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Awesome Retro

Mercedes-Benz: Future 2021

Mercedes-Benz: Future 2021

To promote their electric G-Class Concept EQG, Mercedes-Benz enlisted director Nina Holmgren to create a lighthearted promotional film that imagines this futuristic vehicle from the perspective of a 1970s television viewer. The style of the cinematography, color grading, and voiceover work are spot-on.

Retro Cartoon Mascot Toolkit

Retro Cartoon Mascot Toolkit
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Love the look of old-school advertising mascots? This collection of digital assets from Brian Ritter Design makes it easy to incorporate these whimsical characters into your designs. The set includes five ink brushes and 250 stamp brushes for use in Procreate, along with Adobe Illustrator AI, PNG, and Affinity Designer asset files.

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EC1 Briefcase Synthesizer

EC1 Briefcase Synthesizer

Artist Love Hultén is a genius at designing and building retro-modernist technology. His EC1 is a custom analog synthesizer and beat making machine that folds up briefcase style when not in use. Someday, we hope to commission Love to build us something for The Awesomer HQ.

Midcentury Modern Movie Posters

Midcentury Modern Movie Posters
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Sandgrain Studio creates minimal posters inspired by classic motion pictures and TV shows. Using a clean and contained color palette of muted greens and oranges, they bring a quiet sophistication to everything from Robocop to The Big Lebowski to Back to the Future. They also make Star Wars, Avengers, and Lord of the Rings sets.

Into the Pit (Trailer)

Into the Pit (Trailer)

This retro-inspired roguelite FPS replaces guns with magic. It drops players into a cursed village where they must take down an army of dark magicians while building build powers and rescuing survivors. Coming to Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass on 10.19.2021.

Windows 1 to 11 Installation Time-Lapse

Windows 1 to 11 Installation Time-Lapse

If there’s one thing we don’t miss about computers, it’s having to install software and operating systems from dozens of floppy disks. Nobel Tech condensed hours upon hours of footage into a 6-minute time-lapse showing the time-consuming installation process of every major version of Microsoft Windows, from 1.01 to 11.

Nextube Digital Tube Clock

Nextube Digital Tube Clock

Featuring a backlit LCD/IPS tube display like the EleksTube clock, the Nextube takes things to the next level. In addition to selectable fonts, it has a handsome black walnut base, brass accent rings, and built-in weather, timer, and music visualizer functions. Open-source firmware means you can develop your own apps too.

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Cairo Throw

Cairo Throw
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Artist Susan Kare is known for her design of the system icons used on the original Apple Macintosh. In addition, she created the Cairo “dingbats” typeface, which can now be enjoyed on one of Areaware’s woven 50″ x 70″ blankets, crafted from 100% organic cotton. Available in black/white, green/pink, or grey/yellow.

Atari 2600 3D Voxel Art

Atari 2600 3D Voxel Art

Despite their primitive gameplay and rough graphics, we have a fond place in our hearts for the old Atari 2600. Mauri Helme pays tribute to the classic 8-bit console with a 3D voxel art animation, featuring scenes from Pitfall, River Raid, Frostbite, Keystone Kapers, and the oft-maligned E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Floppy Drive Video Demo

Floppy Drive Video Demo

Back in the 1980s, the demoscene was all about creating cool motion visuals and music using the computers of the day. Engineer Matthias Kramm figured out a way to create an old-school demo without a computer by hacking the output of an old Commodore 1541 floppy drive into a video signal. More details on his blog.

The Last Video Store VR Game

The Last Video Store VR Game

RareBird Games created this VR gaming oddity. The game sends players back in time to a Blockbuster-style video store to wander the shelves looking for movies to rent on VHS and DVD. In survival mode, you’ll work to make money for bills and movie rentals, and you’ll even be able to watch some movies inside of the game.

LEGO Batman Classic Batmobile

LEGO Batman Classic Batmobile
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Was Tim Burton’s LEGO Batmobile too expensive or complex for you? Celebrate your love for the classic Batman TV show with this easy and wallet-friendly version of Batman and Robin’s 1966 ride. The 345-piece model includes LEGO stud launchers, a hinged trunk for storing ammo, and Batman and Joker Minifigures.

