My Game Gear, Let Me Show You It

Any person who has a hobby that they truly love wants to represent that on their body or property in some way. People who play videogames are not different, well at least I’m no different. I enjoy being able to wear t-shirts or hats that represent my favorite franchises and I crave incredible posters to adorn the walls of my basement.

The problem is a lot of the stuff that exists out there, either directly from publishers or from other retailers, are cheaply made or super obvious. I personally have no desire to pick my kid up from school in a shirt that just has a giant 1UP mushroom on it. It invites the type of conversation that I just don’t have the patience for, not to mention it’s not terribly creative or interesting.

Over the years I’ve come across a number of really amazing smaller sites, and Etsy store fronts that provide unique game related gear. These sites are all smaller and fantastic to work with and all of their merchandise is quality stuff that you’ll want to own.

Stuff You’ll Want to Wear:

I’m one of those lucky few who has the benefit of an incredible job that allows me to rock jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies on a regular basis. That means I’m constantly in search of interesting shirts that let me rep my hobby without generating a slew of ridiculous comments or forcing explanation.

My favorite site for grabbing shirts and hoodies is by far Fangamer. The site got its start when some folks who ran the Starman.net community (a group of very devoted Earthbound/Mother Series fans) got together and deicded to start making merchandise. Fangamer has since branched out to create some incredible designs for series like Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and numerous others. There’s even a very cool Faster Than Light hoodie in their current roster.

Fangamer also has a collection of other cool trinkets like keychains, pins, mugs, posters, figurines, and probably the coolest oven mitt I’ve seen in quite a while. The folks who run the site are a delight to deal with and they’ll always make sure you get your order quickly and that it’s correct. I can’t recommend that site enough. I own over 80% of the shirts they have produced and I couldn’t be happier with all of them.

Another little site I really like for shirts and other stuff is Sanshee. They carry a significantly smaller selection of items than Fangamer does but they play a bit more to some of the ridiculous Japanese games that I’ve come to enjoy. If Persona is your thing they have the most fantastic Junes shirt in the world as well as some cool buttons to pin on your messenger bag. Other wonderful series like Bioshock, Catherine, Harvest Moon, Skullgirls, and Fallout are represented at Sanshee. If you are really into Pokemon they have some fantastic Gym Badge pins that you can snag to adorn all of your shirts with.

One last place for wearable awesomeness is LicketyCut. This is an incredible little Etsy storefront that makes laser cut acrylic jewelry. The Portal friendship necklaces were the first thing from them to grab my attention but there is such a selection here that almost anyone could find something they were into. Prices are reasonable, shipping is super fast, and interacting with the sellers is always pleasant and enjoyable.

Stuff For Your Walls:

I have a pretty good sized basement these days which means lots of white wall space to fill with art prints or posters. The thing is I don’t just want to hang movie or game promotional posters down there, I want to feel like the things I have on the wall fit my style and are unique. I found solutions for that problem from a couple of very cool Etsy sites.

First, and arguably my favorite, is William Henry Design. This fine gentlemen designs his own posters and sells them out of his Etsy shop. Most posters are $20 each for an 11×17 sized print but you can buy any of his designs in 18×24 for $35 or 24×36 for $50. I can’t gush enough about the designs of some of these posters. They are stylish and minimalist in a way I can really appreciate and it makes my walls not look as busy with them up. My current favorites are his The Last of Us design as well as the Bioshock Infinite one. There are some really great movie themed designs in the gallery as well. That Etsy site is well worth spending an hour to see if there’s something you instantly fall in love with.

The other Etsy store I fancy is called 8bit Arcylic. Andy creates 8bit paintings on canvas and sells them via this storefront. You can pick one of the designs that he has on display or you can contact him and work out your own 8bit image. Essentially if it can be done in pixels he can probably do it and the result is fantastic. I have this version of Link hanging out in one of my kid’s bedrooms right now. It may not be subtle but it tickles my nostalgia bone in a way that makes me very happy.

It’s worth noting that both Fangamer and Sanshee have some fantastic posters of their own that are worth spending the time to peruse. I have a number of posters from either of those sites that I rotate through a few other frames in the basement from time to time.

There are a ton of other Etsy storefronts and smaller sites out there that provide unique game related gear but these are my five personal favorites. If you have any other sites that provide cool stuff worth checking out leave some love in the comments and let me know. My t-shirt drawer is always in need of something new to put in rotation.