![contra nes sprites contra nes sprites](https://tcrf.net/images/5/58/Contra_NES_US_Bullets.png)
Mine tend to fall in the middle of those two extremes (I like to do 3D architecture and objects, but usually leave the sprites/characters flat). With the most basic kind of design, you can just do a simple, two-layer arrangement of a background with some flat figures positioned in front of it, and, at the most advanced level, you can make everything in your diorama completely 3-dimensional. “The papercraft diorama is an inexpensive art form that’s accessible to individuals of almost any age and skill level.
CONTRA NES SPRITES SERIES
In addition to Castlevania and Gradius/Parodius, I also enjoy Konami’s Contra (Probotector on your side of the pond), Silent Hill, Tokimeki Memorial (a dating simulator series that never left Japan), and their old arcade/console Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.” Do you have any advice for other people interested in making their own papercraft diorama? I’ve been a gamer/collector for a long time, so, I own dozens of Konami’s game cartridges and CDs/DVDs, across multiple consoles/platforms. The Gameboy Castlevania: The Adventure and Nemesis cartridges were actually the first games in their respective series that I ever owned (and I still have them after all this time too–it’s hard to believe that it’s really been twenty+ years since they were first released).
CONTRA NES SPRITES PORTABLE
The original Gameboy, with its gray-scale graphics, was the first Nintendo gaming console I ever owned (I didn’t get a NES and SNES until later), so, that portable gaming unit also has strong nostalgic value for me.Ĭastlevania is one of my favorite game series of all time (I love the gothic theme and the wide variety of monsters pulled from horror films/books and the world’s various mythologies/religions), and, likewise, I regard Gradius/Nemesis, as one of, if not the, best space shoot-em-ups (shmups) franchises. I can literally make ten black-and-white dioramas for the same price as one color one. “As far as selecting the Gameboy platform itself, I’m a bit of a miser, so, I’m too cheap to pay for full-color printouts (I don’t have a computer printer at home), which is why I’ve been focusing on black and white video games. Itty-bitty things can be difficult to manipulate, cut, fold, etc., and getting down on your hands and knees to search the carpet for the tiny component that you just dropped is never fun.” What made you choose Nemesis and Castlevania: The Adventure as subjects for the dioramas? Are you a fan of the two series? I like miniatures, so my dioramas are pretty small (I just double the resolution of everything on the original Gameboy’s little screen, so, a sixteen-pixel tall game sprite is thirty-two pixels tall in my diorama).
![contra nes sprites contra nes sprites](https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/underrated-nes-games.jpg)
As such, getting perfectly straight/symmetrical objects isn’t always possible, which can be frustrating. Paper and cardboard love to warp/twist when they absorb moisture from the glue you apply, so that can often be problematic (obviously, you can stick a flat piece between two heavy books until it dries, but, that’s not always feasible/practical with hollow, 3-dimensional pieces). I’ve seen photos of other artists’ sprite-based papercraft dioramas and figures over the years, which I’ve enjoyed, and felt that it was finally time to give it a go myself.ĭifferent environments pose their own design challenges, but, in the most general sense: “I’ve made some other papier mache dioramas/playsets in the past, but these are the first ones that I’ve done that incorporate actual game graphics. But are these Konami pieces the first time you’ve made papercraft dioramas? What’s the most challenging part about making them? Questions to Mark Patraw We can see from your profile that you’ve made a lot of artwork, particularly models. these questions were asked before Mark showed us his most recent Operation C diorama!). We asked Mark a few questions about his work – check out what he said below (N.B. We first stumbled upon his work on DeviantArt, with three Konami-themed pieces in particular catching our eye replicas of actual screens from Game Boy titles Castlevania: The Adventure, Nemesis (aka Gradius) and Operation C (aka Contra or Probotector) – all made simply out of printed paper. We love retro Konami art, especially when presented in such ingenious ways as these papercraft dioramas by Mark Patraw.