If you've ever felt the urge to immortalize the blood, sweat and tears shed trying to rescue Princess Peach in Super Mario Bros., you aren't alone. More gamers are turning to tattoo artists to commemorate, permanently, their love for their favorite pastime.

Brooklyn tattoo artist Joy Rumore, who owns Twelve 28 Tattoo in Williamsburg, was responsible for the recent cake and companion cube ink which caused a stir on the blogosphere in the past few weeks. This isn't a first for Rumore either; she says she's done her fair share of needling the flesh of video game fans with gaming-related designs – from the tiny Triforce on a recent client's inner lip to a large upper arm tattoo dedicated to Super Mario Kart.

"It seems like it's getting more popular, and not just little tattoos here and there. I've had a couple people come in for Super Mario chest pieces or half-sleeves and bigger stuff ... It's everything we grew up with."

Rumore, a self-proclaimed nerd with her own Xbox Live membership (Gamertag: milktastic1228), says, "I think people are getting over tattoos having to be serious, too. So they're just coming and going, 'This makes me happy, I'm pretty sure it will make me laugh when I'm 80' -- 'cause that's always the question... Am I'm gonna laugh at it then too?"

And, just as we have many more pixels than just eight these days, tattoo artists have access to inks and tattoo machines of much higher quality than ever before, giving clients endless options when it comes to body art. Some tattooists like Joy only tattoo original designs on their clients, as opposed to pre-designed tattoo "flash." Combine an artist's vision with a video game fan's rabid enthusiasm, and voila -- a new sub-subculture is born.