I Wanna Be the Guy -- platformer game is a stew of 8-bit classics

I Want to Be the Guy is an insanely hard platformer video-game that mashes together art, bosses, and other play elements from several 8-bit console cartridges from the golden age. Here's a video of someone running the game -- mesmerising. Link (via Waxy)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Brian Damage

This game is made by the son of one of the hosts of the Games For Windows magazine/podcast (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3148397). The father expressed a lot of pride in his son’s creation in one podcast episode.
wil9000

The name is from Homestar Runner, specifically from the Stinko Man series. 1-UP says it to Stinko Man, who replies “No way! You’re just a kid!”
Shawn Struck

@#4:

Actually, it isn’t a Homestar reference at all, as covered in the FAQ by the game’s creator. Here’s I’ll post an excerpt:

Q: Is this a reference to Homestar Runn~

A: NO. It resulted from me and my friend Eric babbling about stuff. I forgot the exact conversation but I was talking about the game premise and Eric said something like “It should be Guy Quest 64″(It was a different name involving Guy) “Dude, I’m never going to let you be a Guy.” “But I wanna be the Guy. :(” …. And I instantly laughed at the idea of using that for the name. But yes, I’m pretty sure both of that saw the Homestar runner clip and it is theoretical that it planted the mental foot note for us to come up with the name, but it is in no way a reference.

I love this game even as I curse it.

IWBTG is so hard, it will kill your FRIENDS.
License Farm

This is The Tibetan Book of the Dead written specifically for Shigeru Miyamoto.
jennfrank

Sorry, late to the party. MeFi just hopped on this, only 20 days later, and I just saw the link to Cary’s original post there.

@3 Ha! I’m not even correcting this because that is hilarious.

@4 I think at some point *I* said that, in an episode of Freeloader at 1UP. #5, 1UP freelancer Shawn Struck, is correct — it is in fact only a bizarre coincidence.
A New Challenger

Of note is that Zangief there is a recolored sprite from Street Fighter Alpha 2 (or beyond), a decidedly not 8-bit game, just to clear up any potential confusion. Blanka projectiles are a nice touch.