I’m kicking off this year with a couple of beat ’em up series that didn’t get much attention here last year, and that’s by accident.

Custom Sprites: Those two series now have their own galleries:
Rushing Beat: new scratch-made sprites of Rick Norton, Douglas Bild, Wendy Milan, Lord J, Dieter/Iceman and some drones from the first two Rushing Beat games start this gallery off on the good foot.
Crime Fighters: new scratch-made sprites of Blood and Boomer replace their old Capcom-based sprite edits, and so do new sprites of a Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2 thug.

All of that has been added to the main GFX Generator, along with a new (and more accurate) version of the X-Men Vs. Screen. There are now options to choose the stage display, including one that isn’t in CotA.


A generator just for that game will be added in an X-Men-centric update later this year.

As of last week (and I was told the day before our last day there), I don’t have a regular account for my day job (though I got some fill-in hours here and there), so I’m running a sale on prints in the shop until things get better. 8×10/8.5×11 prints are $5 and the 11 x 17 and 11 x 14 prints are only $8! That’s for the line art and pixel art prints, including the non game-related prints in the Illmosis shop (where you’ll find more prints).

That’s a big update, but it feels like it’s missing something… or someone. Maybe he’ll show up later…

edit: Guess who showed up to the update?


added to the Movie gallery and GFX Generator.

This site has spent most of this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of 1989, easily one of the most llama butt-whipping years in the history of video games. It’s so dense with digital greatness that I couldn’t give dap to all things to which dap is due, even with nearly a year to work on the theme. The clock is winding down and this update is an attempt to strengthen the custom sprite galleries (and image generator banks) of those games.




Custom Sprites – The following changes were made to the galleries:
Data East: Karnov (new scratch-made sprites in outfits from Karnov, Bad Dudes, Sly Spy and Trio the Punch)
Capcom: Crash Man, Strobaya (Strider)
Final Fight: Damnd and Jessica Haggar
Konami: Strongwoman from S.P.Y.: Special Project Y
Sega: Joe Musashi (1 new sprite, 1 improved sprite), Yamato, Neo-Zeed Leader, Queen of the Oasis
Golden Axe: new gallery page with new Gilius Thunderhead sprite
Tecmo: Ryu Hayabusa, Irene Lew
TMNT: Raphael

GFX Generator – All new sprites were added to the proper characters (they’re at the top of the “Update” character list). There’s also a new background: the 1989 arcade!


YouTube user Cralfer put together a video that showcases many of the multi-plane beat ’em ups released before Final Fight was in 1989. You’ll see a lot of obscure titles in here!


That’s all for this update, but don’t be surprised to see a bit more newness added to the site before the year is out. Also, even after the year-long 1989 theme is over, I’ve decided that every August 9th (1989) will be dedicated to 1989’s Revenge. Take care and I hope your holidays are happy!

Happy Halloween! There was an update this past Saturday and you can find the details in this earlier post.

GFX Generators
Dracula-X (SNES) 8×16 font added to the screenstyles that use them.
Konami: Simon Belmont (new sprite), Dracula (new sprites), Richter Belmont (updated sprite), Castlevania monsters (CV1 Zombie sprite added), Skeletons (with 3 variations).

Custom Sprites – All these new sprites were added to the Castlevania section of the Konami page.

… Halloween… Halloween…

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Konami’s Castlevania hitting U.S. shores and invading unsuspecting NES systems around the country. With that in mind, this pre-Halloween update is really heavy with Dracula’s minions along with a Belmont to destroy them. Non-Castlevania fans still have some things to look forward to as other horror and monster-related sprites and things haunt this update.

GFX Generators – The following creatures and creature-fighters have been added to the mix:
Capcom: Anita (new!)
Jaleco: Avenging Spirit (new!)
Konami: Richter Belmont (new!), Medusa Head (new!), Castlevania creatures (Ghosts, Hunchback, Zombie)
Namco: Rick Taylor (now with palettes, including Mirror Rick and Wanpaku Graffiti), Biggy Man (new!)
Sega: Neff (new!)
An expanded version of my scratch-made Castlevania cover art recreation was added to the 384×224 Create-a-Scene screenstyles. You probably figured that out from the main screenshot, though. More Darkstalker backgrounds were added to those, too.

Custom Sprites –
Jaleco: Avenging Spirit
Konami: Richter Belmont (SotN style), Medusa Head, Ghosts, Hunchback, Zombie
Namco: Biggy Man
Sega: Neff (Altered Beast)

Mini-Logos – Capcom: Resident Evil. Data East: Night Slashers. Jaleco: Avenging Spirit. Konami: Richter (Belmont). Marvel: Ghost Rider

Expect a few more items to be added on Halloween day!

