20th Anniversary: poll arcade and Boss Rush mode

Time to wrap things up the way some classic games used to do: with a Boss Rush Mode!

Custom Sprites: new sprites (and new galleries) include…
– Double Dragon: Willy (all-new, better than that last one I made)
– Streets of Rage: Shiva (classic design)
– Strider: improved Ton Pooh (and sisters) sprites (especially the head) + 2 new sprites: pose based on a Strider bosses pic and a sprite in her NxC fight stance.
– Zelda series: Gannon (Link to the Past design).

That new arcade background, with quite a few machines that haven’t been in a background until, was made thanks to everyone who voted here (thanks, Eddie Mountaingoat), Twitter, and Instagram! Oddly enough, the 6-player X-Men and Alien vs. Predator machines were in that 2020 teaser preview, but this poll isn’t the reason why. I’ll have more arcade background news in the not-too-distant-future. It has been added to the Group, Vs., and MvC ending screen styles in the main image generator.

That’s all for the 20th anniversary updates, and I hope you’ve had fun checking them out, watching the videos, and playing with the new sprites in the generators. This would’ve been on single update, but offline hassles sidelined me for over a week, so I’ve been using the extended posts to make more content for you. It wasn’t easy to hustle and get these extra things done, but if you had fun, it was all worth it. For everyone who was there since the early Angelfire-hosted days, for those who just found this mess of a site, and everyone in between, thanks for visiting!

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The Revenge of 1989 – 2018 edition and Horror vs. Horror 2 revelation

I’ve been working on a secret project (both pixel and drawn art) for someone else lately, but I couldn’t let this day pass without the Revenge of 1989 rising from its grave once again, even for a small update. The sprite count may not large, but most of the sprites are big enough to make up for it!

Custom Sprites:
– Double Dragon: Mysterious Warrior (DD2 NES)
– Golden Axe: a new Death Adder sprite
– Strider: a new Solo sprite

All new sprites have been added to the GFX Generators, where you can make your own graphics and fake screenshots like the one above!

I also made progress on the next Horror vs. Horror print. The new sprite of Jason Voorhees was shown a while back and you’ve seen previews of the select roster (everyone from the original print returns!), but now it’s time to show you a bigger hint of what’s coming your way. Let’s roll that hastily made promo vid.


Looks like we’ve ended up with more questions (and question marks) than answers. Stay tuned for more horror as it develops.

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The Revenge of 1989 – 2017 edition

The 8th month is in its 9th day, and that’s the day this site pays tribute to a year unlike any other year: 1989. That year was so packed that I dedicated a small section of the site to it in 2009, the 20th anniversary of so many of this site’s favorite games that I just put it all in one update. In 2014, the 25th anniversary, I spent nearly the whole year doing updates with nothing but 1989-related content, because doing updates filled with Final Fight, the Revenge of Shinobi, Strider, Golden Axe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kinda just looked like regular site updates here anyway. Now it’s a yearly thing here, where even non-game items from 1989 get in on the fun. Now we’ve got the info dump out of the way, let’s get on to what’s new to the site today!

Custom Sprites:
– Altered Beast (new gallery): redone Werewolf
– Bad Dudes (new gallery): Kunoichi
– Castlevania: Trevor f***ing Belmont
– Double Dragon: the annoying ninja from the NES version of Double Dragon II: the Revenge
– Final Fight: Abigail
– Jaleco: acrobat enemy from Astyanax (arcade)
– Mario series: Princess Daisy
– Mega Man (new gallery): Mega Man (scratch-made jump shot to match the MvC sprites), Heat Man, Wood Man, Bubble Man
– Sega: Ashra (Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle)
– Shinobi: redone Joe Musashi (RoS)
– Strider: redone Hiryu (all-new arcade sprite remake), Rascal
– Other games: Yuko (Valis series)
– Movies: the Joker (Jack Nicholson), Ah Jong and Li Ying (the Killer), Tina (Do the Right Thing)

Mini-Logos:
– Nintendo: Princess Daisy
– Telenet: Valis
– Human: Human, Fire Pro Wrestling: Combination Tag
– Spike Chunsoft: Spike Chunsoft
– Movies: the Killer (Hong Kong and English logos)

All the sprites and most of the logos have been added to the image generators so you can make your own fake screenshots and graphics. New to the main fighting-scale generator is a remake of the beginning of scene 2 from the arcade TMNT game.