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The Print Shop Online

The Print Shop Online

’80s kids might remember a little computer program called The Print Shop. Broderbund’s whiz-bang piece of software let users print out greeting cards, banners, and signs on dot-matrix printers. Now you can relive this classic thanks to Melody and April Ayres-Griffiths online emulation, complete with the ability to print to PDFs.

Your Illustrated Childhood

Your Illustrated Childhood

If you grew up in the ’80s, ’90s, or ’00s you saw the work of artist Gary Ciccarelli. You might not know his name, but the illustrator created airbrushed images for countless products, including action figure packages, toy boxes, board games, movie posters, trading cards, and more. His work is gradually being archived on Instagram.

How a Mellotron Works

How a Mellotron Works

Bell Tone Synth Works provides a look inside a keyboard that predates the digital sampler. The Mellotron used multiple strips of magnetic tape to play sounds recorded from other musical instruments. The M400 shown here is from the 1970s, but you can see an earlier model here.

Restoring a 1980s Handheld Pinball Game

Restoring a 1980s Handheld Pinball Game

What you’re looking at here is an old digital pinball game that dates back nearly four decades. TysyTube found the yellowed and badly-scratched handheld system on an auction site, and painstakingly restored it to like-new condition. Using that ice cube tray as a screw sorter is a brilliant lifehack.

1980s Laugh Track Machine

1980s Laugh Track Machine

We never thought that sitcoms needed laugh tracks, but apparently, some TV executives think audiences need to be told when to laugh. In this video from the 1980s, we get a look at a unique piece of equipment that used 10 tape players to add various kinds of laughter, with audio engineer Carroll Pratt at the controls.

DitherPaint

DitherPaint

Revisit the early days of desktop computer graphics with BeyondLoom’s browser-based drawing tool. Like the original MacPaint, DitherPaint has just two colors – black and white. It includes a variety of brushes, and a number of patterns to add flair to your 1-bit masterpieces. It also has a handful of animated patterns.

Ringbrothers 1970 Chevrolet K5 Blazer

Ringbrothers 1970 Chevrolet K5 Blazer

Ringbrothers built this incredible restomod of Chevy’s classic Blazer SUV. This K5 model has a beastly LS3 6.2L V8 that makes 430 hp, a carbon fiber hood, Flowmaster exhaust, 18″ HRE wheels wrapped in 33″ General Grabber tires, Warn locking hubs, and a custom leather interior. The vehicle is currently being given away on Omaze.

Retro Tech: Sony Face to Face Video Phone

Retro Tech: Sony Face to Face Video Phone

Nearly everyone has a smartphone with a camera these days, and videoconferencing is commonplace. But back in the 1980s, it certainly was not. Techmoan shows off Sony’s PCT-15 aka “Face to Face,” a 1988 device that could send a single black-and-white image at a time, transmitting data via a phone line – like a fax machine.

8-Bit Game Dance

8-Bit Game Dance

Remember 8-bit fighting games like Karateka and International Karate? The members of dance/comedy troupe Fair Play Crew did a great job replicating the staccato movements of the characters in retro games like those. The fun starts at 1:07:17 on this Shanghai TV talent show.

Home Skee Ball Game

Home Skee Ball Game
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Trick out your game room with this home version of the classic skee ball arcade machine. This “Roll and Score” speedball game measures 10 feet long, and has built-in electronic scoring along with arcade sound effects. It sits on sturdy steel legs, auto ball return, and a metal safety cage to prevent balls from flying out.

Omnichord Chill Jam

Omnichord Chill Jam

The Omnichord was an electronic harp and rhythm-maker that Suzuki made back in the 1980s. It’s perhaps best known for its later use in the opening of the Gorillaz track Clint Eastwood. YouTuber Simoneister got his hands on one of the instruments and performed this totally chill ambient track for us to enjoy.

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