You say 'ecpica,' I say 'adorable'

I need a little adorableness in my life today, so rather than present all of you with yet another rambling post about an unheralded GameBoy or PC Engine game I've decided to present you with the following:



Each of these photos were taken by Singapore-based Flickr user ecpica, by the way, with the one above being titled "Siesta Time."



This one, on the other hand, is called "Lazy Afternoon."



And then there's "The Strange Bees in My Garden," above.

For even more adorableness, check out ecpica's Flickr photostream at your earliest convenience.

Which GameBoy Advance is your favorite?

In news that is sure to shock absolutely no one, I currently have GameBoy Advance on the brain. That's especially true since I suggested as much on Twitter last week. (You can follow me here if you'd like, by the way.)

Because I firmly believe in the phrase "misery loves company," I thought I'd rope all of you into obsessing about Nintendo's 32-bit handheld (don't you miss the days when we could refer to systems based on the number of bits associated with them?), too, by asking which of the company's three GameBoy Advance designs you liked best.

Me, I've always preferred the GameBoy Advance SP--in particular, the almost disgustingly cute Pikachu-branded systems (one of which can be seen below) that earned a release in 2005 and 2006.

Photo by diversionmary

As much as I like the Pikachu SP, though, I like the run-of-the-mill SPs nearly as much--thanks in large part to their pre-DS clamshell construction.

Photo by Arturo Martin

Don't take the commentary above to mean that I dislike the GameBoy Micro's design. On the contrary, I love it--especially when it's made to look like a mini Famicom or given a Mother-esque paint job.

Photo by Francois Houste

As for the first GameBoy Advance the folks at Nintendo bestowed upon the masses: I can't say I've ever been a fan of it. I'm not even sure why that is, to tell you the truth.

My first thought it to blame it on the system's toy-like appearance, but the same could be said of the original GameBoy and of the original DS, in particular, yet I consider both of those to be top of the line in terms of design (the former, especially).

What are all of your opinions on this most pointless of matters? Do you have a favorite when it comes to Nintendo's trio of GameBoy Advance designs, or would you just as well forget any of them ever existed?

'Love at first sight'

I took pen to paper again last night and produced a few more gaming-related doodles.

Here's one of said doodles:

Why has Pikachu fallen in love with a banana? I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that they're both yellow and black, but I'm not entirely sure.

(As for why I decided to draw Pikachu in the first place, when I'm hardly the biggest Pokemon fan in the world: Well, I'm not entirely sure about that either, although I think this Maré Odomo creation may have been in the back of my mind.)

Surprisingly (not!), another of my doodles--titled, "Huh?!?"--was inspired by Bubble Bobble.

Black-and-white versions of both doodles/drawings can be viewed here, by the way.

I think I'm going to work on some Earthbound/Mother-related doodles tonight.

See also: 'Oodles of doodles'

Pixelchu

Artist Maré Odomo recently answered--via his Flickr photostream--the all-important question: What would a Pikachu look like in pixelated form?

Although I'm hardly the world's biggest Pokémon fan, Odomo's drawing makes me wish someone would whip up an 8-bit de-make of one of the series' earlier entries.

See also: 'A little more Maré love'