Adorbs Hatoful Boyfriend plush, anyone?

Full disclosure: despite the interest I've shown in the Vita version of Hatoful Boyfriend both here and on The Nichiest Podcast Ever, I've yet to buy the damn game.

I'm going to do my best to buy it before the end of the year, though, so don't judge me too harshly, OK?

Anyway, despite the fact that I'm a horrible person for failing to jump aboard the Hatoful Boyfriend train (yet!), I'm still really interested in it.



Am I interested in it enough to support Erick Scarecrow's "Hatoful Boyfriend Official Plush Project!" on Kickstarter between now and when it wraps up on Dec. 5? I'm not sure.

I mean, the sample plushes that can be seen in the photos included in this post (and in the video featured on the project's Kickstarter page) are beyond adorable, but because I know next to nothing about the pigeons that inspired them, I'm having a hard time convincing myself to pull the trigger on a pledge of $16 or more.

How about you? Do any of you love this game's feathered cast of characters enough to hand over your hard-earned cash for a plush version of one or more of them?

Say hello to the cutest piece of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer promo you'll ever see

Leave it to Nintendo to give us something we didn't know we needed or even wanted.

Granted, I'd prefer they give us an actual game that fit that bill, but considering they're busy prepping the NX system (or systems) for release, I think they can be forgiven.



Plus, the real-life pups seen in the latest trailer they created for Happy Home Designer are beyond adorable.

Speaking of that Animal Crossing spin-off, I've yet to even unwrap my copy of the game. Of course. How about all of you? Have any of you played it? If so, what do you think of it?

This deluxe Hatsune Miku 'plush pouch' is making me want to do bad things ... with my wallet

What business does a guy like me, a guy who doesn't own a single Hatsune Miku game (although I'll have two shortly), have desiring something as fan-focused as the "deluxe plush pouch" showcased in the photo below?

I don't know. All I know is that I think it's fantastically adorable and that I want one--despite the fact that my life currently is one, big "Hatsune Miku-free zone."



To be honest, though, I have a feeling I'll chicken out on buying one when all is said and done. After all, the darn things are going to cost about $35, if not more, and that's before shipping is included.

Still, it comes with the most precious little sushi-themed screen cleaner (also pictured above), and that alone has to be worth about $10 or $15, right?

I'm pretty sure this new Captain Toad (Wii U) trailer couldn't be more precious if it tried

Nintendo of Japan just released a new trailer for the title that's known to folks in the English-speaking world as Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (its Japanese title translates to March Onwards! Captain Toad), and it makes the game look so darn adorable that I'm once again feeling like an idiot for not (yet) owning a Wii U.



Anyway, enough whining. Instead, let's focus on the fact that this trailer reveals that Toadette will make an appearance in Treasure Tracker (and even will be a playable character, I think). Oh, and the finished product--due out in Japan on Nov. 13, North America on Dec. 5 and the rest of the world sometime in 2015--will feature more than 70 stages.

You say 'ecpica,' I say 'adorable'

I need a little adorableness in my life today, so rather than present all of you with yet another rambling post about an unheralded GameBoy or PC Engine game I've decided to present you with the following:



Each of these photos were taken by Singapore-based Flickr user ecpica, by the way, with the one above being titled "Siesta Time."



This one, on the other hand, is called "Lazy Afternoon."



And then there's "The Strange Bees in My Garden," above.

For even more adorableness, check out ecpica's Flickr photostream at your earliest convenience.

Wart and Birdo, sittin' in a tree ...

While scouring the Interwebs for the Mr. Saturn illustration that anchored yesterday's EarthBound-focused post, I came across the curiously titled (in a good way) Sketchamagowza! tumblr.

Although said tumblr is filled with awesome pieces of art (here are a few yummy examples), most of which are inspired by or related to video games and nearly all of which are produced by someone who calls him or herself Shmorky, my current favorite is the Super Mario Bros. 2-inspired you see below (and here).



Nintendo seriously needs to bring back Wart, don't you think? And all of the other guys and gals who were featured in Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka Super Mario USA or Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic), too.

Silly aside: if you're any kind of RPG fan, be sure check out Shmorky's hilarious "Secret of the Dungeon" comic.

