Interview with Japanese Demoscener 0b5vr
13 comments
·September 5, 2025herodoturtle
ErneX
skrebbel
Just to clarify for readers who didn't read the interview, not a live set, it’s a 64kb demo that looks and feels like a recording of a livecoding competition. So “live set demo” is technically correct because it’s a “live set” themed demo. But it’s not actually a live set :-)
slickytail
[dead]
carra
Mode 13H was pretty nice. But mode 13X, hacked to have square pixels, was the coolest!
thibaut_barrere
Mode X allowed pretty cool stuff, like fake true color with interlaced lines (R,G,B), double buffering etc!
Fond memories.
Here is a YouTube rendition of a demo I implemented in 96, showing those techniques https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8o-uuq73UU&pp=ygUQTmlra2kgaml...
Prime_Axiom
I really enjoyed the interview, and I definitely resonate with the art being free from so called “value” as an asset, truly a pure from of artistic creation and expression. I am curious to know more about the scene and it sounds like they would be welcoming to n00bs, you guys recommend any upcoming live events to keep track of?
GuB-42
The biggest pure demoscene event is Revision in Saarbrücken, Germany. The 2026 edition has yet to be announced, but it is always during the Easter week-end. They have a dedicated newbie corner if you are interested https://2025.revision-party.net/about/newcomers/
velo_aprx
Nice to see Setsukos blog here on hackernews! She has done a lot of great interviews with sceners over the years you should check out.
I met her once at Tokyo Demofest, and I still feel bad about making her try the Swedish licorice I had brought... :)
torginus
I feel like MIDI trackers are a lost art - back in the 90s instead of using mp3s, we stored music as series of instrument beats - this not only was more efficient but since beats were triggered by code, that meant it was trivial to sync visuals to it - which gave these 64k intros their unique vibe.
ChrisArchitect
Warms my heart when they mention his 'discography' and it's a link to pouet.net, one of the various scene.org sites been around forever and still going. Having any kind of documentation/archives of a subculture's history, especially from around that time when digital things just disappear, is great to see.
fnord77
I always found Demoscene to be a curious phenomena. A combination of fascination and not understanding the point.
Seems to be mostly a European thing, too.
badpun
They're talented hobbyists who are not interested in monetizing their passion. Such people exist in US too, although perhaps are more rare.
This article was such a cool trip down memory lane, and as an old-timer that hasn’t looked at this stuff since the early 90s (mode13h anyone?) I am so happy to see how strong the scene is today.