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Auto Museum 64’s free parking lot is packed with stylish 90s racersNo parking, unfortunately
No parking, unfortunately
Take a drive down memory lane with me, readers. For this weekend’s field trip, we’re heading toAuto Museum 64, a free “educational showcase” of late-90s game art - a fascinating study of the Nintendo 64’s slickest racecars, rally trucks and high-performance hovercraft brought together under one roof. Get there early, mind. Parkins spaces fill up fast.
Granted, Auto Museum 64 isn’t the most immediately picturesque digital museum I’ve covered on this site. Compared toLIKELIKE Online’s muralsor the ever-changing white halls ofLouie Zong’s Bird Museum, it seems first to just be a big parking lot. Hardly day-trip material, is it?
But more than simply showing off some lovely old motors, Auto Museum 64’s power is in humanising the people behind the polygons. We’ve become more used to the idea that the people who make videogames are, well, people, but this mid-90s period often still reads as a black box. Big companies making would-be classics at a time of seismic technological change.
The museum also offers a brief guide on how to rip models from old games yourself, using emulators and modelling software. I tried a similar process exactly once last year in an effort to export a model from PS1 brawler The Red Star. Long story short, it was a nightmare - capturing a snapshot of an entire scene, trimming away the scenery and fluff, piecing together broken geometry and readjusting textures. Eugh.
It’s impressive enough that Burke managed it the once, let alone for an entire garage full of ‘em. Well done, then.Auto Museum 64is free to visit over on Itch.io.
