Simon Belmont ready to storm Dracula's Castle. I originally drew this for the first issue of Hand-Drawn Gaming.

I probably won't show much HDGG: Mega Man 2 progress for a while, but this afternoon I created the first piece for the book... the logo! The past couple of weeks I've been replaying the game, working out tips, and writing the story and character bios. So, things are moving.

Mega Man making his way through Elec Man's Tower in Dr. Wily's Revenge. This is a really difficult stage. I debated whether it should be the 2nd stage in the route when writing the book, but Elec Man's weapon is so useful that it's worth the player's frustration upfront to make the game easier.

Getting back into the swing of things after an extended break. I needed a bunch of new supplies and also decided to get some "research" material.

UPDATE Thanks to some refresher notes from @heyphilsummers.bsky.social Hand Drawn Game Guides, I have once again defeated Ganon and saved Hyrule.

My sister moved into a new house a few years ago and my brother in law found a storage area above their garage that apparently had a ton of Nintendo Power mags just sitting up there. He gave me the whole thing last night. Incredible haul!

Famicase submissions opened today, and I’m back after several years away! Here are some of the cartridge designs I made from previous years.

Contra was the first game I ever made a guide for. Hard to believe that was 8 years ago. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to draw an entire game. It’s light on tips because the focus was more on maps and characters. To color it I used ancient markers I had from college.

Drawn map of Bomb Man’s stage from Mega Man. The sphere towers in the background always made the level feel massive to me, so I wanted to play up the sense of scale in this setting. I then wondered, what if Bomb Man was threatening to topple one of these towers from the inside? [1/2]

There is always lots of talk about how games don't come with manuals anymore. Well what Fangamer did with UFO 50 is pretty incredible. A full strategy guide, lots of hand-drawn maps and notes, even a fake newsletter. All played as if this stuff really existed in the 80s.

Vic Viper flies again.

I appreciate Shredder's thoughtful take on Simon's Quest. He comes at it from a unique perspective and while I love Simon's Quest, I totally get his angle. Fun video!

I found and caught a Zapdos. Is it shameful to have this dude in my squad?

One of the original 100!

Happy 40th anniversary to The Legend of Zelda! Here's the guidebook I used on my first visit to Hyrule as a kid next to the new guide I'll use on my next journey into the game. Very fond memories of playing Zelda with my mom and helping her through it.

Happy 40th to The Legend of Zelda. 🍾 Here's the introduction running on real hardware. I picked up the Disk version of this ages ago at random. Saw it at a store and bought it even though I didn't have a way to play it. Though I solved that not much later. Cheers to my favorite game series!

The Legend of Zelda turns 40 this weekend! 🎊 To celebrate, I thought it would be fun to post my entire strategy guide, along with production shots and some additional thoughts. So, whether you've seen this guide a million times or not, I hope you learn something new. MEGA 🧵

Here's a quick behind the scenes look at Hand-Drawn Game Guides: Mega Man where I flip through a bunch of the original art.

The closest I ever got to actually playing Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth back in the day was when I worked at KB Toys in the late ‘90s. It was closing time and I stood there with a copy of Vanishing Earth which was marked down to 10 bucks...

Super Mario Land and its weird, not-very-Mario-like shooter stages.

You can technically play Virtual Boy games without the VB accessory on Switch but it'll look like this. I did try it on the new headset and directly compared both versions of Wario. It's a nice approximation but nowhere near as sharp as the original VB screen.

In Ninja Gaiden (NES), the right "foot" of the castle consists of Act 5 and the first Scene of Act 6. The two pillars are where Ryu fights Bloody Malth and where he's sent back to if he loses against the final boss.

Final Fantasy V's Lenna as a Mystic Knight.

Use this password to skip to the final level of Kid Icarus and get the best ending. It'll work on your original NES copy or Switch Online.

I've come to appreciate Friday the 13th for the NES over the years, but even if you don't like it, you gotta admit it's a mood. This track is short but sweet.

