Just a little something to observe the miracle that is Karnovember. One new (“BAL-LOOOOOON!”) and one old sprite that I didn’t post until now (classic Karnov fireball) have been added to the Custom Sprite gallery and the Image Generators!
Also, I uploaded the Karnovember logo I made this afternoon in a .ZIP, with a bigger transparent .PNG and the SVG vector file from Inkscape. It needs work, so feel free to improve/fix it before using it for your own stuff. Download it from this link!
The 2021 wrap-up is coming this December, stay tuned, especially if you like mutants!
Custom Sprites:
– Metroid: Samus Aran (Metroid Dread) and Kraid (Super Metroid design, NES-ish height) added
– Marvel Comics: Living Laser scratch-made sprite added
Extra notes:
1.) I added the Comic Books hub to the bottom of any comic book-related pages, just to make it easier.
2.) Living Laser replaces the last of my old Marvel Villain sprite edits made from Capcom sprites. I cleared the DC Comics villains last year, so now it’s down to getting scratch-made sprites to replace the last of the heroes, with six for Marvel and six for DC. I’ve got line art drawn for a few of them, so finishing them up will be one of my 2022 side-missions.
Mini-logos: Grim Reaper (who got a new sprite a few weeks ago) and Living Laser get new mini-logos in the Marvel gallery
Anyway, all new sprites and mini-logos were also added to the main image generator, where I made the image at the top of this post
I’m currently doing some paid pixel art work right now (commissions aren’t open again, this was set-up long in advance), so the things here will be slow for a bit.
With social media still going downhill and the likelihood that Web 3.0 will be built to shut out more people than it’ll let in (and even more likely to exploit people as much as possible), I find myself being more grateful to see the independent sites updating.
Dire has been working up a storm over at both the West Mansion Splatterhouse shrine and the OPFCG blog. It’s more than adding things to the sites (and there’s a lot of newness in West Mansion), but talking about things like his revived Turbografx-16 collection, finding his Metal Slug fan site in the Internet Archive, and more.
Due to outside forces last week, I didn’t have the time to finished all the stuff I’d planned (this happens A LOT), and I’m not in the mood to leave these things unfinished, so…
mini-logos: I dipped back and made mini-logos for characters who didn’t get them during the weekend, including…
– DC Comics: Croc (Killer Croc’s logo for the ’85 Who’s Who)
– McFarlane: Violator
– Movies: Tiffany (Child’s Play)
– Music: Geto Boys
– Television: Movie Macabre (Elvira’s original TV show logo)
Custom Sprites: Friday the 13th – LJN game heroes (Crissy, Debbie, George, Laura, Mark, Paul) redone Halloween – Michael Myers (choking Bob added) Music – Scarface/Brad (Geto Boys) in the cane, the black suit, and the Diary of a Madman. Halloween fell on a weekend, had to do it.
7:00 PM
One last thing: a short horror-themed video! It’s just over a minute, either brand-new and updated clips!
Elsewhere…
Arcade Quartermaster updated with new shrines for Sinistar and Missile Command! A gigantic howling demon-faced death star flying at you is considered horror in my opinion.
The biggest game site surprise of the year: Dire has resurrected the West Mansion Splatterhouse site! One of the earliest fan sites to haunt the web, the site is so legendary that even Namco acknowledged it! Check out the link to see Dire’s message about what he’s been up to and the future of the site.
The DangerTerrorHorrorThon 2021 begins with… a host segment?
October 29th, 2021
3:00PM
Custom Sprites: Horror Elvira – new Movie Macabre couch sprite, celebrating her 40th anniversary this year! This sprite is in the same style seen in the Horror print from a few years ago, and I’ll eventually redo her earlier sprites to match that style. the Last Drive-In – Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Girl of “The Last Drive-In” added
The Beat ‘Em Up Showcade is ready! Okay, the video has been up since yesterday, BUT STILL. I originally planned to have Showcase videos for Double Dragon and Bad Dudes last year, but *shrugs* 2020. You know what I mean. Trying to make them in 2021 didn’t work out for better reasons, so I decided to make a Showcade filled with beat ’em ups. Nothing with an outside license (TMNT, Punisher, X-Men) is in the vid, because the straight-up game content felt a little neglected here lately. Let’s watch the video first, then I’ll break down what was added to the site.
