Giant Robot's Famicom Scion

I'm pretty sure we've already mentioned that many older gamers love the 8-bit NES, or its Japanese counterpart the Famicom. Well for Giant Robot magazine, "love" is an understatement. The Asian-American geek publication's staff adore the old Nintendo platforms so much, they not only made their own indie 8-bit game, but they also modded an entire Toyota Scion xB just to play it.

The Scion Art Car was designed by Giant Robot publisher and editor Eric Nakamura. Columnist and gearhead Len Higa provided the heavy lifting and actual pimping of said ride. It sports the old Famicom colors on the outside, while the seats have a loud 8-bit rainbow stripe to them. The grill has an odd-shaped protrusion on the right-hand side, which on further inspection turns out to be a NES cartridge-style deco.

That's not all there is to this game-themed Scion, either. As mentioned earlier, the whole point of this car was to play Giant Robot's indie game, Revenge of the Quack. Each seat has its own NES-like gamepad, and the car's headlights project the game on any convenient wall. If Revenge of the Quack's not your thing, the back holds a Famicom and LCD panel, so you can play more familiar games like Super Mario or Legend of Zelda.

Giant Robot's Scion is currently parked at Culver City, where it serves as the centerpiece for an exhibition called Pixel Pushers: an Exploration of 8-bit Media. It runs till December 11 of this year, so if you consider yourself an old-school gamer and live within driving distance of Culver City, drop by. You might get a chance to play a few rounds on this one-of-a-kind gaming car.

[source: Giant Robot magazine via Tiny Cartridge]

[photos courtesy of Hana]