Video Game Graffiti: 20 Works of Geeky Street Art

Editor’s Note: Every weekday, Robby Weiss finds an example of video game graffiti and posts it on Albotas (A Little Bit on the Awesome Side), his game and geek culture blog. GamerCrave asked him to pick his all-time favorites and tell us why. Prepare to be amazed.

World 1-1, the journey begins. He missed the first block, but it’s only a coin.

You’ve got to love when graffiti artists get creative and incorporate the surroundings into a piece. Every time I look at this, I hear that “duka-duka-duka” sound that the pipes make.

This is by far one the most obscure and bizarre pieces of gaming graffiti I’ve come across, paying homage to Ghosts ‘n Goblins. What the hell is is Arthur doing? It looks like he’s just chillin’ in a hot tub while he watches that demon teabag his woman in the back of the neck. That poor girl looks horrified!

As a huge R-Type fan, I was blown away when I saw this piece. Most gaming graffiti pays homage to the big dogs of gaming like Mario, Link, or Samus. It’s nice to see artists paying tribute to the unsung classics.

ANO is a graffiti artist who mixes traditional graffiti with colorful pixelated sprites that look like they came from some obscure Famicom game in a hip alternate dimension from the future. More of his work here.

“Na naaaaaaa na-na na na na naa-naa…”

Here’s a piece depicting one of the most heartfelt friendships in recent gaming history. (Insert line from “Still Alive” here.)

Graffiti writers typically tend to write their names, but sometimes they just write the titles of awesome semi-obscure games.

And other times, they write the names of game publishers with pictures of Viewtiful Joe.

Here’s Ryu Hayabusa from the oldschool Ninja Gaiden games. This piece was done by a graffiti artist known as GameBoyOne who has some other cool pixelated street art worth scoping out.

Here’s some cool stencil graffiti featuring a sprite of Alex Kidd from the old-school Sega days. It’s hard to believe Alex Kidd was Sega’s unofficial mascot before Sonic came in and stole the spotlight.

Caution: Frogger X-ing. This would’ve been better if the artist risked death to stencil logs and alligators in the street.

I love the messy texture and drippiness of this piece. It also looks like Yoshi is high off his rocker.

Small video game shop owners, take note: If you want more business, make your store look like this.

No Mario graffiti here. This is Wario’s turf!

Here’s another piece from GameBoyOne, and one of my all time favorites. The guy on top is obviously terrified.

Video game graffiti isn’t all stencils and spraycans. Some artists arrange ceramic tiles into sprites and stick them to the sides of buildings using caulk. Amazingly, this area of Cambridge, Mass., is tagged regularly, but Ice Man is left alone.

One too many super mushrooms. We’ve all been there.

Little bodies, big heads, epic thighs.

This is the Alameda Video Game Wall in Denver, Colorado. It features plenty of gaming icons you’re sure to recognize and even some obscure ones like Billy Hatcher and Mr. Driller. Face it: Your street has lame walls, unless you live on Alameda Ave.

Want more? Check out Daily Graffiti at Albotas. And thanks, Robby!