Here’s a couple of reminders about recent games that just happen to be linked to 1989:

River City Ransom: Underground from Conatus Creative Inc., a revival of Technos’ English localization of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (1989), plays more like something fans like myself hope and dream for than something we’d actually get. It expands everything, from the combat system stats and storyline all the way down to lovingly crafted item descriptions., but adds enough of its own spark to make it feel fresh. Yes, it’s tough in the beginning, but so was the original River City Ransom when I played it, so their changing things up a bit actually makes it feel more like the first time of playing the old RCR than the hundredth. That’s not an easy magic trick to pull, but the crew at Conatus did it.

You’ve probably at least heard someone mention Fire Pro Wrestling World recently. and there’s a lot of reasons for it. Picking up where FPW Returns for PS2 (which I also own) left off means that it’s already deeper than any wrestling game you’ll find on the market now, even though it’s only in Early Access. It’s not your average wrestling game and takes a while to adjust to the timing-based play style, but search the internet and you’ll find enough info to help you get into the game. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know what kind of Edit Wrestlers I’ve made for it so far (nothing good enough to upload yet).

That wraps up this year’s Revenge of 1989. I know I didn’t get around to a lot of games (I’ve still got a few sketches that I didn’t have a chance to turn into sprites yet), so I apologize for any of your favorite games being left out. Maybe I’ll get to some of those others (like Alpha Denshi’s Gang Wars) next year.

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All Villains

Sometimes it feels like the forces of evil are growing in number and gathering strength. This update… probably won’t help to fight that feeling.

Golden Axe: New Heninger and improved Longmoan
Streets of Rage: New Donovan (SoR2) and improved Galsia (SoR1 and 2)
Strider: completely redone Ton Pooh, Sai Pooh and Pei Pooh sprites.
Kung-Fu Master: Gripper and Tom Tom

All of the new sprites have been added to the main GFX Generator, the image generator I used to make the screenshot at the top of this post!

Things will be be a bit slow while I continue to work on commissions and new line art for new prints. Prints are still on sale (my Illmosis site has more than game-related prints), but the sale will end next week. If you see something you like and have the money, pick it up while you can!

The All-AmeriCon convention hits Youngstown, Ohio’s Covelli Centre on July 8th and 9th! The special guest list is ridiculously solid (I based that Iron Man Hall of Armor background on the version that Bob Layton drew) and I’ll be in Artist’s Alley there! Come through, as I’ll be selling prints (including some small pixel art prints), sketching line art for sprites and I’ll have previews of pixel art that isn’t on the site yet


You can get more info at the Facebook page and these links here and here for the event!

edit: there’s an ad on YouTube now!

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2016 Wrap-up

Time to wrap it up, B!

Custom Sprites


(edit: I’m so tired that I didn’t even describe the new stuff)
– DC Comics: Supergirl’s 2nd new sprite this year (didn’t have time to sprite her t-shirt and skirt outfit version until after the toy update)
– Data East: a sprite of the Bad Dudes intro guy (an earlier version of the sprite was in the Mission Statement video) along with improved Blade and Striker sprites
– Capcom: slightly-better Ton Pooh (and sisters) sprites
All sprites have been added to the main image generator.

First of all, let’s see all of the sprites that hit the galleries this year:


That’s not even counting sprites that were just in videos, like Link and Zelda with Triforces…

… and other things that I’m saving for later (a few were teased in this post).

One of the biggest goals this year was the rewrite of the image generator engine. The hard work paid off in a lot of big (the looser layer format allows for far better screen set-ups) and small ways (those links on the frame menu work on every appropriate screen). 2016 was spent getting it to work, converting the old content to the new format and working on new behind-the-scene tools for the new formats. The 2017 goal will be to convert the other generators and show you how much more the new engine can do now.

I’m not the only one doing a 2016 wrap-up, so check out these other party people out there doing the same!
VGJunk “THE 2016 VGJUNK REVIEW!”
Shunju Forest: “End of year post 2016 edition”

Just in case you haven’t heard, Arc System Works has announced Double Dragon IV for Playstation 4 and PC/Steam.


Some people may see the NES-centric style as a step back, but those were the last games where the series had a serious grip on gamers’ hearts. It doesn’t hurt that they seem to be leaning heavily on the NES version of Double Dragon II, a fan favorite which also made it into the NES Classic Edition (if you managed to get one). I hope this game turns out to be the start of more Double Dragon games, maybe even Double Dragon Neon 2.

Heads-up: there’s a game dev bundle on Humble Bundle right now that you may want to check out, even if you’re just thinking of trying your hand at making a game. One of the programs at the basic pay level, Spriter Pro, has a lot of praise from pixel artists and I’ll finally have my own chance to work with it.

