Sonic the Hedgehog is celebrating his twentieth anniversary this year. First released on SEGA Mega Drive in 1991, the famous blue hedgehog has become a worldwide gaming icon from a time when you actually had to plug the controller into the console and if you wanted to play against someone you had to go and get the kid next door. Sacrilege! This collection of video game advertisements from the 1980s and 90s features many of the classic motion pictures of the time and their accompanying video games. Of course, the collection wouldn’t be complete without other childhood favourites like Super Mario, Donkey Kong, and my personal favourite, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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Chicago-based artist Krista Wortendyke re-assembles pieces of images from video games, war photographs, and movies to create new battle scenes that omit narrative-suggesting elements – thereby leaving no moral context for the viewer — as well as suggesting extreme mediation, with the overlaying squares and rectangles suggesting the pixelation of digital technology.

The illustrations and character designs by UK-based artist Alice Duke are completely captivating with their moodiness and wonderfully textured rendering. Her monster designs have more of a storybook quality to them rather than a fanboy fantasy aesthetic, making her work versatile enough to suit both video games and rock posters.

Located in an old storefront with blacked out windows on the Rockwellian Main Street of Beacon New York, this ‘museum‘ is a bit spooky at first. Once you’re inside, you’ll quickly forget this century. All the 1970s vintage pinball machines, early video games, and side-showish arcade games are present in mint condition. I brought my ten year-old son, thinking the experience would make him more appreciative of his modern gaming systems. But the flashing lights of the seventies arcade had him mesmerized. Ten dollars gets you an hour of unlimited play and just showing up gets you an in-depth tour, including opening up the machines to expose their clever secrets. [photo via RetroThing]