Awesome Retro

ThePeterson is back to make us feel old again, this time reminiscing about the popular music, movies, games, television, news and tech that surrounded us in the year that gave us The Powerpuff Girls, The Dude, and The Google.

You won’t be able to get the theme from Pac-Man out of your head after listening to D Wave’s quirky video game medley, which consists entirely of the 1980 arcade game’s music played in 10 different styles.

Composer Giovanni Rotondo always wondered what it might sound like if 21st century video game music was made on 20th century hardware, so he’s making an album of tracks from games like Angry Birds, Destiny, and Portal as chiptunes.

The last minute of 1999 was nearly 15 years ago. Boy don’t you feel old? Let’s look back at the decade that gave us Furbies, The Fresh Prince, Pogs, and this little thing we call the Internet, courtesy of the the fine folks of Mental Floss.

Ultimate NES Remix for the Nintendo 2DS/3DS tosses you into fast-paced challenges based on classic 8-bit games, mashing up bits and pieces of 16 NES games, including Super Mario Bros. 3, Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Excitebike.

This classic 1970s commercial for Rainier Beer features a woman named Marlene, who describes their light brew in soft and dulcet tones. But all bets are off when her husband Bob asks her to bring him one.

For their latest retro-style video game, CineFix takes on the 1999 classic The Matrix, trading wire-fu, bullet time and groundbreaking VFX for SNES (or is it Neo-Geo, get it?) quality graphics and sound effects.

We’ve seen the Game of Thrones crew dressed for the 1980s, so now they need a theme song, right? Luigi Donatello scratches that itch with a version of the GoT theme song had it taken place in the decade of big hair and bigger synthesizers.

Walt Disney shows off an incredible invention his studio created in the 1950s – a camera which could capture multiple layers simultaneously to produce impressive background depth, a dramatic advancement in animated filmmaking.

Smooth McGroove’s latest is one of the catchiest video game tracks of all time – the Overworld theme from Super Mario Bros. 2. Seriously, when will they start using this guy for actual game soundtracks? Bubba dubba dubba doo bop bop…

The three-member GAG Quartet performs a rock and roll medley of classic arcade and console games that will have you reaching for your controller and plugging in your old NES or Genesis. Be sure to stick around for the big finish.

If MWC timepieces are good enough for the military and anti-terrorist units, they’re good enough for us. This one is based on a classic 1950’s NATO spec watch, with brushed stainless case and 21 jewel automatic movement.

We have no idea if the unstoppable, invincible, invulnerable, fantastic Argoman is a superhero, a supervillain, or just some jerk in a tight-fitting outfit, but thankfully Netflix has it on DVD, and we’re adding it to the top of our queue right now.

Keep your eye on Dave Wottle, the guy at the back of the pack in this footage from the 1972 Olympic 800-meter event. If you look up “sandbagger” in the encyclopedia, they should have a picture of this guy.

Delta’s flight safety video goes back to the 80s, loading its plane with pop culture icons from the decade of big hair and bad sunglasses. It’s not as silly as it could be, as it actually has to convey safety info. Bonus points for the last 10 seconds.

(NSFW: Language) It seems like today’s local car commercials are all about how you can buy a car regardless of credit. But this 1960s TV spot features a salesman who’s mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore.