Oct 3, 2007

While they're certainly not a new toy, PixelBlocks are a Nintendo fanboy's best friend. If you have yet to experience the joy of building your very own Mega Man out of these LEGO-esque blocks, it's high time you gave it a whirl. Like LEGO blocks, these snap together but also click adjacent to one another, allowing for horizontal as well as vertical building. Their perfect square shape makes them ideal for recreating objects one pixel at a time, hence the name.

Creating an 8-bit hero or villain is a matter of having the right colors on hand, so prepare to sink a crapload of cash on these things. The official store can be found here. Oh, and forget about 16- or 32-bit sprites, they're entirely too large to attempt. If you want to give it a shot and spend $500 making an Alucard from Symphony of the Night, go for it.

But enough talk. Have at the PixelBlocks!

Samus - Metroid­

Creating Samus was project number one - she deserves the recognition, damnit. Even if you buy the 2000 piece set, you're going to exhaust the supply of yellow blocks right away. It's a drag to completely run out of one color that fast, but Samus is such an iconic character that you have to accept the penalty.

Seeing the old girl blown up this large lets us notice two things - one, her legs are super tiny in the original game, and two, that's a mean hook hand she's sporting.

To get her to stand, you'll need to double up on red blocks along the bottom. Otherwise her one-block-width feet aren't enough to ensure her safety. Moving these works of art once they're done is tricky business, as some blocks lock tight while others continue to slide around. Hold them vertically if at all possible, and if you're rolling in the blocks, double up wherever possible. Our next subjects got the double-decker treatment and are much sturdier as a result.