We’re in the eight month, and in its ninth day, and that means it’s time for The Revenge of 1989! It’s time for some new pixel art, including a couple of sprites in the style of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (1989) (later localized as River City Ransom)!

Custom Sprites – updated:
– Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Modified the sprites of the 4 turtles with their weapons on their belts, including putting the ties on the belt.

Mini-logos: Hudson gallery gets a PC Genjin logo.

GFX Generators: The new custom sprites and mini-logos were added to the appropriate Fight-scale generator and 8-bit Fake Screenshot generators. Also, the Marvel vs Capcom ending (in the Fight-scale and MvC1 generators): simple overlay styles for Golden Axe (arcade), River City Ransom, and TMNT arcade added.

There will be a ToyBoss section update in the last half of August, and I’ve got a lot of plastic to catch up on and roster photos to update there. There may even be an extra surprise or two. Here’s a few quick pics of some of my favorite toy newness: the Jada Toys SDCC Neo Metall 6-pack and the Marvel Legends Psylocke-Thanos two-pack!

First of all, if you remember this site from the old days, check out the index page for a flashback!

This update is a mix of all the things that this site is about, and there are several themes mixed throughout it. I finally complete a team, start a new team, add some overdue legends, and add new and needed poses to characters who already have sprites. Many characters who are favorites of mine and visitors of the site get all-new, redone, and/or update poses, including callbacks to sprite edits from the earliest days of the site. So whether this site is completely new to you or you’re a returning visitor, I hope you have fun with all of today’s newness!

Custom Sprites: There are no set themes except to be a mix of everything regular visitors know to expect. However, keep an eye out for remakes of some of the site’s earliest custom sprites, completed teams, and sprites that some of you requested.
– Bionic Commando: Radd Spencer (NES design) MvC:3 stance sprite was resized and improved, and new NES idle stance and calm standing pose sprites were added.
– Captain Commando: Baby Commando joins to complete the team… FINALLY! But now Scumocide is here, too.
– Castlevania: completely redone Castlevania 1 and Rondo/SotN zombie sprites
– Dark Seal: new gallery based on Data East’s series starts with Freya the Wizard.
– Golden Axe: The Dragon Bizarrian mounts have been resized, Tyris Flare’s sprite riding them has been redrawn to match.
– Rushing Beat: Kazan gets his sword up taunt from Brawl Brothers/Rushing Beat Ran.
– Sonic the Hedgehog: Metal Sonic
– Tower of Druaga: the often-requested Gil and Ki get sprites based on different versions of the early Namco art.
– DC Comics: Silver/Bronze Age Krypto gets two sitting sprites with different facial expressions and Captain Marvel gets a standing sprite.
– Marvel Comics: the Thing (all-new idle/fight stance), Colossus (hands on hips)
– G.I.JOE: Baroness with new sprite sprite on toy card artwork, adjustments to her fight stance and head raised glasses adjustment, plus a new glasses adjustment with her head down to replace the 2015 sprite that’s out of style now. Not trying to start any W.I.P. rumors with her, I just really wanted her sprites to match!

Speaking of G.I.JOE, watch this short clip carefully to see the new explosion animations I’ve been working on and a sprite that isn’t on this site yet:

– RCR/Kunio-kun 8-bit: The Jason sprite that I added to the generators a while ago finally makes its way to the gallery, but I’ve also added an all-new sprite of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark!
– Illmosis Network: a brand-new ScrollBoss character makes her debut! Introducing… Jilly Biehn! She’s the now-grown daughter of vigilantes who often got their weapons from the Alexandria Mall back in the day and is often drawn to the beat ’em up arcade in that mall. Vonetta (a.k.a. Vernacula) gets an all-new fight stance sprite, including a version where she’s armed with a wooden stake. Look, what V does in her time off from the Info Section is her business, best not look into that too much.

Mini-logos:
– Namco: Tower of Druaga
– DC Comics: Krypto

Game Index: Dark Seal (a.k.a. Gate of Doom)

All new custom sprites and mini-logos added to the GFX Generator.

Last but not least, I wrote a little something about the 25th Anniversary in this article. Not just about what it means to me but what I hope this site does for you.

That’s the end of this update, but not the end of the 25th Anniversary celebration. Don’t worry, you’ll hear more about that next time. Thanks for showing up and I hope you enjoyed the update!

You know, it feels like something’s missing, though. Wait, I remember. I posted a sprite of my character Nutroll earlier this year, but he was being kinda… weird about it. Let’s see how he’s…

… 11-11? Man, I don’t even – – wait, what’s that at the bottom? *squints* Does that say… illvember?

It’s Yo Joe June again, celebrated because that’s supposedly when the 3 & 3/4ths inch G.I.JOE: A Real American Hero line started. I have to cut it short due to some commission work and getting ready for the big throwdown in July, but I’ve still got a little something to post.

