Meet the Maker: RetroHursty69, the ‘Bad ES Theme Guy’ With Over 2000 Themes

If your EmulationStation or Attract Mode setup has ever looked better than it had any right to, you may well have been running a theme by RetroHursty69. Hursty started making themes back in 2016 and has over 2000 themes on GitHub. That is not a typo. Two thousand.

And the best bit? He says he is “not a tech person”. He just loves creating artwork. He also calls himself “the bad ES Theme guy”, which, given the numbers, is the most Australian bit of modesty we have ever read.

He sent us his answers along with a pile of photos he describes as “just some of my silliness”. We would like to see his serious side, because his silliness includes a room full of pinball machines.

Retro Hursty 69, the bad ES Theme guy.

RetroHursty69

From Pong to 2000 themes

What got you into the game?
As a kid in the 70s I had a Pong device for my TV. Then I got a Dick Smith VZ200 (called the VTech VZ 200 in other countries). I had a C64, but my first game console was a Super Nintendo. From that point on I have owned every Nintendo console released. Plus I loved PlayStation and Xbox too. I loved many arcade games and my top 5 are Bosconian, Moon Cresta, Moon Patrol, Frogger and Traverse USA.

A Dick Smith VZ200! Any Aussie Punks reading this just felt a very specific wave of nostalgia.

What do you do in the retro and arcade world?
I started making themes for EmulationStation and Attract Mode back in 2016. I have over 2000 themes available on GitHub. I am not a tech person, I just love creating artwork.

Long-time Punks will remember a few of them landing here, including his Arcade Paradise Attract Mode theme, the Game Room theme and his artwork set of wheels, backgrounds, flyers and logos.

OTHROC: the final big project

Your favourite thing you’ve made, and why?
Earlier this year I released my final big project, an Attract Mode theme called OTHROC. I created a lot of images with AI.

What have you made?
I am not making themes any more these days. But who knows, I may come back to it.

What are you working on now, and what’s next?
Unknown, but it will happen one day.

We will take “it will happen one day” as a promise, Hursty.

Hursty’s silliness: the gallery

His words, not ours. We would call it a dream games room, with a few more cabinets taking shape in the shed.

What he loves

What do you love about what you do?
I love trying to come up with new ideas and designs. I have also made some friends from the gaming community.

A moment you’ll never forget?
Lots of people have given me nice compliments over the years. I miss that part.

Well, Punks, you know what to do. If a Hursty theme ever made your cab look amazing, the comments are open.

Your dream build?
Anything people love.

Tips for new builders

Don’t listen to painful people, do what you enjoy and want to do.

RetroHursty69

Short, and absolutely right.

Off the clock

In the real world Hursty is a Business Manager, and he gets “obsessed with new hobbies all the time”. Right now it is 3D printing. His favourite things: “Any pinball machine. PSX, SNES, N64 and I love the Switch too.” The pinball bit, we had worked out from the photos.

Shout-out

Honestly, every contributor has my thanks. But I will say, a friend of mine in Texas is the most amazing, knowledgeable and helpful person I met. I have not met in person, but we may in the next couple of years. For 10 years we have almost chatted in messages each week. He helped me learn so much.

RetroHursty69

Ten years of weekly chats without ever meeting. If that is not the retro scene in one paragraph, we do not know what is.

Our take

Over 2000 themes, ten years of making the frontends we all use look brilliant, and he still calls himself the bad theme guy. Hursty, you are not. Whether OTHROC really is the last big one or not, his themes are still out there making cabs look great, and we hope he hears that more often.

Which Hursty theme have you run on your setup? Tell him in the comments.