Awesome Retro

We already know that the theme song from Gilligan’s Island can be transformed into Stairway to Heaven. Turns out the trick works with other songs too. Cherokee Phil shows off more than 30 songs which can be sung to the tune of the Gilligan’s Island theme or vice versa, though the latter isn’t quite as effective.

Print shop Dorothy pays tribute to 50 years of video games with another postage-stamp-inspired design. It features images based on 42 iconic video games, from Pong to Sonic the Hedgehog to Grand Theft Auto, each represented as a minimalist graphic along with the year of its release. The print measures 80 cm x 60 cm (~31.5″ x 23.6″).

David Parke took some 1988 video footage of a drive on the 405 from Culver City to Sherman Oaks, and copied the route precisely in 2022 to see what has and hasn’t changed. He had to speed up and slow down the footage to sync the two drives at times, and left the original 1980s audio track.

A while back, Techmoan showed off the Atari Video Music, a device that produces colorful patterns from audio. YouTube channel Atari Video Music CRT Garage makes music videos with the 8-bit box, displaying its images on a roomful of TV screens. There are more than 40 videos in the series. Here’s a playlist of our faves.

1980s kids, Johnny 5 is alive! Adam Savage got to geek out over one of the original screen-used models of the friendly and inquisitive robot from Short Circuit. This particular Johnny 5 was never functional but it still looks amazing. It’s one of the many amazing props and artifacts headed to Prop Store’s 2022 London auction.

C’était Un Rendez-vous is a 1976 film by Claude Lelouch, described as the world’s first underground racing video. Captured while much of Paris was asleep or on vacation, the film puts us in the driver’s seat of a Ferrari as it speeds through the iconic streets of Paris, blowing through 18 red lights along the way. (Thanks, Marc!)

Duck Hunt is one of the OG light gun games. The NES game used a photosensor in its gun to detect its position as you aimed at the birds on screen. Atari Video Music CRT Garage rigged up the game so it could be played on the world’s smallest CRT monitor – just 0.5″ across. It looks like the zapper can’t hit anything at this size.

The Muse track Knights of Cydonia is one of our favorites. It sounds especially great as a retro video game song. 8-bit Universe created this stellar chiptune version of the 2006 track which would have been perfect as the theme music for an old school Atari game like Ballblazer or M.U.L.E.

The upcoming game Retro Gadgets from Evil Licorice challenges players to create virtual electronic gadgets in a digital workshop. The game will test your creativity and improve your electronics skills as you invent, build, and solder together your projects, then write code to make them work. Coming to Steam.

From the 1960s through the early 1980s, department stores played mellow instrumental music that was supposed to encourage shopping. Fardemark compiled nearly 90 minutes of this vintage stock music and recorded it onto an old cassette tape to best evoke the sounds of a bygone era. If you need more, here’s part one.

Here’s one for all the ’80s and ’90s kids who miss walking through the aisles of their neighborhood video store on Friday nights. Anthony Sant’Anselmo spent four years turning his basement into a retro video store and home theater. His Mondo Video store has more than 13,000 VHS tapes and Laserdiscs, and they’re all in stock.

Fans of Knight Rider will immediately recognize this murdered-out 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am as K.I.T.T. Playmobil’s version plays original voice clips and activates its scanner light when you touch its hood. The set includes poseable figures of Michael Knight, Bonnie Barstow, and Devon Miles.

This unique turntable deftly blends modern and retro design. In addition to its belt-drive turntable, it has a built-in clock with a vintage Nixie tube display. It has a built-in speaker and supports 33, 44, and 78 record playback speeds. It’s also got an RCA output for connecting to an external amplifier and can be used as a Bluetooth speaker.

VCRs might be obsolete technology, but they still featured some pretty smart engineering. That’s why illustrator and educator Jared Owen put together this in-depth look at the mechanisms that lie behind the VHS cassette flap. It’s cool to see how VCRs loaded and unloaded tapes without tangling them… most of the time.

Watchmaker Armitron continues to build out its Retro Collection with a blue version of their Griffy LED watch, which was previously only available with a red display. Ther 1970s-inspired watch has stainless steel case and link band, and its screen remains black until you push a button on its side.

The PlayStation 5 is a powerful piece of gaming hardware, but its design is definitely controversial, and it doesn’t exactly blend into its surroundings. So builders Chris Salomone and Shaun Boyd got to work to conceal the console inside of a wooden shell that looks like a gigantic version of the original PlayStation.

Techmoan looks back at a popular toy sold from the 1960s to the 1980s. Made by General Electric, and later by Gabriel Toys, the Show ‘N Tell combined a record player with a filmstrip projector. As kids played the “PictureSound” records, the film strip moved through the light path, casting images onto a rear-projection screen.

A fresh take on the Nike Air Max 97 celebrating 25 years of the bullet train-inspired shoe. The sneaker is at its best in this new colorway. The mudguard is done up in shiny metallic silver, while the upper is encircled in rings of dark blue, complemented by a watery Chlorine Blue air cushion and matching swooshes.

Musician Luke Million has an awesome collection of vintage synthesizers – and he knows how to get the most out of them. In the first video clip, he performs a series of classic 1980s jams with spot-on sounds, then does the same for movies and TV shows in the second video. His recreation of Running Up That Hill is perfect too.

Be kind and rewind to the 1980s with MoonLambo’s graphic hoodie, inspired by VHS cassette box art. Its made from a soft and cozy mix of polyester, cotton, and elastane for stretch, and is dye-sublimated to keep its looks from fading – unlike that Lethal Weapon tape you rented from Blockbuster that’s been played 1000 times.

These days, most content is streamed. But there was a time when videotapes were the media of choice. Mental Floss takes a trip in the wayback machine to tell the story of VCRs, the epic war between Betamax and VHS, and how the technologies changed everything for visual entertainment.

It might cost more than an actual Atari 2600, but this 2532-piece LEGO kit is still awesome. The brick-built 8-bit console and includes a joystick and switches that move. Plug in the Asteroids, Adventure, and Centipede cartridges and enjoy the accompanying 3D vignettes. Slide open the console to reveal a tiny basement scene.

Stylophone expert maromaro1337 performed a medley of the heavy metal music hidden in plain sight in the corridors of the 1990s first-person shooter, DOOM. The game’s soundtrack swiped riffs from Metallica, Pantera, AC/DC, and Anthrax, among others. See how many you can identify without opening your eyes.