Time for the Wrap-Up, including a dip back into the Revenge of 1989!

Of course, all the new sprites were added to the GFX Generators, where you can use menus to make a pic like the one at the top of this post!

Finally, it’s time for the Wrap-Up video. But it’s not just that, it’s a recap of 2024’s updates and videos, a mini Toy Haul with 3 displays, and another show of Final Fight clips that’s basically a preview for a larger Final Fight showcase in 2025.

That’s all for 2024. Thanks for visiting the site and I hope you’ll have even more fun in 2025!

Shake a hand, shake a hand, it’s Christmas time again and that means it’s time for the Toyhaul! The 2024 Toyhaul site update has new pixel art to celebrate two franchises celebrating their 40th anniversaries and one celebrating its 50th! The first, obvious one was planned, but the other two just happened to work out that way!

Transformers: a new Optimus Prime sprite to celebrate the 40th anniversary. I think I’ve finally got a style together that I like for making Transformers sprites, so keep an eye out for more next year.

Princess of Power: The line gets its own gallery for the 40th anniversary! a new and more powerful She-Ra sprite takes the sword from the sprite I made of her years ago, and she’s joined by friend Frosta!

Microman/Micronauts: Takara’s Microman toyline, known in the United States as Micronauts, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year! Microman M121 Mason (and the 3 other variants of his subset of figures) gets a sprite in the same pose he strikes in his portrait in Takara’s DreamMix TV World Fighters for the PS2, the Hudson/Konami/Takara crossover fighting game that also stars Convoy/Optimus Prime. Believe it or not, I was supposed to have this done for last year’s toy haul but ran out of time, but I did finish (and didn’t post) the Microman mini-logo then. Speaking of which…

Mini-logos: … I added that Takara Microman logo and the Mego Micronauts toy logo
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The new sprites and logos were added to the GFX Generators where you can make fake screenshots like the one at the top of this page. Just warning you ahead of time that Optimus is too tall for the MvC ending screen.

ToyBoss: A batch of new photos were added, including group shots of some 1:12 scale game heroes and villains, TMNT heroes and villains roster pics, Marvel Legends Avengers figures I have now, and a G.I. JOE classified Cobra “blue uniforms” group shot. But my favorite is a comic/toy team-up pre-fight pic that I experimented with earlier this year with plans of a 3rd obvious character joining that fight.

The “Trick or Beat ‘Em Up” project has been heating up with a lot of new info lately, including news that Megan McDuffee will sing for the horror brawler if the Ko-Fi campaign is successful! More info about that here and the game’s Ko-Fi page is here.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to those of you who won’t be back until next year. If you’re still sticking around the internet, get ready, because next week is… THE WRAP-UP!

A bigger update is coming, but I just wanted to give an earlier heads-up about what’s happening. Here’s what’s in today’s update:
Sprites: Fixes and improvements to all the Final Fight galleries.
ToyBoss: A new Marvel Legends group pic of the playable Captain America and the Avengers line-up with the recent do-over of Iron Man’s “Neo-classic” armor (but with the later John Romita Jr. space boots). The retro carded figure from a few years ago is that exact version, but that mold was from when MLs were a bit smaller, making him look odd if he stands next later figures.

Due to a lot of offline things that have been going on for months, the main December update (not this one) will not be that big this year, or at least as big as I planned. In fact, I can say that about a lot of the past year. Even though I need a break to give my drawing hand some rest, I was able to finish some of the static sprites I planned for the site and some animations you’ll see on video before 2025 starts. Here’s a preview of what’s on the way:

There will be a small toy-themed update next week, and then the Wrap-Up will happen a few days before the new year starts.

Reminder: Rob “Dire51” Strangman’s books about video games (and more) are available again on Lulu.com!

A bit more Karnov’s Revenge is added to the site in honor of Karnovember!

GFX Generators: Added the real Karnov’s Revenge/FH Dynamite sprites, portraits and characters for Feilin, Mizoguchi, and Zazie to the generators, along with Feilin’s KR/FHD stage to the background options to the screen styles that fit. I also added the Theater Lobby – horror background to more screenstyles, and added sprites and palettes to Q.Bee.

This update was supposed to be added much earlier in the month, but due a lot of the usual offline issues, commission work, and a worn-out drawing hand slowed me down a lot in November. I still have a bit of irritation when moving my hand, even when I type, so I’m going to keep this short.

This December will have a toy update, but probably not its own video. There will be an Unfinished Business update, with that and the Toy update possibly being part of the yearly Wrap-Up. The one definite thing is that there will be a Final Fight update to celebrate the 35th anniversary. That’s all for now, see you in December!

This update stars one horror movie classic from the 70s and one from the 80s, but this update has a little something for almost everyone!

Custom Sprites:
– Nightmare on Elm Street: celebrating the 40th anniversary of that first film with new sprites of Freddy and Tina
– Horror: Regan from the Exorcist, Acid Dracula (WNUF Halloween Special)
– Masters of the Universe: Shadow Weaver (She-Ra)
– Night Slashers: updated Hong Hua with redrawn head.
– ScrollBoss characters: Vonetta (a.k.a. Vernacula) gets a new pose

Mini-logos: The Exorcist added to movies.

GFX Generators: all new custom sprites and mini-logos have been added to the generators, where you can make your own graphics like the one at the top of this post!

Couldn’t let you go without giving you a another short video for the HorrorThon, so here it is!

Take care and have Happy Halloween!

The fan-made Mega Splatterhouse demo for Genesis/Mega Drive is available for download, so run and get it while you can!

In related news, West Mansion, the Splatterhouse Fan Site, updated today, so check the news page to see what’s new!