Where the toys are 2018

Custom Sprites: Roxy and Stormer make mischief on the outrageously new Jem gallery page, a new scratch-made sprite of Roadblock (v.1) joins the G.I.JOE page, Man-at-Arms finally appears on the Masters of the Universe page and Buttons McBoomBoom tries to steal the show on the Toys ‘n Toons hub page.

All of this has been added to the GFX Generator, where you’ll find a new “2018 Deadpool” option for the Marvel Legends box and (finally) word balloon options for the Kenner Super Powers tribute!

Keep an eye out for this year’s “Unfinished Business” update, which will drop before 2018 comes to a close.
“Why, is there going to be something special about it?”


There’s your answer.

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Karnovember + Heavy Burger

In honor of today’s food comas, today’s small update shows appreciation for characters who serve up food and induce comas! Besides observing Karnovember, this update also gives thanks to Heavy Burger, the new top-down shooter that combines many of Data East’s greatest hits in a bizarre way that befits the company’s weird, wonderful legacy.

Custom Sprites:
Data East
Karate Champ (new separate gallery)
Karnov (new separate gallery)

All new sprites have been added to the main image generator, which also gained a new Karnov NES box overlay for the “Boxes, Flyer & Posters 160×192” screenstyle!

Also, all prints in the ScrollBoss shop and the main Illmosis site are on sale until November 27th! 8×10 and 8×11 prints are $4.00 each, 11 x 17/11 x 14 prints $8.00 each!

Cover artist extraordinaire Rusty Shackles is having a huge print sale, too, including some pics that will be retired after this, so get ’em while you can!

(added 2018/11/23)
Serpent Systems has free shipping for those 1/18th scale (3.75-4 inch figures like small G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Marvel Universe) diorama arcade machines and dio parts.

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DangerTerrorHorrorThon Halloween 2018 wrap-up

The DangerTerrorHorrorThon is finally done, and it’s time for the wrap-up post (and a few extras):

Custom Sprites

Altered Beast: Werewolf (new pose), Neff, Aggar (flying head and whole Aggar), Chicken Stinger
Splatterhouse: Rick Taylor (new pose), Jennifer Willis, Evil Cross & Nightmare, Biggy Man, Nobu
Castlevania: Alucard, Queen Medusa, Sonia Belmont
Gauntlet: Demon
Ghosts ‘n Goblins series: Red Arremer/Firebrand
Mario Series: Boo
Zombies Ate My Neighbors: Stanley Decker
Illmosis/ScrollBoss: Ghost
the Horror gallery:
– Halloween: Michael Myers/The Shape (sheet disguise), Dr. Loomis, Jamie Lloyd, and, added today, an improved version of my 2016 Laurie Strode sprite
– Phantasm: the Tall Man (new version of blade-bearing spheres), Mike
– WNUF: Frank Stewart

Mini-logos: Sonia (Castlevania) added to Konami gallery, Carrie and Phantasm (Remastered) added to movie gallery.

All of these things were added to the GFX Generator, along with that new ominous arcade background.

The horror print (available on the shop page) made a cameo in a Destructoid article about some spooky Nintendo Switch games! Mad thanks to Jonathan Holmes for both buying a print and spreading the word! By the way, if you think the reshading job I did for the Laurie sprite looks like the horror print, well, we’ll have to save that conversation for a later date.

Hardcore Gaming 101 just released a new digest called The Guide to Retro Horror. The book includes material by Rob Strangman, creator of the legendary West Mansion Splatterhouse fan site and artwork by the always-fresh Rusty Shackles.

VGJunk has been on a roll with a wide variety of horror and monster game reviews throughout October, including Splatterhouse 3!

Arcade Quartermaster added new shrines, including Konami’s Haunted Castle, a game that’s considered scary for all the wrong reasons, and, to kick off Karnovember in the right way, the original arcade version of Karnov!

The movie became an instant favorite of mine when I saw it on Shudder long ago and I’m proud to own it on DVD (no VHS version for me… yet). There’s currently a GoFundMe campaign to get a sequel made! Consider helping out and supporting independent filmmaking if you can afford it!

Eddie in the City is having a sale on some cute, horror-themed miniatures, including a few game characters you’ll recognize if you’ve been following the HorrorThon!

This shmuplations.com translation of a 1988 interview with the Splatterhouse arcade team is right on time for the spooky season and full of interesting tidbits about the game’s creation.

