Get Out of Great Gatsby Limbo: Play the Video Game

Frustrated at the distant Australian release date for The Great Gatsby? Forget the flamboyance and pizzazz of Baz Luhrmann's film, because the best way to get lost in the decadent world of The Great Gatsby is through this 8-bit video game.

Okay, maybe we're exaggerating a pinch, and maybe this isn't the best bit of Gatsby paraphernalia going around. But the Great Gatsby video game is undoubtedly the best Friday afternoon procrastination that we have stumbled across in a very long time.

The story behind the making of the game is a Gatsby-esque rags-to-riches tale in itself. Having come across the 8-bit Nintendo game at a yard sale and forking out a whopping 50c for it, the developers thought it deserved some time in the sun and transformed it into an open-source online game.

For all the Gatsby fans out there, the thrill of playing as a butler-and-showgirl-killing Nick Carraway in search of both your fortune and the mysterious Gatsby himself is only matched by the games plethora of references, some of which we loved (like that deliciously smug gentleman reading a book and dishing out directions), and some which I imagine flew right over our heads.

If nothing else, the game may just be one more thing to get us in the mood for Luhrmann's film, which by now we're busting to see.

Via Fast Co.Create.