Here’s a little wake-up call to let you know that the site has been unpaused.

GFX Generators – The huge Capcom character section was split up into multiple areas to make things a bit more clear. More MSH backgrounds were added to most of the variable background screenstyles.
Capcom: Mega Man (added sprites), Rush (new), Roll (added sprites), Miechelle Heart (added MvsC sprite, new green palette)
Marvel: Doctor Doom (added sprites)

Sprite Rips – All 100 CD portraits from both Megaman & Bass (GBA) and Rockman & Forte (Super Famicom) are now in downloadable .ZIP files. Each is a separate .PNG and all have the same alignment according to where they are on the screen.

Game Index – Alien Syndrome (arcade), Contra (NES), Mega Man (NES), Shinobi (arcade), Xenophobe (arcade) added.

Game Logos – Alien Syndrome (arcade, including an animated one), Devil World (arcade, added to Dark Adventure section), Gun.Smoke (arcade and NES), Kung Fu Kid (SMS), Rainbow Islands (arcade), Rastan Saga (arcade), Solomon’s Key, Super Dodge Ball (arcade), Wardner (World and Japan arcade versions), Xenophobe (arcade) added.

Mini-Logos – Xenophobe added to Atari-Midway-Williams section.

There will be a small horror and monster-related update around Halloween.

The site is twelve years old today, so it’s time to celebrate with a lot of new content.




Graphic Generators

New Characters: Bill Rizer and Lance Bean from Contra, Boomer and Hawk from Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2 added to Konami. Zeed/Neo-Zeed and Golden Axe Villains groups for Sega. Chin Taimei and Machine Gun Willy (separate character with new sprite and palettes) for Technos.

Updated characters: Samus (NES armor sprite) for Nintendo, Tyris Flare (new sprite) for Sega, Blue Mary (palettes) for SNK, Shadow Warriors (new Lopar and Williams sprites, improved Jeff sprite) for Technos.

Custom Sprites
Konami: Bill Rizer and Lance Bean from Contra, Boomer and Hawk from Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2.
Nintendo: Samus (NES Power suit and S.Metroid Varia).
Sega: new scratch-made Tyris Flare and Skeleton (Golden Axe), Masked Ninja (Shinobi), Omote (from Revenge of Shinobi).
Technos: Chin Taimei (NES Vs. Mode stance), Lopar, Williams, Jeff (improved DD1 edit), Machine Gun Willy (improved rifle-holding sprite in DD1 and DD2 colors)
Taito: Lady Master of Kung Fu
DNL: DNL sent a lot of new scratch-made sprites, including a very cool update of his Phanto animation. Be sure to hide your keys before looking at it.

Sprites
New galleries: Karate Blazers, Mystic Warriors, Sunset Riders
Updated: Captain Commando (hero surfing sprites), Double Dragon, Final Fight 3 (Dave and more added), X-Men (Konami arcade) pages

Mini-logos
Data East: Dark Seal
Kaneko: Kaneko and Lady Master
Konami: Mystic Warriors, Sunset Riders
Natsume: Natsume logo (blue gradient), Shadow of the Ninja
Square Enix: Square Enix logo (black and white)
Taito: Silent Dragon
TMNT: Original comic logo 1

Logos
Beraboh Man (arcade), Blue Shadow, Bravoman (TG-16), Kage (Famicom), Ninja Warriors (TG-16) added.

Game Index: The Legend of Zelda (NES), Mystic Warriors (arcade)

Vernacula-X: A few definitions now link to their own pages with expanded definitions and extra goodies like game and character lists that link up to their respective indices on the site. More definitions will get their own pages and more goodies will be added over time.


That’s it for now. I have to go to sleep now, and go to work earlier than usual, so any site fixes will have to wait until the afternoon. I hope that all of you who visit on a regular basis enjoy the new stuff and maybe the new visitors will be overwhelmed by the sad way I’ve spent much of my free time for twelve years backlog of earlier content. I tried to mix it up between obvious, famous games (Contra and Metroid) and things that don’t get much of the spotlight (Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2, Karate Blazers). Have fun and thanks for visiting the site!

Updates will continue to be small while I work on a bunch of stuff including a mini-comic/artbook for a comic convention in May. It’s something that I wanted to do last year but didn’t finish.