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DangerTerrorHorrorThon Halloween 2018, pt. 3

Custom Sprites: The following sprites have been added to the Horror gallery:
Halloween: Michael Myers/The Shape (sheet disguise), Dr. Loomis, Jamie Lloyd
Phantasm: the Tall Man, Mike
WNUF: Frank Stewart

All of these things were added to the GFX Generator, even though Aggar is too tall for everything.

“Who is Frank Stewart?” He’s the host for the WNUF Halloween Special, a horror film that starts as the kind of local TV Halloween production that you’d see back in the eighties (and was made to look like it) until things begin to go horribly awry. Is it real? Is it a hoax?

The movie became an instant favorite of mine when I saw it on Shudder long ago and I’m proud to own it on DVD (no VHS version for me… yet). There’s currently a GoFundMe campaign to get a sequel made! Consider helping out and supporting independent filmmaking if you can afford it!

Eddie in the City is having a sale on some cute, horror-themed miniatures, including a few game characters you’ll recognize if you’ve been following the HorrorThon!

This shmuplations.com translation of a 1988 interview with the Splatterhouse arcade team is right on time for the spooky season and full of interesting tidbits about the game’s creation.

Speaking of Splatterhouse, VGJunk saved a great game review choice for Halloween: Splatterhouse 3!

October may end ad midnight tonight, but the DangerTerrorHorrorThon wrap-up is tomorrow!

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DangerTerrorHorrorThon Halloween 2018, pt. 2

Yesterday’s HorrorThon update was a haul of assorted candies, but this update moves with a sinister purpose.

30 years ago, arcades around the world were haunted by the twin horrors of Sega’s Altered Beast and Namco’s Splatterhouse. Both games come from the single-plane branch of the beat ’em up family tree, making this even more fitting for a double feature. Not only that, but these brawlers allow you to become the monster instead of just fighting them.

Altered Beast: Werewolf (new pose), Neff, Aggar (flying head and whole Aggar), Chicken Stinger
Splatterhouse: Rick Taylor (new pose), Jennifer Willis, Evil Cross & Nightmare, Biggy Man, Nobu

All of these things were added to the GFX Generator, even though Aggar is too tall for everything.

In case you haven’t heard, Hardcore Gaming 101 just released a new digest called The Guide to Retro Horror. The book includes material by Rob Strangman, creator of the legendary West Mansion Splatterhouse fan site (seriously, which other writer would you get to talk about Splatterhouse?) and artwork by the always-fresh Rusty Shackles (who ALWAYS gets characters of different tones and official art styles to work just right in his own drawing style).

Once again, VGJunk has been on a roll with a wide variety of horror and monster game reviews throughout October. You’ll find new games to try and others to probably avoid. VGJunk suffers the bad games for the people.

Arcade Quartermaster added new shrines, including Konami’s Haunted Castle, a game that’s considered scary for all the wrong reasons.

The DangerTerrorHorrorThon and Halloween. What could go wrong? Find out tomorrow!

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DangerTerrorHorrorThon Halloween 2018, pt. 1

The DangerTerrorHorrorThon is back!

Custom Sprites
Castlevania: Alucard, Queen Medusa, Sonia Belmont
Gauntlet: Demon
Ghosts ‘n Goblins series: Red Arremer/Firebrand
Mario Series: Boo
Zombies Ate My Neighbors: Stanley Decker
Illmosis/ScrollBoss: Ghost

All of these things were added to the GFX Generator, along with that new ominous arcade background!

The horror print made a cameo in a Destructoid article about some spooky Nintendo Switch games! Mad thanks to Jonathan Holmes for both buying a print and spreading the word!

In tomorrow’s installment of the Horrorthon, we celebrate 30 years of two gross, monster-filled arcade classics. When you rise from your grave tomorrow, put on your terror mask and come back for more gore than you bargained for. One of the new sprites is so large that it can’t fit in the GFX Generator screenshots!

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Beat ‘Em Update: Bad Dudes 30th Anniversary and more

The Beat ‘Em Up genre is really proving its naysayers wrong this year. As someone running a fan site in honor of those games for almost 20 years, I thought this would be the perfect time to gloat celebrate this new wave of appreciate of digital side-scrolling brawlers. This site has seen beat ’em up-themed updates over the years, but I think I need to do more to rep the genre, so expect to see more updates like this in the future. Today’s newness is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Data East’s Bad Dudes, but you’ll find a 90’s brawler in her newest outfit, a character from a new beat ’em up, some superheroes, and some characters from Capcom’s Beat ‘Em Up Bundle!