I’m tired of typing, so I made a video to look back at the promo vids for 2016, including some new and altered clips just for this video. There’s also… never mind, it’s better if you see it for yourself.


Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in mid-January 2017!

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Happy 30th Birthday, NES!

Game fans all over the internet are celebrating the #Happy30thNES event (thanks to PlatinumFungi) on their websites and on Twitter. Made to honor the 30th Anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the event is a chance for us to show and tell why we love that gray box of 8-bit magic. I’ve done my part by making 30 new NES-like sprites based on a few of my favorite NES games while using colors from the original sprites:

You can find the separate sprites (and an extra sprite that didn’t make the cut) in the new NES-like 32 gallery.

No offense to my Atari 2600 and ColecoVision, but the NES was the first system I owned that could play the kinds of games that inspired me to make this site. Platformers, beat ’em ups, run ‘n guns and similar genres really started to come into their own at that time and the Nintendo Entertainment System was one of the best ways to play those games at home. It’s the beginning of what I consider to be the sweet spot of action games becoming adventures while still being unashamed of being games. That’s probably why we still see new games using the look and feel of those NES classics and it’s definitely a big part of why many of us are celebrating its 30th anniversary today.

Help spread the word about the event if you can and feel free to talk about your own Nintendo favorites in the comments section!

Articles: I’ve had this page about Rob Strangman’s Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman book for a long time, but didn’t finish it until now. It’s made in the old, abandoned game review format because of a few jokes in the info section that I thought were funny at the time (sigh). As it says on the page, I’m probably a bit biased because I drew the cover, but I really dug that book and the voice it gives to various parts of the video game community. The article is here and I hope you give Rob’s book a chance!

Arcade Quartermaster’s latest batch of game shrines is monster-themed and features Night Slashers (one of my favorites), Kiki KaiKai (Taito’s original Pocky and Rocky game), Laser Ghost and Nightmare in the Dark.

You know, we’ve had a lot of fun here today, but it’s time to get serious. Dead serious.

Horror returns to ScrollBoss next week. Be there* and be scared.

(by “there” I mean “here.” Just making that clear.)

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The Revenge of 1989: Unfinished Business

As Blastermaster KRS-ONE once said, “We’re not done… we’re not done… we’re not done… check this out!”

Fake Screenshots: A new title screen based on a 1989 movie. I’m not telling you, so you’ll have to find out on your own.

Custom Sprites: The following new sprites were added
– Capcom: Strider Hiryu (arcade stand)
– Final Fight: new sprites of Mike Haggar and Belger along with improved Cody stare-down edits
– DC Comics: Batman (Michael Keaton style)
– Jaleco: the hero from Hachoo!
– Sega: Shadow Dancer (arcade) boss 3
– Golden Axe: new Gilius pose
– Then and now: Added the old and new Mike Haggar sprites for your amusement and disgust.

The Revenge of 1989: main page was updated with a few more images and more errors were fixed.

That’s all for 2014 and I hope you enjoyed this year’s updates. The custom sprite galleries grew with a lot of new pixel art, the GFX Generators swelled up even more (including new scratch-made backgrounds) and I was able to keep my promise of completing the original Mad Gear gang (including a scratch-made Damnd). The site will return to celebrating all years of platformers and beat ’em ups next year, but the Revenge of 1989 will return again in August. Have a Happy New Year and I’ll see you again in 2015!

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The Revenge of 1989 ultra-mega update

There’s no space for introductory yammering, only for the newness!

Custom Sprites –
– Atari: Thyra the Valkyrie, Merlin the Wizard (three versions of each) from Gauntlet
– Capcom: Amazons and Kuniang M.A. Team (Strider), Metal Man (Mega Man)
– Final Fight: brand new Two.P and J (fighting stances)
– Konami: Bayou Billy West
– Sega: Joe Musashi (new RoS fight stance), the evil amazons from Golden Axe (arcade and Genesis/Mega Drive versions)
– Taito: the Priest from Cadash
– Technos: Riki (Kunio-Kun series), Billy and Jimmy Lee (new scratch-made sprites)
– Games (other): Gogan from the Legendary Axe
– Toys & Cartoons: Captain N (!)
– TMNT: Bebop and Rocksteady

Mini-logos – Believe it or not, it’s another A-to-the-mothereffin’-Z mini-logo update with the entire alphabet representing!


