Nintendo's iconic characters have never looked this real, reimagined by the art director of 'God of War'

Ben Gilbert

Jan 10, 2019, 22:16 IST

Nintendo

Nintendo's latest major game, "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," stars over 70 of gaming's most iconic characters - from Super Mario to Mega Man.
It's the most detailed many of those characters have ever looked, but it's still far from the level of detail of the biggest PlayStation and Xbox blockbusters.
The artist behind the gorgeous, highly-detailed "God of War" has been reimagining major "Super Smash Bros." characters on Twitter - to hilarious and horrifying results.

What would it look like if the high-resolution, super-high detail art style of 2018's incredible "God of War" was applied to some of Nintendo's most iconic characters?

"God of War" art director Raf Grassetti is answering exactly that question on his Twitter feed, where he's been drawing up new versions of major Nintendo characters like Bowser and Samus Aran.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Here's the Hero of Time, Link of "The Legend of Zelda" himself, reimagined:

Not too shabby, right?

And that's just for starters:

As you might've already noticed, these depictions of Nintendo's characters are specifically pulling from their "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" versions:

Samus Aran of "Metroid" fame, seen above, is stylistically pulling from the version of Samus in the new "Super Smash Bros."

Here's a significantly beefier version of Fox McCloud, the protagonist of the "Star Fox" franchise:

This version of Fox is probably more at home in a "Gears of War" game than a Nintendo title.

Mario's longtime rival Browser, the King of the Koopas, is more horrifying than ever in Grassetti's interpretation:

And this is where things start to get weird — Mega Man, fresh off tour with his boy band, looks other-worldly:

But even Mega Man looks comparatively normal when we're talking about these depictions of Mewtwo and Sonic the Hedgehog. First up, here's Mewtwo:

And here, looking downright creepy, is Sonic the Hedgehog. He's...apparently a human-animal hybrid?

Maybe it's just us, but Sonic looks like an "Animorph." Remember those?

Or maybe this is just a sign of what's to come. After all, that upcoming "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie stars a distinctly humanoid hedgehog.

But that's not all — Grassetti plans to continue his set in the coming days, and he's even taking suggestions. With over 70 characters in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," many of which are major video game characters, there's plenty to choose from!

Next Story 14 of the best new apps to download now