THE WORSTEST

A lyric video for Arcade Jackson's track "The Worstest" that transforms heartbreak into a playable arcade experience. Originally conceived with an anime-stylized character playing the game inspired by Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue, the final concept centers on the arcade cabinet itself, with the viewer as the player. The on-screen game is styled after Galaga, where a ship moves side to side, blasting lyrics as they appear, turning the words themselves into enemies to shoot down.

Though the character concept evolved, I kept the moody, psychological tone of Kon's work alive through the lighting and rendering, with neon pinks and cyans cutting through darkness creating an atmosphere that's both nostalgic and unsettling.

I designed and modeled the arcade machine in Blender, created the cabinet graphics and branding in Photoshop, and animated the Galaga-inspired lyric sequences in After Effects.

The GIFS below show the three draft stages. The first shows the old machine design with anime character, the second is an updated machine design and decal, as well as POV, and the third is the final render.