Celebrating forty years of the maze-maneuvering, dot-gobbling, ghost evading and chasing magic known as Pac-Man!

Custom Sprites – Pac-Man: New sprites of Pac-Man (Midway marquee, Super Pac-Man, Pac-Mania pose), Baby Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, USA Pac-Man marquee ghost, Kinky (Pac-Man Arrangement)

Mini-logos (Namco): Pac-Man (redid the USA marquee), Baby Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Pac-Jr.

All new sprites and mini-logos have been added to the GFX Generators, where Pac-Man also got a new portrait drawn by me and colored to fit in with the Marvel Super Heroes Vs. portraits. Also added to the Box Tributes in the main generator was a red-top NES Namco overlay.

No description of the 80s Pac-Man craze that you’ll read or hear really does it justice. Starting forty years ago today in Japan (originally known as Puck-Man), Pac-Man’s existence wasn’t just the start of a maze craze or a cementing of video games as more than a fad, but an enduring game style of game play still being used today and the hook of cute characters who never completely left the public consciousness. I saw this unfold when I was a kid and I’ve never seen anything like it since. Figurines (kinda tough to make a poseable Pac-Man with those skinny legs), the sticker/scratch card/bubble gum packs, a Saturday morning cartoon, lunchboxes, breakfast cereal (couldn’t be an eighties icon without your own cereal), Buckner and Garcia’s hit “Pac-Man Fever” album (and electro fans know about the original “Pak Man” version of Jonzun Crew’s joint “Pack Jam”), bath towels, mini-gumball machines, board games, vitamins and more merch than you can imagine. Even the news outlets who mocked the phenomenon as a fad eventually started using Pac-graphics to talk about serious news stories. The recent announcement of a new Twitch-based “Pac-Man Live Studio” game with customizable mazes is just another sign that the legend still has some lives left.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Baby Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Super Pac-Man
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New sprites of Pac-Man, the original four ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky & Clyde), Sue and Miru (from Pac & Pal) have been added to the new Pac-Man custom sprite gallery and the GFX Generators. The new Pac-Man gallery also has the animated scenes I posted on Friday, Pac-Man’s 35th anniversary. The Generators (the ones that use fighting game-style sprites) also have a new scratch-made background based on the Pac-Family home from Pac-Land and the Group 384×244 variable pic now has the 16×16 font from Namco Classics Collection vol 2 that looks like a bigger version of Namco’s classic font.

BTW: Ms. Pac-Man got a new sprite in the Mother’s Day update, so don’t feel that she was neglected this time!

edit 2015-05-25: Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are now ready to enter a different kind of brawl…

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: gfx generators, Pac-Man
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BREAKIN’ NEWS

First of all, Happy 35th Anniversary to Pac-Man! Here’s some new scratch-made animations to celebrate

This site concentrates more on platformers and beat-em-ups, but I don’t know if my love for video games would be as strong as it is without the case of Pac-Man Fever I caught back in the 80s. Many articles about video game history fudge the details a lot, but I don’t think any of them oversold how popular that game was. Before there was any hand-wringing about how to make video games “grow up,” Pac-Man was being played by people of all ages

Steam has knocked 75% off the price of PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX+ (and its DLC) for the anniversary, so jump on that sale while it’s still blue!

Expect a site update this weekend with new Pac-related sprites and a new background!

Combat Core has returned to Kickstarter! This 3-D arena brawler doesn’t plan to half-step one bit!

The WIP from MABManZ has new voice work and beautiful artwork by Robaato. The Alpha build already shows how much fun this game is going to be and it’s only going to get better. A Power Stone-like game with character customization? I CAN FEEL IT. Hit the Kickstarter page to download a playable alpha build of the game and give if you can!

Arcade Quartermaster just dropped a Dinosaurs vs. Ninjas update with new shrines for Jurassic Park, The Legend of Kage, The Ninja Kids and The Ninja Warriors! A lot of hard work goes into those shrines, so be sure to let Shadi know which shrines are your favorites!

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Arcade Quartermaster, Combat Core, Pac-Man
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GFX Generators – Now that the sprites and palette selections are on different pages, I’ll be adding more of both to a few characters in this and future small updates. As a back-up to the Bravoman update, the full “Bravoman X Wonder Momo” cover set-up and logo was added to the “Comics 88×136 pixels” style.
Capcom: Cammy (sprite and SFA3 palettes), Chun-Li (3 SFA-Classic sprites, 14 redone palettes), Dhalsim (sprite and SFA3 & MSHvsSF palettes), Ken (2 SFA-set sprites and palettes), M.Bison (6 SFA-set sprites added, palettes expanded)
Namco: Bravoman (Bravo Black palette added), Chomp Chomp added
Marvel: Gambit (new palette), Psylocke (sprites & palettes), Super-Skrull (4 new sprites)

Custom Sprites – Four new Super-Skrull variations (Thing fist, Fantastic fist, Torch arms and 4 powers at the same time) were added to the Marvel page. Chomp Chomp, Pac-Man’s dog, was added to the Namco page.

