Part I of a profile on the arcade game company GGI arcade-terra-incognita.blogspot.com/2026/04/ggi-...

Aretha illustration by former Nintendo Power artist Shuji Imai / 今井修司:

Well, at least they translated the title of their anniversary message. www.1101.com/mother_proje...

Art by Yukihisa Fujita (MUSHA Aleste)

30 years after creating the main visual for Metal Slug, former SNK artist Naohisa Yamaguchi / 山口直久 (AKA NaoQ) has created a new illustration to mark the series’ anniversary. www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/anniversa...

I’ve just noticed that Kouki Kita’s Twitter account has been suspended for "violating the X rules". Kita, an illustrator, graphics and logo designer who worked on Waku Waku 7 and Galaxy Fight (his debut work), passed away in 2017. His tweets have not been archived AFAIK...

Cover art for the December 1993 issue of Wired by Jim Ludtke: www.artiestick.com/cm/art/artis... via forums.sonicretro.org/threads/the-...

Hi folks! Last year I came into possession of some film reels from Wild Gunman (1974) by Nintendo, and felt it was my destiny to play the game. youtube.com/watch?v=TOfq...

Masataka Ishiguro has compiled a useful list of the various illustrators who have worked on SoulCalibur, noting that Yasushi Shibue also created many of the pixel art illustrations for the VMU. xcancel.com/Ishiguro_VS_... xcancel.com/Ishiguro_VS_... www.mobygames.com/game/4010/so...

Once development on Fatal Fury Real Bout 2 had been completed, the development team was split between 3 projects: Mark of the Wolves (a game to which the Last Blade 2 team was subsequently reassigned), the 3D game Buriki One and the NGPC game Ganbare Neo-Poke Kun. xcancel.com/itokatsu1127...

Here's a fun one! Justin Carroll's artwork for the 1983 Atari 2600 game Demolition Herby was "swiped," ahem blatantly ripped off, for the 1989 Italian movie poster art for Cannonball Run III

Greg Martin contributed full-page interior illustrations for issues 2, 3, and 4 of Video Game & Computer Entertainment (VG&CE) magazine in early 1989. These images pre-date his earliest Nintendo work by more than a year (Little Nemo NES in 9/1990) h/t @forgottenworlds.bsky.social

Yasushi Yamaguchi recently mentioned that he had worked on a Western version of Sorcerian for the Mega Drive, which required him to remove a hexagram from one of the backgrounds. To my knowledge, this version was never announced. xcancel.com/judy_totoya/...

New on GDRI2: The Definitive History of Hot-B gdri.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...

Remember all those Street Fighter history stories I did awhile back? Here's a new one.

Takeuchi's written a bit about Air Buster recently, including: X68000 Air Buster x.com/takeuty/stat... The X68000, FM Towns, and PC-9801 make appearances x.com/takeuty/stat... MD Air Buster was supposed to be 8M x.com/takeuty/stat...

A 1969 Fujitsû's ad using a pic of their "Train Driving Test" (shown during the 1970 Ôsaka Expo) It focuses on the fact that interacting with a computer should be simple enough so even a child could do it, and the importance of software for real time man/machine interaction bsky.app/profile/vgde...

I haven’t been sharing Ak1man’s posts or work here for some time now, but I’d rather speak out about it now that he’s retweeting posts that are Islamophobic, transphobic or nationalistic in nature. I place certain human values above my desire to share snippets of video game history.

"(Hirokazu) Yasuhara talked about the long hours he worked at Sega, which were sometimes up to 18 hours a day, during the process of Sonic’s creation." fscollegian.com/2026/02/crea...

Still continuing my journey into the japanese pre-commercial era of video games / simulators / computer games. Japan, 1969. Some images from a driving simulator using real road datas and a Facom 270-30. Thanks to funding from the Ministry of Construction.

Mendel Palace title screen by Ken Sugimori. vgdensetsu.net/kensugimori/

Darius gallery: vgdensetsu.net/dariusgaller...

Splatterhouse gallery: vgdensetsu.net/splatterhous...

I’ve always thought that Kenji Orimo (Landstalker, Shining Force, Feda) looked older than his colleagues at Climax, but I didn’t realise he was old enough to have worked as an assistant to Takao Saito (Golgo 13) back in 1970. He began his career as a mangaka at the age of 21,... 1/3

The Kunio Kun series will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2026, but its main illustrator - Masao Shiroto - passed away years ago. www.kuniokun.jp vgdensetsu.net/masaoshiroto/

Yoshihisa Kishimoto’s son announced that his father had passed away on April 2. He had co-created series such as Kunio Kun and Double Dragon, directed Road Avenger, The Combatribes, and others. xcancel.com/rpl5t62/stat...

