An Post just pwned us all by releasing a new set of stamps in honour of classic computer games.

The retro-gaming figures include pop culture icons Super Mario (Nintendo), Sonic the Hedgehog (SEGA), Pac Man (BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc), and a scene from Space Invaders (Taito Corp).

The Irish postal agency says the stamps mark “the iconic status of the games and the transitions of gaming from novelty to global industry.”

Zinc Design Consultants, award-winning graphic designers based in Dublin, produced the set, which is available now in main post offices, the GPO, or from IrishStamps.ie.

In choosing the images used on the stamps, an Post went with images indelibly tied to the genesis of gaming culture in the late 70s. Space Invaders was first released in 1978, and is considered to have brought computer games into popular usage in arcades. Pac Man was released two years later, and remains popular across all gaming platforms today.

Mario, the plucky plumber whose antics have appeared in more than 100 games, first appeared in 1981’s Donkey Kong, under the name Jumpman. Since then, more than 307 million games staring the dungaree-wearing moustached hero have been sold around the world.

Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared in 1991, and has appeared in 70 games, grossed over €5bn, and stolen countless hours from any child in the vicinity of a Sega Megadrive from 1991 to 1997.

Other stamps released by an Post this year include cats, musical instruments, tributes to Seamus Heaney and Brendan Behan, celebrations of the prison service, stamps to mark the centenaries of the outbreak of WWI, the signing of the Government of Ireland Act, and the foundation of Cumann na mBan.

There were also stamps to honour the Irish Citizen Army and the country’s Viking history.