Apparently, back in 1982 we’ve sent a time capsule into space hoping to share bits of our civilization with extraterrestrial life forms. Then one day a bunch of aliens from another galaxy come to invade our planet in the shape and form of pixilated characters from early video games (pre ’82, so no Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda) like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and Galaga ships. The Earth is in peril and what do we do to stop this invasion? Assemble a team of elite “no-scope-360” gamers, of course!
Fun fact: before SONY decided to take this idea to the big screen, it was a short movie on YouTube. It’s a good thing that Hollywood takes the risk to flesh out new ideas instead of developing sequels, prequels and reboots year after year.
Here are some of the game references that could be seen in the trailer:
1) Tiny “Qbert” hopping around. Why is he so smooth, though, while the rest of the gang are all pixelated?
2) Hordes of “Space Invaders”, “Galaxians” and “Galaga” ships bullying helicopters, shooting buildings and whatnot.
3) Medieval ostriches from “Joust” helping the “Space Invaders” and the Galaxians
4) “Donkey Kong” or, as they say it in the trailer – “Dankey Kang”, from the “Jumpman” series. Later on, somewhere in the late 80’s Jumpman, the main protagonist, finally gets a name. That’s how the lovable plumber Mario was born.
5) “Centipede”, a distant arcade relative. Your favorite time killer – “Snake”
6) Block-breaking hit of the late 70’s – “Breakout”. Some people think these were the “Arkanoid” characters but “Arkanoid” came out in the late 80’s.
7) And, lastly, the colossal Pac-Man devouring the city and his “father’s” hand. This guy is not Toru Iwatani, by the way, he’s just an actor.
As you can see, it has a lot of potential and the premise is extremely fascinating so from this point on the movie can go either way: become a hit or be forever forgotten. Let’s hope Adam Sandler & Co. won’t fail us!
Will you go watch this movie in the theaters or will you wait for the DVD/Netflix release?
