 'demo man's' ominous disembodied hovering face on the screen, ready to talk.

print ad, excerpt (1981) www.mobygames.com/game/64995/t...

makeshift staircase and platform with two actors wearing motion capture gear (one on the staircase, the other at the bottom of the staircase).

silent hill 2 (special 2 disc set), 'the making of silent hill 2' dvd, still, ps2 (2001) www.mobygames.com/game/138259/...

a window within a window with the header: constructed games (new players) showing an isometric screen view of online players as skeletons or two headed creatures or magical creatures sitting at tables playing magic the gathering. a table to the furthest left has a mounted sign to its left with a banner reading: 'new game' with the banner hanging over the table that reads: 'click to start'. there is another rectangular window below, presumably for chat(?) and to the right, a list of usernames that are online. down the left hand side of the screen is a bunch of circular icons: settings, my games, home, back, help and log off. below that are what looks like online links.

magic: the gathering online, screenshot, pc (2002) www.mobygames.com/game/9555/ma...

shadowed figure of four armed goro standing on top of a montain, arms raised. famous mortal kombat dragon logo looms large in the background. top text: nothing in the world has prepared you for this. text below: mortal kombat begind august 18th (credits text below as with all movie posters) preview "mortal kombat" on the internet at: http://www.mortalkombat.com/kombatbegins

mortal kombat, movie, print ad (1995) archive.org/details/Game...

carmen is in a dark room with a man sitting at 3 computers, which are playing/showing her games on the screens (the boxes are sitting to the left). rare treasures/artifacts like the mona lisa are filling up the room. the man is saying: carmen, you've stolen the hearts of millions! what next? carmen is saying: i've always wanted the panama canal! top text: the treasures of the world are disappearing right from under our noses! who will stop carmen and her devious cohorts? large bottom text: catch her if you can!

carmen sandiego series, print ad, imagery (1988) archive.org/details/pcre...

pre-release screenshot showing rendered skeletons walking around the street. text: dia de los muertos the mexican day of the dead festival was schafer's inspiration for grim fandango.

pre-release screenshot: manny calavera the main protagonist skeleton standing in front of someone sitting with high heels on. caption: manny calavera most of the characters, including the main skeleton, manny, have latin accents provided by latino actors. to have anyone else do them, says schafer, would be "hokey and wrong."

grim fandango, tim schafer talking about the game in early development (1997) archive.org/details/Comp...

the famous neversoft logo with the eyeball on the stake replacing the 'o' in soft with its tail twirled around the bottom of the stake. the eyeball is animated and looks around. links to spider-man and tony hawk's pro skater 2 website are here via their logos. there is an animated link to buy neversoft t-shirts and another animated link for the twin galaxies official thps2 world championships. below this is a link to enter the thps non-flash site. site background is black s everything pops.

neversoft, game studio, official website (2001) web.archive.org/web/20010204...

header: comp-u-gargs where stone meets silicon a photo of a computer with a bunch of model gargoyles sitting on and beside the keyboard and on top of the monitor text: every comp-u-garg tm is a cast of an original sculpture copyrighted by t. scott designs. all of the comp-u-gargs tm have their own individual names and individual stories. no two pieces will look exactly alike. each piece is individually hand finished. all comp-u-gargs tm come with a tab on double-sided tape (the white foam padded circle on the bottom). the tape can be used to attach the gargoyle to a computer monitor or anywhere else you desire. each piece is made in the usa. there are links down the side bar and at the bottom of the page giving you the option of browsing an online catalog of gargoyle pieces, e-mailing or ordering, etc.

compugarg.com, website (1999) web.archive.org/web/19991013...

the green golf course is littered with tall stone pillars. the protagonist golfer is standing to the left of a golf ball. to the right is user interface showing an overhead map of the course, hole number, par and how many yards it is. to the left is more user interface showing your golfer's stance, how many strokes and how many yards to go.

devil's course, screenshot, pc-98 (1992) www.mobygames.com/game/37942/t...

a blonde female warrior riding a horse down a rocky path, cliff to the side, rocky face with lava cracks on the other, is running from a large boulder. a creature wearing green is behind the boulder.

dahna: megami tanjō, magazine screenshot, mega drive (1991) archive.org/details/fami...

pixelated sunset, reflected on sea and over the black outline of a cityscape. sky is shades of orange.

fujitsu habitat, screenshot, fm towns (1989) www.mobygames.com/game/21889/h...

big bold text: would you rather spend $40 getting burned on a bad game? photo: a boy, hand on hand, looking utterly horrified that he blew $40 on a bad game. more big bold text: or 99 cents reading about it?

print ad, excerpt (1983) archive.org/details/vide...

blinx the cat running across a field or hill of green grass with two other young men, one in black clothes, the other in light clothes, as other cutesy creatures look on. in game screenshots down the left hand side of the screen. bottom right hand corner of the ad: let's play! blinx (xbox symbol)

blinx: the time sweeper, print ad, xbox (2003) archive.org/details/fami...

a pair of (arms) and hands, raised in front of a computer and screen, 3d shapes (cubes, spheres, pyramids) hovering in front of and inside the screen. the screen shows a simplistic 3d landscape/cityscape.

imagery, compute!, magazine (1992) archive.org/details/1992...

a woman has just given birth to a computer. a doctor wearing glasses with a white lower face mask is holding it up, power cord/plug on the ruffled up blanket. the mother is reaching for her computer baby. it's a big baby. text: computer modeling - lots of games - electronic tar baby birth of the computer is it the first of a new generation?

personal computing, magazine, cover (1977) archive.org/details/Pers...

a line of pages (up on a half wall) in a room, an artist paints portraits with facial details, while a computer draws a blank head and shoulders and nothing else.

illustration, personal computing, magazine (1986) archive.org/details/pers...

two lines of screens, one lower, one higher, and above these is a large soulcalibur sign and to the left and right, dreamcase signage and images of characters from soulcalibur. many show attendees are milling about below.

namco booth, tokyo game show (1999) archive.org/details/nour...

yellow pac-man like head, long black vertical lines for eyes, waby purple mouth, purple thing on top of head, long thick purple legs and feet, squiggly light blue arms.

sprite (1985) archive.org/details/logi...

sparkling red demon, evil eyes, holding an orb the sam colour as his eyes in his hand (ominously long fingernails).

heavy on the magick, amstrad cpc / zx spectrum (1989) www.mobygames.com/game/14941/h...

armoured muscle-y person is on an alien landscape (red hills or dunes), purple sky/sunset, one larger and one smaller planet visible. they are flame throwing a green alien with an elongated head and sharp claws.

trantor: the last stormtrooper, screenshot, msx (1987) www.mobygames.com/game/14668/t...

photo of a man curled up on a couch, crying, fake gun peripheral used to shoot in time crisis lying not far away. text: will you start cryin' when the bullets start flyin'? smaller text: there there. some just can't handle the pressures of blazing gun battles, machete-swinging maniacs and high-speed chases.and if you happen to be one of those types, we won't blame you... wuss. but if you enjoy some serious gunplay, come on down, friend. and bring a buddy. there's more than enough bad guys in need of a good blasting.

time crisis II, print ad, imagery, ps2 (2001) archive.org/details/psm-...