Ice Climbers cross stitch

I wanted to do something slightly Smash Brothers-ish for my next cross stitch, but that would still be delightfully retro and nostalgic. When I stopped by my favorite sprite database, The Spriters Resource, and saw these Ice Climbers sprites, I knew what I had to do. Originally I wanted to have a snappy title for this. Something like “Nana told Popo leave the seat down,” “Hold still! There’s a fly on you!” or “When I said hit the pink thing, I meant Kirby! Not me!” I decided to fall back on something simpler – “Nana gets mad.” Why is Nana mad? Fill in the blank – it’s more fun that way.

Despite being fairly simple sprites, it was deceptively difficult to create this cross stitch. First I tried to arrange the characters just so, so it would look believable when compared to the source material. Then I had to enlarge the pattern even more than usual, so that the hammer’s special effects would all be in the appropriate places and I would be sure I couldn’t mis-count. I then picked out the colors – two shades of brown, peach, red, two shades of pink, two shades of white, two shades of blue and black. Since I was working on this and a different piece at the same time, I’m not really sure how long it took to make. I’d guess that it probably took somewhere around three hours.

Next week I’ll probably do something small, as I want to also focus on a The World Ends with You cross stitch character I’d like to have finished by that game’s North American launch date. I’m thinking perhaps I’ll try cross stitching a pokemon. Something cute and tiny. And easy – cross stitching can get tedious sometimes. Especially after creating a bigger piece like Nana and Popo here.

Other finished cross stitches appearing on Gamertell include:

• Hamtaro from Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite
• Etna from Disgaea
• Prinny from Disgaea
• Peter Pepper, Mr. Egg and Mr. Hot Dog from Burgertime
• Link and Navi from Legend of Zelda
• Nemo and a frog from Little Nemo: The Dream Master
• Angel Kirby from Kirby Squeak Squad

Read [Gamertell] Site [The Spriters Resource]