The 8-bit arcade font, deconstructed

In his book Arcade Game Typography, type designer Toshi Omagari breaks down the evolution, design, and history of arcade game fonts.
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In the video above, he guides us through this delightful 8-bit world and breaks it down pixel by pixel.
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Let's talk about sources!
Archive.org has a wonderful collection of vintage arcade games that you can play online. This is where many of the videos of arcade games came from. archive.org/details/interneta...
In addition to that, Barcade allowed us to film their collection of arcades. barcadenewyork.com/
Toshi's book served as a blueprint for all the fonts you see in the video. You can purchase it here: thamesandhudson.com/arcade-ga...
Finally, a few great places on the internet I discovered while researching the video:
This arcade font writer created by @photonstorm arcade.photonstorm.com/
Archive.org's magazine and manuals collection:
archive.org/details/arcademan...
archive.org/details/gamemagaz...
This list of websites compiled by Atarimania: www.atarimania.com/list-atari-...
By Design is a Vox video series about the intersection of design and technology. Watch all episodes in this series right here on KZbin: • Design, explained
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out www.vox.com.
Watch our full video catalog: goo.gl/IZONyE
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[@Vox]

Thanks so much for watching the video! I’ve listed quite a few fun things to check out in the description, including a link to archive.org’s internet arcade, which allows you to play hundreds of vintage arcade games for free online, and Toshi’s book, which will keep you occupied for hours if you’re bored at home right now! - Estelle

[@DJ-sr9gp]

Your political videos aren't engaging. Please make more of this content, it's what I subscribed for.

[@jeremiahblessing3891]

"I" have listed??? HMMMMMMMMMM

[@CanuckMonkey13]

Thanks for making this video! During my internship with a software company I faced the challenge of creating buttons for about two dozen utilities, and was told to make the icon for each button be a string of text that uniquely identified the utility in question. IIRC, the icons were 16x16 pixels and I was usually trying to fit two lines of 2-4 characters into that space. It was nightmarish! Ever since then I've been fascinated by this subject, but never actually researched it. I learned SO MUCH from this one short video, and will be following up on several of your links. Amazing work!

[@vamsi_vardhan]

Hi 👋

[@DarkadeTV]

I'll try changing my terminal font to an arcade font see how it goes

[@franklinfeng3565]

finally a recommended video not related to coronavirus

[@muhammadyusoffjamaluddin]

Yeap i love it. Thanks to Jose

[@batshapedheart]

bruh! for real!

[@sparrow56able]

then stop watching videos about coronavirus

[@muhammadyusoffjamaluddin]

@@sparrow56able Tell that to KZbin my genius L0Rd

[@Belioyt]

You are pretentious, this video is not old enough to be recommended plus no one forces you to watch corona virus content.

[@alfredrodrigo9665]

Something so simple yet so complicated...

[@taiscott5104]

Vox could make a video about paint drying at this point and I'd watch it

[@cassif19]

And probably enjoy it too

[@CatholicWeeb]

RTGame proved that Watching Paint Dry is something people are absolutely willing to watch.

[@suwinkhamchaiwong8382]

Just Monika.

[@notacaulkhead]

Irish Eggs is that Call Me Kevin’s 2nd channel?

[@UltraProbe]

@@suwinkhamchaiwong8382 Monika always lives.

[@SergiodelaVega]

00:35 "you probably recognize it when it says this" ROASTED

1:55 Each cell actually has 8*8 possible cells which can be turned on or off, which obviously can’t be stored in 8 bits: It would need 64 bits to do that. Instead, the computer screen’s grid has one byte of data per cell which is used to index into a font table in ROM, where each glyph is 4 bytes of data (if 1-bit color is used). The indices are followed at scanout time to produce the correct glyphs in the cells.

[@bitbybrick1080]

7:10 “and legends of zelda” you killed da good vibe

[@mrecks7782]

Yeah. I think you just spotted a milennial. ;D

[@PunchKickBlog]

Zelda is my favourite hero in videogames

[@fireaza]

There's multiple "Legend of Zelda" games, so it's not *technically* wrong to refer to them all as "legends".

