We’re in the eight month, and in its ninth day, and that means it’s time for The Revenge of 1989! It’s time for some new pixel art, including a couple of sprites in the style of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (1989) (later localized as River City Ransom)!


Custom Sprites – New:
Bonk/PC Genjin: Bonk (and his gallery) debuts and gets two sprites
Ninja Gaiden: Irene Lew fans have it good today, she gets THREE new sprites, replacing all those 2014 sprites and even that action-y Capcom edit.
Mega Man: Returning Sniper Joe from Mega Man 2, and of course I’ve got the regular Sniper Joe palette version, too.
Marvel Comics: a sprite of Storm in her Pryde of the X-Men outfit. A different version of this pose was in her Sprite Showcase.
sprite style: Kunio-kun/River City Ransom: Golden Axe’s Tyris Flare and Revenge of Shinobi’s Joe Musashi

Custom Sprites – updated:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Modified the sprites of the 4 turtles with their weapons on their belts, including putting the ties on the belt.

Mini-logos: Hudson gallery gets a PC Genjin logo.

GFX Generators: The new custom sprites and mini-logos were added to the appropriate Fight-scale generator and 8-bit Fake Screenshot generators. Also, the Marvel vs Capcom ending (in the Fight-scale and MvC1 generators): simple overlay styles for Golden Axe (arcade), River City Ransom, and TMNT arcade added.


There will be a ToyBoss section update in the last half of August, and I’ve got a lot of plastic to catch up on and roster photos to update there. There may even be an extra surprise or two. Here’s a few quick pics of some of my favorite toy newness: the Jada Toys SDCC Neo Metall 6-pack and the Marvel Legends Psylocke-Thanos two-pack!

First of all, if you remember this site from the old days, check out the index page for a flashback!

This update is a mix of all the things that this site is about, and there are several themes mixed throughout it. I finally complete a team, start a new team, add some overdue legends, and add new and needed poses to characters who already have sprites. Many characters who are favorites of mine and visitors of the site get all-new, redone, and/or update poses, including callbacks to sprite edits from the earliest days of the site. So whether this site is completely new to you or you’re a returning visitor, I hope you have fun with all of today’s newness!

Custom Sprites: There are no set themes except to be a mix of everything regular visitors know to expect. However, keep an eye out for remakes of some of the site’s earliest custom sprites, completed teams, and sprites that some of you requested.
Bionic Commando: Radd Spencer (NES design) MvC:3 stance sprite was resized and improved, and new NES idle stance and calm standing pose sprites were added.
Captain Commando: Baby Commando joins to complete the team… FINALLY! But now Scumocide is here, too.
Castlevania: completely redone Castlevania 1 and Rondo/SotN zombie sprites
Dark Seal: new gallery based on Data East’s series starts with Freya the Wizard.
Golden Axe: The Dragon Bizarrian mounts have been resized, Tyris Flare’s sprite riding them has been redrawn to match.
Rushing Beat: Kazan gets his sword up taunt from Brawl Brothers/Rushing Beat Ran.
Sonic the Hedgehog: Metal Sonic
Tower of Druaga: the often-requested Gil and Ki get sprites based on different versions of the early Namco art.
DC Comics: Silver/Bronze Age Krypto gets two sitting sprites with different facial expressions and Captain Marvel gets a standing sprite.
Marvel Comics: the Thing (all-new idle/fight stance), Colossus (hands on hips)
G.I.JOE: Baroness with new sprite sprite on toy card artwork, adjustments to her fight stance and head raised glasses adjustment, plus a new glasses adjustment with her head down to replace the 2015 sprite that’s out of style now. Not trying to start any W.I.P. rumors with her, I just really wanted her sprites to match!

