Russian animation studio tvigle, came up with a concept of having two famous videogame stars, Pac-Man & Mario, pitted against each other in an epic battle to the death. But I think it was more about Mario going through his ordinary routine, but suddenly Pac-Man has to be a dick once again, and ruin somebody’s fun.
The direction of the action was crafted beautifully, while the animation was drawn to perfection, and the sound is guaranteed to make you at least chuckle. It’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time.
Video of the Day is a feature of /gamer showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at slashgamer@gmail.com
People seem to forget when Mario isn’t saving Princess Peach inside the strange world of the Mushroom Kingdom, from the clutches of Lord Bowser, he is a plumber on the side. Everyone wants a little extra cash and in this economy, being a hero just doesn’t pay all the bills.
Up top is picture drawn by Pat Kinell, which he entitled “Super Plumber.” It shows Mario what he does best, and that is fix the pipes of an old-broken-down sink, while having a few ‘friends’ on the side.
Obviously right away you can spot some of his enemies on the floor, but there are a few other Super Mario Bros. references. For one, if you look on the floor to the right of Mario, you’ll see a raccoon tail, which would have been from the third installment of the famed series. On the top of the toilet, you should notice a tissue-box with it baring a mushroom logo. Above that, on the windowsill, you’ll see a miniature Piranha Plant getting some rays. And to the right of that, check out the picture that resembles one of the many infamous castles.
If you want to own a 11X 14″ print, click here — it will only set you back $50.
Cool Stuff is a feature of /gamer. Know of any geekarific creations or cool products which should be featured on Cool Stuff? E-Mail us at slashgamer@gmail.com
This sweet hoodie, which was designed by Derek on enclothe, reminds me of a time when we had to blow into an NES cartridge because when we turned on the game — this is what it looked like on the TV.
Besides the color scheme and how the pattern begins to break up as it nears the top of the hoodie, I love how the zipper has a “1UP” mushroom for a zipper, which gives it an authentic feel. If you want one, hurry up because there is only a limited quantity and each sells for $65.
Jamie Margary has a talented, yet horrifying imagination. He somehow took a simple character from the cute Mushroom Kingdom and made it as evil as he could. Up top is his vision of what a Piranha Plant would look like in real life and is made out of acrylics, clay and some wire. Sure, the carnivorous plant is only included in the game to kill our beloved plumber(s), and it is not some attractive videogame star. But why does it have to be so scary?
Destructoid were the guys who found the frighting images of the 80s icon, but they told their readers it wouldn’t give them nightmares. I for one can’t lie, and I’m pretty sure you’re gonna have a hard time sleeping the next time you lay down on your bed. With all that said, I really love the uvula is in a position like the plant is screaming, it gives it a much more terrifying look.
After the jump, check out the rest of the pictures and a quick movie on how Jamie made the plant.
The guys over at duelinganalogs made this picture of what looks like Mario having an affair with the Companion Cube. I’m not sure if I’m more disturbed of the inability of Mario being able to keep his zipper up, or the fact Mario has sexual relationships with boxes.
Also, the apparent man-boobs is a sight I never wanted to see with Nintendo’s plumber. Yuck!
These are rough times. Unemployment is at its highest, people are still losing their jobs and companies are going out of business left and right. The economic meltdown isn’t just happening in America or the world for that matter; it’s affecting the Mushroom Kingdom as well.
We received an exclusive picture of Mario in distress and he’s contemplating ending it all, after reports of Nintendo’s profits dipping.
In all seriousness, I love how the artist, Jude Buffum, captured the platform Mario runs on as nothing more than buildings. Check out the full image after the break. Also, notice how he has no coins either, that’s pretty clever. (more…)
If you didn’t know, Mario is a psychopath who is a mass murderer of turtles. The same can be said with his hatred towards living mushrooms, but that’s a whole other story. The testudines community in the Mushroom Kingdom, known as the Koopa Troopa, are so fed up with the turtle massacre, they called upon one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is depicted in this drawing by theautumnsociety.
Okay, I have a fire hydrant pretty close to where I live. Could somebody please paint it like Mario? Thanks in advance.
Seriously, why isn’t there more fire hydrant art? It’s certainly pretty damn cool. Although, next time someone should paint the fire “Mario” suit on the hydrant. Ha get it? Ya, I know — lame.
According to Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters), when the film adaption of Super Mario Bros. was in the process of being made, he was asked if he wanted to direct the film. The ex-Ghostbuster loved the original game so much, he contemplated doing the film and even met with some people. Obviously in the end, Ramis didn’t like the idea pitch and turned it down.
“(Producer) Roland Joffe wanted me to direct the ‘Super Mario Bros.’ movie. I took the meeting because I loved the game. I’m glad I said no.”
