Share Your Gamer Tattoos!

I love video games. I’d say that it’s pretty safe to say that if you’re reading this, you also love video games. Just like any long time gamer, we here at 4cr have some games or systems that we’re more partial to than others, some we would even say we love. Personally I love arcade games. I am especially partial to the Neo Geo system by SNK and have owned a couple different MVS systems. I started with a one-slot board in a Japanese Street Fighter II Championship Edition cabinet, and recently upgraded to a four-slot system in the classic “Big Red” arcade cabinet. This week my tattoo was featured on www.geekytattoos.com and this is the story behind the art. We’d also love to hear about your own game related tattoos and stories in the comments.

Video games have been a defining factor in my life and I decided that i wanted to get at least one gaming tattoo and a Neo Geo theme seemed to be the best place to start. I’ve owned a couple of systems over the years. I started out with a one-slot and am almost finished restoring a four-slot “Big Red” style cabinet. Because the Neo Geo is cartridge based, I didn’t want to have to pick just one game so I tried to come up with some iconic Neo Geo artwork that would look excellent as well as display exactly what the system means to me.

I decided to go with a representation of the Neo Geo control panel, a variation of which was used on every official arcade system and get it as a 1/4 sleeve to start out a potential full game-themed sleeve. I started out about a year and a half ago with just the button set from the controller on my shoulder. I had the letters done in white, which is a notoriously tricky color since it tends to fade quickly. My intention was to just have them filled in black if they ended up looking funky. It’s a testament to the artist that they have stayed so solid.

Starting this spring I had the background added over the course of two sessions and a total of about 6 hours of work. At this point it’s been done for about two months and is almost completely healed. I may have to go back at some point to get some additional fill work done, but so far it looks like none of it is fading. Eventually I’d like to finish out the arm with the winged sword from The Last Starfighter cabinet and some other classic video game art.

I had this, and nearly all of my other work (all of it at least as geeky) done by Kevin at The Tattoo Shop in Lansing, MI. If you are in the area, and want some work done, I can’t recommend him highly enough.

So that’s my story, lets hear yours!