We’re still in that month of foolery, April, so this update adds more pizzazz to the site’s image generators!

Custom Sprites:
River City Ransom/Kunio-kun 8-bit: Kyoko and Misako (Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka uniforms), Spider-Man
custom Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 3 portraits: Terry Bogard (the portrait I teased in late March’s update) and a scratch-made Ryu Hayabusa (replacing the old edit).
Illmosis – ScrollBoss: Two sprites added to what I’m calling the “archetype” series for now. First is a brand-new “Bunny Costume” Lady and the second is an Undead Zombie. Zombie (o’, Zombie) was originally made in 2020 for some merch, but I made a few adjustments and added him to the site and the generator. These two are also helping to test out a new feature I’ve just added to the…

GFX Generator: A new River City Ransom/Kunio-kun ‘scenes’ screenstyle has been added to the Fake Screenshot and River City Ransom generator pages. So, yeah, finally some beat ’em up in-game shots (but no combat… yet). I’m starting it with 16 background/set-up shots from around the map and two “crossover” backgrounds that I’ll let you find for yourself. I also added standing sprites of the lower enemies from River City Ransom, along with Misako, Kyoko, Misuzu, Kumiko & Miyuki from River City Super Sports Challenge for the PC.

Today’s update adds a new feature that I’m currently calling “Extra Palettes” that are sub-palettes beneath the main palettes that only change a part of the palette. So in these special characters, you pick the main palette and then use pull down text menus below those palettes to change hair, skin color, outfit part colors, and so-on. It’s almost like I’ve added a palette editor to the generator.

Two Illmosis section characters in the main generator have these palettes so far: the new Bunnylady and the Undead Zombie (found in the “Monsters (Illmosis)” character). In fact, the Bunnyladies were almost in the March update, but I ran into the problem I had with the River City Ransom/Kunio-kun Variable Color character (more info about this in the full post). The Fake Screenshot (8-bit) section’s River City Ransom Variable Color and the RCR/Nekketsu drone enemies have this ability, too. If this works, I’ll be adding more options to these characters along with adding these functions some other sprite sets where it’d make sense. I feel like there’s a specific 8-bit platforming character who could benefit from extra color options.

BTW: I’m going to be part of this Saturday’s Retro Roundtable on the Dire and Bette YouTube channel! I’m not sure if I can say what the theme is yet, but it’s a game subject that I like A LOT.

edit: here’s the roundtable stream!

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Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, marvel comics, River City Ransom, Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka
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Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 3 portraits: Andore/Hugo (Final Fight/SF), Captain Commando, Harley Quinn (DC Comics), Spider-Man (Marvel), Black Widow (Marvel Comics)

Four of these were requests that I already wanted to make, but for various reasons (I had a Hugo/Andore sketched years ago, but didn’t like it) didn’t get done until now. Harley Quinn is just one I just had an itch to make.

Seeing my custom portraits in fake screenshots is one thing, but did you ever wonder how they’d look in the game? Using a new rendering technique, I made a short video using some of the older portraits I made from scratch:

What’s that rendering technique? I’ll tell you at the end of this post.

GFX Generator: The engine itself got some minor fixes, including a fix to some reflection effects. Also
– a “ScrollTech pattern background (added by request) added to the main generator

– The new portraits were added to the GFX Generators, mainly the SFA3 generator

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Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Captain Commando, dc comics, Final Fight, marvel comics, Street Fighter
5 Comments »

Happy New Year and Happy Year of the Rabbit! I’ve spent most January 2023 working on a line art commission that you’ll see some time this year (it was teased by the author last year, but I can’t show it yet), so this update is a bit lighter than the usual First Update of the Year, but at least it has variety.

Custom Sprites:
– Street Fighter: new Cammy SSF2 win pose, updated her other win pose sprite to match better with the others.
– Marvel Comics: the Enchantress
– DC Comics: the Rabbit enemy from Taito’s Superman arcade game
– Illmosis Network – ScrollBoss: Vonetta “Vernacula” Paige gets a new sprite, a slightly modified outfit, a satchel and a last name in an all-new sprite!

