One of the biggest realism issues video games have always faced is where, exactly, your character puts all of the items he or she has collected over the course of the adventure. Perhaps the most egregious offenders of inventory realism are RPGs and adventure games. How does Cloud carry around 99 Phoenix Downs and an arsenal of humongous swords? How do Elder Scrolls characters carry 300-plus pounds of junk on their person as they sneak around cities? DeviantART user WakaBee took these questions to heart, and whipped up a rendition of Link if all of the items he lugged around were visible. For some reason, he looks determined, rather than sweaty, sore, and collapsed on the ground under the weight of all his empty bottles.

The above chart documents the evolution of three of Nintendo’s biggest characters, Mario, Link and Donkey Kong. Link seems to have been battling certain body image issues over the years, changing heights and weights with each generation.

(How to be a Retronaut via Bit Rebels)

The wonderful artists over at Kay Circle decided to give the world an early holiday present and made photomosaics of Link and Zelda using screenshots from each and every Zelda game. Check past the jump to see larger versions.

Ever wish Link could’ve shut that damned fairy Navi up? Ever get the feeling that the Great Deku Tree was really just an old plant preying on young children? Ever wonder why pulling the Master Sword out aged Link exactly to the peak of physical ability? Well, now these important questions have been answered. Texas-based animator Ericpowerup brings us a series of Ocarina of Time-based paper cutout animations titled Zelda on Paper, as well as a short at the end titled Metroid on Paper.

Ericpowerup says: “So I’ve been an avid gamer for as long as I can remember, and just recently decided to put the two things I love together to make animated films and shorts based off video games.”

Check out the video after the break.

Some of the greatest, most famous, and most successful figures in history have been left handed. We have left-handed presidents including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Gerald Ford. We have ancient leaders and revolutionaries including Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caeser. We have inventors and great minds like Henry Ford, and there are about a billion more great left-handed people of history and the present.

But Kotaku have made a grim observation: Gamers may be losing one of their foremost left-handed role models.

Did you hear that Nintendo is making a new Zelda game? Okay, so Nintendo will never be not making a new Zelda game, but…

New Zelda game! You swing a sword! There’s bombs! And arrows. And a clawshot. And a pony.

What more do you want?

Information? We got that.

YouTube user bornforthis43 spent a long time making this video, and it shows. Join him on his journey through some of the most popular titles for the NES with our favorite protagonists Mario, Link, Kirby, and others.

There’s something about the amateurish video production and choice of crazy, kid-friendly objects for the animation that make the video really endearing. My personal favorite comes at the end, wherein the Mario universe is comprised mostly of small vegetables. Also of note is gummi bear Link.

While it may not pass Roger Ebert’s muster, anyone who has played a video game since the dawn of Pong will be hard-pressed not to call Exploding Rabbit‘s Jay Pavlina’s flash game Super Mario Bros. Crossover a work of art. The game allows the player to play the entirety of the classic Super Mario Bros., but do so using some of the greatest characters in video game history as well as the mustachioed plumber. The ridiculous thrill one gets when using a warp pipe while playing as Mega Man, Samus, Link, [Contra's] Bill R., or [Castlevania's] Simon has to be felt to be believed. Pardon the hyperbole, but it’s true. Fortunately, Pavlina has been nice enough to allow us to embed an updated version of his baby so you can play it right here. Take a turn at it after the jump!