Speaking of G.I.JOE, watch this short clip carefully to see the new explosion animations I’ve been working on and a sprite that isn’t on this site yet:

RCR/Kunio-kun 8-bit: The Jason sprite that I added to the generators a while ago finally makes its way to the gallery, but I’ve also added an all-new sprite of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark!
Illmosis Network: a brand-new ScrollBoss character makes her debut! Introducing… Jilly Biehn! She’s the now-grown daughter of vigilantes who often got their weapons from the Alexandria Mall back in the day and is often drawn to the beat ’em up arcade in that mall. Vonetta (a.k.a. Vernacula) gets an all-new fight stance sprite, including a version where she’s armed with a wooden stake. Look, what V does in her time off from the Info Section is her business, best not look into that too much.

Mini-logos:
Namco: Tower of Druaga
DC Comics: Krypto

Game Index: Dark Seal (a.k.a. Gate of Doom)

All new custom sprites and mini-logos added to the GFX Generator.

Last but not least, I wrote a little something about the 25th Anniversary in this article. Not just about what it means to me but what I hope this site does for you.

That’s the end of this update, but not the end of the 25th Anniversary celebration. Don’t worry, you’ll hear more about that next time. Thanks for showing up and I hope you enjoyed the update!

You know, it feels like something’s missing, though. Wait, I remember. I posted a sprite of my character Nutroll earlier this year, but he was being kinda… weird about it. Let’s see how he’s…

… 11-11? Man, I don’t even – – wait, what’s that at the bottom? *squints* Does that say… illvember?

Been working on commissions lately, so I didn’t have a lot of time to make new things. But I still wanted to drop a quick update separate from what’s coming next week.
ToyBoss – added an updated TMNT Villains pic with the new NECA cartoon Shredder, all-new heroes and villains line-up pics for DC (a mixed DC Direct, Mattel, and McFarlane collection) including that new “Silver Age” Superman (really the José Luis García-López, artist of DC Comics Presents and the legendary DC Comics Style Guide), new Marvel Legends S.H.I.E.L.D. lineup, and my modern Autobot Transformers.
edit: added a pic that I just took of Jakks Sonic holding a Mattel Electronics Football game from a Super Impulse Toy Box I just got.
edit 2: added a pic I forgot: my updated Jakks Pacific Sonic 4-inch figure with added Classic Amy figure.

So what’s coming next week?


The next update hits on May 22nd!

It’s a borderline random update, but I’ve been working on borderline random things this month.


Custom Sprites:
Bucky O’Hare (new gallery): Bucky O’Hare, apparently here to celebrate two holidays at once!
– Marvel Comics: Crystal in classic yellow, FF, and her 90s black and white suit with bomber jacket (as seen in Avengers in Galactic Storm).
Kunio-kun/River City Ransom 8-bit: Scratch-made Link, Zelda, Marvel’s Storm, Black Tiger (Capcom).

Now that I have separate Superhero Sprite Showcase episodes for all the characters I’ve done them for so far, I’m embedding them in their sub-galleries.
SupermanWolverineIron ManBatmanStorm

Mini-Logos: Bucky O’Hare added to Comics – other and Crystal added to Marvel.

All new custom sprites and mini-logos were added to the PHP-powered GFX Generators where I made the screenshot at the top of this post! The fighting game-scale sprites are in this big graphic maker while the Kunio/RCR stuff is used in this screenshot maker that focuses on 8-bit screens.


I also added four new Bunnysuit Gal sprites with longer hair for a little variety! The have the same extra palette options as the earlier sprites, so you can customize them far more than I did here.

Game Index: Avengers in Galactic Storm: added a page for it that also contains scans of the very early behind-the-scenes article on the game from the 1995 “Captain America Collectors’ Preview” comic. If you didn’t see the post I made about it before, this was from when the game was almost a side-scrolling beat ’em up/fighting game hybrid and had more playable characters. I have more to add to this entry in the future, but I really just wanted to get this update out there for Easter!


The Trick or Beat ‘Em Up project, the horror-themed side-scrolling brawler, is currently taking donations for fund work on the game. One of the goals is to “Immortalize Batsy The Cat” in pixel art that lives on in the game. Please read the plea and give if you can!


