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.

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

Custom Sprites
Konami: Crime Fighters hero added along with mohawk and domme enemies.
Capcom: Final Fight’s heavyweights added.
Taito: Tony Gibson (Crime City) added.

Mini-Logos
– Astro City: Astro City, Samaritan
– Marvel: Captain America (’80s)
– Sunsoft: Tough Turf
– Taito: FairyLand Story
– Illmosis Network: The Revenge of 1989

GFX Generators – The new mini-logos were added to their proper characters (Capt. America, Ptolemy, Samaritan) and the following characters were added:
– Konami: Crime Fighters and Crime Fighters – Enemies (with two drone enemies)
– Capcom: Wong Who, G.Oriber, Bill Bull added to Mad Gear thugs
– Taito: Tony Gibson (Crime City) added

Bad News: those portrait/s I teased on Tumblr over a week ago aren’t in this update.
Good News: I saved them for a semi-themed update for next week. They’ll appear along with a very timely sprite. You’ll also see a better version of the sprite in this post added to the site then, too.


Breakin’ News


Treachery in Beatdown City, the tactical beat ’em up with an 8-bit look, has been relaunched on Kickstarter, so help out if you can!

GFX Generators – Guy and Sodom (from Capcom’s Final Fight and Street Fighter series) now have ALL of their arcade palettes from Street Fighter Alpha 1-3. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Splinter (currently found in the Konami section) now have their big portraits from TMNT: Turtles in Time. Wonder Momo now has a sprite based on the ShiftyLook Wonder Momo promo pic by Omar Dogan. You’ll also find a really simple recreation of the first stage of Wonder Momo in the “Comic 88×136” and “Box 160×192” styles for the GroupShot generator.


Breakin’ News


The Treachery in Beatdown City Kickstarter needs to be funded. It’s a tactical turn-based beat ’em up (Role ’em up?) that has a great premise and NES/SMS-era look, so check out their pitch and help if you can.
Kickstarter page
Main site


I made that Wonder Momo sprite because, sadly, the ShiftyLook site will be closing down on March 20th. It still boggles my mind that we even got to see top-notch web comics for some of lesser-pushed Namco properties like Bravoman, Wonder Momo, SkyKid, the Valkyrie series and many others, so at least it was around for a while. We even got an animated Bravoman show (with the ever-awesome Rob Paulsen voicing Bravoman), a Wonder Momo anime, new games for both series, and a bugged-out Mappy show. As much as I was hoping they’d be able to get enough material together for an all-Namco Saturday Supercade-style show, it was great to get what we got. Luckily, some of the Bravoman and Wonder Momo strips have hardcover collections, which I plan to buy. There’s talk that some of them could continue in meatspace comic book form if the collections do well, so buy the books! Go read the strips while you can and be sure to check out the beautifully insane Galaga comic.


Edit: I forgot to show off this thing I threw together to post on the Tumblr:

Alright, I’m done now.

My earlier reason for putting the site on hold for a bit (details here) just got compounded by more activity book commission work. I’ve got a feeling that it’ll probably kill most of my Halloween plans for the site, so here’s an update that’s a mix of things I planned to post later, some catch-up/clean-up work and some word-spreading for all those classic side-scroller Kickstarters wandering around.

GFX Generators – Three fonts from Street Fighter Alpha 2 and the font from Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja were added to the GroupShot generator.
Vs. & Group chars updated:
Haggar (new sprites and SFA3 Vs. portrait)
Burnov (new Capcom-like sprite)
Abobo (SFA3 Vs. portrait & SFA3 Vs. name)
Hawk – Vendetta/CF2 (improved sprite, new palettes & SFA3 Vs. name)
Vs. & Group chars NEW!:

Shantae (with new non-SD sprite and mini-logo)
Kate – Vendetta/CF2 (All-new sprite + SFA3 Vs. name)

FakeShot update: NES style (Beck from Mighty No. 9 added)

