We generated a new summer Nintendo render out of AI

It’s summertime again (at least in the US), and around the time that Nintendo partakes in their sporadic tradition of creating renders of their characters in summer scenes. These are most commonly used for promotional images and can vary from individual renders of characters in a void space (such as this image of Peach with ice cream) or detailed scenes of characters in a natural environment (such as Mario lounging on the beach with sailboats in the background).

However, regardless of the content and the intended use of these images, they almost always cause speculation on upcoming game releases. An example of this comes from 2019 when this artwork of Mario eating a watermelon had people swearing that Super Mario Sunshine was coming to Switch. Since these theories never seem to bear any fruit (Super Mario Sunshine did eventually come to Switch, but there was no relation to the watermelon render), we figured instead of analyzing past renders that Nintendo has released, it might be fun to make our own.

We started with the basic prompt of: “Super Smash Bros. characters at a summer cookout,” and used our own theories based on these characters’ personalities to envision what they’d be doing. Then, we brought our ideas to life using the friendly AI-Generator – the Dall-E Mini. The results of this little experiment are below, and we hope that it inspires all of you to make your own summer renders of Nintendo characters. Note that we used iconic Nintendo characters because it’s easier to get a relevant result out of the Dall-E Mini.

Samus –

Volleyball with Yoshi

It could be because she has a background in the intergalactic military or because she’s ripped, but something about Samus screams “would be hosting a Top Gun-style volleyball tournament.” Not only would she be killing it in the tournament, she would also be completely ignoring the rest of the cookout. She would no doubt defeat every guest at the cookout, get some training in herself, and head home.

Donkey Kong –

Grilling up banana burgers

Donkey Kong has always been food motivated (I hope you collected every single banana in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for him), and so it makes perfect sense that he’d be at the head of the grill at a cookout. It’s also safe to assume he would be munching on the burgers as they finish, but hopefully a few make it to the rest of the guests as well.

Mario –

Sunbathing

There just seems to be something about Mario’s personality that makes Nintendo always depict him sunbathing. Maybe it’s the stressful job of jumping on enemies all day, or perhaps lethargy from the plethora of sports he plays, but Mario is constantly seen relaxing on a chair in the sun when he gets the chance. It seems very likely that at a cookout he’d probably be doing the same, and he might even keep sleeping past the whole thing is over.

Kirby –

Sucking up the buffet

Kirby’s motivation at a cookout is pretty easy to understand. Any time Kirby is alone, he’s just trying to chow down on his precious strawberry shortcake. Here at the cookout he will most likely be doing the same. The only issue is when he runs out of strawberry shortcake… what will he suck up next?

Link –

Rummaging through garbage

Link is very goal-motivated – he goes from one objective to the next with not a lot of downtime in between. When he does have downtime it’s usually spent exploring in the wilderness looking for chests or items. So, what does this mean in a cookout setting? He’s most likely going to be picking through everything – including peoples’ garbage. He may not be the best cookout guest, but he sure will let you know if you throw something out by accident (or he’ll just pocket it for himself).  

Jigglypuff –

DJing the event

Jigglypuff is also pretty transparent with their motivation around people. They want to be a star, and sing for a captive audience. This means they would be playing the music at the cookout, and picking the soundtrack for the entire event. Hopefully, they hold off on singing until the very end of the cookout or it will be interrupted with naptime. 

Ike –

Playing basketball

Ike is another character that doesn’t take a lot of time off – he’s a mercenary that goes from one battle to the next. There may not be battles at a cookout, but there sure are pickup games of basketball. Ike will be putting his arm strength to the test in one vs one basketball games, and dunking on the competition the whole time.