If I weren't already married, I'd want to marry the person who created this 'DENPA' MEN 3DS XL skin

Ot at least I think it's just a skin--as opposed to a 3DS XL (or 3DS LL, if that's how you roll) system that's literally been covered in THE "DENPA" MEN graffiti.

Regardless, it's a beauty, isn't it?

As far as I can tell, it was created by someone who goes by the handle "detteiu9" on Twitter.

He or she also has a pixiv account and is known as Teu (てう) on that site.

A handful of completely adorable "DENPA" MEN-inspired pieces of fan art can be found on Teu's pixiv page, by the way, so I'd highly recommend checking it out if you're even half as interested in this series as I am.

(Via photozou.jp by way of gonintendo.com)

Acquisition #149: Binary Land (Famicom)

Full disclosure: I went on a bit of an eBay binge shortly after the holidays and ended up buying a bunch of Famicom, GameBoy Advance, PlayStation and even PSP games.

The game seen in the photos below--Hudson Soft's Binary Land for the Famicom--was one of the aforementioned pick-ups.

I know a good number of you won't believe me, but I didn't buy this one because of its overt pinkness. In fact, it's one of my favorite Famicom games (here's a video of its first stage), and the only reason it took me so long to add it to my collection is that complete-in-box copies of this unique, arcade-y title don't seem to pop up on eBay all that often.



Sure, this copy's box is kind of banged up, but I don't mind. Actually, I like that its previous owners showed it some love.

Here's a better look at the game's awesome box art, by the way:



It's hard to hate on a game that features a pair of adorably pastel penguins, isn't it? It's also hard to hate on a game that has a logo made up of a number of hearts.

Or at least it's hard for me to hate on a game that meets such criteria.



Going back a bit to my comment about the love this copy of Binary Land was shown by its previous owner(s): as you can see in the photo above, the back of its box features a smidge of handwriting. I don't suppose any of you can suss out what it says?

Regardless, expect to see a number of "Acquisition #123" posts in the coming weeks that focus on the remainder of my recent eBay haul.

See also: previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

Reed Bond's 'Pink Yoshi'

Remember the "Sexy Shy Guy" I wrote about a few days ago? (Check it out here if you don't.) Well, it appears it was part of some sort of concerted effort by the folks behind the Drawed Goods site to illustrate characters from the Super Mario Bros. universe.

Another of the pieces created as part of the aforementioned effort is the one seen below (and here):

It was made by Atlanta-based artist Reed Bond and is, in my humble opinion, the definition of "adorbs." (I'm especially fond of Yoshi's side-eye.)

To see more of Bond's work, hop on over to his tumblr--reedicule.tumblr.com--when you have a second. Also, I'd highly recommend checking out drawedgoods.com while you're at it.

Sexy Shy Guy

I'm not entirely sure why, but awesome, Atlanta-based artist, Drew Green, recently decided to draw a "sexy Shy Guy."

I found it completely adorable when I came across it on Facebook, so of course I had to share it here.

To see more of Drew's work, be sure to check out his deviantart gallery and his Tumblr at your convenience.

Oh, and check out his wonderful comic, Ross Boston, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm pretty sure our Christmas tree *needs* one of these ornaments

I know it's a little early to be talking about Christmas or any of the other upcoming winter holidays, but I think you'll forgive me for doing so once you lay your eyes on the Christmas-y thing about which I want to talk.

Showcased in the photo below is a GameBoy ornament (or keychain, if you prefer) that's currently being sold by Canadian fiber artist Michelle Coffee via her etsy shop.



A single 2.5-inch-by-3.25-inch ornament will set you back just over $12 (not including shipping, it seems)--which really isn't too much when you consider the, er, adorableness it'll add to your tree or wreath this holiday season.

See also: 'Kirby in process'

Reason #406 I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer

Let's make this one really easy: Many a person could--and should--consider me an "eccentric" (aka bat-shit crazy) gamer because I'm seriously considering buying the 3DS game you see below.

How seriously? Well, not as seriously as you may think, but seriously enough for me to add it to my "save items list" over at play-asia.com, at the very least.



For those of you wondering what in the hell you're looking at: It's a soon-to-be-released Japanese 3DS game called Neratte! Tobashite! Rilakkuma Guragura Sweets Tower. (That's Aim! Hurl! Rilakkuma's Shaky Sweets Tower, for everyone who's like me and doesn't know a lick of Japanese.)