[@mrecks7782]

@@PunchKickBlog Hahaha! :'D

[@mrecks7782]

@@fireaza It should be "Ledgend of Zeldas", but hey... I'm splitting hairs for my own amusement. "Ledgends of Zeldsies" Nailed it!

[@mohammedgouigah3094]

As a graphic designer, its always nice to learn about graphic design and typography in the old times before Photoshop and Adobe softwares launched and changed the game.

[@chris-hayes]

I've worked a little bit in PICO-8, a retro game emulator, and expressing any object in a 8x8 grid really stretches your creativity, but it's also easier to create something that feels satisfying due to its restrictions. It's like being asked to write a story about anything vs a specific prompt, sometimes restrictions help you not get overwhelmed.

[@christiana.1204]

Finally, a non-coronavirus content!

[@DMH-bt2zo]

@Christian A. Yeah.

[@mysticmarble94]

Somebody upload a video of the word Coronavirus written in Atari font lol 😅

[@ginglyst]

but then in the comments some one mentions that c-word... 😤

[@futuristica1710]

Tons of content without Covid-19. Weird algorithm that hits you guys.

[@liz-gj1vz]

yes a content

[@Dtherexx]

Even memes are carefully crafted...

[@RoyalSlashOasis]

Kevin Shirley I see what you did “their”

[@Phoenix-ip5kg]

Fellow meme creator!

[@muddi900]

One does not simply create a meme. *lotr_m.gif*

[@fffianist]

7:10 "Legends of Zelda"

[@willcollins5121]

Pretty sure it was intentional because the font shows up in multiple games

[@mrecks7782]

@@willcollins5121 So its ok to say Calls of Duty?

[@mrecks7782]

@@3k9k Then she should have said "Ledgend of Zeldas". But yeah, I made a typo. :) But then again, Vox is a biiiiit bigger than my channel.

[@Toschez]

@@willcollins5121 Correct, the first two games (that make two legends, not two Zeldas). edit: turns out the first two Zelda games do indeed feature two separate Zeldas, even though Link is the same guy.

[@adampickard9880]

@@Toschez i like that better too. Like attoneys general or surgeons general where the noun is pluralised not to following modifier

[@thomasschmidt8544]

This video is a piece of art. Looking at just some of the details, it's hard to fathom, just HOW much work must have gone into it. And it's beautiful. Good on ya!

[@CoinOpTV]

Always fun seeing those classic games in action!

[@thromboid]

0:10 When a graphic designer is commissioned to create a meme image: uses widescreen source image, properly kerned Impact with slender drop shadows. :)

[@Wasserkaktus]

Watching this made me realize how much of a pain Latin characters are with both it's ascending and descending lower case letters. Edit: See below.

[@daisyrushton1574]

ironically "upper" has only downers and "downer" has only uppers

[@TheGreatAtario]

Ascender and descender…

[@Wasserkaktus]

@@TheGreatAtario They are synonyms and not everything relates to drugs..

[@kykale]

It's not unique to the Latin Script. Greek, Cyrillic and Armenian script use bicameral writing system as well. The upper case letters come from the Roman era when words were carved into stone, thus leading to the serif style of fonts, while lower case letters came when the same letters were written down on paper in the early Medieval era.

[@TheGreatAtario]

@@Wasserkaktus They're not synonyms in the slightest and no one said anything about drugs

[@matthewwillox7338]

I have this book, it's great! I used to make a lot of pixel fonts way back in the early 2000s when you'd use them in Flash websites. Also, the Demoscene had a lot of cool bitmap typography.

[@Erik_The_Viking]

The arcade font used in Atari arcade games was also used on their computer systems. The engineers back then were EXTREMELY clever with all of their memory saving and bit-twiddling tricks. I started out with systems with 16K of memory and I have enormous respect for the skill required to pull this off. There are a couple of GDC (Game Developer Conference) talks on KZbin with Warren Robbinett (Atari Adventure) and Howard Warshaw (ET) where they discussed some of the tricks, and they're still amazing to this day.

