An entire galaxy of choice

Despite the best intentions of the designer, infographics can often be monumentally dull affairs. Thankfully that isn't true with Pop Chart Lab's The Nebula of NES Games, a visual representation of more than 700 Nintendo Entertainment System titles, all neatly arranged in a swirling formation.

The spiral advances chronologically from the middle, and each "arm" represents a different genre: platformer, fighting game, sports, RPG — and so on.

Pop Chart founder and editorial director Patrick Mulligan explains the reasoning behind this unique infographic:

We originally designed this as a standard timeline with the years on the y-axis. However, it took up a ton of space and there was a lot of dead air throughout the chart. We then started investigating ways to pack the information more densely and eventually hit on the spiral. Once we stepped back and looked it, we realized it looked like a galactic spiral, and that informed our design treatment.

The biggest category by raw count is 'platformers' and 'side-scrollers. It also became the default way to adapt another property into an NES game. Need a Robocop game? Make a side-scroller. Flintstones game? Side-scroller. Nightmare on Elm Street game? Side-scroller.

You can purchase this 24" x 36" print for $32 direct from Pop Chart Lab.

[source fastcodesign.com, via popchartlab.com]