wee doors banging

The Coca-Cola Company, worldwide purveyor of refreshing cola based beverages, are running an interesting marketing campaign at the moment that’s a little bit different to the usual and has something for the retrogamer. They’ve commissioned German artists eBoy to produce posters of a number of Irish cites in their “Pixorama” style, highly reminiscent of the isometric arcade adventures of old such as Head Over Heels and Get Dexter!

My home town of Belfast is well represented. I first spotted on of these posters on a bus shelter, but they’re displayed all over Belfast city centre on phone boxes, advertising hoardings and also in buses. Being a retrogaming geek, the art style immediately caught my attention.

The Belfast poster, like the others, is highly detailed with major landmarks rendered in a fun, cartoon shaded, isometric projection. Local knowledge is displayed in some nice touches such as the crowds that hang out in the City Hall grounds, the jaunty angle of the Albert Clock and more. There are a couple of semi-hidden (if not entirely true-to-life) easter eggs to keep your eyes peeled for too.

Belfast, in a Pixorama style

There’s an animated interactive game based on the poster on Coke’s Bebo profile, where you can win prizes such as games consoles, A1 sized (2′ x 3′ !) copies of your city’s poster as well as  downloadable wallpapers, icons etc. Speech bubbles from the clickable in-game characters are dead on with the local slang.

You can follow the campaign on Twitter too.

Alright, so it’s just marketing to make you buy more flavoured fizzy water, but it’s eye-catching and the posters are a colourful slice of retro-goodness. I can’t help but imagine controlling an isometric hero around those cities, collecting objects and solving puzzles like a modern day Get Dexter! Maybe I just need to get out more.