I’m going to be at the All AmeriCon convention in Warren, Ohio on July 7th. I made a Tumblr post about it here with more info and the Facebook (sorry) page for the event is here. Updates will be small until then because I need to get ready for this along with getting another website up and running. The next big update will be on July 19th, this website’s birthday. This site also has its own Twitter account now and you can keep up with updates from that, this site’s WP RSS feed or the site’s Tumblr that I linked to earlier.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Capcom, gfx generators, Marvel, Namco, Pac-Man, Street Fighter
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Pac-Man debuted in Japan on this day in 1980 and changed the world of video games. I’m old enough to have been alive and gaming when that coin-op machine hit the U.S. later that year and transmitted Pac-Man Fever to the point that even my grandmother liked the game. While those who tout story over gameplay still claim that gaming is still waiting for its “Wizard of Oz” moment, I’d argue that the way parents introduce their young’uns to the dot-eating hero has become just as much of a tradition as being off to see the Wizard.

To celebrate, I made a quick little sprite of Chomp-Chomp, the Pac-family dog as he appeared in the Ruby-Spears cartoon that went on to inspire later official Pac-games. He’ll be added to the GFX Generators in the small site update later this week.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Namco, Pac-Man
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This update is 100% old-school with games from 1985 and earlier. This is the second such update after the one in February with Pooka, Ms. Pac-Man and others. Oddly enough, that was before I even knew that Wreck-It Ralph even existed. Thanks to delays due to commissions and other projects, this update was pushed back to the month that the movie hit theaters. In other words, this is a really good time to celebrate the title and characters that built the foundation of video games. Besides, this site really needs more content from this era.

GFX Generators
New characters: Berzerk (Evil Otto and Robot), Centipede, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Dig Dug, Flashgal, Frogger (and Lady Frog), Fygar, H.E.R.O., Kangaroo, Luigi, Mr. Do, Pitfall Harry, Q-Bert, the Wizard of Wor.
Updated: Ghost Monsters (Gloved sprite, new palettes), Mario (new sprites & palettes), Pac-Man (two new sprites), Pooka (new palettes), Space Invaders (new palettes)
New backgrounds: A few new backgrounds were added to Create-a-scene, box tribute and Avatar 100×100 options, but the most important is the scratch-made arcade scene.
Updated screenstyles: Silver Atari 2600 box added to Box Tributes in the GroupShot. Ninja Warriors (arcade) 16×16 font added to the “Create-a-Scene 384×224 + text” in the GroupShot generator mainly because it looks like a big version of the typical font for old games.

Custom Sprites – The following galleries were updated:
Activision: H.E.R.O. and new Pitfall Harry sprite
Atari: Centipede
Data East: BurgerTime’s Peter Pepper
IREM: Mr. X from Kung-Fu Master
Konami: new sprites of Frogger and Lady Frog
Namco: New sprites added of Dig Dug, Fygar, Pac-Man and the Ghost Monsters
Nintendo: Donkey Kong, Donkey Junior, Mario and Luigi sprites
Sega: Pengo and Flashgal
Taito: Space Invader (cabinet art version)
Universal: Mr. Do

Mini-logos: Berzerk, Burgertime, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Frogger, H.E.R.O., Kangaroo, Lady Bug, Mr. Do!, Pengo (in-game), Pitfall, Puckman, Stern, Sunsoft, Q*Bert, Universal, Wizard of Wor.

This really brought back some good, old memories, like the days when I’d go to Lawson’s to buy comics and candy after playing the Star Castle or Mario Bros. coin-op machine. There will be at least one more update like this (though not as big) like this in 2013 to help fix the balance of 70’s-early 80’s material on this site, but I plan to mix in more classic material like this into future updates.

December will have one more themed update to pay tribute to some 1987 games celebrating their 25th anniversaries. There will probably be a small update or two with random stuff in them, too. Be sure to stop by the Illmosis site to see new art projects and pixel art gallery pages with those “work progress” animations that show some of the things I did to make the sprites. Enjoy the update and the rest of your extended play weekend!

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Berzerk, BurgerTime, Centipede, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Flashgal, Frogger, gfx generators, H.E.R.O., Kangaroo, Kung-Fu Master, Lady Bug, Mario Bros., Mr. Do, Pac-Man, Pitfall!, Q-Bert, Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros., Wizard of Wor
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Sorry for the small update, but it’s going to be like this for a while as I work on commission art projects and all the other crap you hear me rambling about. The commission job is a piece of cartoony artwork and that’s one of the reasons why most of the new sprites share a common theme.

Graphic Generators

New Characters: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Ghost Monsters and Pooka for Namco. Space Invaders for Taito.
Updated Characters: Thanos (sprites)

GroupShot – 160×192 Box tributes (“Red Top” NES and Tengen NES game boxes added along with some Pac-related backgrounds)

Custom Sprites – Ms. Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde, Sue and Pooka (all scratch-made) added to the Namco page.

Mini-logos

This is the biggest custom mini-logo update I’ve ever done. I typed up a big breakdown of new logos, including the numerous company-based logos, but that draft got lost. I’m not typing all of that again so look at the big preview pic. The preview pic doesn’t even show all the variations of the logos like the flat Sega logo, darker SF logo, and more.

BTW: A few of these mini-logos were made because people replied in the Request Line topic I posted last year. It took me a while to get to them, but they still, as R-Truth would say, got got.

Sprites – Bad Dudes page updated with new sprites, animations and a fixed version of Blade’s charge-up animation.

Minus World – I updated the Bootleg Wrestlers page with a Animal’s LOD-like taunt from Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Dig Dug, mini-logos, Namco, Pac-Man
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