This isn’t an update but it’s important enough to put in the news section.

I’m going to be at the All AmeriCon convention in Warren, Ohio this weekend (May 2nd). I have a post on Illmosis with more info here. Even if you can’t buy anything, stop by and get that Illmosis party flyer that mentions ScrollBoss’ 10th birthday.

ScrollBoss has been quiet for a while because I’ve focused on making more drawn art for the convention. People who know the early days of this site may remember I did the same thing when getting ready for other conventions. They may also remember that I’d make sure that the following month would have crazy updates to make up for it and that’s how May is going to be here.. Do you like the Vs. Maker graphic generator? Then you’ll like it even more when you see one of the new features in the next update. What is it? See if you can figure it out from this screenshot:

May is going to be an active month here so be sure to keep an eye on the site.

Sorry if things look a bit weird right now but my plan to update the layout, CSS and other things went awry like so much mad science. One good result is that things look a bit more consistent on every page. It’s not 100% yet but a lot of older pages finally got redone. I went into a few sections like the Tutorials got a bit of extra work to make the basics look nicer. I also remade the logos again. This new set turned out nice and crisp so I’ll probably stick with them for a while. One other new thing is the new Final Fight banner added to the main menu header rotation. The banners are randomly chosen but I stacked the list so that you’ll probably see it.

Meanwhile, I’m taking my time on coloring the Tyris Flare pic that I drew a while ago. Here’s another preview shot:

Don’t forget that Final Fight: Double Impact is available for X-Box Live and Playstation Network this week. You get fully enhanced versions of both Final Fight and Magic Sword with achievements, unlockable content, online co-op, remixed BGM, graphic filters and much, much more. If you have the system and the money, be sure to pick it up for all the pipe-swinging, lizardman bribing fun!

Work continues on that boring behind-the-scenes crap that no one really cares about. The biggest project right now is the new graphic gallery script that will eventually replace all the old sprite pages. It has some nice little features in it including links to the Game Index. I’m still working on it but here’s a preview using the Alex Kidd page:
Image gallery test
This is the big reason why I’m not going to update the sprite galleries for a while since it’d make more work for me to convert the pages to the new gallery data style.

I’ve also been working on more of those rectangle graphics that you see in certain parts of the site.


200x100 pic200x100 pic200x100 pic200x100 pic

Here’s a look at something else I’ve been working on:
You remember what happened to his car so he HAS to walk everywhere.
Hey, that looks familiar too!

July 19th, 2010 will be the 10th Anniversary of ScrollBoss. I’m going to warn you right now that the first few updates of this year will probably be boring with very few sprites, sprite edits and things like that. The main reason is that I’m working on upgrades for sections of the site and you’ll see a bit of that in this update. The other reason… is something I’m not ready to announce yet. Here’s the newness of this update.

ScrollBoss Blog – The new ScrollBoss web log (powered by WordPress) will be getting a workout by serving as a blog, an eventual feedback outlet for things and the new engine for the site update news posts. If you’re reading this on ScrollBoss’ main menu, you’re really reading the weblog. The good news is that I can copy the old news posts and use their old dates to keep everything in order. The bad news is that I don’t think I can copy the responses. That old news (and responses) will be archived on the Old News page. The MugenBoss index page also got this update but it still looks ugly overall. That’s one of the sections I’ll be working on this year because the header is too damned fugly.

Tips and Cheats – The entire section has been modified to not suck as much. Each tip now has a link to the game’s index page if it exists. Added tips for Contra (NES), SoR3, Final Fight (SNES), Sonic Blast Man (SNES). Nothing that you couldn’t get from any decent code site but I may as well have it here too. I’m also trying to use more accurate tip descriptions like the Sonic Blast Man code that is always described as a level select even though it’s not.

Game Index and 1989 – Another code rewrite shows up on the Game Index’s main page and the 1989 Game List. Ninja Gaiden (NES), Sonic Blast Man added and the 1989 Game List was updated.

Logos – Sonic Blast Man added.

Mini-logos – Bayou Billy, Emma Frost, Vigilante (IREM) added.

The new computer is finished thanks to tons of help from one of my friends who is currently in mysterious mode right now or else I’d say who it was. Slowly getting things sorted out while taking time to work on things including a full color version of that NES-style Radd Spencer pic.

Since there’s no update here this week, allow me to suggest that you check out the two new links I added:

Quartermaster (by Shadi from the Capcom Arcade Shrine)
Deathamster’s Nest

edit (2009/08/30):
Okay, maybe this is almost like an update. The Sprite Rip page now has a zip file with the small lifebar portraits from Final Fight One (including the Food and Point frames plus Poison, Roxy, Sid and Billy.

Also, that NES-style Radd Spencer pic I drew a while ago is now in full color on the Illmosis site.

