The bespoke saloon is filled with details that old-school gamers will know and appreciate
It’s not unusual to see a bespoke Rolls-Royce with cosmetic details inspired by a bygone era, but this one is likely to surprise more than a few people out there.
The luxury marque has just unveiled the Black Badge Ghost Gamer. The powerful saloon features a slew of bold visual references, both outside and in, to the golden age of 8-bit arcade games.
The Black Badge Ghost Gamer is Rolls-Royce’s first bespoke commission to inspired by arcade gaming culture. The car’s distinctive appearance specifically pays tribute to the video games of the late 1970s and early 1980s, like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. This era—which was once documented by British author Martin Amis of all people—is rapidly becoming a major part of the collectible space, though we imagine that the owner’s personal nostalgia for the period also informed the design process.
The four-door’s 8-bit roots will be immediately apparent to anyone who’s spent an afternoon in a dingy neon-lit arcade. The car’s two-tone finishes pair Salamanca Blue with deep-shimmer Crystal over Diamond Black, a combo meant to echo the look of classic arcade hardware. But the most eye-catching flourish is the hand-painted “Cheeky Alien” motif that is made up of 89 individual 3mm-by-3mm “pixels.” Rounding things out are an illuminated Pantheon grille and a pair of 22-inch, seven-spoke Black Badge wheels.
If you really want to be immersed in arcade culture, though, you’ll need to check out the interior. The leather-covered space is done up in Black and Casden Tan and is chock full of video game easter eggs. These include the “Player” embroidery on each of the vehicle’s four seats, as well as a hand-painted lunar battle scene that can be found on the Waterfall above the rear center console. But, as is increasingly the case with Rolls-Royce’s bespoke creations, the Starlight Headliner is the most dazzling feature. Here, the entire ceiling is covered in a “Pixel Blaster” design that features 80 bitmapped battle cruisers crafted from hand-placed fibre-optic lights.
The announcement is short on technical details, but since the one-off is based on the Black Badge Ghost, we know that it’s powered by a 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V-12. The brawny mill makes 592 hp and 900 Nm of torque, which is enough might to push the vehicle from zero to 60 mph (96.6 km/hr) in 4.5 seconds and to a top speed of 155 mph (249 km/hr).
This story was first published on Robb Report USA. Featured photo by Rolls-Royce
