It seems these game characters from Nintendo video games have been redesigned based on Ukiyo-e. If you like this kind of ancient Japanese art along with pop culture, let’s go on checking.
Jed Henry, a talented illustrator redesigned the three famous game characters in Nintendo games, including Link from the Legend of Zelda, Mega Man from Mega Man video game series and Samus Aran from Metroid Prime video game series. As we can see from the three illustrations, each artwork is designed based on Ukiyo-e, a genre of traditional Japanese woodblock prints and paintings, of course, those iconic details from the original game characters allows you to easily know who they are.
Via Geekologie