All of these sprites are tied to things I plan to work on throughout the year, including a rabbit theme to celebrate the year.

Vernacula-X Glossary: Vonetta, mascot of the Info Center area of the site, threatened suggested I also work a bit on that part of the site, so I updated amazon (updated the main pic), Beat ‘Em Up (added info, main pic borrows the main menu “Brawlstreet” banner for now), Versus Mode (added more info and main pic) and minor updates to other entries.

Image Generators: All new custom sprites were added, and the following screen styles were updated…
– Vs 3v3 scene 384×224: 12 more Vs. graphics from different games were added.

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My newest game-related action figure is the Marvel Legends Capcom-style War Machine (not that they mention Capcom, but we know the deal). The Iron Man sculpt it’s based on was already proven solid twice in the standard red and gold release and the special flat red and yellow PROTON CANNON edition from last year. The spark effects, also used in that Proton Cannon IM, are still great, but you’ll probably have to heat up the rubbery plastic of the biggest spark to bend it back into shape. What makes this version really sing is the use of metallic paints and plastics to mimic the sprite’s look. I’m not a fan of factory-done painted-on cel shading for action figures, 97 times out of 100 it just works against the sculpt work and only looks good if you have light coming from a specific direction (if it ever looks right). But this figure looks really close to the sprite when it’s hit with enough light, mimicking the car paint finish found in the sprites.

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Ever wonder what would happen if Captain N: the Game Master had its own Netflix monkey paw-grasped revival? Friend of the site Channel 905 a take on that (and a few other things) in this video!

The lavishly animated 2.5 pixel art platformer Slave Zero X has a demo on Steam now!

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Okay… I’m going to try and take a break again. A real one this time. Besides getting rest, I’ve got some new programs to learn, and maybe I’ll even take enough time to play a game again. I’ll be back at some point between late February and early March, but there may be some small updates before that.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: dc comics, marvel comics, Street Fighter, Superman
2 Comments »

It’s time to wrap-up this year of updates in the usual way: content based on toys from the eighties and some unfinished business!

Custom Sprites:
– G.I.JOE: Wild Bill, B.A.T.s
– Thundercats: Mumm-Ra
– Toys and Cartoons:B.P. Vess (C.O.P.S., all-new sprites), Miles Mayhem (M.A.S.K.)
– Double Dragon: the alley cat from arcade version of Mission 1, NES design Billy and Jimmy Lee
– DC Comics: Stargirl (yes, I’m going to miss that show)

Mini-Logos: Venom (from Kenner’s M.A.S.K.) added to Toys and Stargirl added to DC Comics

All new custom sprites and mini-logos have been added to the image generators. The main “Fighter-size” generator now an 80s action figure toy aisle in the Group, Vs. and MvC ending screenstyles. It’s still a work in progress, because I spent more time searching for image and scale reference than I did working on it so far. This version’s toys are mainly centered around 1985, the last year the first wave of Transformers were still being made. I’ll continue to update this in the future, and possibly add more versions and years (like a late-eighties version with a big TMNT section) if enough people want to see that. BTW: some of the most helpful reference pics were from this post on 20th Century Toy Collector, because I was able to see how some boxes from different lines of the era scaled next to each other.

ToyBoss: My custom New X-Men/classic Cyclops Marvel Legends figure is done enough to show, so I finally… FINALLY… have a full Konami X-Men playable character roster in 1:12 scale. I’d have had this roster (and others) finished earlier if I didn’t have to practically restart my Marvel Legends collection in 2020. I also added an updated shot of the Red Skull’s crew in Data East’s Captain America and the Avengers to show I’ve got the Controller in there.

Speaking of toys, a lot of my 2023 figure hype is aimed at Jada Toys’ Street Fighter and Mega Man action figure lines. Three figure in each wave and all at a price point that won’t K.O. your wallet, and they’ll fit in with 6-inch/1:12 scale figures, so they’ll be part of my Marvel vs. Capcom set-ups. All the little details, like the Hadoken having hands molded in like the old sprites and one of the two optional heads being based on the Super Street Fighter II Vs. portraits (still some of the best art of those characters), I’m definitely hype for these. Check out this Fwooshcast episode that drops info on these and the other figure lines Jada is working on right now:

Storm Collectables is still putting out Street Fighters, though their figures seem to be in a slightly larger scale than Marvel Legends and closer to Mattel’s Masterverse and McFarlane Toys. It’s great to have options with these and I hope both companies get into more classic video game lines.

