There’s no space for introductory yammering, only for the newness!

Custom Sprites
Atari: Thyra the Valkyrie, Merlin the Wizard (three versions of each) from Gauntlet
Capcom: Amazons and Kuniang M.A. Team (Strider), Metal Man (Mega Man)
Final Fight: brand new Two.P and J (fighting stances)
Konami: Bayou Billy West
Sega: Joe Musashi (new RoS fight stance), the evil amazons from Golden Axe (arcade and Genesis/Mega Drive versions)
Taito: the Priest from Cadash
Technos: Riki (Kunio-Kun series), Billy and Jimmy Lee (new scratch-made sprites)
Games (other): Gogan from the Legendary Axe
Toys & Cartoons: Captain N (!)
TMNT: Bebop and Rocksteady

Mini-logos – Believe it or not, it’s another A-to-the-mothereffin’-Z mini-logo update with the entire alphabet representing!


– Atari: Thyra, Thor, Merlin and Questor
– Capcom: Hugo (USF4 style)
– Epyx: Epyx
– Kaneko: DJ Boy
– Konami: S.P.Y. Special Project Y, Ultra Games
– Marvel: X-Men, The Uncanny X-Men
– Movies: RoboCop
– Nintendo: Captain N
– Sega: Alex Kidd (High Tech World style), Yamato (Shinobi), Zeed
– SNK: Ikari III, the rescue, Guerrilla War
– Taito: Fighter (Cadash), Mage(Cadash), Ninja(Cadash), Priest (Cadash), Violence Fight
– Tecmo: Ninja Gaiden (NES box), Wild Fang
– Technos: Billy (Lee), Jimmy (Lee)
– Victor: Legendary Axe


GFX Generators – All those new sprites, characters and logos were added to the generators.
– Groupshot Generator: box 160×192 gets four new TurboGrafx-16 set-ups
– Backgrounds: Three Ultra Street Fighter IV backgrounds, one Double Dragon Neon background and a remake of Final Fight 1-1
– Updated characters: Poison (blue palette from Mighty Final Fight)

Minus World – the “Run, Woman, Run!” article was updated.

Game Index – added: the Adventures of Bayou Billy.

I hope that made up for the poot-butt, small updates from the past few months. There won’t be any updates this gigantic for a while, but this Revenge of 1989 theme still has some surprises in store. No promises, but there might be an additional update later this week, including tune-ups of earlier content and things I didn’t have time to work into this update.


“Hey, why are there Gauntlet characters in a 1989 update?” Besides the fact that there was a good port of Gauntlet 2 for the Commodore Amiga, there’s a new Gauntlet game coming out this month!


BTW: the Boy and his Pup Kickstarter is almost done, so help out if you can!


Edit (September 20, 2014) Besides making a few fixes here and there, the following things have been added:
Mini-logos: Rolento (Ultra Street Fighter IV), Bebop and Rocksteady (TMNT Classics)
Custom sprites: Kunio-kun (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari cover pose)
GFX Generators – All new content was added to their characters in the generators, fixes were made to a few characters (Andore/Hugo, Thyra the Valkyrie), the Lee Brothers new palettes were improved to include Double Dragon 1 sets (with the gray boots) and the “Mego: WGSH” has three new “head bubble” sets.

Okay, that’s enough for now.



Are you in the United States and dissatisfied with your internet connection? Is it too slow or does it go out all the time? Then imagine that connection gets even crappier. You won’t have to imagine it if politicians, including those who received a lot of campaign dollars from those cable companies, vote to allow internet providers to slow down any website that doesn’t pay an internet toll for sites to move at the speed they’re supposed to in the first place. We need to raise a ruckus and tell politicians that we know what some of them are up to and won’t stand for it. Learn how you can do that at the Battle for the Net website.

There’s a lot of cool game-related crowdfunding campaigns going on right now, including some that are almost done:


Hive Jump by Graphite Lab
RD Ash hipped me on to this one, and it’s not hard to see why he was so hyped about it.

Hive Jump is one part Spelunky, one part XCOM, and all parts alien ass-kicking. You and your friends assume the role of JUMPERS, and blast your way through subterranean alien hives in run-and-gun 2D platforming action. Kill aliens, avoid traps, collect resources, and defeat the hive queen lurking at the bottom of the hive to complete the JUMP.

This game got its basic funding, but is trying to hit some stretch-goals before its deadline this Friday night. The game’s 2-D visuals use Sprite Lamp to dynamically light all of the game’s beautiful pixel art assets. It’s amazing to see this technique finally being put into action, especially with a game like this.


Boy and His Pup (by More Fire Games)

Boy and His Pup is an Action Tower defense game about the struggle to survive in a world that has been over-run by supernatural evil. Its a game that tells a compelling story challenges players to strategize and make decisions that ultimately lead them on a daring journey against supernatural creatures. You will play as “Boy”, in which he must defend himself and Pup, against the constant punishment of a supernatural horde. Boy’s companion “Pup” will execute commands and provide guidance where necessary. You must, Collect, Build, and Fight to stay alive!