Back in 2021, I posted the third and fourth Superhero Sprite Showcases in a single video, mostly because I couldn’t make new video clips the usual way as Anime Studio stopped working (long story) and I had to cobble together a bunch of new ways to make clips in Blender and Magix Vegas. Batman got his solo Showcase a while back and now it’s time for Iron Man to get his. And to make up for it, I’ve added a lot of new and updated clips. That video hit the YouTube Channel last Friday, and here’s the site update with some of the new stuff made for the video:


Custom Sprites: Marvel
Iron Man: all-new War of the Gems idle stance, improved Data East Avengers 1 idle
War Machine: improved taunt sprite and added the early version without the uni-beam port. Remember: this armor is from before the movie, it’s not an arc reactor.
Black Widow: new variants of her debut panel pose
villains: all new sprites of the Crimson Dynamo v.1, Madame Masque, and the Melter (in his Iron Man & X-O Manowar idle stance)

Mini-logos – Marvel: Crimson Dynamo and Madame Masque added.

All new custom sprites and mini-logos were added to the GFX Generators, where you can make your own graphics like the one at the top of this post!

And now, check out the Iron Man 2025 Sprite Showcase!


We’re in the middle of Black History Month, so I’m hitting you with some new sprites of Black characters from comics and toys!

Custom Sprites:
Marvel: the Falcon
DC Comics: Bumblebee (’00s cartoon and ’80s comic versions)
M.A.S.K.: Hondo MacLean in his v.1 outfit and Blaster mask

Mini-logos: Bumblebee added to DC Comics.

all new custom sprites and mini-logos were added to the GFX Generator, which is what I used to make the graphic at the top of the post.


Just a heads up: I’m now working more hours at the day job, so I have less time (and energy) to work on this stuff and commissions. I’ll do my best to keep it moving, though! Also, unless we talked about it before now, I won’t be taking on any more commission work until further notice.

For the first update of 2025, and it’s more than me just adding sprites (but there are sprites)

Custom Sprites
Ganbare Goemon: Goemon gets a sprite based on his design mostly famous for its 16-bit era. Officially the “long overdue” sprite of the update.
Captain Commando: Mummy Commando gets a scratch-made idle sprite. 3/4ths of the team done!
Shao-Lin’s Road: Wanpyou, the hero, in his famous GUTS! victory pose.
Marvel Comics: Black Widow gets a sprite in the same pose as her first full panel appearance in Tales of Suspense #52, drawn by the late great Don Heck. Included styles: ToS #52 green dress, ToS #64 black fishnet outfit, classic black suit, and 80s gray suit.
Illmosis Network: My character Nutroll seems to be up to something with his new sprite, making the whole update look weird. I can’t be mad at him, I made him up and he’s BEEN weird. I almost didn’t add this to the site today, but I figure maybe he’ll have a more fun sprite later if I post this now. Never can tell with him, but it’s worth a shot.

Mini-logos
Konami: Shao-lin’s Road

ToyBoss
– pictures: new Mega Man villains pic (Elec Man and Cut Man were my first figures of the year), updated and separated Super Mario rosters (just got a regular Koopa Troopa), X-Men Genesis/Mega Drive roster, and Brotherhood of Mutants (comic). Also: a quick pic of Jada Toys Street Fighter II Cammy, which just arrived from BigBadToyStore this morning.

Game Index
– added Shao-lin’s Road (arcade)

Logos
– added Shao-lin’s Road (arcade)

All new custom sprites and mini-logos have been added to the main GFX Generator, where you can make graphics and fake screenshots like the one at the top of this post!


I also dropped a quick ScrollBoss channel ident to the ScrollBoss YouTube channel a few days before this update.


Making their first public appearance are the chunky lo-res sprites that represent the words Scroll and Boss. I also updated the clip that zooms out to show a bunch of my scratch-made sprites, making the zoom distance longer and adding more sprites, including that brand-new Goemon sprite. That’s not the clip’s final form, I’ll be adding more and more to that as time goes on.


July 19th, 2025 will be the 25th Anniversary of the day I started this site. I can’t believe it, and I don’t know where the time went, but at least I’ve got something to show for it. Thanks for stopping by and making it even more fun to know I’m not alone in liking this stuff, back in the days when pixels weren’t fashionable. I don’t know if I’ll be doing anything big to celebrate, but I’d like to try.

