Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Though states or even oceans might separate you from walking through the fourth annual i am 8-bit exhibit in Hollywood, California, Wii Fanboy sister-site Joystiq has put up an image collection of its own with enough photographs from the video game gallery to make you feel like you're actually at the art house!

We've picked out a number of notable pieces that we liked, such as the double framed Link and Zelda sketches above, but make sure to also check out Joystiq's gallery and impressions from the show's opening. It's enough to make you want to go out and buy some art supplies to create your own video game art!

While we're sure that nobody is going to trash Soda Pop while using the Donkey Konga bongo controller in Punch-Out!!, it's good enough to take down Glass Joe with ease. And, it's a neat way to enjoy one of the best 8-bit games around. Just, uh, skip like the first minute of the video. It's kind of painful to watch.

[Via Joystiq]

Want to check out Capcom at next week's E3, but don't have a pass? Fear not, for they are extending an invitation to you, fine reader, to check out their wares for free. Instructions on how to pounce on this opportunity can be found here.

This is all well and good, but we have one thing to say to any of you out there expecting to take advantage of this: if Mega Man 9 is playable, you better back off the machine. We're totally ready to spend a night in jail for beating up some chump that tried to play Mega Man 9 before us. We loves us our Mega Man, you know.

[Via Joystiq]

Here's a little confidence-builder for all those developers out there wanting to go in the opposite direction of technological progress. Huzzah, the entirely new Mega Man 9 for WiiWare is essentially an 8-bit game, with terrible graphics, sound and animation. And it's awesome. Evidence is right there in front of you -- the first "man, we totally want it" footage.

It's an uber-short video, and there's a giant Rockman 9 logo in the way, but we still get the gist of what's going on. Mega Man himself is jumping around, shooting stuff and just being generally mega. Sit back, relax, and let the blips and bloops of the soundtrack put you into a dream-like state until the game's Japanese release in September -- though we have high hopes for a short North American waiting list.
[Via Siliconera]

We're trying to think of words to describe how we felt when we saw the Mega Man 9 screens at Games Radar, but there's just too much emotion to articulate. As if the scans weren't legendary enough with their retro, 8-bit goodness, the screens just make us downright giddy. There's not much else to say, except that we're so in love with Capcom right now.

Games Radar has some delightful details on the game, too, which just add some extra oomph to an already oomph-tastic game. For one, beloved Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune was especially involved in the making of Mega Man 9, even creating the bosses this time around. As for the story, it still revolves around our favorite villain Dr. Wily, but this time he has the public on his side, convincing them that Dr. Light is the bad guy. Silly public.

That's not all, though -- according to Games Radar, this game is hard. Not this hard, but still difficult. We say, bring it. You know what else it has? A lot of music from Mega Man 2, also known as one of the best video game soundtracks of all time.

Lastly (but not least), Games Radar has the skinny on Mega Man 9's bosses, including one that's a woman robot named Splash Woman. Others include Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Hornet Man, Tornado Man, Concrete Man, Maga Man, and Plug Man. Man alive, that's a lot of mans.

Now you can stop reading and look at the screens (just click on the "Source" link or post image, as per usual). You might want to have some tissues handy, because they may just bring tears of joy to your eyes.

[Via NeoGAF]

We've spent the week regaling releases of yore, celebrating the intricacies and conventions that made them so memorable, but if there's one trait about some of these retro titles that we don't remember fondly, it's trudging through waves of enemies and uninteresting levels only to find our efforts rewarded with little more than a shot of the protagonist staring off into the sunset.

These twilight scenes weren't anomalous, phenomena exclusive to games of a certain genre or limited to a few occurrences. With just a cursory check, Games Radar was able to dig up no less than 18 NES titles that featured these over-the-horizon endings. Were developers just too lazy to try for anything more? Or was it something more sinister -- a secret cabal of Apollo acolytes looking to resurrect their solar deity with these 8-bit tributes? Think about that the next time you wonder why the sun seems to have somehow increased in size since you last saw it ...

ThinkGeek is apparently offering a brilliant new product: the Wii Helm. Besides the +7 charisma you'll obviously receive, the Wii Helm allows one to strap in a Wiimote to the top of a sleek, shiny helmet to free up both hands for other endeavors. The demo video shows a daring pioneer in her quest to utilize head motions to conquer Wii Sports.

Yes, it's a joke, and a clever one at that. But upon watching the video, we here at the Fanboy could only think of a glorious future, in which the official Night at the Roxbury game features realistic head-bobbing for super-mega-funtime. Truly amazing.

Another "joke" at ThinkGeek involves this tie, which we thought was horribly cruel, because it is awesome in every single way. However, torrents of furious E-mails (nineteen of which were ours) have forced ThinkGeek to actually start manufacturing the product in the near future. Viva la 8-bit!

[Thanks to Dustin, Alex, and Liqwid!]

Game Informer has posted a nice preview of the 2007 I am 8-bit art show, along with some of the art that will be featured. I am 8-bit is an annual art exhibition that celebrates classic videogame culture and iconography, with an emphasis on Nintendo and their NES-era third parties. It's also the source of some amazing game-related art, like the mega-adorable "Mega Man" by Suzuki Shuji. We'd be proud to display any of these paintings, sculptures, or crafts in our own Fancaves.

Just like every year, we'll be gazing wistfully at these previews and cursing our luck for not being Californian or California-adjacent. If you happen to be in the LA area between April 17 and May 12, we urge you to go to Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight and support the very best kind of fanboyism: the kind that manifests in honest creative expression (fanfic excluded).

[Update 1: changed the preview picture to something friendlier.]
[Via 4cr]