And the (second) survey says ...

... a lot of you have owned Nintendo systems over the years.

(Click on the graph to get a better look at it.)

I was a bit shocked to see the Genesis/Mega Drive get so much love (12 "votes") and saddened (but not surprised) to see the Sega Saturn and especially the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine be all but ignored.

Anyway, a new poll/survey will be up in a jiffy. Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts!

Random art of the day: Sheep Man papercraft

I know, most of the art mentioned or included in my posts is a bit random--but this one is especially random.

How so? Well, some crazy fool created a Sheep Man papercraft for a Mega Man 10 art contest set up by the folks at Capcom.

I just love the pixelatedness (yeah, I know that's not a real word) of the papery Sheep Man, don't you?

See also: 'Introducing what is sure to be the best Mega Man boss ever: Sheep Man!' and 'Mega Man, Rock Man or ... Rainbow Man?!?'

Another reason to add WarioWare: D.I.Y. to your DS wish list

It has a Mario Paint-esque music creator/editor! How did I not know that until yesterday, when I read this post over at tinycartridge.com?

Oh, and it's not just any music creator/editor--it's a Balloon Fight-themed music creator/editor, as evidenced in this YouTube clip:



WarioWare: D.I.Y. will hit store shelves in North America on either March 29 or May 31, by the way. (Although most sources say it'll be released on the former date, Amazon.com says it'll be released on the latter.)

See also: 'More evidence that WarioWare D.I.Y. is going to be awesomely magnificent'

Who you callin' a roguelike rookie?

Not me, I hope. I know I only broke my roguelike cherry a short while ago, but in the last few weeks I've gone from roguelike virgin to roguelike whore--or at least from rogulike virgin to roguelike non-whore-who-still-likes-to-do-it.

What's funny (well, it's funny to me at least) is that I could have popped that proverbial cherry a few years ago--after I bought Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon. I actually played through the game's first chapter shortly after I bought it, but then I promptly put it away--and didn't pick it up again until a few weeks ago.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon isn't the only roguelike I'm trudging through--I'm also working my way through two roguelikes from the Super Famicom era, thanks to the wonders of fan translation: Fushigi no Dungeon 1 and 2 (aka Torneko's Great Adventure and Shiren the Wanderer, respectively).

The awesome box covers of Torneko's Great Adventure
and Shiren the Wanderer. 

(By the way, anyone who wants to know more about roguelikes should check out John Harris' wonderful GameSetWatch @Play column about Torneko's Great Adventure.)

Once I'm done with the three roguelikes mentioned above, I'll probably track down two more: Chocobo's Dungeon 2 and Torneko: The Last Hope, both of which were released for the original PlayStation back in 1999 and 2000, respectively.

Mario as you've never seen him before

Did you know that Mario (full name: Mario Michelangelo Antonioni) didn't begin life as a Mushroom Kingdom-and-princess-saving plumber?

Apparently he was born in a small town in Northern Italy and his parents worked for Olivetti and Fiat. As a young adult, he moved to Rome to pursue his dream of becoming an actor--which resulted in Mario and his brother Luigi hitting the stage together in a rather homoerotic cabaret act.

It wasn't until sometime later that Mario became a plumber, moved to the Mushroom Kingdom and dedicated his life to defeating the dastardly Bowser and saving the perennially imperiled Princess Peach/Toadstool.

OK, so that isn't Mario's official backstory--it's the backstory created (some time ago) by Ishihara Gojin, aka "Japan's (gay) Norman Rockwell."

Go here to view more of Gojin's gay-ish (and slightly NSFW-ish) images of Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and a strangely anthropomorphic Bowser.

(Via tinycartridge and watashi to tokyo)