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original url http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/9549/

last modified 2009-03-18 18:44:51

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And to think they're about to release a third one of these and everyone is hyped for it.

@outofcontextsonicthehedgehog @out-of-context-sonic

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GameFAQs ASCII art: Some history

Back in the before times, when the only way to be social online was through a combination of BBS, IRC, and published message boards, thousands of users gathered on a videogame walkthrough site appropriately titled GameFAQs. While the hook of the site were and are its titular FAQs, there was also a large variety of message boards specific to every game out there, in addition to boards without a general topic, such as Current Events or Random Insanity. As the years passed and the rest of the Internet grew and modernized and developed new ways to socialize, GameFAQs established a reputation as being very conservative in its design and function. For example, it was only in 2019 that image embedding was added to the boards, literal decades after they first opened. During those years where images not only required a direct link, but their load times were reliant on a user's dial-up connection, the userbase developed an affinity for ASCII art.

Named for the characters used in the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, ASCII art began to develop at the tail end of the 20th century, its heyday tied to BBS forums and Usenet groups. With these proto-social media falling into obscurity, so too did ASCII art. But the image restrictions of GameFAQs on both FAQs and message boards created a fork for ASCII art (henceforth simply referred to as ASCII) that enabled the hobby to enjoy an extended Renaissance. From there, another fork formed between the FAQs and the boards. That is to say, the ASCII you see on this blog was not posted on the titular FAQs, but the message boards they accompanied. While FAQ art only used the fixed width font Courier (fixed meaning it could be posted anywhere that uses Courier and it would maintain its shape), message board art used the variable width font Arial, size 10. Interestingly, AOL chatrooms used this same font and size in their ASCII (colloquially known as Macro art), which may be how GameFAQs users picked it up so quickly.

Patamon was a user of the boards, and one of the pioneers of the board-specific ASCII that became popular across the site and even other sites. Working within the formatting limitations of the boards--the aforementioned Arial 10 as well as no double single spacing or full spacing, which meant empty space had to be filled with periods/ellipses--he and others created ASCII that could be posted in any topic/thread. His most famous work, which you may have seen at some point, Mario riding Yoshi, later nicknamed LUEshi due to its temporary domination of the board Life, the Universe, and Everything.

[Image Description: A screenshot of 27 lines of text containing a variety of text characters. The characters are arranged to form an image of Mario riding Yoshi. Mario and Yoshi are looking at each other and smiling. End I.D.]

Or such was the case before it became TOO popular and had to be relegated to specifically named "***ASCII***" topics to avoid being moderated for "disruptive posting." At the same time, new art was created and shared on the message board for the game Alphabet Zoo for the Commodore 64. This art would make its way to the more popular boards, often edited for additional humor such as the ever unexpected Jinjo, sombreros, top hats, face swapping, and more. All this occurred in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, you won't find many of these posts due to board archiving not being introduced until 2008 (there's that GameFAQs antique aesthetic again.) There used to be an exhaustive archive of GameFAQs ASCII, but much of it is also lost to time.

By the time I even knew about ASCII art around 2007 or so, the party was over. Patamon had long left, as did many of the more prolific artists. The ones who hadn't left simply didn't have the desire to keep up with it, what with image sharing becoming easier. Perhaps most importantly, the format of the boards began to discourage it in order to favor mobile displays. In 2014, an update banned strings over 80 characters, which was the final nail in the coffin. My decision to keep making ASCII in the Arial 10 style is purely traditional; there's no longer a popular site to post these variable width ASCII unless in screenshot form. I think the Japanese Discord I used to lurk said it best:

[Image Description: A screenshot of a Google Translate translation made up of two columns of text. The text on the left is in Japanese and reads, "Komyuniti ga shimetsu shita nochi mo ikinokotte AA o tsukutte kita seikimatsu no bakemono-san mitaidesu o." The text on the right is in English and reads, "It's like the end-of-the-century monster who survived the death of the community and made AA." End I.D.]

ASCII at large isn't dead though. Traditional fixed-width ASCII is still regularly made by small but dedicated users on various platforms, often tagged as #ASCII or #ASCIIart. A fellow GameFAQs user who made ASCII for the FAQs has come out of hiding and can now be found on Twitter. Sixteen Colors is a regularly updated art gallery for ANSI/ASCII/other antique Internet art. "Braille" ASCII has taken off due to its fixed-width and small size being ideal for Twitch memes. There is also the Japanese cousin of ASCII, Shift_JIS (SJIS) art/"AA", which still boasts a large output on dedicated image boards like 2chan. You can usually find these under the tag #アスキーアート, or at the sites Yaruyomi, AA Hub, and UTF8 Art.

Finally, this is a rough retelling of events from someone who was absent for most of them, and there are probably multiple things that need correcting. Also I have no idea how to make image descriptions other than what I've read other users here say, and I have even less of an idea of how to convey the idea of ASCII art via a description. Corrections on these things would be appreciated most of all.

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Hi I just wanted to say I’m so so so happy that someone appreciates this as much as it should be appreciated, ASCII art deserves to be preserved and loved and it’s always been my favorite part of weird little obscure game tutorials 💖💖

Thank you! Sorry it's so dead atm but I haven't completely given up on it.

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Angel Goku

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Ganbatte!

I’m gonna guess no one will find this blog, which is nice, it’s like screaming into the void, but if you did then welcome! U could prolly already guess, but I’m Magpie and I make ascii art lol

I’ve only been doing ascii art for roughly half a yr, but I’d say that I’ve already gotten fairly good, tho not as good as I want to be!

I’ve got a TON of ascii art that I’ve made, that I haven’t posted here (yet), bc I didn’t have this blog then. But I’m gonna start posting it (both good and bad) under the tag #magpies old ascii art

Additionally I'll post any new ascii art under #magpies ascii art

I’m also gonna start working on making a game with all my ascii art in it. It’s slow progress since I don’t know that much code, and it’s my first time making my own game! But I’ll also post updates abt it here! The games called "decisions, decision" and I'll post any updates abt it, under that tag :D

Other then that I don’t think there’s not much to say, hope u stick around!

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Was wondering if you could blend the one of those ascii giko cats?

Giko Neko is being blended!!

You cannot save it.

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I’m currently reading through some old MAD magazines for a personal project, and from an issue from 1965 I’ve found this

There’s a lot of history and pop culture that has been left behind in them, but this in particular stands out to me. The primordial ancestor of ASCII art, from when goddamn typewriters were relatively common. There’s something so wonderfully human about it, looking back almost 60 years into the past and seeing such a familiar form of creation.

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Time to be a savvy Brand™ and resume regular posting now that the Twitter exodus has started

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Haruka Haruhara

NTheGreat. (2006, January 10th). NTheGreat’s ASCII. Retrieved from https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/585451-alphabet-zoo/25414232

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This is my first ASCII made entirely in Notepad++, with the help of a tool called WindowTop that makes Notepad++ opaque so I can see an image behind whatever I’m typing. So the source text on this one might be copy/paste friendly, so long as wherever you’re posting uses 10pt Arial or something similar. Feedback on that is appreciated, I would really like to make new art in a way that it is easily accessible to more websites.

Anyway, here’s Mamimi Samejima from FLCL since I’m on a the pillows kick.

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“A black winged angel that came down from the heavens just for me.”

This took a few tries, namely because of the wings and neck.

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Canti from FuliCuli

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Naota from FuliCuli