Another day, another Nintendo-inspired t-shirt design (or two)

There are a lot of things I'd blow my money on if I ever won the lottery. A PC Engine LT would be one such thing; a copy of All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. would be another.

Also, I'd buy every game-inspired t-shirt that caught my eye--with t-shirts bearing the designs below (created by artist Glen Brogan) being among my first post-lottery purchases.

The top design is called "Bottled Fairy," by the way, while the bottom one is called "Great Shelled Dragon."

If you've already won the lottery and you'd like to add either or both of the above-mentioned shirts to your wardrobe, pay a visit to Brogan's Split Reason store.

I'm not sure how I feel about Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax

Marvelous' Half-Minute Hero is one of those games that have resided on my lengthy "to buy" list for some time but, for various reasons, have yet to make their way into my grubby little hands.

No worries if you're not a fan of the XBLA version's new graphics; 

the pixelated ones of the PSP original will be available too.

Unfortunately, the much-ballyhooed PSP title (buy it here) may never make it off that list thanks to the developer's decision to bring an updated version of it to Xbox Live Arcade.

This sort-of remake (more on that in a second) will be added to the Xbox 360's download service on June 29 with a price tag of 800 Microsoft Points, a subtitle ("Super Mega Neo Climax") and a visual overhaul.

The one thing that may keep me from purchasing this iteration of the game instead of the PSP original is that it appears the former will only include one of the four modes that were featured in the latter.

The new art style displayed in Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax 

is sure to earn mixed reactions from fans of the original. 

For more information on Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax, check out GamePro's recent hands-on impressions of the title (here).

Drew Green's 'Sakura vs. Shuma-Gorath'

I could hardly be called the world's biggest fan of fighting games. In fact, I don't think I've played one since, oh, the 1996 release of the Sega Saturn version of Street Fighter Alpha, I think?

Although I haven't played a fighting game since before the turn of the century, I continue to be attracted to the genre--mainly because of its typically wacky casts of characters.

Case in point: Marvel vs. Capcom 3's Sakura and Shuma-Gorath, both of whom are colorfully and deliciously depicted in the Drew Green illustration below.

To see more of this Atlanta-based artist's creations, check out his blog, deviantART gallery, Flickr photostream or tumblog.

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (GoldenEye 007 Wii edition)

Although European and North American gamers have been playing the Wii version of Activision's GoldenEye 007 don't-call-it-a-remake-of-the-classic-Nintendo64-title since late last year, their brothers and sisters in Japan are still waiting to get their mitts on this Eurocom-developed FPS.

They won't have to wait much longer, though, as the powers that be at Nintendo of Japan recently announced a June 30th release date for this so-called "re-imagining."

Will the resulting release be worth the wait? Based on the Japanese version's rather snazzy box art (below), I'm going to go out on a limb and say, yes, it'll be well worth the wait--for the five or so gamers who are looking forward to it.

For the sake of comparison, here's the art that graced the cover of the North American version of the game:

I wouldn't go so far as to call the box art above ugly, but I'd definitely say it looks a bit cheap next to its classy Japanese counterpart.

Which one do you guys and gals prefer?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts

A few more pieces of Famicom porn

Remember how I said (in this post) that I recently acquired copies of Baseball and Golf for the Famicom? Well, at the same time I purchased those "Pulse Line" carts I also picked up a rather beat-up copy of Nintendo's Balloon Fight.

You know what that means: More photos of Famicom boxes and cartridges struttin' their stuff on our dining room table and living room floor!

For more photos of my Famicom collection, check out this Flickr set.