Besides the intriguing play mechanics (no pun intended) and art style, the whole story concept has this classic ’80s-’90s feel that would also make a great all-ages comic book. No tower defense game has ever gained my interest as fast as this did and I hope this game can get made!


Beep: A Documentary History of Video Game Music & Sound by Ehtonal

Video games have come a long way from the days of the beep: full orchestras, surround sound, interactive music and large teams of people collaborating to bring you an amazing experience. Help us to document and share the historical changes in video game sound from the beep through to today.

Relive the moments of your childhood, and hear the stories behind the songs and sounds of your favourite games from the people who created them.

Help us to give the composers and sound designers throughout game history a chance to tell their own stories, to share the truly amazing things that they achieved.

One of the best reasons why this project needs to be funded comes straight from the gamesound.com website:

BEEP is also the first step in important archival work that will mean the stories behind the songs and sounds of games don’t get lost. We have a really unique opportunity in that nearly all of the people who worked on video games are still alive. We can’t go back and interview Beethoven or Max Steiner or Carl Stalling, but we can document game music and sound history right now, and then it’s there for all the people in the future who might have questions.


the Fine Young Capitalists game campaign:

I talked about it in the last update post, but all five of these games look and sound like great ideas and it’s even better that they want to raise money for charity. One of the games is a platformer with a very interesting premise, so anyone visiting this sort of site would be probably be interested in that.


As much as I joke about starting “the ScrollBoss Kickstarter to Raise Money to Give to Other Kickstarters Because I’m F@#$ing Broke Now, Help a Brotha Out” project, I’m serious about wanting to help these projects more than the few bucks I’m spreading out to each project. The best I can do is to help spread the word. Give if you can and remember that Hive Jump’s campaign ends tonight, September 5th!

Free as a bird to fly about on stage. Here’s the newness:

New scratch-made sprites of Final Fight’s Poison (USF4 and Final Fight style),Roxy, Axl & Slash, two jail-breakers from Crime City and those hated little thieves from Golden Axe are now in their galleries and in the GFX Generators that use fighting game sprites.



In case you haven’t heard, here’s the idea for the Fine Young Capitalists’ game project:

“We took five women that had never made a game before and said they could make any game they wanted. We would help them create a pitch and in some cases a demo so they could sell their idea.”

Check out the Fine Young Capitalists website and Indiegogo campaign. The worst part will be choosing only one game to vote for. The platformer fan in me wants to see Lux (especially with those game play mechanic ideas), but Afterlife Empire calls out to that part of my soul that was obsessed with Beetlejuice. I hope they find a way to get all five games made eventually. Help them out if you can!


The work I planned to do for this site is still being slowed down. Moving into a different apartment caused the months-old injury to my left arm and back to ache and randomly stop working again, so it’s uncomfortable to sit and work on this stuff as much as I usually do. Still, the September updates will make up for these chumpy August updates. I feel much better and should be able to sling many more pixels next month. BTW: there will be an update at the main Illmosis site soon that includes new fan art of a classic 1989 game character!


The moving is done, I’m hooked up to the internet again and I finally have a chance to rest this weekend. This is partially an “I’m back and I’m still alive” post, but there are a few small fixes and clean-up work. Besides, with this being the 8th month and the 9th day of a year in which I’m pushing 1989 awareness, I had to put up some sort of update, right?

GFX Generator – The Doppelganger boss’ final form from the Revenge of Shinobi was added to the “Zeed/Neo Zeed” character slot. Ryu’s SFA-style palettes were increased (with fixes to a few older ones) while Rolento got two new poses and many more new palettes (redone with separate pants colors for USF4 palettes). The “Mego WGSH 176×192” style in the GroupShot generator has two new groups of bubbles, and I’ll let you discover who’s in them.

Nico-waz-here was kind enough to send some Tiny Toons portrait rips from a GBA game I hadn’t even heard about, so check out that beautiful art here.

There is now a ScrollBoss YouTube channel, though it only has a re-post the short Revenge of 1989 video for now.


Check out this interview with Rob “Dire” Strangman about the Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman book! It’s great to see that book get more attention. My name pops up for an unexpected reason. Be sure to check out that book, too!


Well, it’s time for me to collapse and attempt to get some rest. I’m all moved in now, so expect a real site update soon with more 1989-related goodness. Until then, here’s a preview of some shaky sprite line work.


edit (2014 August 10th)

GFX Generator addition: Kirby has 3 new palettes and that Mego WGSH has a new custom face circle set with Nintendo characters.

Just posting a quick update before I’m off the internet and back to moving into the new place:

They’re only the GFX Generators right now, but they’ll be in the galleries once I’m back on the internet. The reason for the update are in this Tumblr post (along with a .GIF). We’ll return to the Revenge of 1989 when I get back!

The move into the new apartment has just begun, so I didn’t have time to make a full update. However, here’s a new sprite that will be part of the next update:

I’ll be back in a few weeks with a real update!

The move has been (thankfully) delayed and I can post a modest 14th anniversary update!

Game Index – Dynamite Düx (arcade and SMS)

Custom Sprites – the following galleries were updated:
Capcom: Airman from Mega Man 2 added.
Final Fight: El Gado and Hollywood from Final Fight added.
Sega: Werewolf (fight stance) from Altered Beast, Bin and Pin from Dynamite Düx added, new scratch-made Tyris sprite added to Golden Axe.

