Freaktastic Fanart: Earthbound Soda Shoes
I come across a lot of great Mother/Earthbound fanart. That might be because the Earthbound fanbase is gaming’s most insanely dedicated pack of Mr Saturns. Just a thought.
This time, we have an Earthbound-related piece that’s born under unusual circumstances, not to mention on an unusual canvas. Jones Soda is running a shoe-designing contest, and the winning design will feature on 40,000 bottles o’ pop. Sarah Miles entered a pair of completely amazing Earthbound shoes. Now you can walk all over Porky, that fat bastard!
A larger picture lies beyond the jump. Want to vote for “PK Shoestorm?” (Yes you do.) Visit Jones’ voting page.
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Tags: earthbound, fan stuff, freaktastic fanart, nadia oxford
Freaktastic Fanart: 8-Bit Fatalities
Video games have always been about the chase, the hunt, domination over a competitor, or a foe. You can call Pong a simple game of electronic ping-pong, but I call it a volley of canon fire meant to tear down and destroy my enemies. Put something in there about the lamentations of said enemy’s women.
Game fanartist Steven Leftcourt understands that killing and conquering have always been at the core of our games. A Goomba’s brains may not squoosh out of its pinhole-sized ear when Mario jumps on it, but there is still a life ended, snuffed out by the soles of Mario’s plumber boots.
Leftcourt’s “8-bit Fatalities” depicts the gory reality of our game heroes’ dirty work:
“Before Mortal Kombat, violence in video games was largely unheard of or ignored because of its extreme pixelized simplicity.
“Just because you didn’t see Pac-man violently tearing into the ghosts with his jaws, or Mario smashing in the brains of a goomba, that’s what I knew was happening.”
Leftcourt’s pics reveal his vivid imagination. I know a kid who probably ended up talking to a smiling therapist in a cool, pastel-coloured office. Awesome.
Click the jump for an oozing sample of Leftcourt’s work.
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Tags: 8-bit fatality, fan stuff, fanart, Final Fantasy, freaktastic fanart, kid icarus, pac-man, retro, super mario bros
Freaktastic Fanart: Happy Birthday, Pixel!
It’s Pixel’s birthday! Let’s give a round of applause to the one-man band that put together Cave Story, the most well-rounded, well-balanced, and charming freeware platformer of all time.
In honour of Pixel’s womb ejection, Nicalis.com posted some sexy Cave Story fanart by Adam Atomic. It was drawn with love.
Incidentally, Nicalis.com confirms that the Cave Story remake will be hitting WiiWare sooner than later. The projected release date is the end of May, with extensive play testing being the reason for the game’s heart rendering delays. If you’ve never spent time with Quote, Curly, Sue, the Puppies and King (he will cut you), be prepared for a rollicking good time.
View Adam Atomic’s awesome work behind the jump.
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Tags: cave story, freeware, nadia oxford, pixel, wii, wiiware
Freaktastic Fanart: The Real Link
Like many soft urban-dwellers who never had to fight for the lives of her cattle, I count wolves amongst my favourite animals. They’re powerful, they’re intelligent, and I’m told they turn into men when the moon gets full.
So while I enjoyed the option to turn Link into a werewolf in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, something about the metamorphosis felt…overused. The transformation was supposed to be a reflection of Link’s inner self, but video games and adventure stories aren’t hurting for heroes who are associated—or associate themselves—with the wolf. Specifically, the lone, troubled wolf who is simply misunderstood.
Wasn’t the ‘reflection of the hero’s inner self’ already done by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past? And wasn’t that experience far more memorable and suitable for a quiet, humble boy like Link?
Fan artist Hyzave thinks so, and reminds us of the young adventurer’s first totem.
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Tags: fan stuff, freaktastic fanart, nadia oxford, the legend of zelda: a link to the past, the legend of Zelda: twilight princess
John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself. 
Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.
Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.
Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines.
Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.
Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.
Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.