Once again, mad thanks to Wizzy for allowing me to use that amazing BGM track for the video. I’ve had it stuck in my head since I picked it for the video, and it makes me feel like kicking doors open and throwing oil drums at people all day. AVPboy’s music does the same for me, and the added pressure of trying to do justice with their music in the videos pushes me to work harder.
Now for the newness that was added to the site itself!
Custom Sprites:
– Crime Fighters: Sledge, Hawk and Boomer from Crime Fighters 2/Vendetta finally get fight stance sprites, Hawk gets a redone taunt to match, and Boomer’s taunt gets a size fix. CF2/Vendetta knife thugs were also added.
– Double Dragon: Linda’s earlier two sprites completely redrawn, an extra variation of the taunt was added, and are available in arcade, NES, and DDII designs. The Billy and Jimmy Lee “JPN arcade flyer” poses were updated to fit the newer style Lee Bros. sprites I started adding months ago.
– Final Fight: Maki (FF2 fight stance, select pose edited to match newer sprite), Mike Haggar – Saturday Night Slam Masters gear (also added to the Slam Masters gallery)
– Growl: Jetgun
– Kung-Fu Master: All Five “Sons of the Devil” (a.k.a. the Bosses) get new sprites, and Silvia gets a sprite, too.
– Kunio-kun: Kunio (Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun flyer pose)
– Renegade (new separate gallery): the Renegade/Mr. K, Sabu
– Rushing Beat: Wendy Milan (taunt)
– Streets of Rage: Barbon and Jet(SoR/BK 2) added, Skate Hunter updated (made shorter than the 2020 sprites)
All new sprites are now in the image generators, where you can make your own sprite scenes, fake screenshots, etc.
It’s finally here: the first all-Beat ‘Em Up Showcade video is now on the YouTube channel:
I’ve been slowly working towards doing this for years, and it feels good to finally have it done. You’ll see a lot of brand-new sprites and I’ll be adding them to the site over the coming days (there are possibly a few that didn’t appear in the video. I’m so tired now, I don’t even know). Stay tuned, the site updates will be coming soon after you see this!
Happy Birthday to Mike Haggar, Mayor of Earth (formerly Metro City)!
I’ve redone the “raised fists” pose sprite (based on the official art from the first game) in the new style of the two Haggar sprites I added in August and added it to the sprite gallery and image generator! I still need to make some adjustments to all of them, and that’s when Haggar’s optional palettes will return in the image generator.
You’ll see more of the mayor, his friends and more belt scroll legend later this month, because the Beat ‘Em Up Showcade is still on the way!
Expect some all new sprites along with some more do-overs:
So, until then, be good, because Haggar is watching you…
Custom Sprites: Double Dragon: Abobo and some variations of that sprite were redone, along with Abobo getting a sub-gallery.
Marvel Comics: Avalanche, Batroc, and the Controller.
All these sprites have been added to the main image generator (Avalanche and Controller are in the Marvel Villains character slot).
I took the 2017 sprite, increased the size by 400%, put it in Clip Studio, traced it with a 5px. brush, and exported it at 25%. Clean-up work seems to take a while, but this process is still an experiment for me. I originally used the original NES-ish angle of the head, but decided to draw a forward-looking head alt head to use instead. BTW: this is why I still haven’t finished a spriting tutorial, because my process never stops changing.
A similar process was used to redo some linework I’d drawn and scanned of Avalanche and the Controller, along with remaking Batroc from scratch, and all of them are now in the Marvel gallery. Nearly all the Marvel villain Capcom-based sprite edits I had from the old days. Also made some headway on a Marvel video that I’ve wanted to make for over a decade:
Remember, the first Beat ‘Em Up Showcade video will strike this September, so stay tuned if you want to see more pixel art remakes based on Double Dragon, Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and more!
