Journey from Tokyo to Rio de Janeiro recreated in the style of Nintendo’s classic games

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a surprise appearance at the Olympics’ closing ceremony dressed as beloved Nintendo character Mario, giving a tip of the hat (the plumber’s cap, to be precise) to a handful of Japan’s most internationally recognized video game and anime icons.

Now, the salute has begun to wrap back around on itself, with this creative bitmap GIF showing a pixely Abe Mario making his pipe voyage to Brazil, with the help of Doraemon, Pac-Man, Captain Tsubasa, Helly Kitty, and the genuine Mario.

The charmingly retro artwork comes from Twitter user @ktwfc, who’s got quite an eye for detail. Not only does the GIF start at Tokyo’s Shibuya Scramble crosswalk (just like the video that preceded Abe’s real-life appearance in Rio de Janeiro), the ending, with a field of black framing Mario in a circle before he flashes a peace sign, is evocative of the character’s level-ending pose in Super Mario World, his first 16-bit outing.

But @ktwfc has more talent than can be contained in just a single GIF. He’s also been inspired to create clever animation loops by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and the Kirby series.

▼ Further proof that Link is incapable of taking ownership of something without lifting it over his head.

And while there hasn’t been a new mainline Final Fantasy game on a Nintendo console in 22 years, the series’ starting on the Famicom/NES means it gets grandfathered into @ktwfc’s art portfolio.

Feeling left out because your favorite old-school title isn’t represented? Worry not, because as @ktwfc’s extensive pixel renderings of Famicom cartridges and labels shows…

…he’s still got plenty of inspiration to draw from for future projects.

Source: IT Media
Featured image: Twitter/@ktwfc

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s keepign his fingers crosse that the 2020 Olympics marathon course is laid out in the shape of the Pac-Man maze.