[@Spencergundersenmusic]

Thank you so much for putting out more typography content. I watch every time!!

[@ParallelUniversity]

One thing I know about fonts is that people who are into them are REALLY into them. I knew someone who could write/draw in any font without looking at a reference, making each letter perfectly

[@sophiablank325]

So cool

[@charlotteastarry_knight8696]

I dare them to write in Wing Dings

[@katyakaplan225]

Dang, that clip from Marble Madness just gave me the strongest nostalgia I've had in a long time.

[@damienwayne2347]

Im liking this videos just bec. Of how beautiful the production and editing of this video...well done vox this is a really good video

[@halotroop2288]

"Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and *Legends of Zelda"*

[@lupester]

My ears are still bleeding.

[@sammyarzola1208]

@Vegan Minimalist Essentialist Seventh Day Adventist I could never let that mistake go

[@Kinitawowi]

I bought the book. It's brilliant. I'm amazed that this font still doesn't officially have a name, and also amazed that it isn't called "Game Over".

[@flaviolatino9038]

The design videos are always interesting, its really amazing to see how humans develop the world we live right now.

[@taufanadikurniawan7170]

Imagine being Japanese and have to made those Japanese font such Hiragana in 8 bit 😅

[@kaitlyn__L]

there's some pretty impressive hiragana fonts! but sometimes it was just katakana. and they almost always never had the diacritics and a few other limitations like that.

[@antoine22]

@@kaitlyn__L did they make kanji fonts too? It must have been restricting

[@redpup6931]

Well, Japan knows enough English for the font being all that was needed.

[@redpup6931]

At least later on. Sorry, forgot this was like 1980.

[@MichaelDodge27]

I love when Vox goes into typefaces, especially when you guys talk videogames!!! Keep it up Vox!

[@mystscot9814]

Every day is a school day watching and learning so much from Vox videos. Thank you for educating me on those little things we probably would never had known if it wasn't for your videos. As always excellent narration and videography.

[@mythirdchannel]

I love this :D I would never have thought that such a book exists, it's awesome to hear about it. My husband and I are currently in the process of building our own DYI arcade, and I will definitely use an 8-bit font for the marquee after watching this :D

[@soelsa4496]

So great to have the subtitles for all the videos! Gonna watch all of them!

[@aleks456]

This video is well made. Kudos to the team and Vox! Never knew how fonts could be so interesting.

[@AbhishekMajiTheMajikHouse]

That was an amazing video. Love the way it was animated and the narrative was super fun

[@nawrex]

These are in my opinion some of the best content where videos focus on something new each time that I might just not have known. I would love more of these types of content especially ones that distract from the current situation

[@Stvrk]

Another visually stunning video, well done guys

[@LeviathanDesigner]

This video is so good. Hope you can keep doing stuff about design in video games. Thanks for the amazing content.

[@altoticket]

Loved this guy's atention to detail. Thanks for sharing such awesome stuff.

[@herrsan]

What an unexpectedly lovely video - thanks, that was really interesting! :)

[@TimFitzwater]

Wow, fantastic. I love learning about something I didn’t know I wanted to know!

[@KatzRool]

"Legends of Zelda" 7:09

[@HelmuthGerka]

It also rustled my jimmies.

[@zaukeds21]

Same

[@ThomasChanSellsOut]

can't wait to collect all seven legends of zelda

[@buddyfx7026]

This video alone was brilliant, excellent job on all ends. Presentation was spot on!