Custom Sprites – Due to the huge amount of custom sprites based on characters from the series (and there will definitely be more new ones in the fugure), Final Fight now has its own gallery page. The new Haggar sprites are there along with some sprites that I forgot to add before (including Poison, Roxy, Jake and Simmons). Burnov was added to the Technos gallery. Kate from Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2 was added to the Konami gallery. Shantae is rightfully the first sprite to grace the new WayForward custom sprite gallery


Breakin’ News


There are three really big Kickstarter projects closing in on the home stretch that are related to the kind of games featured on this site. Instead of laughing at my bad, rushed fan art up there, check out the project descriptions!

Mighty No. 9 – Created by a team of classic Mega Man stalwarts and led by Keiji Inafune, Mighty No. 9 looks to be more than just a spiritual successor to the Blue Bomber’s series and more like a new beginning for the creators themselves to bring fans the kind of game we all want. This project was funded with the quickness and is now blasting its way through some stretch goals that would make the game even better.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero – WayForword’s blessed us with some great licensed revivals recently, including Duck Tales Remastered and Double Dragon Neon. This Kickstarter is to help get their own classic platforming hero, Shantae, into a brand-new game for her to run, jump, dance and whip her hair through.

River City Ransom: Underground – A group named Conatus Creative started this one to fund a true, official follow-up River City Ransom, one of the greatest beat-em-ups of all time. The crew promises more of everything, including characters, locations, items, the works. They even have Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the creator of Kunio-Kun and Double Dragon series, as an advisor on the project. This project isn’t getting the attention it deserves, so I hope others spread the word about this along with the other projects.

I know money’s tight, especially with three Kickstarters like this going on that the same time, but I hope those who can spare the money will at least donate a little bit to help out those projects. Even spreading the word and linking to the projects will help get them funded or hit those stretch goals.


Graphic Generators – I just made a small character update.
Capcom: Ibuki added. Poison (new SF3-to-SFA-like edits and a new palette), Ryu (SFA3 portrait headband edit) updated.
Namco: Nina, Kazuya and Yoshimitsu make a invasion with new scratch-made sprites.
Taito: Dolls from Growl/Runark are now one sprite with multiple palettes (three arcade, three Genesis/Mega Drive)

Mini-Logos – A Street Fighter IV-styled Street Fighter logo added to Capcom section. 70’s and late 80’s Avengers logos added to Marvel section. Illmosis and ScrollBoss logos added to Illmosis section.

Custom Sprites – Scratch-made sprites of Nina (Tekken 5), Kazuya (1, 2 & 5) and Yoshimitsu (2 & 3) were added to the Namco page.

edit: I also re-sized the scratch-made sprites of the Dolls from Growl because I didn’t notice that they were too tall.

Elsewhere:
NXistence
Noise Factory:TMNT IV: Turtles In Time
Dynamo just posted a breakdown of his five favorite BGM tracks from TMNT IV and it’s worth a read. The man is uniquely qualified to make these posts since he thinks about games on a nuts and bolts level AND he crafts some fine music himself. He also makes a reference to one of my favorite musicians in the description of the #1 track. Look that name up on YouTube if you don’t recognize it when you get to it. You’ll be glad you did.

I’m still getting ready for the All-Americon comic convention in May so the updates are still light and random. I’m also taking this chance to do some clean up work on a few things at random like getting the weblog to look more like the site.

Custom Sprites – X-23 sprite edit added to the Marvel page. Also: credits now link to the company page when a company is listed and will also link to individual people once I get the creator profiles started.

Sprites – Comic Book spites hub, Ninja Gaiden pages updated and redone. Violent Storm updated with new sprites including some animated fighting stances.

Logos – Dark Adventure, Express Raider, Rolling Thunder

Mini Logos – New logos added to the following sections:
– DC Comics: Poison Ivy
– Capcom: Roxy, Poison
– Marvel: Mystique
– Namco: Rolling Thunder, Wonder Momo
– Sega: Alien Storm, Shinobi (arcade), Streets of Rage (red, blue, white cover style)

Graphic Generators – X-23 (no logo yet) added to the Marvel section. Joe Musashi gets updated with another sprite and other mini logos. Poison/Roxy updated with new logos.