Oh, and it'll hit the streets in Japan on Dec. 13 carrying a price tag of ¥5,040 (about $63).

I'm sure at least a few of you are thinking, "That doesn't sound too crazy to me"--especially since I've hardly been shy about expressing my penchant for adorable games. Would you feel the same way, though, if you knew that Neratte! Tobashite! Rilakkuma Guragura Sweets Tower was little more than a cuter-than-it-has-any-right-to-be Angry Birds clone (a fact that is made painfully evident in the video below)?



That last bit is what's keeping me from considering Neratte! Tobashite! Rilakkuma Guragura Sweets Tower too seriously at the moment.

Should I find a copy of this pixelated confection selling for, say, $20 on eBay in the near or distant future, though, I can't promise I'll be able to keep myself from adding it to my collection.

See also: Other reasons I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer

I'm finding myself surprisingly interested in Magician's Quest: Town of Magic (3DS)

Like a good number of North American gamers, I'm sure, I pretty much ignored Konami's Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times after it arrived on our shores in early 2009.

The main reason for my relative disinterest in this Vanpool-developed DS title: The word on the street at the time was that it was little more than an Animal Crossing ripoff.

Mind you, I don't have a problem with game-makers ripping off Animal Crossing; I'm just rarely interested in buying said clones.

All that said, I'd be lying if I claimed I wasn't at least a smidge interested in Konami's fourth Magician's Quest title (two more were released for the DS in Japan), which is set to hit store shelves in the Land of the Rising Sun sometime next month.

As for what prompted this change of heart: I find this game's art style--a few examples of which can be seen in the screenshots above--pretty darn captivating (not to mention precious).

Unfortunately, the powers that be at Konami have yet to say if Magician’s Quest: Town of Magic (that's an English translation of the 3DS sequel's Japanese name, by the way) will be brought across the pond.

Should that happen at some point next year, I'll probably add it to my burgeoning 3DS game collection--assuming I'm not knee-deep in Animal Crossing: New Leaf at the time.

(Via siliconera.com)

The 'Denpa' Men have arrived

Er, kind of.

What I should have said in the headline above is, "The demo of THE 'DENPA' MEN: They Came By Wave has arrived," as the full version of the game won't hit the North American 3DS eShop until next week (on Sept. 27, to be exact).



Sorry, Australian and European 3DS owners: This digital RPG, made by the able folks at Genius Sonority, has yet to receive a release date for your regions, as far as I'm aware.

Anyway, I just downloaded the demo and gave it the ol' college try. My impressions so far: I (surprisingly) like how you catch your 'Denpa men' (who then serve as your party members) using the 3DS' AR functionality, for starters. Also, I find the game's art style completely adorable. Oh, and Dragon Quest-esque battles are fun, too. (Although I wish I had more control over them--unless I'm missing something?)



Have any of you spent a bit of time with THE 'DENPA' MEN demo? If so, what do you think of it? Also, does it make you want to pick up the full game when it's released next week (with a $9.99 price tag attached to it, unfortunately)?

See also: 'I'm totally buying this 3DS eShop game on Sept. 27 despite its rather terrible name'

What's cuter than a WadaDon amigurumi? A Mr. Saturn amigurumi, that's what...

Actually, I'm not sure about that. I mean, is the Mr. Saturn amigurumi shown below really cuter than the WadaDon (the precious Taiko no Tatsujin protagonist) amigurumi seen in this previous post?

Ah, who cares. Both are pretty damn adorable, don't you think?



Both of the above-mentioned amigurumi were made by the same person, by the way--with that person being blogger Spelinnea.

Those of you who can crochet may want to check out this recent blog post, as it includes instructions on how to make your very own Mr. Saturn amigurumi.

Second Chances: Kirby's Adventure

No joke: Despite my avowed adoration of adorable games, I avoided playing Kirby's Adventure, which was released all the way back in 1993, until I downloaded it via the Wii Virtual Console five years ago.

What kept me from giving this precious platformer a go? I honestly don't remember, although I'm guessing it had something to do with the fact that I, like many gamers, already had moved on to the SNES by the time it hit the shelves of my local ShopKo.