– Atari: Thyra, Thor, Merlin and Questor
– Capcom: Hugo (USF4 style)
– Epyx: Epyx
– Kaneko: DJ Boy
– Konami: S.P.Y. Special Project Y, Ultra Games
– Marvel: X-Men, The Uncanny X-Men
– Movies: RoboCop
– Nintendo: Captain N
– Sega: Alex Kidd (High Tech World style), Yamato (Shinobi), Zeed
– SNK: Ikari III, the rescue, Guerrilla War
– Taito: Fighter (Cadash), Mage(Cadash), Ninja(Cadash), Priest (Cadash), Violence Fight
– Tecmo: Ninja Gaiden (NES box), Wild Fang
– Technos: Billy (Lee), Jimmy (Lee)
– Victor: Legendary Axe


GFX Generators – All those new sprites, characters and logos were added to the generators.
– Groupshot Generator: box 160×192 gets four new TurboGrafx-16 set-ups
– Backgrounds: Three Ultra Street Fighter IV backgrounds, one Double Dragon Neon background and a remake of Final Fight 1-1
– Updated characters: Poison (blue palette from Mighty Final Fight)

Minus World – the “Run, Woman, Run!” article was updated.

Game Index – added: the Adventures of Bayou Billy.

I hope that made up for the poot-butt, small updates from the past few months. There won’t be any updates this gigantic for a while, but this Revenge of 1989 theme still has some surprises in store. No promises, but there might be an additional update later this week, including tune-ups of earlier content and things I didn’t have time to work into this update.

“Hey, why are there Gauntlet characters in a 1989 update?” Besides the fact that there was a good port of Gauntlet 2 for the Commodore Amiga, there’s a new Gauntlet game coming out this month!

BTW: the Boy and his Pup Kickstarter is almost done, so help out if you can!

Edit (September 20, 2014) Besides making a few fixes here and there, the following things have been added:
– Mini-logos: Rolento (Ultra Street Fighter IV), Bebop and Rocksteady (TMNT Classics)
– Custom sprites: Kunio-kun (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari cover pose)
– GFX Generators – All new content was added to their characters in the generators, fixes were made to a few characters (Andore/Hugo, Thyra the Valkyrie), the Lee Brothers new palettes were improved to include Double Dragon 1 sets (with the gray boots) and the “Mego: WGSH” has three new “head bubble” sets.

Okay, that’s enough for now.

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The Return of the Revenge of 1989, part 1

I made a quick group of articles in late 2009 called, “The Revenge of 1989” to talk about game-related things of that year. 2009 was the 20th anniversary of that year and, even then, I was plotting to make sure I’d have something decent to show for the 25th anniversary. There will be multiple updates this year to do just that and this update starts with a revamp of the original articles and a little something extra.

Why am I celebrating this year so much? That video is only a hint at how many of the things this site celebrates just happened to have been made in 1989. So consider the next ten months a party as, from this day until December 31st, 2014, this site will try to give 1989 some long overdue respect. New articles will be added (including a series of awards), new sprites will be made of that year’s characters (I think it’s time I finally sprited the rest of the original Mad Gear gang) and more random crap that I can’t hint at. There will be still be non-1989 themed updates, but those games will be the focus of the year. Here are the other things you can find in this week’s update.

Custom Sprites – Kunio-Kun added to the Technos gallery. Grandmaster Meio added to the Capcom gallery. Raymond Broady (Crime City) added to the Taito gallery. Alex Kidd and Kasumi (the Revenge of Shinobi) added to the Sega gallery.

Game Index
– Added: Mega Man 2 (NES)
– Updated: Crime City (arcade)

Sprites – Crime Fighters gallery updated with a lot of sprites and a few minor animations.

Mini-logos – the Revenge of Shinobi added to Sega section, Crime City added to Taito section.

GFX Generators – Guy and Cody were updated with a few SFA sprites and sprite edits. Here’s how the new scratch-made sprites look.

Alex Kidd, Grandmaster Meio, Raymond Broady were added to the Vs. and Group generators, Kasumi’s sprite was added to the Zeed/Neo Zeed char slot and Kunio was updated with his new sprite. Check out the goofy thing I just added to the Vs. generator, though:


It’s the Janken battle stage from Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle. Now you can set up your own Rock-Paper-Scissors battles. I’ve made all three Janken poses for Alex Kidd, but you’ll have to use your own memory to figure out the other characters who, like Ken, have win poses similar to rock, paper or scissors.

That’s all for this update. While some of these updates might be far apart, know that some I’m putting extra time into this while working on some other neglected projects. Feel free to leave a comment about your own favorite video games from 1989.

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