Pixel Painting - Small Mario (Super Mario All-Stars)

This painting was done as a donation for a raffle. There was a small Nintendo-themed lot, and this was my main contribution. It's not too large, measuring in at 12"x12".

I know it's more pink than red for the hat and shirt, but after doing the Super Mario World painting, I really like the more passive shades of pink as opposed to the in-your-face red, especially when doing 16-bit stuff. Hopefully the painting can help boost interest for this lot. I considered doing the actual Super Mario World Mario sprite, but I had to crank the whole painting out in a day, so I opted for this simpler design instead.

Plus, that dark yellow kind of irritates me.

Commissions are always welcome. Price varies based on the size and complexity of the sprite/scene. I moderate comments, so feel free to leave one with your contact email and request and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Pixel Painting - And Make it Double (Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow)

This commission was done to be given as a wedding gift .

How. Awesome.

After working with the buyer to figure out exactly what they wanted, they settled on the original Game Boy sprites of Jessie and James. But again, like the Gym Leader sprites, there wasn't any good color versions of these characters in this form.

Those colors are...just awful.

I poked around the internet, seeing what others had done in terms of coloring these sprites, and came up with a hybrid of the parts I liked the best. I think it turned out pretty damn good.

The only thing I might change is the light shading on their clothes. Right now it's a very light blue, which works well with the background choice and all, but I was toying with making it a shade of gray instead. I think both work fine, so no worries on my end.

The buyer said that the newlyweds were ecstatic to receive it, since they are apparently huge Pokémon fans, of Jessie and James in particular. I'm glad it all worked out. There's not a ton of in-progress photos, because I was doing a million things at the same time due to the holidays, and my whole setup was wedged into a poorly lit, crowded room. Too much fun.

Commissions are always welcome. Price varies based on the size and complexity of the sprite/scene. I moderate comments, so feel free to leave one with your contact email and request and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Wii U - Year Two Conclusion

More applause.

The second year of the Wii U picked up a lot of the slack from the admittedly embarrassing first. The extreme backlash of people stating the Wii U has no games has finally subsided. I will point out that these people never admit they're wrong, they simply pretend they never made the statements in the first place and look for something else to complain about. Good riddance.

A bit more third-party support made a big difference, although there was also a lot of the expected shovelware. The Virtual Console is still squeezing out titles at the same pace, but with the influx of original games, it's less irritating. I actually have a backlog of Wii U things now!

And amiibo? Don't even get me started. So much annoyance in being on top of release and pre-order information, yet still missing out. Please catch up with the demand, Nintendo. It especially baffles me in that you are not the first to go this route. The trail has already been blazed.

Favorite games of the year?

Retail:

eShop (not including Virtual Console):

Backlog:

It's great that I still have games to get around to, and 2015's lineup looks pretty good so far. It's crazy to think that it's already Year 3 of the Wii U. With the increasingly short lifespans of consoles, the next step for Nintendo is right around the corner, and they've been saying as much during interviews. Hopefully the coming year will be just as awesome.

I'm also hoping this blog will still be active then, too.