-
Wii Purchase Led to Super Mario Wedding
Iowa’s Bobbi VanZante and Elijah Slagter are in love. With each other, and with a mushroom-eating plumber. Their wedding’s theme? Mario. “We both grew up doing Mario, playing the Mario games and just something for our generation, and we wanted to do something different,” VanZante told Des Moines Channel 13 News. The first thing they…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 20, 2011 -
Why These Video Game Shoes Might be a Good Purchase
Even if the design of the actual shoe isn’t to your liking, the Converse x Nintendo limited edition sneakers released for Mario’s (belated) 25th anniversary have one thing going for them: a great box. OK, so a box for sneakers may not be as useful as, well, most things, but it’s a very nice box.…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 20, 2011 -
CultureTotal Recall
When Mario Had a Best-Selling…Book?
Mario has gone through three distinct phases of super popularity. One in the early 90’s. One is seemingly just on the wane, born of the success of his games on the DS and Wii. The other, though, was in the mid-80’s. The fat plumber was so popular then that he didn’t just have a best-selling…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 18, 2011 -
These Video Games Aren’t Just Art, They’re Masterpieces
Guillaume Colomb has taken ten classic works of art and made them a little more current, dropping the likes of Mario, Pac-Man and Princess Peach into the paintings. Some may be a little inappropriate, but that Goya-meets-Shadow of the Colossus piece looks like it’s always been that way. Video Games Get Arty [Guillaume Colomb via…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 17, 2011 -
The Real Reason Behind Zelda’s Sheik Disguise
Relationships flourish on trust, but if you had the opportunity to hide in plain sight and observe how your significant other behaves when you aren’t around, would you take it? Zelda sure as hell would. Dorkly missed an excellent opportunity for a “Well excuse me, Princess!” gag here, but it’s okay. We forgive them.
By Mike Fahey Published May 13, 2011 -
Your Backpack Is in Another Castle
The easiest Bowser cosplay? This backpack. That’s it. Dubbed the “Reptillian Mad Pax Backpack”, this leather and mesh backpack is priced at US$59.99. It also comes in pink. REPTILIAN MAD PAX BACKPACK [Perpetual Kid via Gigazine]
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 13, 2011 -
Mario, This is Why You’re Fat
We know why Mario has a mustache. We know why his uniform is blue and red. These were the most distinctive features Nintendo could render on the character sprite due to the limitations of the Z80 processor, the venerable workhorse of the arcade. And it’s the same reason Mario’s proportions are a little on the…
By Owen Good Published May 12, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallThis Might be the Weirdest Game Boy Game Ever Made
Over the decades, there were plenty of kooky Game Boy games released in both Japan and the West. Plenty of strange accessories, too, from cameras to printers to blood glucose monitors. But 2001’s Mario Family was especially kooky. Why? Because it was a cartridge designed not to be played, but to be plugged into a…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 11, 2011 -
You Can’t Hate Your 3DS If it Gets a Fail Squid
The new Nintendo 3DS has a rather blunt “ERROR” screen when the handheld locks up. It does the job, sure, but it’s bland as hell. This Mario-and-Twitter-themed “Fail Squid” would be much better. Error Screen [Super Punch]
By Luke Plunkett Published May 10, 2011 -
Osama bin Laden’s Demise, as Told Through a Game of Super Mario Bros.
The assassination of Osama bin Laden has already provided modders and commentators with political video game fodder, but this French TV show kicks it up a notch with a fanciful presentation of Super Mario Bush In which the former Al Qaeda leader is Bowser, and Mario is played by George W. Bush. At least, he…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 9, 2011 -
Shy Guy Is a Goddamned Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Master toysmith Jin Saotome is back, and this time he’s making the Mushroom Kingdom a little more badass with this heavily-armed interpretation of the cute little Shy Guy Normally short and portly, this custom action figure is lean and packing a minigun, scythe, hammer and…scissors. His body was cannibalised from existing action figures based on…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 6, 2011 -
The Smithsonian Has Picked the Games of Its Art of Video Games Exhibit
The Smithsonian American Art Museum revealed the winners of its public vote to decide what games will be featured in their exhibit, The Art of Video Games, today. The exhibit creates a visual history of the evolution of gaming from its humble beginnings through the present. The vote, which took place between February and April,…
By Mike Epstein Published May 5, 2011 -
Nothing Says Mario Like $465 Latex
Those blue overalls. The red shirt. All in latex. The only thing that’s missing is a rear-front crotch zip. Oh, Etsy seller Shhhcouture will add that, too, for only US$14! The “Super Mario Inspired Two Piece Cosplay Dressup” has also Bullet Bills on the red top. The whole, one-off geddup costs $465, not including the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2011 -
When Mario Meets The…Figure Skating World Championships
This is Russian pair Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, competing at the World Figure Skating Championships 2011 held in Moscow. They didn’t just break out the Mario Bros. theme: they won the silver medal to boot.
By Luke Plunkett Published May 2, 2011 -
This Ridiculously Easy Game Show Question was Good for $100,000 Today
Ridiculously easy for us of course. I’m sure when some neckbeard gets to $100,000 on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and goes deer-in-the-headlights when asked “Which Pope commissioned the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling,” every snark on the art history blogs is all lolwut and SMFH and such. Yes, “I don’t think it’s…
By Owen Good Published April 28, 2011 -
Even If Yoshi Is Gay, Where are the Other Gay Video Game Heroes?
Can an egg-laying dinosaur without sex organs be gay? IGN’s Jack DeVries makes the case that Mario‘s green dinosaur steed with the prehensile tongue is “dating”-in the strange, largely irrelevant backstory that frames the series-Birdo, the pink, bow-wearing dinosaur first seen in Super Mario Bros. 2 Birdo, according to official Nintendo lore, is male. The…
By Joel Johnson Published April 28, 2011
