Synopsis

Mouse On Mars' "Twift" video is built almost entirely from surreal Nintendo 64 game footage. A brightly colored animal-like creature moves through the strange industrial environments of Space Station: Silicon Valley, surrounded by floating objects, platforms, hazards, and rapid visual transitions. A timer reinforces the connection to classic platform games, while the game's unusual animation and abstract level design match the track's restless electronic pulse. The result feels less like a conventional narrative than a playful collision between experimental music and early 3D gaming.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was produced in Berlin in late summer 1997 by Sven Bergmann and Markus Popp, who is also known for his work as Oval.

• Its footage comes from a beta version of Space Station: Silicon Valley, the Nintendo 64 game developed by DMA Design. The finished game was released in 1998.

• The collaboration began after Popp and Jan St. Werner had discussed using video game footage for a Mouse On Mars promo. Bergmann and Popp later met DMA representatives at the 1997 ESTS game show in London.

• DMA supplied a beta cartridge that allowed the production team to capture extensive footage in Berlin. This makes the video an early document of a game build that differs noticeably from the retail version.

• The footage includes visual elements that were changed before release, including different versions of the power gems and flowers, altered environments, and a different overall presentation.

• A timer appears along the bottom of the image as a deliberate nod to platform-game conventions.

• "Twift" was released as a 1997 single and EP by Our Choice and Rough Trade. The title track runs for approximately 3 minutes and 43 seconds.

• The video has retained a cult reputation among both electronic-music listeners and video-game historians because it preserves imagery from an early version of a game that later became associated with DMA Design's successor, Rockstar North.