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skyward-sword
Anagrams were once thought to possess mystical powers, the ability to divine hidden secrets. Today we understand that this is not true, except possibly in the case of videogames.
For the past few years, posters on the NeoGAF gaming message board have tried their hand at creating anagram photoshops: Manipulated images of videogame box covers with the letters shifted around into a different phrase. The box is then altered to reflect the new title: Metal Gear becomes "A Telegram"; Super Mario Galaxy becomes "Marsupial Axe Orgy."
Many of the denizens of NeoGAF have whiled away the hours working up similarly amusing, if nonsensical, photoshops. But a poster by the handle of "Jarosh" has continually set himself apart from his fellow forum-dwellers with images that use anagrams to offer commentary on the games in question. To use the example above, players irritated by the constant text-only chattering of your ever-present companion in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword might have described their experience as "Dazed! Legend of Words: Talky Shrew."
"When you find an interesting anagram, it can feel like you've discovered something that was hidden all along, something that was in a way begging to be found," said Jarosh (who prefers to go simply by his handle) in an email. "If it also happens to be a mini-review of a game, it makes you feel like an explorer who's just discovered a sunken treasure."
Below, we've presented a gallery of Jarosh's greatest anagram reviews, as well as the word wizard's top tips for teasing out the best phrases and creating a lookalike logo.
All images used courtesy "Jarosh"