Rinry (of RinryGameGame fame) posted a video review of the Retro Duo system that lets you play most NES and SNES carts. This answered many of the questions I wondered about including the sound, an issue with many current retro systems. Check it out:


I’ll mention the All-Americon comic convention in Warren, Ohio on May 15th that I’ll have a table for. I’ll be selling art prints and hanging out with other scribblers and comic fans. A lot of really cool artists came to the last one and most of them seem to be coming back for part two. It only costs $2 to get in so stop in if you can! I’ll be handing out copies of last year’s Illmosis Party Flyer (with a special appearance by Endless Duck from that Silver Surfer picture) to give out even if you don’t buy anything.

This is just a small update

GFX Generators – The last update added the ability to pick options for certain backgrounds and I said something about future updates taking crazy advantage of that. I’m using the Slam Masters rings as a demonstration for that again. Having different backgrounds and Vs. fonts for the Slam Masters rings was just practice.

Vs. Maker screens:
Slam Masters series rings – Rings and crowds/bgs can now be mixed and more background parts from whole series were added.
X-Men: CotA Vs – Added a few stage preview options.

GroupShot screens:
X-Men: CotA “Moon Night” – with a few bg options.

Custom Sprites – Ken (known as Kevin in the Japanese version) from Street Fighter 2010 has been added to the Capcom page. I just couldn’t let this year slip by without making a sprite edit of him. I also updated the “Then and Now” page to compare the Johnny Storm and Superman sprites along with a more detailed progress chart for street-clothes Cody.

I also made a commissioned from-scratch sprite of a legendary comic book advertising hero and you can see that on the deviantART page in this link. Be sure to check out the work by man who commissioned the sprite!


Good news, everyone: Quartermaster is back with a new URL and highly-updated Capcom and SNK shrines! Shadi has done a ton of work on the shrines and they’re as informative as they are attractive. He doesn’t play favorites and put as much effort into the Black Tiger and Magic Sword shrines as he gives into pages of more well-known games. Please give the place a visit! I apologize that all of my links from here to the new URL aren’t fixed in this update but I’ll get that done as soon as I can.

Custom Sprite Packs– a sprite editor who goes by the name of Laslunder has sent a Work-in-progress Cody sprite pack that matches up with the sprite in my Street Cody sprite pack. They’re not 100% finished but will help boost the efforts of anyone who wants to make a whole sprite set of Cody in street clothing. He has WAY more edits in there than my pack has! I planned to update my Cody pack after I made the Jake pack but Laslunder’s work nudged me to work a bit on mine again so my Cody pack been updated as well. There are some new and improved sprites but here’s the important stuff:


Improved standing animation with better handwraps.


new Cyclone Kick.

If you downloaded it before, download it again because almost everything has been improved. The improved sprites and SFA3 portrait were also added to the Graphic Generators. Be sure to check out Laslunder’s pack, too!

NOTE: Those downloaded the PrimeOp Cody pack before 1:30 PM Eastern Standard Time should re-download it again. I just made some fixes to the collar in the last few frames thanks to some sound advice from Kiwi.

Custom Sprites – The new and updated Cody sprites were added to the Capcom custom sprites page.

Game Index – Gauntlet (NES) was added. Cody also made some improvements to the game page scripts because he had to be involved somehow.

Beats of Rage – the main font from Captain Commando (Arcade) added to the downloads. You can spell Cody’s name with those letters.


Thanks to Sidd the Kidd for letting me know that a version of the Evolution Engine (EvE) for beat-em-ups is available for download I plan to check this out when I’m not swamped with projects. It looks mighty, mighty powerful. Check out the demo videos to see what the engine is capable of!

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!

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