Awesome Games

We wish real-life currency looked like Rupees from the Legend of Zelda games. Artist Squowks shows how they made a set of the colorful gemstones by pouring UV-cured resin into faceted molds they made from sheets of plastic. If you’re not feeling up to the DIY challenge, you can find similar sets for purchase on Etsy.

Previously, ClayClaim built a miniature scene based on a level from Super Mario 64. Now the Fimo clay artist is back with another build inspired by the N64 game – Princess Peach’s iconic castle. He achieved the low-poly look by cutting lots of sharp, angular blocks of clay. Those Mario, Yoshi, and Cameraman sculpts are adorable.

Svetlana and Benni of KamuiCosplay make incredible props and costumes. Their latest build is the eponymous mask from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. They made it entirely from sculpting EVA foam and then added LED lighting and a colorful paint job. This thing always reminded us of Aku Aku from Crash Bandicoot.

Aussie developer Matt Newell is working on an interactive plaything called Lushfoil Photography Sim. Matt’s goal is to envelop players in the most realistic grass, trees, and other environmental elements across detailed landscapes. From the looks of this French Alps demo, we think he’s on the right track. There’s an 8K version here.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard the Super Mario Bros. theme performed on violin, but musician Teppei Okada’s version adds all the appropriate sound effects to a few different levels of the classic Nintendo platformer. He’s done the same for F-ZERO and Super Mario Kart among others.

These officially-licensed Nintendo notebooks look just like NES cartridges – if they got run over by a steamroller. They have A5-size (5-7/8″ x 8-1/4″) ruled pages, game graphics on their inside covers and come in a slip-cover inspired by an NES cartridge case. Choose from Super Mario Bros. or Metroid versions.

Weird Al’s Museum of Natural Hilarity runs on the Multimorphic P3 pinball platform, which combines mechanical components with video screens. The game is packed with wacky levels inspired by his music. Obstacles include a hamster wheel and ball run course, and it plays 17 of Al’s novelty tunes and over 2000 voice clips.

For some reason, music from 8-bit and 16-bit games seems more memorable than most modern games. It probably has something to do with retro synthesizers drilling the sounds deeper into our brains. If you love retro game music too, hit play and listen up as BearKeys performs on a Roland Jupiter-6 synth. Part two here.

Hadouken! Teenage Engineering has teamed up with Capcom to create two pocket-sized sound makers, the PO-133 Street Fighter, and the PO-128 Mega Man. The Street Fighter model is a micro sampler with a built-in mic, while the Mega Man version is an 8-bit synthesizer. Both include sounds based on the games.

Did you ever get stuck on a tough boss battle and want to throw your video game console across the room? Well, now you can – without doing damage. Kidrobot’s 12″ plush version of the SEGA Genesis console includes a plug-in plush Sonic the Hedgehog game cartridge and a soft and squishy game controller.

With the possible exception of The Homer, the vehicular version of Kirby from Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the silliest looking car we can think of. Adam over at North of the Border sculpted a real-world version of the bubbly pink ride out of aluminum foil and clay.

Celebrate your love for all things PlayStation with this official messenger bag that looks just like Sony’s first-gen PS1 video game console. It won’t play games, but it’s great for carrying them and anything else you can fit inside of its roomy main compartment or zippered side pocket. Measures 14.6″ x 10.6″ x 3.14″.

Electron Dust, the engineer behind the fascinating Octo-Bouncer, created this physics-based sandbox game where players build and position machines to toss and drop blocks into holes. Connect and program multiple robot arms and grippers to pass along blocks and feed them to the proper location.

DoodleChaos is a master at making digital worlds that sync up to the beat of music. In this video, they created a incredibly complex Minecraft level, with Portal-inspired gateways that lead to a wondrous world filled with music and visual delights.

This action-packed FPS from indie game studio Damage State promises “big guns and even bigger demons.” Your objective is simple: escape a maze filled with endless creatures and blow them all away. Coming to PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. A PC demo is coming to the 2022 Steam Next Fest the week of 2.21.

The first couple of Resident Evil games were groundbreaking but also suffered from some of the wonkiest controls, cameras, and load screens in the history of video games. TikTok user lake_skywalker perfectly captures the gameplay of Resident Evil 2 if it was remade with real live characters.

With locations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines is filled with vintage arcade machines that date back to the Soviet era. Incredibly, the machines have all been restored and are playable. Baklykov. Live takes us on a tour of the museum, its machines, and other artifacts.

Master Chief and the Spartans battle The Covenant again in this big-budget, live-action TV series. Expect lots of familiar weapons, vehicles, aircraft, and enemies in this action-packed show headed to Paramount+ on 3.24.22. Stars Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Jen Taylor, and Bokeem Woodbine.

Austin Powers is back, and this time he’s in Mass Effect: Part 2. eli_handle_b․wav returns with another hilarious mashup of these very different franchises. This time, the swinging 1960s bachelor becomes the latest subject of The Lazarus Project, mows down a Geth Colossus, and has a sexy photoshoot with Kelly Chambers.

This teensy replica of the Atari 2600 comes with a miniature TV cabinet. It’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and is loaded with nine 8-bit video games, including Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Combat, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong Tempest, Warlords, and Pac-Man. They’re not the original 2600 versions though.

Your cats will love hanging out in this old-school arcade cabinet, inspired by the Palace Arcade in Stranger Things. The cardboard cat house has two levels on which to lounge, each with a scratcher surface for kitty manicures and pedicures. No quarters required.

Vocalist Matthew Van Ness has impressed us with his orchestral vocal covers of the Star Wars and Jurassic Park themes. This time, he did something a little different, but similarly entertaining by turning 100 copies of his voice into the choir from the familiar opening theme from Halo video game series.

In the Fortress of Doom in DOOM Eternal, you’ll see a trio of bad-ass guitars, designed by artist Ethan Evans. Orbital Guitars looked at the one in the middle called the Crucible, and said “yeah, I can make that,” and got to building a real-world, 8-string version of the guitar. It’s made from wenge wood and epoxy resin.