Custom Sprites – G.I.JOE: While working on something else, I started working on a G.I.JOE (and possible all-around soldier) template template for poses and fixing their height scale. The first results from that are the new Zap and Breaker sprites, and I adjusted Breaker’s 2022 pose to match the height of his new one. Both characters have alt versions with different facial hair, and I also gave Breaker a mini-gallery because he also has versions with him blowing his bubble gum. Then I noticed that I forgot to add Short-Fuze’s sprite to the custom sprite gallery in 2022 (but he did show up in the “G.I.JOE team – other” slot in the GFX Generators), so I fixed that. Coincidentally, Breaker and Short-Fuze were the first two G.I.JOE figures my late grandma got for me when I was a kid, and this is the second update where I’ve grouped them together. I’ll be adding more sprites and fixes based on that template in the near future.

GFX Generators: Besides adding the new custom sprites, G.I.JOE “Original 13” characters who were in the “G.I.JOE team – other” slot are now in “G.I.JOE team – rest of Original 13” slot.

So what was that “working on something else” I mentioned earlier? I’m about 90% done with it but most of the hardest work is done. Definitely enough to show you a teaser from a Moho/Anime Studio testing some of the moving parts. If you’re a G.I JOE fan, there’s a really good chance that you recognize what’s in that GIF. I’ll be making and posting more pixel art based on that series in July and even more in the near future, along with more added to the ToyBoss section. Right now I’m waiting for my retro card classified Rock ‘N Roll pre-order to hit BigBadToyStore, and looking forward to that Classified versions of V.4 Snake-Eyes (seen in the Konami arcade game) and the Mobile Missile System with V.1 Hawk. I’d be getting more, but the Marvel Legends Gamerverse releases like Gigantos (Shuma-Gorath) are making it tough to pick-and-choose. The main things I’m kicking myself for missing recently are the ReAction O-ring versions of Cobra Commander and Cover-Girl. How are your figure collections going these days?

I’ve mostly been busy working on new things for the 25th anniversary of the ScrollBoss site, which hits July 19th. If you can figure out these teasers you’ll see one sprite finishing a playable beat ’em up crew, two overdue heroes from a classic series, and a new pose for a superhero I’ve already sprited. My plan is represent a bit of everything with the new sprites (and more) to make sure there’s a little something for everybody. This anniversary isn’t just about this site, it’s about all of you who have made all this work worth doing. It’s always been fun to make things, even if people don’t see it, but the fact that other people enjoy it or things like the Marvel vs. Capcom-style mini-logos are useful for fan projects helps keep me going even more. Thanks for stopping in and I hope I see you again in mid-July!

GFX Generator
– Fake Screenshot and River City Ransom: added a brand-new 8-bit Jason Voorhees sprite, because I couldn’t let the day go without at least a little something.
– Fight Size: Added idle and weird left-handed salute sprites to Guile. The custom Justice League Task Force Vs. Screen was fixed, the background now shows up. Then I noticed that the example screenshots for that and the group shot were so ancient that they still had Capcom DC sprite edits in them! One was from 2011, and I hadn’t made 100% scratch-made sprites of any classic Justice Leaguers by then. I’ll add them to the custom sprite gallery later, because I may make some more adjustments to them.

I finished a commission earlier this month, and, besides getting in a little rest and some actual game-playing, my main focus has been getting new things finished to get ready for this site’s 25th Anniversary on July 19th. I’m going to try and get a bit of everything represented in it, but the first three sprites I’ve finished for it are game-related. One finishes a beat ’em up crew and the other two heroes are from a highly influential action-adventure arcade series that people have been asking about for years. I’ve also improved and re-animated one beat ’em up hero’s idle stance and I’m working on making some adjustments, improvements, and surprises to the toy-related series I’ve worked on the most.

There will be another small June update before July’s madness, so keep an eye out then for some previews.

This site may not ever exist if the original Pac-Man game didn’t get me even more hooked on video games, so I couldn’t let the 45th Anniversary pass without an update!

Custom Sprites:
– Pac-Man: Puck-Man, Ruby-Spears Hanna-Barbera Pac-Man, Sour Puss, and an updated version of Pinky with the face (including eye-lashes) from the early Namco artwork.

All new sprites were added to the main GFX Generator (Sour Puss is in the Pac-Family character slot) where I made the pic at the top of the page.

And here’s a new Pac-Man video to celebrate the day! It’s similar to the short Pac-Man video I posted in 2021, but nearly every old clip was redone and you’ll see some new clips immediately:

It’s not enough to be called a Sprite Showcase, this was rushed all over again, but it’s REALLY close this time.

While we’re talking about Namco, West Mansion: The Splatterhouse fan-site got an update this week!

The Gaming Hell had its 17th anniversary on May 20th, and celebrated with The Quest of Ki! It’s the site’s latest fun read that’s exhaustively researched, alternate versions of the game, and screenshots with fun hover text. Congrats to Gaming Hell and thanks for all that work to shine on those games!

edit: Hanna-Barbera made the Pac-Man cartoon, and Ruby-Spears made “the Amazing Rubik” half of the Pac-Man/Amazing Rubik, and reading about that years ago really messed up my memory about that.