Vandrell's fabulous Alex Kidd, Burning Force, Golden Axe and Valis fan art

As much as I love many of Nintendo's games and systems, I'm no "Nintendo fanboy." After all, I also love many of Sony's games and systems--and in the past I loved many of NEC's (maker of the awesome PC Engine) and Sega's games and systems, too.

Why do I bring that up? Because I want you to understand at least a bit of why I'm so drawn to Barcelona-based and Sega-obsessed (or so it seems) artist Vandrell's digital illustrations--beyond the fact that they're drop-dead gorgeous, I mean.

Here (and here), for instance, is a piece he created to honor Sega's earliest "Mario killer," Alex Kidd:



And here is a piece that pays respect to Namco's 16-bit shoot 'em up, Burning Force:



The classic brawler Golden Axe gets the "Vandrell treatment" in the following concoction:



While Telenet Japan's Valis series gets a well-deserved nod in this one:



If you're looking for something even better and more fabulous, by the way, be sure to check out Vandrell's blog, which features, among other things, a number of mock-ups that turn the illustrations above into full-fledged Sega Mega Drive (aka Genesis) box arts.

Hot off the presses: PC Engine Gamer #6

OK, so the latest issue of PC Engine Gamer magazine isn't exactly hot of the presses, as it hit the Internet about a month ago. Still, it's well worth checking out if you're any kind of fan of the sexy little console that took Japan by storm in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The highlights of this particular issue, in my humble opinion: An article about loads of in-the-works homebrew titles and a ton of in-depth reviews (of Golden Axe, P-47, Spin Pair and Tatsujin).

Oh, and there are numerous references to Married ... With Children, which were much appreciated by yours truly.

Enjoy all of the above and more by checking out the sixth issue of PC Engine Gamer here.(Earlier issues of this digital publication can be found here, by the way.)

In related news: The folks at The PC Engine Software Bible--who are responsible for putting together each and every issue of PC Engine Gamer--recently created a rather fabulous 2012 calendar that can be downloaded (for free) at www.pcengine.co.uk/calendar.htm.