The greatest video games of our lives introduced us to spellbinding stories and otherworldly beings from the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond, so why shouldn't they have the honor of book covers designed like full-fledged and respected novels? Designer and illustrator A.J. Hateley has crafted some wonderfully worn vintage covers to go with games like BioShock, Super Mario Land and Portal 2, and any publisher worth their salt should proudly hire this guy to design their next game manual.

Hateley keeps a website and Tumblr account where you can watch the artist brain dream up beautiful things in addition to his videogame imagery. Many of his prints are also available for purchase in various forms on RedBubble.com, meaning fans can at least get their hands on a poster of the meta material.

And while we're on the subject of these roughed-up jewels of artistic accomplishment, this Katamari novel, The Wonderful End of the World, that Hateley dreamed up sounds like a brilliant and marketable idea. My kingdom for that on the Kindle!