(this is an archived news post)

I’m putting this site on pause until my new, non-freezing computer is finished. You may have read my whining about system lock-ups, freezes and so-such before but they really do kill a lot of my time and momentum when I either wait for the freeze to end or just reboot my system and open up all the multiple programs and folders again. I also planned to start putting videos together but it’s hard to do that when a random freeze can hit you while recording. A good friend has helped out with most of the parts for this system and I just got the DVD/CD burner from Newegg today. The wait shouldn’t be that long. I also need time to work on a comic but I’ll still be working a bit on ScrollBoss, too.

I’m fine-tuning that article I’ve been threatening to add to the Minus World for a few weeks now and it may be ready for the next update. If you know where to look, you’ve already seen artwork for it. I’m also working on new game section-based graphic boxes. Thanks to the freezes I mentioned earlier, many weren’t finished in time for the big update and I accidentally forgot to replace the placeholders on pages like the Capcom section. I fixed that yesterday. Here’s a few of those along with some I’ll be using for future sections and such:


I’ll try to have some cool stuff ready before the next update which will probably be in September. I may even give the month a theme which will be a secret until then.

Another addition was an Amazon.com widget at the bottom of the main menu’s side menu. Game purchases made by clicking through the links over there give me a referral fee that’d help offset the costs of running this place, mainly the paid site account. If you can’t find those collections locally and plan to buy them through Amazon, buying it through those widget links would help me and the site out a lil’ bit. No pressure but be sure to check your local game stores first, especially any independent spots in your area. They need the most help these days.

See you in September!

edit: My computer froze up about 6 minutes after posting this and I had to reboot.

(this is an archived news post)

MugenBoss – I’m guest-hosting some stuff that guys like Kiwi, Magus, WarmachineX (of the very cool Warmachine Madness board) and others did back in the day.

There’s nothing new here but the new stages include some stages based on Marvel and DC Comics, G.I.JOE and Masters of the Universe. There’s a page just for them in this link.

These stages and the ThunderCats Cat’s Lair stage that Kiwi and Shin Otaru did lead me to put together an index for stuff related to toys and cartoons. There are only three stages in that index now but I’m sure there’ll be more. Check out the page in this link. The Items Index page got a slight redesign and now links to the company-specific MUGEN indexes too.

Vs. Maker – New engine update includes… oval shadows:

Fancy, ain’t it? It’s not? Whatever. It works but only a few new test screenstyles use it since that part of the system still has a big rewrite coming.

New characters include Adam Hunter, Mr. X (Streets of Rage), Joker, Lex Luthor, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, Solomon Grundy, Star Sapphire.

Sprite Edits – I had to make at least two non-G.I.JOE sprite edits for the Toys and ‘Toons graphic used in it’s MUGEN index so I made He-Man and Lion-O. Those are on the brand-new Toys and Cartoons custom sprite page. The Flash, Joker, Lex Luthor & Solomon Grundy added to DC Comics page.

Mini-logos – Edi.E, Metamorpho, Mr. Fantastic, Mr. X, Lex Luthor, the Question, Scarlet Witch, Star Sapphire, Solomon Grundy, the Thing, Tyrant, Vision added.

Articles – The Game List was updated for the first time since last December. Along with some random stuff, I bought the first Midway and SNK compilations which will help in a future article I plan to write about why I love game compilations and why they’re great even in a DLC world.

Last week’s Illmosis update had an early version of something that you’ll see in the Minus World section sooner or later: Poison vs. Billy. Computer problems kept me from getting this fully colored and also slowed down work on everything else in this update. Unfortunately, the updates will continue to be small until things get fixed.

To celebrate 9 years of disappointing updates, here’s a… well, you know.

Company Index – Much like the Game Index is to games, the Company Index is a hub to company-specific items on ScrollBoss and external links. This is still under slow construction like the Game Index since both will get additions, improvements and more connections to other parts of the site.

Game Index – The “Company” listing is now a link to that company’s Company Index page if such a page exists. Added games include Taito Legends (PS2).

Custom Sprites – Abigail, Andore, Damnd, Haggar (finally looking like a Capcom sprite) added to the Capcom page. Mr. X (Streets of Rage) and Sonic (from scratch) added to the Sega page. The Dark Queen (in 3 variants), Kazan, Super Mario, Rick Norton, Thomas from Kung-Fu Master added the ‘Game Related’ page. A new Batman sprite edit was added to the DC Comics page.

Minilogos – Damnd, Geese Howard, Haggar, Hugo, Iori, Jill Valentine, Kyo, Rolento, Todo added.

Vs. Maker – Here comes a new company: SEGA! Sonic the Hedgehog, Jo Musashi, Axel and Blaze kick off the new Sega character section. Batman, Damnd, Geese Howard, Haggar (new sprite edits!), Hugo/Andore, Iori(SNK), Jill Valentine, Kyo (SNK), Son-Son (MvsC2), Todo, Tyrant and Yuri added to character roster.

S-Files – Links to the character’s company page in the Company Index now added. Also fixed a link bug in Rolento’s page and added minilogos to those who now have them.

Links – The Main, MUGEN and Sprite link pages were redone with most of the dead links taken out. I’m still waiting to see how the Gamespy/Classic Gaming thing shakes out and I’ve already heard about a few people finding new hosts to move to.

