I’m still hard at work on your Robot Ninja Haggle Man buttons. My free time of late has been paltry and I’m not as far along as I’d like, but I’m continuing to crank them out at as fast a pace as I can manage. I sent a batch of them the other day. If I mailed yours you should have received an email. The rest of you, hang tight. It’ll get to you.

Reader Zachary Robinson took the time to draw some more sprites from Retro Game Challenge for which I am terribly grateful. In addition to other games like Guadia Quest and Cosmic Gate he sent along an alternate pose for my favorite robot ninja. I turned it into a pattern and if you haven’t heard from me yet and you’d like this one, give me a shout.

By the by, in case anyone was wondering where the name Haggle Man comes from, it’s a joke. It’s an intentional mistranslation of the Japanese word hagaruma (or if you want to be fancy はぐるま or even fancier still 歯車) which means “gear.” Like the gears that Robot Ninja Haggle Man throws as shuriken (or later installs as upgrades). NES era localization was shoddy at best. The name Haggle Man is a sly nod to lazy translators.

It’s been a week since I posted my call to arms regarding Retro Game Challenge. Call it bribery if you must. The response has been pretty great thus far.

Honestly, I wasn’t entire sure if I could convince anyone to part with $30 so quickly. Statistically speaking, nobody reads this site. I figured the chances were pretty even that I might put this up and watch it fade into nothingness.

A quick update: To those of you that have sent me your receipts I say thanks and I hope you enjoy your purchase. I’m working on the buttons during as much of my free time as I can spare. They don’t take long individually, but they do take a little time. I will get them mailed to you as soon as possible.

The “busted” Haggle Man style doesn’t seem to be all that popular. I’m not terribly surprised, but I did think he’d be a bit cuter than he turned out to be—he looks pretty cute on the DS screen. I won’t be making any of him unless someone really wants him. So if you didn’t or don’t say anything you will get normal healthy Haggle Man.

Here comes a new challenger!

That said, I sketched up two other patterns over the last week. One is Haggle Man running. The other is Haggle Man’s arch-nemesis Dark Haggle Man.

I’m making equal numbers of Haggle Man standing and running, if for no other reason to give myself a break for stitching the exact same thing. If you send me a receipt you’ll get one of those two. Dark Haggle Man, like busted Haggle Man, I will only be making by special request (and possibly once for myself).

In summary

It is starting to seem that attention is starting to fall away from this little project. The emails have dried up a bit, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing altogether because it give me more time to craft. I have no immediate plans to stop doing this, so keep spreading the word.

1. Buy Retro Game Challege.
2. Email me your receipt.
3. Get a pretty awesome button.

Thanks

Thanks to Tiny Cartridge (twice!), Joystiq, GoNintendo, and especially Shaun Inman for sharing this article with the world. Thanks to everyone else who picked it up too. And if you tipped off any of those sites, double-plus thanks to you as well.

Listen up: I need your help. We need your help. You haven’t bough a copy of Retro Game Challenge yet and this is a big problem. The “we” I mentioned a bit ago is everyone who likes playing good games, ever.

See, it’s like this: There’s a sequel to Retro Game Challenge that has already been released in Japan. It’s called Game Center CX over yonder. As good as Retro Game Challenge is, Game Center CX 2 is even better. Like, a million times better.

But, RGC developer XSEED sees no point to localize Game Center CX 2 until it sells a bunch more copies. I really, really, really want to play this game. You do too, you just don’t know any better yet.

I will not go down without a fight. Though the task may be daunting—unwinnable even—I must do my part. Here is what I offer: for every copy of Retro Game Challenge bought between the publishing of this interview which is to say June 24, 2009 and the release of Game Center CX 2 or Retro Game Challenge 2 I will make a handcrafted Robot Ninja Haggle Man button. Absolutely free of charge. It will look rather a lot like this:

This is a pinback button. You know, like the ones those hipsters seem to like so damned much. Not, like, a button you’d sew onto a sweater or something. Although, if you really wanted, I could fix it that way.

All you need to do is a send me a copy of your receipt. Email is just fine. Blot out any information you don’t want to be shared with me.

Some rules¹:

• It has to be a new copy. Used copies don’t count towards the sales figures. New copies are available on Amazon.com and Best Buy. Probably elsewhere too. Any retailer is fine.
• It has to be a US copy of Retro Game Challenge. I want it to come to the US so you need to bump up those sales. You can live anywhere, but you need to buy a US copy of RGC.
• You get one button for every copy of the game you buy. Buy 12 copies for your entire office, get 12 buttons.
• You pay no shipping whatsoever, wherever you live. I want this game that badly.

I’ll do you one better. You get to choose from two different button designs. You can choose regular vanilla Haggle Man or his “busted” version—this is what he looks like when he takes damage. Here’s an approximation of the two:

Is it a little bit silly to bribe you with a crafted tchotchke of a game you haven’t played yet? NO Because once you do play it you’ll agree that this is the best game you’ve ever played. Why am I so sure? Because it is truth!

