New ‘Stranger Things’ promo turns season 1 into an arcade game

By Stephanie Topacio Long August 30, 2017

Netflix got us hooked on Stranger Things in 2016, and while we wait for the hit series’ second season to arrive this fall, the streamer is giving us a new way to appreciate what we’ve already seen. The streamer released a new promo Wednesday that reimagines the first season as an old-school arcade game.

The video’s theme is well-executed, making the promo fun for fans, even though we already saw the moments it features when we watched season 1. This time, they get a new spin, including points being gained or lost, depending on what happens in a particular scene. For example, at one point, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) gets a “sass bonus” for letting Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) pick up and drop a Millennium Falcon model that he wants her to use her powers on.

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With its fresh take, the video amplifies Stranger Things‘ already high level of 1980s nostalgia by incorporating elements familiar to anyone who has ever played an arcade game. We get all of the wonderful graphics, for example, from text boxes offering choices to a game over alert (there is no justice for Barb, unfortunately). Stranger Things staples are woven in as well, including the game keeping track of an inventory of waffles.

The video game theme is fitting not just because the show pays homage to the ’80s, but also it builds on the second season’s most recent trailer. That preview opened with Dustin, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Will (Noah Schnapp) hanging out and playing an arcade game. The new promo manages to simultaneously encourage fans to rewatch Stranger Things season 1 and get ready for a return to Hawkins, Indiana, in season 2.

When the show resumes, we’ll pick up a year after the traumatic events of season 1. Will, in particularly, will be struggling to deal with what happened, but he won’t be the only one. New evil forces — ones that are supposed to be even more terrifying than anything we’ve seen so far in the series — will threaten everyone.

Stranger Things season 2 is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on October 27.

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