One Piece Fans Give The Series a Gameboy Makeover in Incredible Art
An incredible set of One Piece fan art gives the popular series an RPG Gameboy makeover that's nostalgic towards Luffy's goal of becoming the Pirate King. No stranger to video games, the series has become a lucrative franchise in almost every market, including the live-action industry, with the upcoming Netflix series coming soon in 2022.
Eiichiro Oda's One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his goal of becoming the Pirate King along with his miscreant pirate crew, the Straw Hats. Created in 1997, One Piece's record-breaking achievements include over 1,000 chapters, 100 manga volumes in publication, and several spinoff novels. The ongoing anime recently celebrated its 1,000th episode and a new upcoming movie One Piece Film: Red, that follows Red Hair Pirates captain, Shanks. Bandai Namco has also produced several video games from the manga, including Oda, who drew the Straw Hats as Smash Bros fighters on the cover art of chapter 1,028.
Pixel artist Soulking_pixels shared a fun 3 part 8-bit artwork on Twitter that takes fans on a journey all the way from One Piece's beginnings up to the current Four Emperors Saga. The 8-bit fan art is a clear nod towards classic RPG Gameboy games. Part one shows a young Luffy with brothers Ace and Sabo declaring his goal of becoming the next Pirate King. The second-pixel art fast forwards to Luffy meeting master swordsman Zoro before breaking him free to join his pirate crew. Finally, the third art occurs during the Whole Cake arc with Big Mom (one of the Four Emperors) battling Straw Hat member Brook.
Soulking_pixels' artwork perfectly mirrors One Piece's illustrious video game franchise, including the 2005 Gameboy Advance RPG game One Piece. The fan art is a nice compliment to that game's gorgeous pixel art, although the game only follows the manga's East Blue Arc. The 2020 Pirate Warriors 4 is the most recent video game from the franchise that follows the Wano Arc and features Big Mom as a playable character. Furthermore, Bandai Namco and publishing company Shueisha recently trademarked a new One Piece game title called One Piece Odyssey; however, no official announcements have yet to be revealed. In addition, there are several new mobile games like the 2D brawler game One Piece Project Fighter and puzzle game One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!.
According to Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is nearing its end after revealing in 2020 wanting to end the series in 5 years. However, new projects like the upcoming live-action series and multiple spinoff series will follow after Oda concludes Luffy and the Strawhats story, and Soulking_pixels' fan art is a nostalgic reminder of the series popularity.
Source: Soulking_pixels