I’ll make as many as I have to people. Spread the word. Oh, and buy Retro Game Challege!

Update (02 Jul 2009): I’ve posted a follow-up to this article.

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¹ After sleeping on it I decided I should probably issue a disclaimer that I reserve the right to rescind this offer at a future date should the cost of supplies, shipping, and loss of free time threaten to cause me irrevocable financial and/or mental harm. I have no intention of doing this, mind, I just wanted to put this out there. Oh, and I’d like to mention that I do run an Etsy shop if you’d like to, you know, pay me money for something like this.

Last time I showed you how to add cross stitch to an article of clothing. In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to make a pretty kickass button adorned with cross stitch without needing an expensive button make. It’s quite simple with the proper tools.

You will need:

• cover button kit
• 22-count fabric
• embroidery floss
• small gauge needles (I use 26 gauge)
• a sharp cutting utensil: embroidery scissors work pretty well
• an idea

Most craft stores will stock a cover button kit like this one. You’ll typically find it near the sewing supplies. They’re intended for use on dresses and the like. The idea is that one could precisely match the color of the buttons to the dress by covering these buttons with a piece of fabric leftover from the making of the garment. As it turns out, you can stick a bit of fabric you’ve cross stitched on just as easily.

These cover buttons come in a variety of sizes, but I’ve chosen the 1.5 inch size. This will give me enough room to stitch a standard 16×16 sprite with enough white space to provide balance. The design is going to need to be small enough to leave a bit of room at the edges. A good rule of thumb for a 1.5 inch button is to pick a design 1 inch or smaller.

The first step of course is to stitch your design. Well, technically, the first step is to pick your design and figure out what floss colors you’ll be using. I assuming you’ve already managed to do that. I’m also assuming that you’ve already learned how to cross stitch. You can find some good tutorials online if you need some pointers.

I’m going to be using the Robot Ninja Haggle Man pattern that I posted several days ago. You can too, if you like, as I’ve provided the pattern and floss list. Any small image will work just great.

To maximize the available stitching area I’m using 22-count Hardanger fabric. That means a design 22 stitches in width (or height) will take up 1 inch of fabric on my finished button and look quite smashing on a 1.5 inch button.

Cut the fabric into 2 inch square segments. This packet of Hardanger comes in sheets of 11″×14″ so it’ll make a bunch of buttons. When stitching on 22-count you’ll want to use a single strand of floss rather than the two you may be accustomed to with larger counts.

Stitch the design as usual, using just one strand of floss. A 2 inch square of fabric won’t fit into any hoop, but it’s not really necessary. Don’t bother ironing it yet, because you’re going to need to fold it again in the next step.

The cover button kit will probably have a pattern marked on the back of the cardboard liner. It’s just a semicircle of cardboard with a radius of half the button, or ¾ inch. Fold the completed cross stitch along the flat side and cut around the edge of the pattern.

Now you have a circle of fabric with your design in the center. I slipped up and cut one edge too closely and my circle is pretty sad. It won’t matter in the end. You do need to cut the fabric a little bit though because it needs to fit in between the parts of the cover button.

Inside the cover button kit you’ll find four button halves, a rubber guide, and a small plastic “pusher.” The fabric will be stretched across the top (the rounded bit) and the edges will be sandwiched between that and the bottom (the flat bit). Now, I haven’t done an exhaustive search for every type of button like this so there’s a chance that some don’t come with all these parts. This is the type I’ve found locally.

These buttons are designed to be the sorts of buttons you use on a garment or upholstery. As such, they have a small metal peg for sewing on to something. This is going to get in the way later.

So just rip it off. It can be a tad dicey, and the aluminum back has a tendency to bend. Unless you really mangle it this won’t be a problem. Just get that sucker off of there!

With all the prep work completed, it’s time to assemble. Center the stitched fabric on top of the rubber guide and set the front of the button on top of it. I’ve found this a bit more reliable than trying to center the fabric on top of the front itself.

Push the fabric and the front of the button down into the rubber guide. This stretches the fabric taut across the button. This is what that “pusher” is designed to do, but you can use just about anything.

Fold all the extra bits of fabric sticking out into the center of the button. Set the back of the button on top. Push the back of the button down as far as possible. Friction will hold the entire thing together.

And there you have your completed button, more or less. The loose edges are sandwiched between the two button halves. As you can see, I didn’t do a spectacular job of centering my design. That’s okay. It’s these little imperfections that make it handmade!

These are the best pinbacks I’ve been able to find. I’m not thrilled with them. The spring is terribly finicky and difficult to keep straight while pinning. They get the job done, and they’re a snap to affix. These pins have an adhesive back that I can attest holds tight. Just peel off the backing and stick it on.

At this point you could also opt to make a pretty awesome little magnet too. You should be able to find self-adhesive magnets in your local craft store. With the proper glue any old magnet should work just fine. I’ll have to give that a shot someday soon.

There you have it. One slightly off-centered but totally handmade Robot Ninja Haggleman button. Pretty cool, right?