The Cover Project

Artist's Corner => Shadowfox Cases => Topic started by: marioxb on May 28, 2017, 08:18:40 AM

Title: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on May 28, 2017, 08:18:40 AM
I love the Japanese art, and I hate how all the US MM games have different logos, so I decided to remedy that. I plan on ordering a copy of the 25th Anniversary art book in order to scan and use textless versions of these for the front art (well not Rockboard):

(http://fast1.onesite.com/capcom-unity.com/user/shadowman16/8aed1a33a606f5778714ec052326fe5e.jpg)

Here's what I have so far. For MM3-5, I used the US backs, with new logos. For MM2 and 6, I used the same screenshots and UPC, so they match up with the rest. The text is the same, just retyped on a new background (I had to get rid of MM2's Captain Commando). For MM1, I only used the UPC. The text is the Wii VC description, had to get rid of Monsteropolis. I didn't want to use emulator screenshots, as I see no problem with the originals. So I need to find new screenshots for part 1, as the original only had one. Is anything inaccurate in the back text I have here now?

(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag411/marioxb/Mega%20Man%201_zpssocgaht7.png) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/marioxb/media/Mega%20Man%201_zpssocgaht7.png.html)

(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag411/marioxb/Mega%20Man%202_zpsrpbfbpet.png) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/marioxb/media/Mega%20Man%202_zpsrpbfbpet.png.html)

(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag411/marioxb/Mega%20Man%203_zpsbz591hqs.png) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/marioxb/media/Mega%20Man%203_zpsbz591hqs.png.html)

(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag411/marioxb/Mega%20Man%204_zpsdmsv81n1.png) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/marioxb/media/Mega%20Man%204_zpsdmsv81n1.png.html)

(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag411/marioxb/Mega%20Man%205_zpske1abkhj.png) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/marioxb/media/Mega%20Man%205_zpske1abkhj.png.html)

(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag411/marioxb/Mega%20Man%206_zpszucgdseb.png) (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/marioxb/media/Mega%20Man%206_zpszucgdseb.png.html)

Comments/ suggestions? Any suggestions for what to put for the missing bullet points and captions?
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: Beastman1975 on May 28, 2017, 08:23:38 AM
Look foraward to seeing finished project
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: Taketheword on May 28, 2017, 01:43:06 PM
Those look great. One suggestion, if you are going to use original screenshots, try to perk them up a bit (if they're not already) (saturation, contrast, smoothness).
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on May 28, 2017, 03:48:28 PM
Thanks guys! Eh, maybe I will replace the screenshots, since these are "remastered" covers anyway.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: tylerbgood on May 28, 2017, 05:41:27 PM
Thanks guys! Eh, maybe I will replace the screenshots, since these are "remastered" covers anyway.

ShoothimNow did an amazing job recreating the screenshots for Ocarina of Time for Taketheword's beautiful cover here: http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=22127.msg200347#msg200347
Perhaps he can be convinced to do the same with these Mega Man games. That is, if you weren't already planning on doing it yourself.

These look amazing by the way, a dude on deviantart did something similar here: http://vladictivo.deviantart.com/art/Mega-Man-Collection-213233605 but didn't share full-resolution versions. These are gonna look beautiful when finished!
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on May 28, 2017, 08:19:10 PM
Yeah, that deviantart guy was actually my inspiration
 I messaged him (and also made a request thread) and he said his hard drive crashed and he no longer had the covers.

It might be a few months before I can get the fronts, as we are in the process of moving, everything's packed up, plus I need to order that art book. Sometimes, if you want something done, you just need to do it yourself.

But yeah, Shoothimnow, if you can hear me, lol, go ahead and recreate the screens for these please, and pick some nice ones for MM1. I was gonna try to get shots that were similar, but it would be me trying to play the game with the keyboard and trying to somehow take a shot at the same time. I'm 100% sure shn would do better.

