To anyone who spent their youth blowing dust out of Nintendo cartridges and developing Contra-induced carpal tunnel syndrome, Code Monkeys is ready to take your nostalgia for old-school gaming to the next level. Set in the early '80s, gamer channel G4's crudely pixelated cartoon follows two hapless programmers — brash code-wizard Dave and his neurotic coworker, Jerry — as they battle a demented tycoon who has just acquired their gaming company. Much like the classics it riffs on, Code quickly veers into the wildly surreal. On an average workday, lava pits imperil bathroom breaks, random fireballs cut short watercooler chatter, and floating gold coins make for a holiday bonus. "The early games, like Donkey Kong, were way trippier than the ones today," says Code director Adam de la Pe a (who also helmed Adult Swim's superhero send-up, Minoriteam). "You're a plumber. A monkey kidnaps your girlfriend, and now you have to kill him." Frame by frame, Code Monkeys is loaded with vid nods from Arkanoid to Zelda. Power up your gamer cred by naming all nine references in the scene here.
Spot the references answer key
Bat above fireplace: Castlevania; coins on shelf: Super Mario Bros.; duck: Duck Hunt; dolphin: Ecco the Dolphin; sword: Ninja Gaiden; knife, grenades, treasure chest: The Legend of Zelda; banana peel: Mario Kart series; baseball bat: River City Ransom; turtle: Super Mario Bros.