Custom Sprite gallery updates:
– Bad Dudes: Blade and Striker (fight stance), Dragonninja, Mini, Kunoichi (finally got a good standing sprite!)
– Captain Commando (new separate gallery): Ninja Commando and Brenda & Carol
– Other Games (independent): Nikki Rage from Raging Justice
– Streets of Rage: Blaze Fielding (Streets of Rage 4)
– Marvel Comics: Spider-Man and Namor (both scratch-made and in their Spider-Man: the Video Game fight stances)


Reminder that the new Horror print is now in the shop!

Kickstarter alert: Bushinden: a combat platformer with beautiful pixel art!

Arcade Quartermaster just added three new shrines: Taito’s PU-LI-RU-LA, Data East’s WIZARD FIRE, and Athena’s CASTLE OF DRAGON!

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Horror vs. Horror 2 print and more

The “Horror vs. Horror 2” pixel art print is finally done and available for order!


The 17 x 11 inch print has been added to the shop page, along with the Iron Man (90s/Capcom sprite armor) pic I did earlier this year. There’s a list of character select cameos on my Illmosis art site, just so you can see how weird it gets!

There’s been a ton of beat ’em up news this entire year and I’ve been trying to build a big update themed around this site’s favorite genre. But the hits just keep coming! Between the last site update and this one, the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle (a.k.a. Capcom Belt Action Collection) was both announced and released (not for PC yet) and Sega shocked the world by declaring the return of the Streets of Rage series with part 4. I’m still building a beat ’em update, but here’s a few things to get things rolling before then:

Sprites: Double Dragon (some Double Dragon Advance)

Mini-logos: Battle Circuit added to Capcom gallery.

Vernacula-X: The main page gets another upgrade (finally, proper separate pages for each letter), all terms now have full pages, a few have been rewritten, and a few new terms (character level, crowd control, drone, gamer, mega crash) have been added.

Game Index additions: Battle Circuit, Knights of the Round, Ninja Combat

That’s all the site newness I’ve got for today, but here’s a few previews of some sprites you’ll see in the upcoming Beat ‘Em Update:

Fight’N Rage, one of the best recent arcade-style beat ’em ups to hit the pixelated streets, is having a half price sale until September 24th in honor of its first anniversary (September 19th)! The game is high quality and a steal at that price!

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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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18th Anniversary

18 years ago, I started this site with at the public library with Tripod’s free site builder, screenshots from the PC version of Sega’s Smash Pack (made on a friend’s computer, didn’t even have my own PC yet), and a bunch of tips and tricks I’d scrawled in a notebook. Seemed like it’d be a fun thing to do on the internet. Multiple hosting moves and weird ideas later.

The theme of today’s update is… every theme, including the lack of a theme. Characters from games, a few from comics, some 1989 icons (to rep the Revenge of 1989), an obvious crossover face-off (outside of Crossup Beatdown), a horror villain (before October’s DangerTerrorHorrorThon), an eighties cartoon character (before the usual Toy and Cartoon update near Christmas), a new original character for the site and the return of a character born in the long defunct Minus World section. It’s like a Whitman’s chocolate assortment of this site’s usual habits, so here’s the map that lets you avoid that one weird cream candy that makes you scrunch up in the face.

Custom Sprite additions
– Bomberman: all-new Bomberman action pose
– Final Fight: Cody (Street Fighter V stance)
– Megaman: Bombman
– Shinobi series: Joe Musashi (Revenge of Shinobi title screen)
– Sonic the Hedgehog: Knuckles the Echidna (classic)
– Konami: Cyber Ninja (Metal Gear Solid)
– Toaplan: the Snow Bros. Nick & Tom
– DC Comics: Harley Quinn
– Marvel Comics: Beast and Hawkeye
– Toys and ‘Toons: Cheetara of the Thundercats (1980s)
– Horror: Pamela Voorhees new (and better) sprite
– Illmosis/ScrollBoss: Endless Duck and Maddie Tenay (ScrollBoss mascot from the upcoming movie section)

All new sprites have been added to the main GFX Generator where you can make your own pics and fake screenshots! Other things added to the generators today:
– characters added: KoF Sports team added, Mojo (Marvel)
– characters updated: Mai Shiranui

While I’m at it, all prints on the site are on sale until the end of the month!


all 8 x 10/ 8.5 x 11 on the site are now $4!


11×17 inch prints are $8!

That’s the main part of the update. Some small preview additions to the Vs. Horror pt. 2 pixel print, an unfinished promo video and a thank you message are behind the cut. So, if you don’t read that, I’ll put an extra “Thank you” here to let you know that you’re appreciated!
(more…)

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