Nyan Cat c.1988

‘Nyan Cat is an internet meme, referring to an animated gif of a cat with the body of a cherry Pop-Tart flying through space, leaving a rainbow trail behind the cat; or to a video of the animated gif, set to a remix of the song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!”.As of September 15, 2024, the YouTube video has had over 37 million views.’

- Wikipedia

‘So the other day I was browsing at a garage sale and ran across this old video game. I thought Nyan Cat was a fairly recent internet meme. But apparently it was a title created by Konami back in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. (According to the copyright on the back of the packaging.)  I purchased the game for one dollar and ran home to scan of the front and back of the box.’

- J.R. Barker

‘Okay, so it’s obviously not a real game. I thought it would be fun to take the 8-bit looking Nyan Cat and design and paint a retro Nintendo game box using the character. I decided to model the box after the old Konami design. I think this design is second only to Nintendo itself as the most recognizable and consistent packaging from that era.’

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All images by J.R. Barker