I was talking to co-editor Ink yesterday on Skype, and we were discussing different hoodies and I came across designs of pokemon hoodies by this artist. I thought they were pretty amazing! I'd love to see someone make these a reality.
If you're as big of a Nintendo fan as me, you've no doubt had a video game birthday cake or two in your lifetime. When my cousin was eight, his cake had the Link art from the Legend of Zelda original art style. When I was five, Super Mario Bros. 3 had just come out and my cake reflected that. Two years ago for my birthday my sister made me a Mario Bros. style cake with a Pac Man cameo. I'm definitely not alone though in this sort of cultural phenomenon. Today, my buddy Smerd over at Negative World had his birthday today and his lovely wife made him a pretty awesome cake. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMERD!
Seems better than any cake Peach ever made. Below are some more gamer-cakes. Submit your own if you've ever had a gamer cake made for you!
My 23rd Birthday Cake
My Cousin's Link Birthday Cake
Katamari Pushes Cake
Wayne's Sonic Cake
(Note the fact this cake has a better character model than Sonic The Hedgehog 4 did...)
Majora's Mask Cake
Waluigi Face Cake
and finally, this cake, which admittedly hit the Nintendo/Romantic in me,
Mario and Peach Wedding Cake
(Literally hundreds more Gamer Cakes can be found here at Flickr.)
Some of you might remember when I featured a rap group named Forever Famicom on the site many weeks back. They were a group in the hip-hop genre which had a unique blend of video game samplings and great lyrics. Well, I was recently introduced to another hip-hop gamer group who has quite the library of songs already. They aren't as "mature" lyrically but they aren't trying to be. Instead of creating hip-hop songs based on life but using gaming beats, The Adventures of Duane and BrandO use the gaming beats as a backdrop to sing and rap about the games themselves.
This makes for a fun and creative mixture of NES musical greatness. NES music has always affected me at the core. Something about it is just amazing. In the NES' sound hardware's limitations, came brilliance. Now that is being used to create new music and new art. I love this sort of thing...even more so when it's actually good!
Their most recognizable work can be found on their LP Of Devastation album but they have lots more at their download page, found here. Games featured in this album include, Battletoads, Bomberman, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Mario II, Mega Man II, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Sonic, Zelda, and believe it or not, Cheetahmen II. Best of all, the song about Cheetahmen II is leaps and bounds better than the game itself!
What other hip-hop/rock group sings with such energy and flavor about video games? It's pretty great and I highly encourage all you readers to check it out. Two other great aspects about this duo are that not only are the songs long in length, but they feature different songs from the games they're about which definitely help take you on a little journey. I have no doubts that when thinking about the original Super Mario Bros. most people think of the Overworld Theme and then suddenly the Underworld Theme and then most likely next is the Underwater Theme. These songs just naturally go together and Duane and BrandO pick up on this. Below is one of my favorite samples (from Zelda II) as well as a snippet of some lyrics about that song. Judge for yourself if this is for you. It's definitely for me.
Well I made it to the palace, I got nothin to lose.
Ridin' up and down on these elevators (Awesome dude!)
I gotta find the key to open up these doors first.
Before I lift this curse that's been put on this earth.
I'll stab that f*****' Horse Head and put him on my wall.
Helmethead ain't gonna be a f*****' problem at all.
That ghost ridin' Reubenok licks ghost horse balls!
Reflect Carock's spells, brawl with Gooma and make Barba fall!
Christmas is just around the corner and while Santa was too busy playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a fella by the name of kodykoala has been hard at work with some amazing custom figurines. His work in fantastic. Here is an example of his three Christmas pieces, all related to Mario. His flickr stream, found here, shows off a lot more of photos of not only these pieces but of others in a long line of eye-catching gaming art.
"Bowser Claus Is Coming To Town"
"Mario Stocking Holders" "Christmas Tree and Mushroom Hut"
Do you have anything gaming and holidays related? Whether it's Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or any holiday this time of year. Let me know! Also, just how much would you pay for something like this? This kind of custom work is quite special.
I'm putting a "Vol 1" on this because I fully expect more in the future. I don't quite remember how this happened tonight, but I somehow found myself on Youtube seeking gaming music. Then I stumbled upon this dude (featured below) who is amazingly talented with his Chrono Trigger covers. Well, that's insanely relevant right now, so I thought I'd post two of my favorites of his. First though, the first of these three, is one of my all-time favorite songs ever, done eloquently and beautifully. Sure, the kid pulls a bit of the nerd-factor with his Mario accent, but it just adds to the fun of this cover. Listen and enjoy. After that are two more songs, both from Chrono Trigger, and both by the same amazing talent. A quick warning though, the Chrono Trigger one's are significantly louder than the Super Mario 64 tune. So adjust your volume accordingly.
Super Mario 64 - Credits Theme
Chrono Trigger - Frog's Theme
Chrono Trigger - Robo's Theme
I don't know how to explain why this stuff hits me like it does. Video game music is something that makes me happy in such a way that few understand it. I know I'm not alone though. Do you have any favorites that just make you melt into a big bowl of smiles? Let me know in the comments.
Do yourself a favor for a moment and press play on this youtube link below.
Alright. Now listen and read my words. There are two genres of music I don't enjoy. Authentic Country and Hardcore Rap. That's just how I am. I like old-school hip hop and folk or bluegrass if you want some grounding of my enjoyment of the variants. Anyway, that all said, it was earlier this year when somehow (perhaps from the Negative World forums) I discovered Forever Famicom.
Mega Ran and K-Murdoch, as the two lead musicians are known as, have taken something I absolutely love with something I rarely consider in my daily life. The result is amazing music that hits me at my 8-bit heart and resonates with my gaming soul. The sample you're listening to now on youtube is called "Dream Master". The art makes it obvious but this track samples from the NES classic, Little Nemo: Dream Master. The music to this game has fond memories for me and these guys masterfully rap well-written lyrics along side with it. I don't really know how to explain it, better than just listening to it, in order to make you understand.
This album samples from all sorts of excellent classic NES games. This track was from Little Nemo, but my other favorite song, "For The Gamers" takes samples from the excellent DuckTales game. Other games sampled include, Mega Man, Earthbound, Starfox, Kirby's Dreamland, Chrono Trigger, and Metroid. Their album, Forever Famicom, is fourteen tracks long. The album feels very full and satisfying both to listen to and for the price point. A digital download is nine dollars (barely 64 cents a track) while a signed hardcopy and a digital download is fourteen dollars (only a dollar a track).
It appears that after releasing this album in June of this year, they released a bonus CD called "Forever Famicom DLC". That contains eight tracks, with samplings from Zelda II, F-Zero, and even Mario Paint. Then it contains instrumental versions of all fourteen original tracks. Amazing value for seven dollars. Just last month they had a third release called "Thank You For Listening". This is simply one song and this song is free to download off the site. It takes samples from Super Mario Bros. 3. It's the perfect way to test the waters and see if this stuff catches your fancy.
It only takes a mere couple of a seconds for me to geek out over this stuff. Mega Ran and K-Murdoch have created something insanely special and unique. They deserve your dollar and with the holidays just around the corner, this is perfect for that gamer in your life. Visit their page and purchase some tunes. At the very least you can listen to full tracks streamed and find details on which games were sampled in which tracks. Don't game over on these guys... they sound awesome.
Forever Famicom Homepage (I have problems playing the samples in Safari but it works great in Firefox.)
