Here’s a clip from YouTube featuring Japanese violinist Teppei Okada playing the Super Mario Bros. theme music on his violin, which by itself, is nothing extraordinary, but here’s the catch: he also plays the various sound effects – Mario jumping, collecting coins, powering up, and so forth, in time with a prerecorded playthrough of the game!
Check it out:
And here he is again, this time playing through the opening of Super Mario Bros. 3:
Pretty crazy, right?
If you search for him on YouTube you’ll find other videos like these, mostly playthroughs of Japanese 8-bit games.
Check out this cool piece of retro-inspired artwork by artist Vladimir Gerasimov (“FullPlateMail” on deviantART) called, simply, “A Tragedy,” depicting the unfortunate consequences of an encounter between Super Mario and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
(A Terrible Mishap In Manhattan With Super Mario And The Ninja Turtles)
Fun stuff.
I love the expressions on their faces, especially Splinter, and the fact that Mario’s drawn with a bald spot up top the way he used to look back in his pre-Koopa stomping, Donkey Kong days.
And here’s another piece in a similar vein, although I can’t seem to recall who to credit for the piece.
Can anybody help me identify the artist?
(Mario's About To Get Stomped On)
Looks like Mario’s back to his villainous ways, a la Donkey Kong Jr.
Check out this cool video trailer for a playable, fan-made Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link First Person Shooter:
Neat idea taking Link into the FPS realm of gaming a la Samus in Metroid Prime. The old school, 8-bit graphics and sound add to the charm a great deal; I especially like the Title Screen, which at first glance looks just like the original game until the 3D camera begins moving about.
Check out the game itself here up to the first Boss fight for free, although you’ll need to download the Unity Web Player first.