̲𝚆̲̲𝚎̲ ̲𝚑̲̲𝚊̲̲𝚟̲̲𝚎̲ ̲𝟸̲ ̲𝚎̲̲𝚡̲̲𝚌̲̲𝚒̲̲𝚝̲̲𝚒̲̲𝚗̲̲𝚐̲ ̲𝚋̲̲𝚘̲̲𝚘̲̲𝚔̲̲𝚜̲ ̲𝚌̲̲𝚘̲̲𝚖̲̲𝚒̲̲𝚗̲̲𝚐̲ ̲𝚘̲̲𝚞̲̲𝚝̲ ̲𝚜̲̲𝚘̲̲𝚘̲̲𝚗̲: 1) From Pixels to Prose: What Video Games Taught Me About Storytelling, by @nadiaoxford.bsky.social (cover by @heyphilsummers.bsky.social 2) I Am Not Good: The History of Cheating in Video Games, by @natedrake.bsky.social (cover by @letitmelo.bsky.social)

The full map to the original Castlevania. This is a brilliant map. Despite seeing a map in between stages, you don't really think about how it all connects, but the flow lines up almost perfectly making one cohesive castle.

I love these Shining Force 2 portraits... And that music!

Mega Man’s original box art secretly got one thing right! Dr. Wily’s castle is the background. It’s based on a single piece of art (that I’m aware of) from the Rock Man manual/poster, which I also used as reference for the strategy guide.

So uh I own this beaut now! Looks even better in person plus there's a little bonus Elec Man sketch. And a rad Mega Man zine full of @cak3oman.bsky.social's art and a sweet postage stamp sheet. Made my day, thank you so much cak3o!

Double Dragon II: The Revenge Hand-Drawn Gaming Issue #2 cover.

I drafted Cut Man and Mega Man together as the entire Cut Man section of the book was our pitch. I kept his body type in line with Mega Man as I felt they were almost equals. I even have Dr. Light wishing he could have retrofitted Cut Man with the Mega Buster and Copy System.

I'm not Pokemon guy, but I've owned Red since the day it came out. Been giving it another go almost every morning the last few weeks while I have a cup of coffee. I've been enjoying it and have accepted the grind. Also my battery is still kicking but I'm using saves states as well just in case!

TMNT

We finally have a photo of the previously unseen Zelda 1 art on display at the Nintendo Museum. The cartouche in the top right, subtitled "THE MAP OF HYRULE," depicts 3 fairy/goddess figures unfolding a cloth (making the world?). Miyamoto's signature is on the bottom right.

Metroid [1987] Nintendo's classic nonlinear adventure game that is often viewed as aging poorly. I can’t stand seeing this in present-day Metroid discourse. Sorry, guys, this game rules. [Post 1/2]

Recently had my Virtual Boy repaired and it's looking great so here's some off screen (eye piece?) footage of Wario. Very excited to see how the Switch VB compares. VB is one of those things you really need to see in person to appreciate. I feel the same way about the Vectrex.

Cover illustration I did for Video Game Maps: NES and Famicom (@retrogamebooks.com) several years ago. I decided to stay away from using known characters, instead focusing on the feeling of old adventure and RPG games.

Issue #7 of Forgotten Worlds magazine is here! It comes bundled with a free video game fanzine directory. More details below. Plz share!👇 #NeoGeo #PCengine #SNK #MegaDrive #SuperNintendo #Sega #Japan ☀️🌴

Classic Mario Bros.

Bionic Commando

Fire Man as he appears in HDGG: Mega Man. I wanted to make Fire Man massive, someone that looks like they could just incinerate stuff all day. I played up his huge shoulder pads and built the rest of him strong to support it.

Got my long awaited copy of the Mega Man (NES & GB!) guide by @heyphilsummers.bsky.social . All of it is beautifully drawn by hand and I can't wait to slowly devour and enjoy every page of it!

The cast of Castlevania

Goated Game Over screen.

Earthbound Beginnings - witnessing Giegue.

Angry Video Game Nerd 8-Bit Endless Challenge key art.

Bomberman Hero [1998] A pseudo spin-off action platformer released during arguably the greatest year of the N64, felt out of step with both its contemporaries and the Bomberman series. [Post 1/2]

Really enjoyed every single page of @heyphilsummers.bsky.social's Mega Man hand drawn guide, also very well looking forward into getting Mega Man 2 when it arrives #MegaMan #MegaManFanart #ロックマン #fanart