If you visit a graveyard in Japan (they’re attached to temples), you’ll probably see the Legend of Zelda Triforce symbol on at least a few stones:

It’s just a common family crest (kamon) – belonging, the internet tells me, to the Hōjō clan. Kind of cool, though!

Of more interest to me, however, was this carving I saw on a temple door, somewhere in Shizuoka city:

...No? Bit of a stretch?

I’m back in Sydney’s Inner West at the moment, and on Saturday, on my way to Newtown station, I passed through the markets on the other side of the road. And you know how people make Mario and stuff by sticking little plastic beads together? Well I saw a bit of that! Check it out, homedogs:

I reckon brooches made from an old keyboard is a great idea:

All of this was done by two people who call themselves ‘SkullMonkey’:

They have a MySpace page, if you do the MySpace thing. Probably there is a way to contact them, and/or order their doodads? I’m not sure! I am an old man and find MySpace loud and confusing. But they were friendly and polite in person! Hi guys!

One day, back when I taught English to children in Japan, one of the mothers brought this abomination to class:

It even has a Super Mario World-style map!

Lan'sakes!

A wrong time ago, before Eegra was even an internet sperm, I went to Tokyo Game Show 2006, and had a magical encounter with a dodgy Korean Mario bootleg for the MSX, called Super Bros. World 1. You can read the full story here, or, if you can't be bothered, you can probably get the gist from this photo of the box:

Super Bros. World 1 is probably someone's childhood gaming memory, which makes it just as valid as the 'real thing', by any meaningful standard. That's why I have a fascination for this sort of cultural bric-a-brac -- I wonder who made it and how and why, and who played it and where they bought it and how they remember it. There's a hundred stories about this game, and I'll probably never hear any of them. It's a little mysterious, this weird Mario from a parallel universe, and it makes me a little excited, and a little sad.

Someone else with a great fondness for out-of-the-mainstream gaming curios is Jeremy Penner, who not coincidentally runs Glorious Trainwrecks. Recently he happened upon some footage of Super Bros. World 1 in action, which he uploaded to YouTube for all to enjoy, and it would be remiss of me not to share it with you here:

Jembleby writes...

Items of interest:
- The music is a pretty decent rendition of SMB3 music!
- Fireballs bounce off of coins!
- The terrifying Deadly Hover-Boulder in stage two!

Thanks, Jerrington!

Um...

Like the title says.

We have a real treat for you today! As a personal favour, Kotaku editor Brian Crecente set aside some time in his very busy schedule to create this video review of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, exclusively for Eegra.

We poke fun at Kotaku from time to time, but in all seriousness, Brian is a class act and I'd like to thank him for his generosity and professionalism.

Here is our EXCLUSIVE review of Super Mario Galaxy. You will not find this review on any other website! Read it now before your head just freakin' explodes!

OH MY GOD HURRY!!

HEY YOU! Do you like... MUSIC?

If you answered, "Yes, except for blue-eyed American a capella singers doing pissweak versions of Christmas carols with smug grins on their stupid faces," then THIS IS AN ARTICLE FOR YOU.

(It's about videogame music arrangements.)