Meet the Artist Combining Garfield With Super Smash Bros. Characters

Everyone knows Mario, Nintendo’s flagship plumber that loves saving the Mushroom Kingdom, defeating Bowser, and eating lasagna. Wait, that’s not right.

In an impressive feat of fan-art and creativity, Chicago artist Shawn Bowers has undertaken the task of combining Super Smash Bros. characters with everyone’s favorite orange cat Garfield. While I’m not sure why Bowers has decided to create these pastiches, I’m eternally grateful for the outcome. Each of Bowers’ mash-ups contains a beautiful, ornate illustration of a reimagined Super Smash Bros. character, each with its own charming biography.

Kicking off Bowers’ undertaking is none other than Marfield, a combination of Mario and Garfield. According to Bowers, Marfield “was the owner of his own plumbing company, but his true laziness and unwillingness to work on Mondays killed the business.”

 

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Marfield is a fat, Italian cat. He was the owner of his own plumbing company, but his true laziness and unwillingness to work on Mondays killed the business. Faced with a mortgage and a pile of credit card debt, he started holding secret catfights in the unfinished basement of his former office space, which he calls “Smashes.” His mommy made his overalls and tiny cap, and he loves his mommy and wears them to honor her. #garfield #supersmashbros #mario #supermario #wahoo #itsamemario #smashbros #smash #nintendo #mashup #illustration #digitalart #design #popculture #gamer #videogames #n64 #melee #brawl #clickbait #whocares #popart #character #smashfields

A post shared by Shawn Bowers! (@shawnbowers) on Oct 16, 2018 at 5:17pm PDT

Of course, where would Marfield be without his ape companion? No, I’m not referring to Donkey Kong, I’m referring to Bowers’ character Garfey Kong. While Garfey Kong is a combination of Donkey Kong and Mario, he also features his very own origin story. Sounding eerily similar to the Green Goblin’s origin, Garfey Kong was “a weak-muscled geneticist” that combined his “puny cat body with ape DNA” in order to gain “incredible strength and speed” at the sacrifice of his intelligence.

 

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A post shared by Shawn Bowers! (@shawnbowers) on Oct 17, 2018 at 5:23pm PDT

Bowers proves to be a bonafide Garfield aficionado. Not only does the artist’s past-work heavily feature the Monday-hating cat, but Bowers also hosts a podcast titled Questions About Garfield. According to the show’s iTunes description, Question About Garfield “works overtime to tackle some of the toughest QUAGs (Questions About Garfield) in the world.” With episodes titled, “Can You Eat Garfield?” and “Can Garfield Get You High?”, Bower’s podcast promises an in-depth look at the real questions behind America’s grumpiest cat.

You can check out Bowers’ additional creations Star Field (aka Cat McCloud) and Jigglygarf below. Additionally, you can check out Bowers’ entire Instagram page here. May Garfield have mercy on us all.

 

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Once, there were two astronaut Garfield cats who lived and worked on the Moon. They were the only two cats working in their particular Moon Base, so of course they fell in love and “did it with eachother.” 58-67 days later, a kitten was born in space. And they were all happy, for a time, living on the Moon as a nice family. But then the kitten grew up a little and joined some internet message boards and found out about a fight club back on Earth. They didn’t have fight clubs on the Moon, cause that would’ve just meant wrestling his mom or dad, and nobody wants to do that. So he stole a rocket and blasted off to check this thing out, not realizing that the propulsion jets on his ship would be SUPER powerful and set their base ablaze with moon flames. Anyway, so he killed his parents, but in his head he blamed the fight club for being so compelling that he felt he needed to leave, and that’s why he fights dirty and uses a laser gun in a street brawl. He doesn’t respect rules, he doesn’t care. He’s here for false vengeance. His real name is Cat McCloud…but his enemies call him STAR FIELD. #garfield #supersmashbros #starfox #foxmccloud #snes #starfox64 #smashbros #smash #nintendo #mashup #illustration #digitalart #design #popculture #gamer #videogames #n64 #melee #brawl #clickbait #whocares #popart #character #smashmain #smashfields

A post shared by Shawn Bowers! (@shawnbowers) on Oct 18, 2018 at 5:00pm PDT

 

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After the world finally discovered the existence of Garfemon, the creatures were treated as sacred beasts among the population of otherwise average Garfields. For some, the pampering was welcome after years of living in the shadows, narrowly avoiding capture at every turn. Others, like Jigglygarf, missed the darkness…and so they sought sanctuary in the seedy pockets of underbelly the world was kind enough to keep hidden. When he discovered Marfield’s basement catfights, he knew he’d found a home. They didn’t treat him like an idol there, he was just another sack of meat to brutalize…and he was grateful for every hit. #garfield #supersmashbros #garfemon #jigglypuff #pokemon #nap #smashbros #smash #nintendo #mashup #illustration #digitalart #design #popculture #gamer #videogames #n64 #melee #brawl #clickbait #whocares #popart #character #smashmain #smashfields

A post shared by Shawn Bowers! (@shawnbowers) on Oct 19, 2018 at 5:39pm PDT