Yep, another art post: 'Bombs Away,' 'Hyrule Intentions' and 'Tale of Two Brothers'

Like any respectable gay gamer, I've long had a soft spot for female protagonists. In particular, I've had a soft spot for Nintendo's leading ladies--Peach, Samus and Zelda, especially.

All of which should help explain why I went a big gaga after I came across artist Kasey Tararuj's uniquely styled portraits (above and below) of the above-mentioned women this past weekend.

Each piece was produced for the 3NES Show ("a tribute to three of Nintendo's most popular games") held at the Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, a few weeks ago.

If you like any or all of them as much as I do, I'd highly recommend checking out Tararuj's blog, One-Eyed Girl, for closer looks at them.

Specifically, additional shots of her take on Peach (titled "Tale of Two Brothers") can be seen here, while more shots of her Samus and Zelda portraits ("Bombs Away" and "Hyrule Intentions") can be seen here and here, respectively.

And if you're really interested in them? Head on over to the Bottleneck Gallery's online shop and buy one or more of them. ("Bombs Away" can be purchased here, "Hyrule Intentions" here and "Tale of Two Brothers" here.)

See also: 'Cherry on Top' and 'Dreamy Mushroom Munchers'

(Gaming) sisters doin' it for themselves

I've said this before, and I'm going to say it again: I want another Super Princess Peach game, damn it!

I'd want said sequel to fix some of the problems I had with the original, of course, but even if this new title retained the first one's issues--too easy by far, and with a some-call-it-sexist gameplay hook--I'd still probably pick up a copy (especially if it were released for the 3DS).

Anyway, I bring up all of that because the following illustration, produced by artist Glen Brogan, reminds me of that much-maligned platformer--or maybe I should say it makes me ponder some of the improvements I'd like to see in its make-believe follow-up.

Brogan worked up the illustration for the recently opened 3NES Show at Brooklyn's Bottleneck Gallery (in runs through Sept. 22), by the way. Two others were produced along with it: one of which stars Samus Aran and Mother Brain and one of which stars Zelda and Ganon. (Both of them can be seen at albinoraven7.blogspot.com).

"My thoughts going into these pieces were that I wanted to stick closely to the original NES games, as opposed to branching out into subsequent games," Brogan says, "and I wanted to base them around the female characters in each game."

I'd say he did a pretty bang-up job in both regards, wouldn't you?

I may have missed out on a pink 3DS, but I'll be damned if I miss out on one of these

The "one of these" alluded to in the header above, by the way, is the rather posh (and completely fabulous) Princess Peach 3DS case seen below.

Of course, even if I do somehow manage to acquire one of these precious, available-only-in-Japan-at-the-moment cases, I'd more than likely be too much of a chicken to leave the house with it.



Those of you who are less cowardly than I am should know that these must-have, MSY-made accessories will hit the streets of the aforementioned island nation on March 1 carrying a price tag of ¥1,800.

(Via andriasang.com)

Saucy Peach

You know I consider to be a crying shame? That Princess Peach--Princess Toadstool if you're an old-school (or simply old) gamer like me--has been a playable character in just two Nintendo-developed platformers over the years: The delicious Super Mario Bros. 2 and the dreadful (or at least disappointing) Super Princess Peach.

I bring that up because the piece of fan art above, produced by Drew Green, has me dreaming of another Peach-y platformer. I doubt such a game is going to get the green light anytime soon, but even if it does you know the folks at Nintendo won't make her royal hotness look anywhere near as saucy as she does in the Atlantan's illustration.

(Via bowonbirdo.tumblr.com)

Move over, Marilyn

Have you ever looked at Princess Peach and thought, "hmmm, she really reminds me of Marilyn Monroe"? I can't say I have, either.

I'll certainly be thinking that from now on, though, thanks to the following piece of pixelated art--title: "The Seven Year Peach"--which was created by London-based designer and illustrator Aled Lewis (aka fatheed).

To see more of Lewis' stuff, check out his Flickr photostream, his tumblog (Aled Knows Best) or his website.

See also: 'This one's for the ladies' and 'Size doesn't matter if you can perfect the Rising Dragon Punch'

The Great Gaymathon Review #9: Super Princess Peach (DS)

Game: Super Princess Peach

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Tose

Publisher: Nintendo

System: Nintendo DS

Release date: 2005

It doesn't happen often, but every once in while I ignore the bad buzz surrounding a game and buy it anyway--simply because there's something about said game that makes me believe (hope) that it has to be better than everybody says it is. As I'm sure you can imagine, sometimes that works out well and sometimes it doesn't. Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is a good example of the former, while this game, released in Japan in 2005 and elsewhere in 2006, is a good example of the latter. That's too bad, because Super Princess Peach could have been a worthy addition to the ever-growing, Nintendo-dominated list of "world's best platformers." It certainly looks like it belongs on that list, at least to an extent. Yes, its graphics have that generic sheen typical of developer Tose, but they're also colorful and well drawn. It also controls well and features quite a few interesting and unique gameplay quirks--the most noteworthy being that Peach can use her chatty parasol to protect herself and to dispatch foes in a plethora of ways--that separate it from the platformer pack. Unfortunately, all of those positives are let down by the game's negatives, which include boring, derivative and uninspired level design and nearly non-existant difficulty.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

'Super Utamaro Bros.'

If I were a real artist (and, no, I'm not saying that facetiously), this is the kind of thing I'd attempt to create:

For those of you wondering what in the hell you're looking at, well, it's a piece produced by blogger, designer and illustrator Jude Buffum. (I mentioned him earlier today in this post.)

In the description that accompanies this image on the artist's Flickr page, Buffum says he "chose to focus on the erotic fantasies of abalone divers that are quite popular within the art form known as 'shunga.'"

He also mentions that the piece is an homage to Utamaro's "Underwater Assault."

See more of Buffum's stuff here.

A Peach of a pinup

If I were forced at gunpoint--hey, it could happen--to pick my favorite 8-bit Super Mario Bros. game, I'd probably go with Super Mario Bros. 2.

And if the gunman--or gunwoman--made me choose a favorite character from said game? I'd point to Princess Peach (aka Princess Toadstool).

As such, it shouldn't be much of a shock to hear me say (see me write?) that I'm a big fan of the following piece of art, produced by deviantartist pluckylump.

See also: 'Catch the Squirrel' and '10048'