SUPERHEROES - multimedia objects like arcade machines. Objects contain my games featuring characters popular because of their supernatural abilities. Each game is devoted to another "superhero".
programing: Daniel Lewan
Games are my kind of homage to the classics of the genre, they are based on the known titles from the history "of electronic entertainment".
I decided to use the form of arcade machines to create a climate of a "temple of gaming", i.e. recreate the mystical atmosphere of the arcades. Arcade machines are also supposed to subtly bring to mind the shape of confessionals. They are to partly belong to the realm of the sacred and partly to realm of the profane because arcades are "semiotic brothels of the machine age."
First, I will discuss the machine dedicated to Masutatsu Oyama, the legendary karateka, founder of the Kyokushin style of karate. Oyama is considered a person who never lost a battle despite never refusing a duel. Oyama popularized karate travelling across the USA with a series of shows. He gained popularity mainly through his fights with bulls that he killed with his bare hands.
When creating a game about Oyama, I referenced the game "Karateka". My simple game shows Oyama being attacked by a crowd of enemies like other karatekas and enraged bulls. I created two types of karatekas. One wears a white kimono and the other is blond in a red kimono. This is a reference to two of the most famous karatekas in video game, i.e. Ryu and Ken, the characters from the game called Street Fighter II. What is interesting, the fighting style of these characters was modelled on the technique of Oyama.
Another machine is dedicated to Hira Ratan Manek, a person who lives only on solar energy and water. Manek says that it is possible for humans to live without eating food for a very long time, all we need to do is just stare at the sun every day. He demonstrates this on his own example because, according to what he says, outside of staring at the sun, he only allows himself to drink water and occasionally consume buttermilk. "The longest time he remained without food was for 411 days. At that time he was under the observation of an international team of doctors and scientists".
In my game you can "become" Hira Ratan Manek while he is being timed trying to collect suns placed around the level. The game is inspired by the popular "platformer" called Super Mario Bros.
The hero of the third game is Sai Baba, an Indian spiritual master, who considered himself a reincarnation of the Indian guru Shirdi Sai Baba, Rama, Krishna, Shiva and Shakti and the descent of God, "Father who sent Jesus." According to the Sathya Sai organization, it unites 6 million believers and there are between 6 and 100 million followers of Sai Baba around the world. Sathya Sai Baba, according to his supporters, could create vibhuti and small objects such as rings, statues, necklaces, pictures, crosses, sweets, watches, amrita, lingas (sacred golden eggs associated with the worship of the god Shiva), fruits and live animals. He claimed that he materializes them from his thoughts. According to his admirers, they appeared not only by him but also very far away, sometimes thousands of kilometres away. Supporters of Sai Baba talk about spectacular miracles such as healing the sick, resurrecting the dead, bilocation or mind reading.
In this case, the mechanics of the game are based on the game called Tapper in which we control the actions of a bartender pouring beer for impatient customers. In the case of my game, the player's task is to throw gold necklaces towards the people approaching Baba before they get to the red carpet that he is standing on.
The fourth game is devoted to Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, a saint of the Catholic Church, the priest of the Capuchin Order who is known mainly because for more than fifty years he had stigmata of the Passion of Christ on his body, as well as due to the miracles he worked. The stigmata disappeared just before the death of the monk. Padre Pio had the gift of reading souls. It is this supernatural ability that served as the main theme of this game.
The player's task is to control Padre Pio in the process of confessing people. To complicate the gameplay, I introduced another mini-game, which runs automatically upon the appearance of the word BILOCATION (Pio had the gift of bilocation) on the screen and runs parallel to the game forcing the player to control two games simultaneously. For this purpose, two joysticks have been mounted on the machine. The second mini-game shows Padre Pio being attacked by the devil. Pio himself described these events like this "(Letter to Padre Agostino of February 13, 1913) "Now, twenty-two days have passed, since Jesus allowed the devils to vent their anger on me. My Father, my whole body is bruised from the beatings that I have received to the present time by our enemies. Several times, they have even torn off my shirt so that they could strike my exposed flesh". This mini-game is my version of PONG which, in this case, is a metaphor for the duel between the saint and the devil.
