1) Super duper Mario spaceman
So this is how Mario managed to look so at home during his astronautical adventure - intensive weightlessness training with none other than Buzz Aldrin, the first man to be beaten to the moon by Neil Armstrong. Seconds after these shots were taken, Mario freaked out and brought the aircraft down with a misplaced fireball, but the occupants landed safely thanks to the spring costume and Mario’s giant soft head. Buzz Aldrin said: “Mario did excellent, just outstanding. Yeah, we were holding hands all the way and upside down and sideways. Super! Super duper Mario.”

2) Nintendog
Aw, how sweet! We can’t wait to see the pics of this dog in the Elton John sunglasses, but maybe he just hasn’t found those in the bin during walkies yet. He does look worryingly capable of eating the throat out of a burglar, but surely no animal with such cute dress sense can be dangerous.

3) Merry-o Christmas
Words can scarcely describe the sheer awesomeness of these festive Mario Galaxy goodies. Just imagine receiving one of those stockings, stuffed with games or, more likely, clementines, walnuts and 50 cents in change. Or opening your presents under a tree decorated with dark Mario baubles - that might be a dead giveaway that you’re getting a copy of Galaxy. Anyway, these are great and are designated ‘holiday decorations’, with Animal Crossing-style secularity.

4) Nintendo in South Park
Many years after stinking up the N64 with a first-person shooter that involved pelting turkeys with wee-soaked snowballs, the South Park folks seem to be showing frequent respect to Nintendo. Link, Wario and Ganondorf have all been spotted in recent episodes. And there was that one they did a while back, where Cartman freezes himself so he doesn’t have to wait for the Wii launch but winds up being thawed out in a future run by hamsters. And that is all.