MugenBoss – While the pages look the same for the most part (still thinking of a redesign for it), the pages were recoded a bit. Items now hook up with the Game Index just like the Games linked to their related MUGEN index pages. Certain companies now Another addition to the data structure is for item author information to display info for guest-hosted MUGEN items. That will come in handy for the coolest thing in this whole update:

Cat’s Lair (from ThunderCats) by Kiwi and Shin Otaru

Kiwi crafted the visuals from scratch (yes, from SCRATCH!) then passed the product to Shin Otaru to code the stage and bring it all together. The animated onlookers are fan-favorites from the series including Hachiman, one of my personal faves. The BGM for the stage is a Thor Arne Gald Semb remix based on the C-64 Thundercats game. Be sure to stop and check his site out for more awesome work including a Commando remix that you won’t expect. BTW: the Cheetara in the screenshot is from a sprite that Kiwi did from scratch so please don’t ask where to download the whole character since it doesn’t exist. Yeah, I wish there was a real character of that too.

I hope this update makes up a bit for the low amount of new content this place has seen for the past few months. Updates will usually be 2 weeks apart again while I deal with my day job plus work on more Illmosis comics. There is still a lot of work to do here so this site won’t be dead even though it’ll be slow. Thanks to everyone who still looks at the site, finds it useful somehow, links to it or anything like that. Extra thanks to those who have given feedback on the site and a huge thanks to those who have contributed content over the years. There is a new audience for these games thanks to the DLC on the current consoles so it’s up to us fans to undickishly represent the philosophies, wonder and sheer joy of beating evil people with 2×4’s or nunchaku, eating food and taking power-ups wherever you find them, rescuing those who have been kidnapped by evil organizations and reminding people that 2-D gaming can still be the sure shot even if your little brother, kid sis or girlfriend keeps complaining about “the jaggies.” ScrollBoss will be a humble rep of such things until the timer runs out so keep stopping by for encouragement, help, info and supplies when the mood strikes you.

(Archive of post originally from Sun, 19 July 2009 04:11:50 by PrimeOp )

There isn’t much content to hit you with this time because I spent a lot of time trying to fine-tune the MUGEN storyboard in this update.

News – I finally set up this news section to produce an RSS feed. I always forgot to update the separate RSS page and the coding was never perfect.
Here is the new RSS feed.
There may be a new, better RSS feed link later but since you’ll find out about it here, don’t worry about that yet.

MugenBoss – The credits from “Challenge of the Superfriends” have been converted to MUGEN.

There are far more complicated things I want to make storyboards of so I did this one as practice. The goal was to do it without using a giant .SFF full of screenshots so it’s a quick download and won’t take up much space on your hard drive. Old cartoon geezers like me may enjoy this once or twice.

Sprites – Additions to the Captain Commando page include the rest of the bosses with an animated version of Blood’s fighting stance. The Rushing Beat page finally gets Rushing Beat sprites with 3 each from Norton and Bild just for the sake of reference. The Rushing Beat series also got new graphic tags that say Rushing Beat Series on them so they’ll be less confusing. You’ll see the 200×100 group shot on the main sprite page and the Rushing Beat Mugen index page.

Custom Sprites – A CvS-style Kunio-Kun was added to the Technos page.

Logos – Rushing Beat Ran added.

Mini-Logos – the Beast.

Poll Center – Didn’t notice that updating the Poll program broke the Poll Center page. The page works now but fouls up when you try to view the results.

And now, news. I have a lot of projects going on right now and I need as much time as I can get to work on them. So until further notice, this site will no longer be regularly updated every two weeks. Site updates will happen at random. If you subscribe to the new RSS feed I mentioned earlier, you’ll be notified when they happen. Why should you care? Because instead of just kicking out a few sprites or edits every two weeks, updates will only happen when I finish something really interesting or when something need some testing. One of those things will be an improved Vs. Screen graphic generator. Another may be an experimental MUGEN storyboard I’ve been thinking about for a few years now. I’ll talk more about what I have in mind for ScrollBoss in the next update.

(Archive of post originally from Fri, 06 February 2009 02:12:44 by PrimeOp)

I’m getting impatient, so I’ve decided to get a temporary version of the new spot set up in advance. For those who were bored enough to care whether or not the site would come back, well, the process begins here. Lots of things still need to be fixed up here and there, but a decent chunk of the site is actually done.

Progress on the site has been slowed by the deadly ‘Real Life’ virus as well as other work that I have to do before getting to play with this place. Besides that, my net connection has gone pretty bad, including a recent 2 week stretch of being offline. Plus, I’ve got to move to a different apartment, so things will slow down again. Before that happens, I’m going to try and get a mini-version of ScrollBoss up and running over the next few weeks before the move. If you bother to show up, you’ll never know what you’ll find waiting. I’ll be posting previews of different new things, thanks to this nice lil’ CuteNews module set up here. Have a good weekend, party people.

(Archive)