The film eventually was released in 1993, then was met with miserable reviews and currently holds an awful 3.7/10 rating on IMDB. That alone could make anyone say it was a good idea not to direct the film, but there is even another reason why this was a smart move. That same year, Ramis’ other film Groundhog Day with Bill Murray hit theaters and was critically acclaimed. Imagine, if Harold Ramis decided to direct the Super Mario Bros. because of his love for the game, there would have been a chance that Groundhog Day would have never existed.
“Keyboard Cat” is one of those Internet sensations that shouldn’t even be famous, but thanks to some higher power — it is. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, than you have been living under a rock. So, if you are one of those people, click here.
Because of its ridiculous popularity, the video has spawn hundreds of spinoffs and remakes. The video up top is one of them, and just like the original clip; it doesn’t make much sense.
For some reason the video starts off with Mario running around the first level, then he is suddenly killed by a goomba. What proceeds is the ‘Keyboard Cat’ playing his instrument of choice but is now an 8-bit sprite. Not only that, his music now sounds like an NES game. Seriously, what the hell is going on?
Getting old and being thrown into a nursing home is something many people fear, as they get older. Sadly, the stars of the Mushroom Kingdom are not immune to the depressing fate of many elderly people, as this shirt depicts.
Jublin has designed the picture above, which is now sold as a t-shirt over at fuzzy-ink. The picture is telling a story of what the characters of the ‘Mario universe’ will be doing once they retire, which should be soon.
Luigi is dreaming of a better time, Browser still wants the Princess, Mario plays a game in his raccoon suite which probably smells like cotton balls and Yoshi has passed on to a ‘better place.’ Hey don’t laugh, it’s going to happen to you — sooner or later.
The shirt sells for $18.95 and is cleverly called ‘Game Over.’ If you want it, simply click here.
This isn’t the first time we have seen theremins and videogames mixed together. Although, we mainly see them being used as instruments, you know — the reason why they were made.
Youtube user conquerearth, decided to developed a program that controls old NES games using a theremin.A video up top in an example of his work and if you watch the clip, you’ll see him control the original Super Mario Bros. using his electronic instrument. He explains exactly how he did it.
“The sound from the theremin is split into its frequency and amplitude components in real time, which are then mapped to values in a linear scale representing the X and Y axis. Pitch becomes horizontal control, and Volume becomes vertical control.
The X and Y scales are then cut up into different zones. In this case, Left; Right and dead zones for the horizontal, and a single trigger and dead zone for the vertical. The trigger zones are then mapped onto a virtual joystick hooked into an emulator. The end result is a fairly usable input control for playing games like Mario. The bars give the much needed visual feedback as to how “in tune” you are, so you have a better feel of where the trigger points are.”
While it certainly is an innovative way of moving our favorite plumber in the Mushroom Kingdom, I would rather use a standard controller.
Japanese research site Macquarie, is making some strong statements about what they believe Nintendo is about to unveil at E3. According to what the website “understands,” Nintendo is set to showoff the sequel to Wii Fit called, Wii Fit Plus. They expect the title to be sold separately to financially benefit from the already 17 million boards in households. Macquarie also believes that a bundle will be available at the same time.
Additionally to Wii Fit Plus, Macquarie thinks Nintendo has learned their lesson from horrible E3 showing last year. They are reporting that Nintendo plans on focusing more on the hardcore gamer, as opposed to the causal. If everything goes according to their plan, the makers of the Wii are expected to reveal a brand new Legend of Zelda for the Wii, along with a new Mario game.
I do agree that Nintendo will show of either Mario or Zelda at E3. However, I have a hard time being convinced that they will showboat both titles at one show, never mind release them in the same year. The reason why I say this, is because Nintendo traditionally ships only one of those two titles in a span of a year. Hands down, Mario & Zelda are the company’s biggest franchises, and it is a smarter business decision to releases those games between years, rather in the same one.
Of course we’ll officially know who is right next week.
Before Mortal Kombat hit the mainstream, popular video games on the consoles were, for the most part, tame. Sure, there was a few titles that depicted blood and violence, but a lot of them were just made to just glorify the brutality of life, and didn’t really focus on gameplay. Today, gaming sings to a different tune. The industry recognized that not only do adults play games, but you can make them violent and include deep gameplay.
TastyPaints on flickr was heavily inspired by Mortal Kombat and how it changed the landscape of the video game world. He decided to create some artwork with some of our favorite innocent video game stars from our childhood, but added some realistic and gruesome violence, to the mix.
The pictures borrow elements from certain retro games, but add an adult theme to the mix. Take the Kirby picture above, for example. We all know he is a lovable fat pink monster. However when he sucks up his enemies, you really didn’t think it was a bloody mess, did you? Nintendo just censors his antics, to make him seem harmless.
After the jump, check out some more work done by the brilliant TastyPaints. (more…)