S-Files – I’m still making minor adjustments to the engine. The default index page groups characters by the first letter in their filename. One problem is trying to get a sprite background that will keep sprites from blending in with it. There has been a slight change to how the main picture is displayed so please let me know if there are any errors with it bugging out. I finally made a crude “profile maker” to help make and modify profiles for reasons I’ll explain in the lab.
New: Blood, Boomer, Hawk, Kate, Sledge from Crime Fighters 2/Vendetta. Norton and Bild from the Rushing Beat series.
Updated: Mike Haggar, Rolento

GFX Generators

New GroupShot styles: the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 “character ring” with two solo variations and one where you can fit three characters.
Characters added: Cable, Marrow, Nakoruru (SNK), Zero (Capcom),
Palettes updated: Chun-Li, Felicia, Rogue (Green/White from MvsC2), Ryu
Other updates: Apocalypse (X-Men: CotA name graphic), Black Widow (logo), Jill (MvsC3 outfit sprite edit), She-Hulk (logos), SoR’s Shiva (custom mini logo), Storm (logo)

Custom Sprites – Zero added to the Capcom page

Mini Logos – Alien Busters & Alien Burgers (from Sega’s Alien Storm), Black Widow (Marvel), Growl, Marrow (X-Men 72 cover), Nakoruru (SNK), Shiva (Sega), Storm, Zero (Capcom).

Logos – added My Hero, Tower of Druaga, Warrior Blade – Rastan III, Wonder Momo.


Moon Diver (official site here), the new 2.5-D platforming action game from Square-Enix hits Playstation Network this week and will debut on X-Box Live at a later date. Just in case you haven’t heard, the game is directed by Kouichi “Shiina” Yotsui (a.k.a. Isuke), the director of Strider (arcade) and Cannon Dancer (a.k.a. Osman). You can definitely see his influence all over this trailer.

Definitely looks like crazy fun to me. I’ve been waiting for this since it was announced and I’m impatiently waiting for the Playstation Store to update so I can finally play it. There will be a separate post about the game once I’ve played the game.

Update: Just bought and played the first stage of Moon Diver. EXCELLENT. You’ll love this if you love Strider. Also up for sale now is Rush’n Attack: Ex-Patriot, the revival of Konami’s Rush’n Attack/Green Beret franchise.


You’ve probably seen this link a lot lately but the areas that were hit are still suffering many hardships. I know that times are tight for many of us in the U.S. (take it from a chronically-broke guy like me) but please think of kicking in a few spare dollars when you have the chance. Every little bit helps.
Google: Resources related to the 2011 Japan Crisis

There have been some minor adjustments to the sidemenu navigation including the new Info Center page that leads to the Game Index, Company Index, S-Files, Vernacula-X and information-related things like that.

GFX Generators New characters to celebrate the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: She-Hulk, Tron Bonne and Taskmaster (with a new sprite edit). Captain America has new palettes.

Custom Sprites – She-Hulk and a new Taskmaster taunt sprite added to the Marvel gallery.

Sprites – New Denjin Makai page started with a few sprites of the heroes along with their pictures from the intro and their portraits. Villains and more will be added in a future update then I’ll move on to finally getting some Guardians/DM2 stuff here. Added two six-player cinema graphics to the X-Men (Konami arcade) gallery.

Sprite Rip Downloads – MrGrill247 kindly passed along some more rips made by Makron in the form of some background parts from Guardians/Denjin Makai II.

Logo Index – Four Denjin Makai series logos (Denjin Makai, Denjin Makai II/Guardians and Ghost Chaser Densei), two Shock Troopers (parts 1 and 2) and one Earthworm Jim added.

Mini-logos – Tron Bonne added to the Capcom section and Taskmaster added to the Marvel section.

Game List – Another surprise gift leads to a new addition to the list: Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The She-Hulk and Taskmaster sprites were done before I got it so I had to use video stills for pose reference. Reference should be a bit easier for me now.


Wizzy, creator of authentic-sounding CPS2-style remixes and original music that can go toe-to-toe with Capcom’s BGM’s, has an announcement:

As the Tiny Titans would say, “AW YEAH MAN!” Hit the video’s page for more details and download links while remembering to subscribe to his channel. You won’t be sorry, my friends.

Also, Happy Gaming, I mean, Happy Belated Birthday to Rinry of RinryGameGame!

Sorry for the taking so long to get this update but technical difficulties held it back for one week so I decided to keep adding things to make up for that wait.

GFX Generators – The first thing you’ll notice is that they’ve de-uglified. They share a new layout template lets me make changes to any generator using that engine by working on one file. I didn’t want to improve on the generators’ look until I had that mod in place. You can now disable individual characters in the second menu of the GroupShot generator. Finished pictures now have a timestamp at the end of the file’s name so you can save multiple images on a devices that won’t let you change file names or make it a pain to do so. No one complained about it but I’m all about trying to figure out problems before they happen. The character update isn’t that deep this time but you’ll find lots of new screenstyles and most have secondary options for more backgrounds. I also ironed out a minor big in the GroupShot that messed up the placement of some characters. Those adjustments made many of these newly-added GroupShot game box tributes possible.

