'Shawshank Redemption' would make a sweet 8-bit video game
This article, 'Shawshank Redemption' would make a sweet 8-bit video game, originally appeared on CNET.com.
Even though 1994's "The Shawshank Redemption" didn't win any of the seven Academy Awards for which it was nominated, the film is widely regarded as one of the best of the decade in which it was released. Unless you live in a land where movies are banned, you already know that. What you might not know however, is that the movie would make a great 8-bit video game.
That's certainly the impression you'll get after you watch the latest "8 Bit Cinema" release from YouTube channel CineFix.
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In it, main character Andy Dufresne is sentenced to hard labor at Shawshank State Penitentiary. As he clicks around the prison, moving in that stiff way that only 8-bit characters can, he faces familiar challenges and triumphs from the film -- like getting thrown in the hole for calling the warden "obtuse," earning his inmates a bucket of beer and playing Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" for the whole compound. Some things, of course, come with beat-downs from the guards (complete with smashy 8-bit sound effects).
During the course of the minifilm Andy naturally gets his hammer and begins to dig through the wall to freedom. The dig scene is an especially nice retro touch, as it evokes the old Dig Dug arcade game.
Shawshank is the latest in a long stream of 8-bit cinema reimaginings by CineFix of classic films including "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "The Avengers." Hopefully it won't be the last.