If you'd like to know more about the origins of the term ‘Game Center’ in Japan (spoiler: it was already in use in the late 1960s). ameblo.jp/nazox2016/en...

Hearing Nona being interviewed for this video on KOF 13 makes me wonder if he’s gone back to work at SNK after years of freelancing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONm6...

Dragon Ball - Shenron no Nazo box art. It says it was designed by Akira Toriyama, but the coloring style doesn't match his. archive.org/details/maru... Scan by @ozidual.bsky.social

Ikko Ohno / 大野一興 (The Flying Luna Clipper) did a ProWres cover art for the November 28, 1986 issue of Marukatsu Famicom. He probably also did the box art for the FDS game. archive.org/details/maru... Scan by @ozidual.bsky.social

Ending illustration for the SFC version of Thunder Spirits by Taisuke Kanasaki / 金崎泰輔 xcancel.com/kanayan2929/... vgdensetsu.net/taisukekanas...

Kaizō Chōjin Shubibinman ad illustrated by the late Suu Urabe / うらべ すう. vgdensetsu.net/suuurabe/

According to Akira Sakuma, the international title of Juju Densetsu - Toki - was also the first name of the son of Tadashi Yokoyama, president of the development company TAD Corp. xcancel.com/reddrag64988...

If you were wondering just how rare the NeoGeo AES game Shōgi no Tatsujin: Master of Syougi (ADK, 1995) was, it seems that it didn’t even reach 300 pre-orders in Japan (and therefore worldwide). xcancel.com/pontaman777/...

Another game illustrated by Akira Komeda / 米田朗, AKA Akira Yoneda: Happy Fret / ハッピーフレット (PC-88, X1, MSX - 1985) vgdensetsu.net/akirakomeda/

Built on the success of Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force is still considered a true Genesis classic to this day, and it spawned a series of its own that still has fans. Join us as we examine how this beloved game was conceived, developed and released. www.sega-16.com/2026/03/behi...

Streets of Rage gallery vgdensetsu.net/streetsofrag...

While waiting for the Saturn and Dreamcast, I’ve put together a gallery of Game Gear game illustrations, featuring over 130 games for which I’ve identified the illustrator(s), as well as a handful of graphics designers. vgdensetsu.net/gamegeargall...

Dragon Force box art by Shinnosuke Hino / 日野 慎之助. It was originally developed by J-Force and, for his first game, Hino was appointed chara designer and illustrator. The company went bankrupt along the way, and the project was taken over by Sega with some former J-Force employees (including Hino).

Wing Commander gallery: vgdensetsu.net/wingcommande...

A diorama created for the cover of the PS1 game Dokapon (uncredited). psinstructionmanual.com/dokapon/

I’m re-reading Mitsuru Adachi’s Touch (1981–86) and I’ve realised that Alex Kidd is just a chubbier version of this character who appears in chapter 82.

I also created a page compiling the threads I wrote about the "Aicom shmup trilogy" (Viewpoint, Pulstar, Blazing Star) vgdensetsu.net/aicomshmuptr...

I've added a few galleries to my website: Alien Syndrome vgdensetsu.net/aliensyndrom... Lemmings vgdensetsu.net/lemmingsgall... Outrun vgdensetsu.net/outrungallery/ Space Harrier vgdensetsu.net/spaceharrier... Technōs Japan’s arcade games vgdensetsu.net/arcadetechno...

The immensely talented artist Philip Castle died recently. He created the posters for A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket as well as album artwork for the many great bands. Retro gamers will know him for his work on the original Elite box artwork. RIP.

Thirty years ago today, Oshidashi Zintrick was released on NeoGeo CD. It is one of the console’s few exclusives, as the arcade/cartridge version was cancelled (the revenue generated during the location test was deemed insufficient). xcancel.com/t_8100_14/st...

Akira Nishitani has just posted photos of four issues of the ‘I Love Carrot’ newsletter published in 1984–85 (Carrot was one of the names used by Namco for its game centers). If you’re looking for tips and walkthroughs for games from the 1980s... xcancel.com/nin_arika/st...

For some reason, Yoshiaki Kadowaki is credited as director on the cover of Konamis' GBA game Monster Guardians. He doesn't seem to be that famous, so I wonder if this was the idea of Konami’s marketing department or if it was at Kadowaki’s request. www.mobygames.com/person/63367...

Yorhel has passed away He was known for running vndb, a website he created back in 2007 The moderation team is working to preserve the website but cannot provide details at the moment

It’s Saturday, and I’ve put together a little gallery of illustrations from Disney-licensed games, with the names of the artists who drew them. vgdensetsu.net/disneygamesg...