The PAX Australia 2019 Nintendo Cosplay Report

PAX Aus turned seven over the weekend. Seven! That means it was the seventh year in a row I visited Australia’s Biggest Gaming Festival to meet Australia’s Biggest Nintendo Fans.

I had a wonderful time meeting (and re-meeting) the creative, dedicated Nintendo fans who brought our favourite characters to life. Unfortunately, I lost a good deal of the photos I took on the last day of the festival due to a camera error. So before we get started, I just want to apologise to those who don’t see their picture in this article that were expecting it. If I met you on Sunday, this might be you. I hope we can meet again next year.

Let’s-a go!

Mushroom Kingdom’s favourite characters were all in attendance once again.

Mario modelled magnificently…

Princess Peach posed perfectly…

Toad towered tall…

And Donkey Kong danced dangerously!

For the seventh year in a row (which has to be some kind of record), I was lucky enough to find Joshdachu and photograph his phenomenal Luigi cosplay.

This year, I found Luigi in the middle of a fierce battle against an enemy from outside the Nintendo universe – Ragnaros from World of Warcraft. Luckily, this challenge was nothing for Luigi, who used his Super Jump Punch to make the Firelord flee.

I found Yoshi in a very happy mood, holding a recently hatched egg. All I want to know is… is there an item or a Baby Yoshi in there?

PAX Aus was also extremely lucky to host the intergalactic hero herself, Samus Aran from the Metroid series.

While this fan has been waiting for the next game in the series to appear, she put in four months of weekend work to build her very own Power Suit! It was truly a sight to behold and goes to show that any costume is possible if you put enough time in.

One of the biggest reasons to be at the Nintendo booth at PAX Aus was to get some hands-on time with the newest Pokémon games, Sword and Shield.

I was lucky enough to find Sirfetch’d, who appears in the two new games, in the wild. And naturally, the bad guys from Team Rocket were there to try and spoil a good thing.

There was nothing to worry about, though, because Professor Oak was there with the three original Pokémon starters for Ash to choose from.

And these are just some of the real-life heroes I met at my seventh year of PAX Aus, although there were many more Nintendo fans scattered around the festival over the three days.

It’s always impossible to catch ‘em all, but you can search the #PAXAus hashtag on Twitter and Instagram to find more incredible works of art from all the Australian and international cosplayers who love Nintendo just as much as you… and you… and you… and me! I can’t wait to see you all again next year.