Luigi Dabbles in Final Fantasy

Last weekend was quite anime-heavy, thanks to the Anime North convention in Toronto and Anime Boston in, well, Boston. With anime comes gaming: the two are often paired, like the male and female entities who spawn the world in ancient myths.

I believe cosplay related to anime and gaming is one of those hobbies that people mock even as they secretly admire the work that goes into some ensembles. Conventions are best inhaled in small doses, but they provide a few hours of sheer fun. People let their inhibitions go, and it’s hard to resist the orgy of colour, sound and spiky hairdos.

Sometimes, fandoms combine and produce rare and wonderful things. My friend Jack attended Anime Boston and recorded evidence of a strange hybrid: a Luigi cosplayer strumming a harp. When asked to perform, Luigi rose to the occasion and produced the famous Prelude from the Final Fantasy series.

Would the real Luigi have the guts to sit in a crowded hallway and strum like Apollo? Doubtful.

Video after the jump.

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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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WTFriday: The Punch-Out Rap

There’s nothing like an early start to a Friday. The Wii remake of Punch-Out!! will be making its long-awaited debut (return?) next week, and I figured a fan rap might help ease you into the mood. Or scare you off entirely.

Personally, I am looking very forward to the game, rap or no rap. It just seems like a lot of familiar, goofy fun, and I’m always up for familiar, goofy fun. I spent an entire summer working on the original Punch-Out!!, though I never did reach Mike Tyson. I thought, “I guess I’m just not good enough,” but I realise now that I was just too scared to meet him. I’m doing okay considering how few members of the human race have winked at me and flexed their biceps, and I think I will endure without seeing Mike Tyson’s failure taunt.

Video after the jump.

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What’s In My MP3 Player: From Within, a Donkey Kong Country 2 OC Remix

Most gamers maintain that the first Donkey Kong Country game aged as prettily as a silverback’s rear end, but I still count Donkey Kong Country 2 among my favourite platformers. I also count it among my favourite video game soundtracks, with Kannon’s Klaim roosting at the top of the playlist. A handful of the songs in Donkey Kong Country 2 are remixes of tunes from the first game; Kannon’s Klaim initially existed as the subdued, eerie music of the Stop n Go Station.

OC Remixer Darangen re-imagined Kannon’s Klaim with an electric guitar shortly after breaking up with his girlfriend. “From Within” didn’t originate as a Donkey Kong Country 2 remix, and in fact it was meant to have lyrics. Sometimes the muse can make a monkey of us, though, and it’s not always a bad thing. Darangen’s piece took on a life of its own, and a great remix is the result.

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Game-Themed Strippers Put the “Zero Suit” in “Zero Suit Samus”

Good news, gamers (sort of): your insatiable lust for video game girls has gone up a notch on the dignity scale. You are no longer regulated to clip art illustrating ratty magazine reviews, or questionable Japanese doujinshi comics. Real erotic dancers are now in on the game.

On May 9th, Bordello in Los Angeles presented a video game striptease, featuring gals dressed up as Chun Li, Samus Aran, Rayne, Princess Peach, Zelda, and Link(?!). Mind you, the “dressed up” part doesn’t last long; the costumes hit the runway pretty fast.

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The Mega Man 2 Drumline

When I was in school, I was one of those super-popular non-losers who played in the band. My instrument was the clarinet, so I wasn’t a write-off like the kids who puffed shrill notes out of communal recorders. Still, I wasn’t as valued as the one or two kids who actually showed talent on the drums.

Eventually, I got the big idea that I was too cool for band, and I dropped it. I suppose it was all for the best, anyway. The teacher in charge was obsessed with re-creating the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack through squealing saxophones and flatulent tubas. We never even got to attempt anything as cool as a Mega Man 2 drumline, like Kansas University. I’ll die with that regret in my heart.

Video after the jump.

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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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2K Employee Quits Through Mario

The average human divides his or her time between eating, sleeping, breeding, working, and fantasising about not working.

Sometimes we get lucky and are given the opportunity to move on to greener pastures. It’s customary to provide your boss with two weeks’ warning before buzzing off forever, which provides a golden opportunity for a creative person to burn their bridges using a particularly colourful flame. People on job hunts are going all-out with their cover letters/videos/tapestry-draped elephants in order to get noticed; why not apply that passion to parting messages as well?

A former 2K Australia employee evidently agrees that something has to be done about boring “Dear Bozo” parting letters, and has gone the extra mile with his own.

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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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WTFriday: Kid Tries to Change Name to “Sonic X”

Being a willing veteran of the pet industry, I’ve seen my share of animals with crazy-ass names. Demographics count for a lot: working in a well-to-do area of the city put me in direct contact with about twenty chihuahuas named Gucci and ten Yorkshire terriers named Prada. Moving to a child-heavy neighbourhood desensitised me to names like “Goku Super Saiyan 3.” (That poor Boston terrier…)

This funny old world can still surprise me, though. For example: a Norwegian kid put in a request to change his name to Sonic X. Not only that, six-year-old Christer sent his plea directly to the King of Norway.

I’ve been entertaining myself by imagining Harald V’s face when he got the request. Crown knocked askew in shock. Mouth open. Chewed bits of hasenfeffer dribbling down his crimson robes.

Or maybe Harald leaned down into Christer’s face and gave him The Business in the style of Roger Meyers Junior from The Simpsons: ”You don’t know what you want! That’s why you’re still a kid, ’cause you’re stupid!”

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