I’ve got non-anniversary plans, though I’m not sure how much commission work will eat into that like it did last year, so I’m going to cool it with the teases for now. But I’m going to try and finish some of that stuff I teased before and didn’t get to complete (specific things in this update were made for that).

I’m not feeling 100% right now, so the updates may be small for a while as I try to get better. But I’ll try to keep at least a small update per month going until I can grab some health item from a Castlevania brick or Metro City garbage can and get back in the game. See you in February!

Right now I’m starting work on an old commission request, but I have a few new, overdue, and fixed things for the site.


Custom Sprites:
DC Comics: Catwoman’s character gallery is fixed (thanks to the site visitor on IG who let me know that was broken before), she now has her own little row on the main page. I also finished and added the Batman Returns and Golden Age Purple Dress versions of her calm stand pose, originally done for the Catwoman sprite display for a Batman video showcase long ago but not added to the site until now.

GFX Generator –
– Marvel vs. Capcom 2 characters/sprites of Ruby Heart, Hayato (Star Gladiator), Amingo finally added (JustNoPoint rips).
– Marvel vs Capcom ending: the Punisher (arcade) and MvC2 skins added. I made the MvC2 skin’s font by hand based on the font in the credits and score screen, forcing everything into 8×16 spaces as it’d be in a CPS-2 game


Rob ‘Dire51’ Strangman (author and creator of the OPCFG, West Mansion Splatterhouse fan site, and more) has a Kickstarter campaign for four of his books about gaming and more, including updated versions of his previously released books.


I’m looking forward to the material I haven’t read yet and re-reading what I’d read before. One of the things I’ll continue to mention is that I’m grateful he wrote a book talking about the early 80s from a non-rich kid point of view, especially when talking about things like the now-mythical Video Game Crash of 1983. There are also interviews with game creators and other people in the industry and contributions from others in the fan community. If you want to know how much community is in the mix, I drew all the covers and was one of the people who requested a music-related question to arcade Strider director/artist Kouichi Yotsui about a fan-favorite character. Please check it out, back it if you can, and spread the word!

Time to wrap up this year’s 1989 celebration with new sprites and a new video!

Custom Sprites:
Final Fight: big update for my 2019 Rolento FF1 sprite
Ninja Gaiden: new Bomberhead sprite added.
Strider: new Strider Hiryu pose (based on the Famicom ad from the unrealeased game) and a new side-view idle sprite of the Grandmaster added
Marvel Comics: Dazzler (heavily updated sprites + new separate and more accurate PotX and Konami outfits) and the Juggernaut (PotX) (appeared in the 1989 NES Uncanny X-Men game and 1989’Pryde of the X-Men’ cartoon pilot)

The new custom sprites were added to the Fight-size generator.

Bad news: the video is ALMOST ready. It’ll be added to the YouTube Channel and this post either later tonight or tomorrow. Sorry for the delay, but I’ll try to make it worth the wait.
The video is now ready! Here’s the Revenge of 1989 Sprite Showcase video!


Technically I should’ve called it a Showcade (multiple showcases), but some aren’t even whole showcases, but… whatever, man.

This hasn’t been an easy month (for offline reasons), so a lot of items I’d planned just aren’t ready yet, but you’ll see previews of a few (especially the backgrounds) in the new video.


The Arcade Quartermaster site just updated, too! New shrines of Battle Shark and Riding Fight have been added.

Time for a little 1989 Boss Rush update!

Custom Sprites:
Mega Man: Alien (Mega Man 2) added
Strider: new Strider Hiryu pose (based on the Famicom ad from the unrealeased game) and Tong Pooh pose (and sub-gallery) added
Shinobi: Shadow Dancer boss (from the Revenge of Shinobi)
Marvel Comics: White Queen Emma Frost (appeared in the 1989 NES Uncanny X-Men game and 1989’Pryde of the X-Men’ cartoon pilot)

The new custom sprites were added to the Fight-size generator.