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It’s time for me to thank everyone who has visited the site this year, and I’m giving a really big thank you to those who commented here, by e-mail (yes, some people do!), and on social media. There are times when my day job has worn me out and I don’t have a lot of energy to do anything when I get home, but things like your feedback, seeing pics you made in the image generators, being surprised when the pixel minilogos pop up in fan projects, and things like that refill my energy again. Take care and see you in 2023!

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Captain America and the Avengers, dc comics, Double Dragon, g.i. joe, M.A.S.K., marvel comics, thundercats, X-Men
8 Comments »

My commission work is done (for now), so it’s time for a site update!

Custom Sprites:
– Marvel Comics: a do-over of my Doctor Strange Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 stance sprite and an all-new Scarlet Witch sprite
– DC Comics: Doctor Fate
– Sonic Blast Man: an all-new Sonic Blast Man sprite in the same pose as my old edit

Looks like a bunch of magicians and some hero pulled out of an unexpected version of reality. Hmmm…

Mini-logos: Dr. Fate added to DC Comics

All new sprites added to the site’s image generator, and so has a new Marvel Legends 20th Anniversary package tribute. Oddly enough, while the only one I have (so far) is Cap, I made a pixel version of Iron Man’s figure stand background. Don’t worry, there are also options to use backgrounds from various Marvel games by Capcom and a few that I’ve made. This ML card is MOSTLY finished, there’s another thing that’d require modding the whole engine to do, so that’ll have to wait for another day.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: marvel comics, Sonic Blast Man
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Custom Portraits:
– X-Men:Children of the Atom: Bishop and Scarlet Witch
– Marvel Super Heroes: Storm

All three portraits have also been added to the main image generator, X-Men CotA Vs. and MSH Vs. Screen generators.

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I’ve just started working on some pixel art commissions, so I’ll be very busy for a while. I’m not sure when I’ll be done and have enough time for site updates, but I’ll be back as soon as possible. There’s some new video stuff in the works, to the point where I’ve made pixel remakes of some old-school TV overlay fonts:

Other plans (besides sprites) include a frequently asked questions video (because people have been asking more questions), some new screen layouts for the Image Generators, and a ToyBoss section update.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: marvel comics
2 Comments »

Couldn’t let Black History Month end without an update like this, so let’s get into it!

Custom Sprites:
– Sega: B.D. Joe
– DC Comics: Nubia (original armor)
– Marvel Comics: Bishop
They weren’t alone, as new sprites of Balrog (Street Fighter) and Doc (G.I.JOE) were added to the gallery earlier in the month!

Mini-logos:
– Sega: B.D. Joe
– DC Comics: Nubia
– Marvel Comics: Bishop (1994)

These new sprites and mini-logos have been added to the GFX Generator, where you can make pics like the one at the top of this post!

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Crazy Taxi, dc comics, marvel comics
Comments Off on Black History Month 2022

The first update of 2022 is here!

– Magic Sword: new scratch-made sprite of Alan/the Brave One (player one)
– Tomb Raider: new v.1 Lara Croft sprite
– Shantae:new Shantae sprite
– Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy Rose (classic)
– Illmosis: new Nutroll taunt sprite and improved fight stance sprite and the first Beans vs. Cornbread character sprite: Al1mighty Grandmaster Wizard!
– Marvel Comics: the Vision (arms folded, white rebooted design)
– DC Comics: Fire/Green Flame sprite

all new customs sprites added to Image Generators.

