'Real life Dr. Mario'

I've long been a fan of Dr. Mario, so of course I smiled when I came across the illustration below--produced by Berlin-based artist, Barto (aka bartotainment)--while perusing Flickr the other day.

Check out Barto's Flickr photostream (here) if you'd like to see more examples of his work.

The Great Gaymathon Review #8: Nintendo Puzzle Collection (GameCube)

Game: Nintendo Puzzle Collection

Genre: Puzzle

Developer(s): Intelligent Systems, Nintendo R&D1, Nintendo Software Technology Corporation

Publisher: Nintendo

System: GameCube

Release date: 2003

The main draw of this colorful compilation, which sadly never saw the light of day outside of Japan: The previously unreleased Nintendo 64 port of Intelligent Systems' Panel de Pon (reworked, renamed and released as Tetris Attack in the States). Like all three of the ports included on this minuscule GameCube disc, this iteration of Panel de Pon features greatly improved--compared to the source material--graphics and sound. It also features a four-player mode--again, just like its Nintendo Puzzle Collection compadres, which includes an enhanced port of Dr. Mario 64 and an updated version of Yoshi's Cookie. (One final noteworthy feature of this release: Panel de Pon's 3D mode which, while interesting, isn't as fun as the traditional 2D mode.) Oh, and if you have a GameBoy Advance handy, you can use the bundled cable to download simplified versions of each puzzler to your portable system of choice and play them until it's powered off.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts