Elden Ring’s SNES fan demake is packed with nostalgia

Video game demakes are a delight, whether they’re playable projects or animated videos that simply imagine a game in the style of a classic console. It’s nostalgic and charming to see a popular game in pixels: the game’s fearsome enemies shrunk down, though no less intimidating.

The popular YouTuber 64 bits imagines has a new project. Elden Ring Super NES. It opens with a sweeping view of the Erdtree, before showing the player — riding Torrent, of course — exploring the world’s map. This YouTube video shows it in a Legend of Zelda-style map. Physically running across it will take a player to another level.

One of the best parts about the demake is how it depicts certain of them. Elden Ring’s most famous characters in pixel art. There’s the Stormgate troll, one of the first trolls players encounter, plus Radahn on top of his perfect horse, Leonard. Ranni is a Pot Boy and Ranni are two other beloved characters. MostThe Pope Turtle. Here’s the best part: When a player approaches the turtle, they’re given the option (based on a popular meme) to “Praise the dog.” The answer is an obvious yes. Why couldn’t I do this in the original game?

There’s a charming cognitive dissonance to demaking Elden Ring. The game’s world is enormous and filled with secret regions, split across various levels. The map is filled with hidden caves and castles. It’s hard to imagine the game on consoles from previous generations, but it’s fun to think about what that might look like. Many fans did just that by creating remakes of the Game Boy as well as the original PlayStation.

64 Bits has become known for its demake videos — like Mass EffectGame Boy Advance God of War PlayStation. This video captures the nostalgic feel of that time, with its attention to detail from loading screens and menus to audio design to text pinging onto a screen. They also show off what a hard copy of the game might have looked like if it had been released in that era — for example, 64 Bits’ God of WarDemake Video shows an illustration of a CD-ROM jacket cover.