'Super Utamaro Bros.'

If I were a real artist (and, no, I'm not saying that facetiously), this is the kind of thing I'd attempt to create:

For those of you wondering what in the hell you're looking at, well, it's a piece produced by blogger, designer and illustrator Jude Buffum. (I mentioned him earlier today in this post.)

In the description that accompanies this image on the artist's Flickr page, Buffum says he "chose to focus on the erotic fantasies of abalone divers that are quite popular within the art form known as 'shunga.'"

He also mentions that the piece is an homage to Utamaro's "Underwater Assault."

See more of Buffum's stuff here.

Yoshi tastes like chicken, too?

Have you ever looked at a Cheep-Cheep, Chocobo or Yoshi and thought, I wonder how many meals I could get out of that thing?

I can't say I have either, but blogger, designer and illustrator Jude "The Jude" Buffum has, and this is the result of that thought:

To see more of Buffum's imaginative prints, produced for the Pixel Pushers show that's being curated by Giant Robot magazine, check out this blog post.

(Via doyoulovepuppiesido.blogspot.com)

LTTP: PC Engine Gamer Issue 2

Before I go on, I have to point out that in this instance, “LTTP” means “Late to the Publication,” not “Late to the Party.”

With that out of the way, the publication I (foolishly and sadly) overlooked until today is the second issue of PC Engine Gamer magazine.



Much like this online publication’s first issue, the second issue is short but sweet. It’s also a bit silly, as evidenced by this “Fish and Tips” comment: “If you’re fed up playing [Mesopotamia], why not try this little trick to … play a secret shoot ‘em up. It might be crappy but it’s better than Deep Blue.” (Also worth a chuckle or two: the “Translation Fun” section of “Feedback.”)

There’s more to this magazine than batty bon mots, though; there’s also a countdown of the best shoot-’em-up bosses, an interview (with Feena of Ys Book I & II) and a pair of reviews (of Dragon Spirit and Ninja Spirit),

Anyway, I highly recommend checking it out (here) if you're a fan of the PC Engine or TurboGrafx-16.

See also: ‘It ain’t over ’til the fat Pithecanthropus Computerurus sings‘

More Flickr-ized Famicom cartridges

Yep, I recently picked up--on the cheap, thankfully--a few more of the "pulse line" Famicom carts via eBay. Specifically, I bought Devil World, Donkey Kong Jr. Math and Popeye English--each of which can be seen below. (Click to view larger versions.)

To see a few more shots of Devil World, check out the first page of my Flickr photostream. Photos of the rest of my (still small) Famicom cart collection can be seen here.

See also: 'On being an anal-retentive game collector'

You say bento, I say brilliant

I love re-tweets. You know why? Because they make me aware of some awesomely random things, like the following Costume Quest bento box (created by the lady behind annathered.com):

(Software consultant and ludologist Jason McIntosh is responsible for the re-tweet that made me aware of the above-mentioned bento, by the way.)

Anyway, if you think Anna's Costume Quest bento is awesome, just wait until to see some of her other creations--like this Katamari Damacy bento, or this Noby Noby Boy bento, or this Tingle bento. (I also like this Pink Castle Crasher bento quite a bit.)

To see more photos of her Costume Quest bento (and her other bentos, too), check out her Flickr photostream.