More PETSCII by boomlinde - 2008
I’ve always dug PETSCII art, especially how this transitions from blocks of black and white to characters and letterforms.
Nightshade, ZX Spectrum - 1985
Ah, the ZX Spectrum, with it’s wacky palette and strict graphical restrictions. Despite those, the artist of this screen manages to cram many colors into this tiny space, and pull it off very well.
Mission: Impossible, NES - 1990
I love depictions waterside cityscapes in NES games, and I love depictions of New York City in NES games even more. Good thing there’s plenty of them, but this one is my personal favorite. Much better than the eerily (or awesomely) foreboding one of the Twin Towers being blown up.
Gravity Hill by Alex Mauer from Vegavox II, NES - 2009
Alex Mauer is not only my favorite chipmusician, but also one of my favorite pixel artists. He creates all of his images with a very limited palette of shapes, which gives them his trademark style. The deer in this image is sublime.
Game Boy Camera (Japanese Ver.), Game Boy - 1998
If there’s one thing we need more of, its reggae references in Game Boy games. This screen was regrettably only included in the Japanese version of Game Boy Camera, and was replaced in the US version by these much less cool ones. Game Bwoy graphics inna fine style!
Ao no Senritsu, Famicom Disk System - 1987
For some reason, I love portraits on the NES (technically this is the FDS, the graphics are the same), and if that portrait is of a cute girl, even better. The mouth and shading around the eyes are especially well done.
Cavelon Title Screen by F. David Thorpe, ZX Spectrum - 1984
Bright bold colors like only the Spectrum can deliver. I love the cyans and grays together. See more of F. David Thorpe’s work here.
Dr. Mario, NES - 1990
Most probably wouldn’t guess this was Dr. Mario at first glance; I know I didn’t. Yet, the flat colors and graphic quality to this make it one of my favorites.
Adventures of Lolo 2, NES - 1989
A wonderfully charming screen. I like how black is only used in the foreground sprite and not the background. The castle itself is full of detail, and looks great even though it’s a mere 3 colors.
Decade by Jeremiah Johnson, textfile - 2009
Pure brutality and chaos. Jeremiah showed this to me on a tiny iPhone screen when it was still half done, and I immediately loved it. Once he released the finished version, I pretty much gave up doing textmode art. The smoking Twin Towers are the icing on this cake of destruction. Make sure to click for fullsize.
