Believe it or not, the above image is not a still taken from an old 16-bit video game. This is the work of Per Fhager, a Swedish artist whose stunning needlework is currently taking the internet by storm.

From Nintendo classics like The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros 2 to old-school shooters like Pop’n TwinBee and Blazing Star, Per’s mercilessly detailed work really has to be seen to be believed.

No matter how many times we look at these embroideries we simply can’t stop smiling. We’re big video game fans here at RocketNews24, so when we see one of our most beloved forms of entertainment recreated with such painstaking love and care, it warms our hearts in a big way.

Using a variety of techniques and materials for each piece, Per has recreated scenes from classic video games that appeared on platforms like the NES, Sega Mega Drive and Commodore 64. Rather than just character portraits or montages of the artist’s favourite aspects of the games, though, Per’s embroideries are exact replicas of the very screens we spent so much of our lives poring over while mashing buttons and desperately tilting our controllers, despite the fact that Wii-style motion control was still decades away.

Everything including health bars, high scores and in-game stats have been carefully stitched, one thread at a time, with no pixel left unloved. We’re fairly sure that the majority of gamers have never stitched so much as a hole in their sock, but we’re positive they’d be more than proud to have one of Per’s works hanging on their wall.

Take a look at some of these and tell us that your jaw didn’t drop:

▼ The end scene from ’80s classic Super Mario Bros 2

▼ Clearly a long-time gamer, Per’s captured a little-known Zelda secret here.

▼ Kirby’s Adventure in wool. Wool!

▼Cross stitch on cotton, Seiken Densetsu III

▼ Rainbow Islands!!

Perhaps most impressive, though, are the artist’s recreations of old-school Konami and SNK shooters. Famous for their on-screen chaos, we can’t even begin to image how long these embroideries must have taken to complete. Simply stunning.

You can check out more of Per Fhager’s incredible work here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to go and replay Kirby’s Epic Yarn and pretend I’m living in a cross stitch world…

[ Read in Japanese ]