Tips, Tricks & Codes – TMNT Tournament Fighters (SNES) added.

GFX Generators
– Capcom: new El Gado & Hollywood char (sharing one slot) added, Airman sprites added to “Robot Masters” char slot.
– Sega: Dynamite Düx added, Altered Beast char gets new Werewolf sprite.

Also, I’m now selling prints on Illmosis.net, and there are a few game-related pics (including Tyris Flare, Ms. Pac-Man, and Silent Hill’s nurse) in the mix. Check out that page here:

Illmosis.net Prints page

I’ve also started an Illmosis Facebook page, mostly because there are far too many people who’ll only hang out on Facebook. Until a worthy social site successor with better operating practices and less psy-ops experiments on their uses emerges, check out the Facebook page if you’re already a member of that site!
Illmosis Facebook page
The positive note here is interacting with other fansite friends and communities, so at least it’s not completely horrible!


Be sure to check out Jeremy Parish’s new site, Metroidvania.com, dedicated to games that use open paths instead of fixed levels. You know, games like the Pitfall series, the non-arcade Bionic Commando games, and (of course) the Metroid and map-based Castlevania games. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this site turns into as I’m a big fan of this game style.



The new edition of Rob “Dire” Strangman’s “Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman” is now available at http://www.memoirsofavirtualcaveman.net!

There’s a ton of new content, including contributions and interviews with David Crane (Pitfall!), Howard Scott Warshaw (Yars’ Revenge, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Yuzo Koshiro (soundtracks of Streets of Rage, the Revenge of Shinobi, Actraiser), Kouichi “Isuke” Yotsui (director of arcade Strider, Cannon Dancer/Osman), Sushi-X (EGM), Sam Roberts (The Light Sword Cypher Mainframe), Caitlin ‘Cipater’ Oliver (Splatterhouse hi-score record breaker) and so many others that my hands would be tired if I added them all. Just go to the site and see for yourself! BTW: I drew the cover, but don’t let that stop you from buying the book!


Due to the upcoming move to a different apartment (much like last year), this anniversary update is small because I needed time to pack. I’ll try to make up for that by having a few bigger updates in August and September, the 8th and 9th months of the year, to give some serious love to the Revenge of 1989 theme.

I’d like to thank everyone who has visited this site, contributed to it, or spread the word about it. This site is (usually) fun to work on, but it’s even more fun when other people can enjoy it, too. I’ll keep working to make it more fun for you and I hope you keep coming back. In fact, I hope something there convinces you to make game-related things of your own. Thank you and keep


I’ll be in Artist’s Alley at the All-AmeriCon convention in Warren, Oho this Sunday, the same convention that comic creators Darryl Banks and Jim Steranko will be! To celebrate that, I’ve made sprites based on their creations. Kyle Rayner, a character created by Darryl Banks and Ron Marz gets a hovering sprite and Madame Hydra (a.k.a. the Viper) now has a sprite based on the iconic pose from Captain America #111. Kyle also has his first Green Lantern cover logo while Viper has her Eaglemoss figurine logo (does she even have an official comic logo?) and a name graphic for the X-Men: Children of the Atom Vs. Screen. They’ve been added to the proper DC and Marvel sprite galleries along with the GFX Generators.


Bad news: Due to history repeating itself again, I’ll have to move to a different apartment sometime this month. The owners have to rip through this apartment to fix something that was messed up in another apartment, so it’s time to move again. I don’t have an exact date yet, but I’m pretty sure it’ll completely screw up the July 19th anniversary update. Yeah, just like last year, too. Keep your fingers crossed.


Good news: I’ve set up a page on Illmosis where you can buy prints of some of my pictures. There are only a few game-related prints so far (including the Tyris Flare pic), but there will be more in the future.

2014 only has one Friday the 13th, so here’s an update with some dangerous masked characters who like to work with sharp objects without being an annoying Spanish ninja. Jason got a sprite and mini-logo in a similar update that hit last December, so it’s time to give him a bit more this time. Other characters wearing goalie masks (or masks similar to them) also get a bit of attention today.

GFX Generators – the following characters were updated:
– Jason Voorhees: Street Fighter Alpha (Zero) 3 Vs. portrait and namegfx, Friday the 13th (LJN box) mini-logo.
– Rick Taylor: Wanpaku Graffiti-inspired sprite and SFA 3 portrait (edited from Jason’s) added.
– Crime Fighters – Enemies: Boss 2 (the goalie-masked enemy) sprite added.
– Juli, Juni, and the Dolls: Decapre gets some sprite edits and SFA3 Vs. screen portraits while Juli and Juni get a few more sprites.

By the way, Friday the 13th for the NES, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti for the Famicom, and Crime Fighters all debuted in 1989, so this update is also part of the Revenge of 1989. See how that all worked out? That rarely happens here, so enjoy it while you can!

Edit: Today’s Illmosis update has the lineart for Jason’s SFa3 portrait along with a Black Widow (Marvel) picture!

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