I don’t know what a ‘meme’ is anymore. First they used them for science, then memes escaped a lab as a virus in a monkey, then Internet turned the viruses into jokes, and then the virus infected every other form of joke. (I think, at this point, we’re either safe or have ourselves become memes?)

All I know for certain is that delightful recreations of video game box art using cheery stock art have recently filled my corner of the Internet, and I think you might like them.

The #いらすとやさんでゲームパッケージを再現する hashtag is, translated oh so loosely, game box art recreated with Irasutoya illustrations. For the past few days, a (mostly) Japanese corner of Twitter has been doing just that, crafting colourful versions of game boxes using pictures from Takashi Mifune’s collection of royalty-free stock art. Yes, other folks have done the ‘recreate covers using clip art’ lark before but it’s never looked as fun as this:

This recreation captures how happy Rico should be on his adventures:

An alternate take on Ubisoft’s gritty New York in The Division:

It’s a simple one, but the lightning bolt is a nice detail:

Hotline Miami, being Hotline Miami, is… yeah, about the same:

More like DEAD CUTE Space:

Prepare To Giggle:

Psycho Break is the Japanese name for The Evil Within, though I don’t believe it replaces all the barbed wire with Christmas tree lights:

Everyone looks so happy in this version of Grand Theft Auto V:

Obviously, given that this is Japan, most of the games are console games – but that still means a fair bit of crossover in these multiplatform days:

I bet John wishes the new Need for Speed were more like this:

Okay, it’s not PC, but look at this Katamari Damacy:

Do hit the hashtag to see more, including a great many console games.

Thanks to, uh, all the folks on my timeline retweeting these. Whichever one of you got me watching that hashtag when I should’ve been working. But look at me now: it IS work. And thanks all the folks making these, obvs.