Close up of a video game joystick circa 1980s and the edge of a computer screen and keyboard.
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Retro Games in Australia

Gaming and Australian Popular Culture

Intersections with Popular Culture
BY
 Stephen Groenewegen

We've published a Retro Gaming curated collection online that captures some of the ways that games have intersected with Australian popular culture since the 1970s.

Buy a Better Computer

Our Retro Gaming curated collection features throwback ads and news reports about video and arcade games from the 1970s and '80s, including this 1985 advertisement brought to you by Mr T of The A Team:

Mr T Promotes Atari, 1985. NFSA: 737363

Mr T was a good choice to promote Atari, not only because of his popularity at the time, but because in many ways he had a cartoonish public persona that would appeal to teenagers. He was even the star of his own animated series! A nice touch in the ad above is creating an Atari computer image of Mr T, thereby demonstrating the computer's graphic potential.

Mad Tunes and Totally Rad Dudes

The curated collection also features game reviews and gameplay from the '90s, like this slang-filled review of Skitchin' as seen on The Zone:

Skitchin' review on The Zone, 1994. Courtesy WIN Television. NFSA: 1519975

This clip is an entertaining time capsule from the early 1990s, full of teenage slang and fashion from the period. It's also interesting to see the quality of game graphics from 1994 as the reviewers dissect the skate-hitching game Skitchin'.

Enjoy the clips in our Retro Gaming curated collection.

 

Trailer for Game Masters: The Exhibition trailer, which ran at the NFSA in Canberra from 27 September 2019 to 9 March 2020.