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[KalBalboa]

Available now on YouTube, "Computer Fighters" is a 20-minute video short that celebrates the idiocy of gaming in the Clinton years in the style of a direct-to-VHS Disney movie.

Shot on location at the Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham, New Hampshire and all over Massachusetts, a lot of love went into making this dumb thing. I figured it was only inevitable that I shared the final product with GAF.

In short, this is a pet project my buddies Neil Cicierega, Ryan Murphy and I put together in our spare time over the last year. We managed to snag cameos from Jon St. John (Mr. Duke Nukem himself) and Mel McMurrin (the voice of Calypso from the classic Twisted Metal games on PSX) for some voice over work and even got KC Green (Gunshow, Invader Zim comics) to do our original poster artwork. We had a small premiere in Boston last week and got it up online Monday night.

Spoiler

We might've done some Cinema 4D work to convert an old Windjammers cabinet into the titular fake fighting game "Computer Fighters 2000."

• Original Soundtrack
• Trailer

Hope you enjoy it!

 

[Tregard]

Been a fan of Neil since his Lemon Demon days, will definitely give this a watch over the weekend.

"Numbers" on Mouth Silence is my jam.

 

[Touji127]

Neat!

 

[Elija2]

I watched it the other day and it was awesome.

 

[The Bankslammer]

there's a lot to say but most of all i want to give props to whoever decided to use the fucking sonic and garfield pack art on the magazine cover

 

[KalBalboa]

Thanks everybody. I'd post more GIFs and such but I've probably already pushed conventional wisdom with the two above, heh.

Glad you dug the Sonic/Garfield pack pull. If you comb through the video we have a ton of gags like that in the background (playing Pac-Man on a

Spoiler

Revolution X

machine, for example).

 

[Ginger Hail]

Caught this the other day and thought it was a fun watch.

 

[atomic moth]

So, um, do you still have that Windjammers cart?

Spoiler

Dibs

 

[KalBalboa]

So, um, do you still have that Windjammers cart?

Spoiler

Dibs

It was actually in a cabinet of old SNK games. We were location scouting when I saw the Windjammers title splash hit the CRT.

I knew we'd found our Computer Fighters 2000 machine right then.

 

[KalBalboa]

Whoa, Polygon just ran an article on Computer Fighters:

Stop what you're doing and watch Computer Fighters right now

Surely you remember Vid Kid magazine, that luscious periodical from the early 1990's. That's where all us experienced video games players used to read about the hottest releases for the Super Buddy System, Tudegear 99 and the Sego Phaserdisc. Gosh, if I had a nickel for every time I slapped a quarter down on the Data East classic McShark or Sega's Mel Gibson: The Game I'd be a rich man right now.

There's more at the link. I love the screen cap they used. Thanks Charlie Hall for the kind words!

 

[KalBalboa]

Bump: Phil Moore of Nick Arcade hosting fame might've given the movie high praise last night on Twitter.

 

[KalBalboa]

Just got to clear to announce this: MAGFest got in touch with us this week about showing Computer Fighters at this year's festival.

Looks like we'll be screening the movie live in DC this coming January along with a Q&A afterward.

 

[PSqueak]

Been a fan of Neil since his Lemon Demon days, will definitely give this a watch over the weekend.

"Numbers" on Mouth Silence is my jam.

Since lemon demon?

Poser! real fans loved him since the animutation days!


But seriously, that was pretty fun, they nailed the spirit of the era's kids movies and all those fake game names were hilarious.

It's also funny tho think, one shot kill moves in a fighting game would be the kind of thing that a 90's misinformed movie would come up with, yet, it's 2016 and that sort of bullshit is a staple of the Guilty Gear Franchise.

 

[KalBalboa]

Since lemon demon?

Poser! real fans loved him since the animutation days!


But seriously, that was pretty fun, they nailed the spirit of the era's kids movies and all those fake game names were hilarious.

It's also funny tho think, one shot kill moves in a fighting game would be the kind of thing that a 90's misinformed movie would come up with, yet, it's 2016 and that sort of bullshit is a staple of the Guilty Gear Franchise.

Yeah, we tried to approach a lot of the writing around ill-informed boardroom decisions. The game world looks nothing like the visuals you see on the cabinet's screen, for example.

 

[KalBalboa]

For anyone going to MAG Fest:

Computer Fighters will be screening Friday night around 730 as part of the Games on Film series. We'll be at the Maryland Ballroom for an introduction & Q&A.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Thanks for the bump. I'll check it out.

 

[KalBalboa]

This is looking like the final bump:

Computer Fighters will be screened at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA this month at the Boston Underground Film Festival! Bostonians can catch the movie Saturday, March 25th on the silver screen.

Neil Cicierega, Ryan Murphy, and I will be there showing the movie.