[@billkendrick1]

When Atari made their 8-bit line of computers (which started with the 400 & 800 in 1979), they included a special text mode that displayed 8x10 pixel cells for characters, and allowed you to supply a font (character set) that would display true descenders on lowercase letters. I don't think it got used much, beyond some word processors, but it's another example of the thought & effort put into that platform (which is, IMO, vastly superior to other 8-bits of the era). Also, the built-in font used 2px thick (horizontally) shapes, for the best rendering over RF (cable/antenna input on your TV), the most commonly-used hook-up. And except for W, M and #, were never more than 6px wide, so that the character was fully "encased", when shown in inverse-video (think "highlighted" in a modern word processor). Other systems (*cough* Commodore 64) were 7px tall, and hence less legible when in inverse. Oh and to continue gloating, it included lowercase out of the box (*cough* Apple II) and all the time (*cough* C=64).

[@reillywalker195]

The Atari 8-bit stayed in production for longer than many of its competitors, too, being discontinued in 1992.

[@tubthungusbychumbungus]

That ting ad at the end made me realise how expensive data is in the US when $23 a month is low when I spend £9 for 4GB

[@kaitlyn__L]

ofcom actually enforce competition! while the FCC is bought up by the big ISPs and mobile companies there.

[@keyholes]

Which network on you on? That's pretty good! Slightly better than Giffgaff.

[@tubthungusbychumbungus]

@@keyholes it's a 3 sim-only plan, so much cheaper than phone contracts

[@ujjwalprashar2738]

2 bucks for 1.5 gb data everyday here

[@mrkengage]

One of the coolest videos out there! For us 1980s classic arcade gaming nerds anyway! Thank you!

[@lordlouie3550]

This font endured through the 16-bit era as well, because resolution doesn’t change between NES and SNES

[@Toschez]

Even in some of the PlayStation era games. What does change is the number of colours used.

[@lordlouie3550]

Omagari Toshi 256 on the NES, and over 20,000 on the SNES.

[@Toschez]

@@lordlouie3550 Yes, and it's really noticeable even in text. Only 1 to 2 colours were used for fonts the 8 bit era, but for PlayStation games you would see 20+ colours used, just to make 8*8 pixels fonts.

[@lordlouie3550]

@Omagari Toshi I don’t think I’ve ever seen an NES font that uses all three palette colors at once.

[@lordlouie3550]

@The Tomato Watcher 256 colors, if you include every Hex value, even the repeats. The actual total is about 39.

[@whitesedan99]

Thank you Estelle, for reminding us that life still goes on. :)

[@Shubham-fk5oq]

*Please keep making design videos* I watched all design series videos it's really helpful.

[@AlphaHealthYT]

How are your videos soooo good? You make anything seem interesting!

[@pielover4321]

Video is 8 minutes long, posted 2 mins ago and someone already disliked it? Yo who tf

[@Blade_Of_Heaven]

Someone is evil.

[@vincentwong1127]

haters gonna hate

[@Otzkar]

Some rightwing Republicans maybe

[@theemperor-wh40k18]

Oskar Evans why, why do you bring in politics?

[@Otzkar]

@@Blade_Of_Heaven it's probably trump

[@AllAmericanDreamChaser]

I was addicted to Pac-Man! I remember going into the arcade with bags of quarters. Hahaha man I miss those days! Great video! 😀👍

[@andrewthe]

I really enjoyed the graphics work in this one. Good job folks!

[@javieroger]

Always the best from VOX!

[@thebutterflowers]

Mann do i love how y'all edit your videos.

[@neq9478]

Nice! I've been waiting for this!

[@abolmiamenx4]

such an amazing video! props to the Motion Graphics Artists at Vox! also , so much MegaMan sound effects lol!

[@IEJ7654321]

I like it when vox uploads regular videos.

[@doney1996]

Awesome video! I love it! Games overall are making a huge comeback to the masses. Technology has evolved. Pokémon Go has made so many dive into mobile gaming.

[@Joey_Headset]

Another amazing Vox vid.

[@moses1142]

It’s amazing the leaps and bounds tech has gone through just in my lifetime!

[@space_Jelly_1994]

Your my favorite Vox creator !!!!!!!!!! i love what you put down c:

[@DemoEvolvedGaming]

Beautifully made video, very informative!