Also, a quick little video showing of the new sprites (including a few with eye blink animations), a display of all the X-Men sprites I’ve done so far, and a little bit more of something I’ve been posting teasers of since last year.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Beans vs. Cornbread, dc comics, Illmosis, Magic Sword, marvel comics, Shantae, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tomb Raider
2 Comments »

Custom Sprites: Finally, every character in the Marvel and DC gallery that only had a sprite edit based on a Capcom fighting game sprite now has a sprite I made from scratch. I’ve been working toward this goal on the side for a while, but I just decided to clear them all out before 2021 ended. Some of these new sprites are exact or close replacements for the old poses, but not all of them. The edits for those characters who weren’t originally in the games will be removed from the Image Generators.
– Megaman: Megaman classic – redid the Rockman 1 title screen pose from scratch, Elecman (NES stance), Dr. Wily, and (by popular demand) Yellow Devil
– Run Saber (new separate gallery): Allen and Sheena, new scratch-made idle sprites
– DC Comics: Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Red Tornado, Green Lanterns Guy Gardner, Arisia, Katma Tui, Kilowog, and a new Justice League group sprite with the Brave and the Bold #28 line-up.
– Marvel Comics: Archangel, Havok, Professor X, Psylocke, Rogue, X-23, Doctor Octopus, the Lizard, and new group sprites of the Avengers (issue #1) and the X-Men (Konami beat ’em up playable roster)
– Masters of the Universe: new Skeletor sprite (with Havok Staff)
– G.I.JOE: all-new scratch-made Quick Kick

Mini-Logos:
– Atlus: Run Saber
– Marvel Comics: Archangel, Professor X
– DC Comics: Blue Beetle, Red Tornado

ToyBoss: Added a page for my first custom figure in FIFTEEN YEARS and first custom Marvel Legend has been added to the page, the Red Skull in his business suit (as seen in Data East’s Captain America and the Avengers)!

All sprites (except for the group sprites) have been added to the image generators, along with:
– the Comic Book arcade background being added to the main generator (Group, Vs., MvC Ending, Comic 88×136, Boxes).

Last, but definitely not least, there’s a Wrap-Up video on the ScrollBoss YouTube channel! The vid is a mix of clips from my 2021 videos (the Superhero Showcade with Iron Man and Batman, Beat ‘Em Up Showcade 2021, DangerTerrorHorrorThon, and more), a few updated clips (The Gotham villain scroll no longer has Bane in it), and some all-new clips, including some with the sprites in today’s update:

It’s been a tiring year (online and off), so I’m going to get some rest for a while. Thank you for coming through, I hope you have a great remainder of 2021, and I’ll see you on the other side of New Year’s Eve!

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: dc comics, g.i. joe, marvel comics, Masters of the Universe, Mega Man, Run Saber, video, X-Men
5 Comments »

Custom Sprites:
– Metroid: Samus Aran (Metroid Dread) and Kraid (Super Metroid design, NES-ish height) added
– Marvel Comics: Living Laser scratch-made sprite added
Extra notes:
1.) I added the Comic Books hub to the bottom of any comic book-related pages, just to make it easier.
2.) Living Laser replaces the last of my old Marvel Villain sprite edits made from Capcom sprites. I cleared the DC Comics villains last year, so now it’s down to getting scratch-made sprites to replace the last of the heroes, with six for Marvel and six for DC. I’ve got line art drawn for a few of them, so finishing them up will be one of my 2022 side-missions.

Mini-logos: Grim Reaper (who got a new sprite a few weeks ago) and Living Laser get new mini-logos in the Marvel gallery

Anyway, all new sprites and mini-logos were also added to the main image generator, where I made the image at the top of this post

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I’m currently doing some paid pixel art work right now (commissions aren’t open again, this was set-up long in advance), so the things here will be slow for a bit.

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With social media still going downhill and the likelihood that Web 3.0 will be built to shut out more people than it’ll let in (and even more likely to exploit people as much as possible), I find myself being more grateful to see the independent sites updating.

Dire has been working up a storm over at both the West Mansion Splatterhouse shrine and the OPFCG blog. It’s more than adding things to the sites (and there’s a lot of newness in West Mansion), but talking about things like his revived Turbografx-16 collection, finding his Metal Slug fan site in the Internet Archive, and more.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: marvel comics, Metroid
2 Comments »