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.)

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Batman, bionic commando, Castlevania, Contra, Double Dragon, Kid Icarus, Kirby, Kung-Fu Master, Mega Man, Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman, Metal Gear, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Nintendo Entertainment System, River City Ransom, Shatterhand, Strider, Super Mario Bros., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Guardian Legend, the Legend of Zelda, Wrecking Crew
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Here’s a little wake-up call to let you know that the site has been unpaused.

GFX Generators – The huge Capcom character section was split up into multiple areas to make things a bit more clear. More MSH backgrounds were added to most of the variable background screenstyles.
Capcom: Mega Man (added sprites), Rush (new), Roll (added sprites), Miechelle Heart (added MvsC sprite, new green palette)
Marvel: Doctor Doom (added sprites)

Sprite Rips – All 100 CD portraits from both Megaman & Bass (GBA) and Rockman & Forte (Super Famicom) are now in downloadable .ZIP files. Each is a separate .PNG and all have the same alignment according to where they are on the screen.

Game Index – Alien Syndrome (arcade), Contra (NES), Mega Man (NES), Shinobi (arcade), Xenophobe (arcade) added.

Game Logos – Alien Syndrome (arcade, including an animated one), Devil World (arcade, added to Dark Adventure section), Gun.Smoke (arcade and NES), Kung Fu Kid (SMS), Rainbow Islands (arcade), Rastan Saga (arcade), Solomon’s Key, Super Dodge Ball (arcade), Wardner (World and Japan arcade versions), Xenophobe (arcade) added.

Mini-Logos – Xenophobe added to Atari-Midway-Williams section.

There will be a small horror and monster-related update around Halloween.

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Alien Syndrome, Capcom, Contra, gfx generators, Konami, Legendary Wings, Mega Man, Midway, Sega, Shinobi, Xenophobe
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The site is twelve years old today, so it’s time to celebrate with a lot of new content.

Graphic Generators

New Characters: Bill Rizer and Lance Bean from Contra, Boomer and Hawk from Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2 added to Konami. Zeed/Neo-Zeed and Golden Axe Villains groups for Sega. Chin Taimei and Machine Gun Willy (separate character with new sprite and palettes) for Technos.

Updated characters: Samus (NES armor sprite) for Nintendo, Tyris Flare (new sprite) for Sega, Blue Mary (palettes) for SNK, Shadow Warriors (new Lopar and Williams sprites, improved Jeff sprite) for Technos.

Custom Sprites
Konami: Bill Rizer and Lance Bean from Contra, Boomer and Hawk from Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2.
Nintendo: Samus (NES Power suit and S.Metroid Varia).
Sega: new scratch-made Tyris Flare and Skeleton (Golden Axe), Masked Ninja (Shinobi), Omote (from Revenge of Shinobi).
Technos: Chin Taimei (NES Vs. Mode stance), Lopar, Williams, Jeff (improved DD1 edit), Machine Gun Willy (improved rifle-holding sprite in DD1 and DD2 colors)
Taito: Lady Master of Kung Fu
DNL: DNL sent a lot of new scratch-made sprites, including a very cool update of his Phanto animation. Be sure to hide your keys before looking at it.

Sprites
New galleries: Karate Blazers, Mystic Warriors, Sunset Riders
Updated: Captain Commando (hero surfing sprites), Double Dragon, Final Fight 3 (Dave and more added), X-Men (Konami arcade) pages

Mini-logos
Data East: Dark Seal
Kaneko: Kaneko and Lady Master
Konami: Mystic Warriors, Sunset Riders
Natsume: Natsume logo (blue gradient), Shadow of the Ninja
Square Enix: Square Enix logo (black and white)
Taito: Silent Dragon
TMNT: Original comic logo 1

Logos
Beraboh Man (arcade), Blue Shadow, Bravoman (TG-16), Kage (Famicom), Ninja Warriors (TG-16) added.

Game Index: The Legend of Zelda (NES), Mystic Warriors (arcade)

Vernacula-X: A few definitions now link to their own pages with expanded definitions and extra goodies like game and character lists that link up to their respective indices on the site. More definitions will get their own pages and more goodies will be added over time.

That’s it for now. I have to go to sleep now, and go to work earlier than usual, so any site fixes will have to wait until the afternoon. I hope that all of you who visit on a regular basis enjoy the new stuff and maybe the new visitors will be overwhelmed by the sad way I’ve spent much of my free time for twelve years backlog of earlier content. I tried to mix it up between obvious, famous games (Contra and Metroid) and things that don’t get much of the spotlight (Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2, Karate Blazers). Have fun and thanks for visiting the site!

Filed under: ScrollBoss Updates, Site News, Updates by PrimeOp
Tags: Contra, Crime Fighters 2, Double Dragon, gfx generators, Kaneko, Karate Blazers, Konami, Lady of Kung Fu, Metroid, Mystic Warriors, Nintendo, Shadow of the Ninja, Taito, Technos, Vendetta, X-Men
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