[@vacafuega]

Loved this. What beautiful fonts.

[@SafirAksel]

Vox is the epitome of information i didn't know i needed.

[@TheManish767]

Vox makes videos on topics I didn't know I was interested in.

[@fundorinlive]

Video production is top notch, as usual. Please, continue with the earworm series.

[@jodie1473]

Vox, Estelle, thank you for doing this!

[@althafa8371]

This channel have a God tier level video editor

[@mcmikecreations]

Nice video, keep doing the great work!

[@thatdude10000000]

I was just thinking about making a font and this was amazing.

[@markdowse3572]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is a great video because it explains and opens my mind simultaneously! As a kid in the 80's I couldn't afford to play ALL the games, but I played as many as I could.

[@PhilMoskowitz]

I first saw this kind of font not in video games, but in association with futuristic movie titles from the early 1970s.

[@zakkymubarrak726]

Glad this series is back again!!

[@JohnDlugosz]

Fixed-width low resolution fonts were also used in computers, from the earliest glass TTYs, 8-bit micros on TVs, through the VGA era. We still use fixed width fonts for terminals and source code, and it's only comparatively recently that the overall resolution has increased and even more recent that they use anti-aliasing. A 640 by 480 display showing 80 characters per line and 25 lines gives a cell of 8 by 16 tall. The extra height makes it much more readable and offers legible lower-case, but it still has the issue where the 8 wide has to include the gap between characters. With 720x480, used for monochrome, not only does the solid-green (or amber, or later white) screen without individual dots give a crisper image, but now you have 8 pixel wide cells that can be completely used, as a 9th is added between cells. As displays became available in higher resolutions, I would fit more text onto it, rather than making the chars higher resolution. So the 8x16 grid was the standard for decades.

[@FlexDragneel]

Finally a by Design Video .. NEED MORE OF THOSE PLEASE

[@calvin-]

This is a random topic, but a very interesting video. Thank you, Vox.

[@outofsight8308]

The intro for this video is so so so rad Thanks, From a jealous motion graphics editor

[@geewiz8253]

Great lesson in how amazing creativity can come when limitations are set upon us. Stay home. Work if you’re able, and be creative.

[@theNeuo13]

This is very interesting. Thanks for the knowledge.

[@beemmeupscotty5993]

Just bought the book. Thanks for the recommendation. I ❤️ 8bit Art.

[@sirarungasal3732]

love her detail :) miss it so much

[@thatRyzzle]

This is a great video about pixel art'ed fonts and ting.

[@iga_angourie]

Creativity never dies~

[@ColinLamberton]

Video games and typography - two of my favourite things combined

[@invalidcode]

This is the first time i've seen a non-coronavirus video in a while, props to Vox!

[@schumachersbatman5094]

Sometimes there is nothing more beautiful than those grids of tiny coloured lights. They still seem to refer to the far future. Even more so than games and movies here in the 20s.

[@michaeljfan9720]

Excuse me? "Legends Of Zelda"? THERE IS NO S!

[@brvnos]

I am always impressed by Estelle´s videos. Missing Earworm though.

[@TyronDeakin]

absolutely love this thank you

[@opaulodetarso]

Thanks for a spectacular video.

[@dagrial]

Awesome video! Thanks!

[@harshitra0]

OH man your editing team deserves a raise

[@applesyo]

Thanks vox! Great video!

[@PogieJoe]

You did beautiful typeface right with this beautiful presentation.

[@MatthiaGryffine]

More content like this please!

[@circleinfo]

How much work you put into that simple video wow

[@diazan98]

I expected this to be a fun and much needed distraction, but I never expected it to be such a beautiful story. Bravo, Vox. Bravo.

[@panmush]

I have been waiting my whole life for this

[@johnta17]

“The enemy of art is the absence of limitation “ - orson welles

[@summeryim]

Now I know how to make those 8-bit words, thanks Vox!

[@siddharth3704]

Vox's editors are on fire

[@p3terlos]

Great video! 8/8 bits, would recommend.