The My Famicase Exhibition (わたしのファミカセ展), run by Tokyo based METEOR, is an art exhibition with a difference. The exhibition showcases fan-made NES cartridge designs that range from the cool to quirky. Here are some of our favorites.
There are some seriously cool looking cartridge designs too, like the design for Guinea pig M, below. Many of the entries are from local and international designers and illustrators, who bring their impressive skills and creativity to this fun showcase of fictional game art. If you have fond memories of Circus Charlie, Pooyan, and Karateka, then you’ll remember a time when games had to get more done with less, especially on the box.
You might be eagerly awaiting the release date for games like Vegan Mom, Kaiju Dating Sim, and Dog or Monkey, but many of the games here will never be more than a sticker on a gloriously retro plastic cartridge. Luckily, users at gaming site itch.io started the A Game By Its Cover game jam, back in 2015, to give game designers and hobbyists the chance to make our retro dreams a reality. While these digital creations can vary wildly from the artworks, many of them go to some lengths to stay faithful to the cartridges they’re based on.
You can check out the full 2019 My Famicase Exhibition online, or join the A Game By Its Cover game jam at itch.io to try out your coding skills. Be sure to check back after the jam ends, in August, to see which designs made it into pixel reality. You can celebrate retro gaming with our friends at JAST USA too, with the JAST USA Classic Games Archive. All the games are playable in your browser. Who needs time travel?!
