So.
Nyan Cat.
There is very little left to be said about Nyan Cat, except that it’s my profound disappointment to inform you that Konami did not, in fact, release a licensed Nyan game in 1988. Not only wouldNyan Cat vs. Tac Naynhave made a fantastic little game (a shmup, perhaps?), but it would have giventhis box art— a mock-up by artist J. R. Baker — an excuse to exist.
The funny thing about Baker’s project — beside the idea’s pop cultural capital — is that it wouldn’t have exactly been out of place next to games likeMega ManorPhalanx.The box art for those games could only have been borne out of the collective, cocaine-fueled fever dream of the late ’80s, so Nyan Cat’s in good company.
I also particularly like the KB Toys sticker Baker included — it’s a nice touch.
If you’re disappointed thatNyan Cat vs.Tac Naynisn’t a real game, don’t be. Channel that impotent fury intobuying a print of the illustration. Baker suggests an opposing diptych, so that the two adversaries can be forever locked in combat on your wall.