Anyway, for some reason I also can't recall, I finally picked up Kirby's Adventure in 2007 ... and promptly found myself bored by it. Oh, it looked nice enough, and it sounded nice enough, too, but the early levels were so easy that I couldn't help but wonder if I'd wasted my hard-earned money on the gaming equivalent of a lemon.

Rather than hanging in there to find out if later stages were less of a calk walk, I pretty much gave up on ol' Kirby and moved on to other pursuits.

After playing and thoroughly enjoying both Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby's Return to Dream Land, though, I decided to give this cudly character's first console release a second chance. I'm glad I did, because I now consider Kirby's Adventure to be wonderfully captivating experience.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's easy. That said, I'm pretty sure that's the point. It's not supposed to be difficult; it's supposed to be fun. Not only that, but players are simply supposed to enjoy hopping and bopping through each of the game's colorfully charming stages--or at least I'm guessing that's what players are supposed to get out of the game.

Now that I understand that, I happily, leisurely and regularly play this HAL Laboratory-developed NES title as I believe its makers intended it to be played: Smiling and swaying my head to its lilting soundtrack as I stroll through and take in, with no small amount of awe, its lovely, almost dream-like landscapes.

(Note: All of the images above were taken from theflatness.com, a great little blog that sadly hasn't been updated since early 2010.)

Kirby in process

Since I haven't injected this blog with a massive dose of cuteness in a while, I thought I'd do so today by posting the work-in-progress hoop-thing (can you tell I'm an embroidery expert?) below that's being made by fiber artist Michelle Coffee.

Apparently the final product is going to be a part of the "20 Days of Kirby" series that's taking over 4 color rebellion for the next week or so. (It started on April 27. Check out the Kirby-inspired creations that have been published already here.)



To see more examples of Coffee's abilities (including the most adorable plushes you're ever likely to lay eyes on), head on over to her Flickr photostream and her etsy shop, Deadly Sweet.

See also: Previous posts about Michelle Coffee (aka misscoffee) and her creations

Seems I'll be importing another PSP game soon

The name of the PSP game that I'll likely be importing: Airu de Puzuruu.

Those of you who are Monster Hunter fans may know that in Japan the series' adorably devious-looking cat characters are known as "airu." (In other regions, they're called "felynes.")

Unlike the last airu/felyne spin-off title, the Animal Crossing-esque Monster Hunter Diary, Airu de Puzuruu will be--surprise!--a puzzler.

It won't be just any old puzzler, though. According to various sources (namely andriasang.com), Airu de Puzuruu will be based on Capcom's vaunted Puzzle Fighter series.



Given my dual love of the airu/felyne characters and of puzzle games, you can rest assured that yours truly will be picking up a copy of this title shortly after it hits the streets of Japan on July 19.

(We all know there's not a snowball's chance in hell of Airu de Puzuruu making it to the States, so why bother waiting?)

(Via andriasang.com)

The cutest Kirby drawing ever

I don't know if you're aware, but I've become a huge Kirby fan in the last year or two--ever since I played (and enjoyed the hell out of) Kirby's Epic Yarn. (Buy it here if you haven't already done so.)

As such, I practically melted in my seat when I came across the absolutely adorable illustration below while perusing the awesome Games With Boys tumblog a few days ago.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you who produced this wonderful drawing. I can tell you, though, where he/she first shared it: pixiv.net.

See also: More Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby's Return to Dream Land posts

Nothing gets between me and my Rhythm Heaven Fever t-shirt

Blogger--and occasional commenter on The Gay Gamer--Mark Ayala was lucky enough to attend the Rhythm Heaven Fever launch party held in Los Angeles exactly a month ago.

While at said event, Ayala picked up a Rhythm Heaven Fever t-shirt for yours truly. Although he passed it off to the able men and women of the United States Postal Service the very next day, and it arrived on my doorstep just a few days after that, I wasn't able to take a photo of it or write about it until yesterday.

Sadly, it's still winter here in Seattle, and most of you likely know what that means: It's dark and rainy here most of the time, which means pulling off well-lit photos often is a hit-or-miss affair.

If you'd like to take a closer look at the adorable design that's splashed across the chest of the t-shirt above--and features a monkey, a rocket and a jumping ... something or other--check out this Bitmob article about the Rhythm Heaven Fever soiree.