GroupShot Maker styles: Kenner’s Super Powers toy card, Capcom’s first and third NES box designs (with many background options), old Konami NES box (with a scratch-made Castlevania background) and SNK NES box.
New characters: Black Canary, Goemon (Konami), Phoenix/Jean Grey (with X-Men CotA name graphic)
Characters updated: Arthur (G’nG) gets a new sprite edit and a fixed sprite, Athena (new sprite), Clark & Ralf (Ikari Warriors minilogo), Darkseid (white logo from Super Powers card) and the Shadow Warriors from Double Dragon (currently just Jeff, Linda, Roper and Willy).

(Update Feb. 5, 2011: Magic Sword hero is fixed with a new Magic Sword mini logo along with being added to the Vs.Maker)

Sprite Index – Enemies and Ending pic added to Burning Fight page.

Custom Sprites – Improved Linda (Double Dragon) sprite edits.

Game Index – Burning Fight (Neo-Geo) and E-SWAT (Arcade) added. Growl (Arcade) updated.

Mini Logos – Black Canary, Darkseid (white logo), Goemon, Ikari Warriors, Phoenix, Shadow Warriors (Double Dragon) added. I also remembered to add Green Arrow’s ’70s and ’80s logos.

Game List – I forgot to add Bionic Commando: Rearmed last time after buying it for the PS3 but it’s added now.

My eyeballs are a bit fried after this one so it will be a while before the next update. I hope you enjoy the update and leave a reply if there are any box tributes or backgrounds you’d like to see. I can’t promise to get them done but I’ll try.

GFX Generators – I figured that a superhero-related update for the generator needed one new style that both Marvel and DC could use and there was only one obvious choice.


Okay, it’s only obvious to other toy geezers like me. Most of you are too young to remember Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes toyline (see the Mego Museum site for details) but you may have seen the various tribute lines by Toy Biz, Kenner, Hasbro. Mattel is currently making DC figures with blister cards that mirror the old Mego packages that the new GroupShot screenstyle pays respect to. This lead to two new features for the generator engine. One simple addition is that the minilogos can now appear behind the sprite in some styles. The most important change is that screenstyles now have their own options on the second menu page under the sprite and palette options. The Mego style lets you choose a card color and whether you want the DC or Marvel head portraits on the side. This also let me combine a few older screenstyles that were just palette swaps like Apocalypse Now from X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter or the two versions of SFA’s China stage. The Slammasters Ring now has a few different Ring and Vs. options from both games that you can mix and match parts like this:

Expect to see many more backgrounds take crazy advantage of this in future updates.

New characters: the Atom, Blue Beetle, Captain Cold, Deathstroke, Green Arrow, Robin, Power Girl, Supergirl, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, the Thing
Character updates: Batman, the Belmonts, Catwoman, Hulk, Iron Man, Joker, Rick Taylor (Splatterhouse), Spider-Man, Superman

GroupShot New screenstyles: Mego – World’s Greatest Super-Heroes
Vs.Maker Updated screenstyes: Slammasters rings (options with multiple ring backgrounds and Vs. graphic)

Custom Sprites
DC: Atoms Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Deathstroke, Robin (Tim Drake), Supergirl, Superman
Marvel: the Human Torch (in both flame on and off modes), Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, Iron Man (two poses in the fan-favorite 4th armor) and the Thing
Konami: Simon Belmont – CV2 outfit
Namco: Rick Taylor – a slight variation to the Splatterhouse 3 sprite.

Minilogo – the Atom (1960s and ‘All-New’), Batman (1970), Captain Cold, Captain Marvel, Deathstroke, Green Arrow (’70s), Riddler (’70s) and Robin (’70s blocky), Supergirl (modern curved) logos added to the DC section. The Falcon, Hulk (’70s-80s angle logo), Human Torch, Invisible Woman added to the Marvel section. New color variants of Aquaman, Shazam and Superman logos added. These were added to the GFX Generator character files as well.

I planned to have more than this but I was worn out from Black Friday comic convention and lack of sleep. I hope this makes up for the lack of comic-related content in the 10th Anniversary update.

edit: Deathstroke was accidentally left out of both the Sprite Gallery and Graphic Generator uploads. I’d like to think Ryan Choi’s vengeful ghost made that happen. That’s been fixed so Slade can now cause kill off interesting characters on this site now. Hooray.