Again, thanks for the encouragement and praises!
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: tylerbgood on May 28, 2017, 08:26:51 PM
The PAL version of the first Mega Man game had a set of 3 screenshots on the back that would definitely be appropriate to use. You can see them on the cover Dante Ali uploaded to the site here: http://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?cover_id=7897
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on May 28, 2017, 08:59:07 PM
The PAL version of the first Mega Man game had a set of 3 screenshots on the back that would definitely be appropriate to use. You can see them on the cover Dante Ali uploaded to the site here: http://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?cover_id=7897

Oh thanks. Forgot about PAL. That will work, I guess Shoothimnow can make my screenshots with that as a base.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: Symptoms0fMercy on May 29, 2017, 04:01:28 AM
megaman.wikia.com has decent copies of most of the art. If nothing else, you could use them for mockups in the mean time.

https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/6/69/RMCoverPromo.jpg
https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/6/65/Mm4jp.png
https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/9/91/RM5Promo.jpg
https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/1/11/RM6CoverPromo.jpg
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on May 29, 2017, 11:08:23 AM
http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/154f606fe992154d51e53bc60cbae690-1200-80.jpg
(http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/154f606fe992154d51e53bc60cbae690-1200-80.jpg)

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/fps_anth/img756--screenshot.jpg~original
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/fps_anth/img756--screenshot.jpg~original)

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/45/36/c4/4536c4ffa351ade3fb51b9d15a558876.jpg
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/45/36/c4/4536c4ffa351ade3fb51b9d15a558876.jpg)

https://i.warosu.org/data/vr/img/0017/38/1404500530500.jpg
(https://i.warosu.org/data/vr/img/0017/38/1404500530500.jpg)

http://www.journaldugamer.com/files/2011/07/Mega-Man-5-Charge-Man-Piano.jpg
(http://www.journaldugamer.com/files/2011/07/Mega-Man-5-Charge-Man-Piano.jpg)

http://www.luvjapan.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mm6.jpg
(http://www.luvjapan.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mm6.jpg)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on May 29, 2017, 12:45:15 PM
The PAL version of the first Mega Man game had a set of 3 screenshots on the back that would definitely be appropriate to use. You can see them on the cover Dante Ali uploaded to the site here: http://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?cover_id=7897

Oh thanks. Forgot about PAL. That will work, I guess Shoothimnow can make my screenshots with that as a base.


Before I even started posting that I would do screenshots, I already did some of the Turtles and Megaman games.  Mega man 2 (woodmans stage) is a beta screenshot... boo...

https://s15.postimg.org/m90s7m1zv/Project_Screenshot_-_NES_-_Collection.jpg
(https://s15.postimg.org/m90s7m1zv/Project_Screenshot_-_NES_-_Collection.jpg)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: tylerbgood on May 29, 2017, 01:35:16 PM
Those look great Shoot, you truly are a screenshot master! Do you take screenshots of the game running on an emulator then separate the sprites and make a composite using the pieces? I'd like to learn this skill to improve my covers. Has anyone posted a guide on the process? Are the sprites cut out by hand? Sorry for so many questions, I'm just impressed and want to try this myself!
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: RecOne on May 29, 2017, 02:21:22 PM
Man... this project makes me want to have physical copies of the NES Mega Man Games! I really like the uniformed style! :D
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: Victini Games on May 29, 2017, 03:47:05 PM
Here is my attempt at the mega man 1 screenshots feel free to use em if you want =P
(http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/f699/22uhhtgx1vlj8tazg.jpg)

http://www.mediafire.com/view/dg5yepjbk5cym9j/screen_3.png
http://www.mediafire.com/view/t5e8oltyee4wb60/screen_2.png
http://www.mediafire.com/view/icomel6l09hqdcd/screen_1.png
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on May 29, 2017, 06:12:00 PM
Here is my attempt at the mega man 1 screenshots feel free to use em if you want =P

That's awesome man, thanks a lot! I will use them!

Before I even started posting that I would do screenshots, I already did some of the Turtles and Megaman games.  Mega man 2 (woodmans stage) is a beta screenshot... boo...

Thanks! Now we have Mega Man 1 and 2. Would you mind doing 3-6, either one of you guys? You don't have to worry about rounding them off, as my template does that already. Thanks in advance!

Maybe I will do labels as well to make everything all nice and cozy. Glad everyone likes what they see so far!
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: Moviefan2k4 on June 02, 2017, 01:56:56 AM
Just one tip, about the screenshots. If you want a complete match to the retail scans, the best way is rebuilding them from the ground up. There's a great website called The Spriters Resource; they have tons of sprite sheets from many different systems and games. Here's the links to the first six Mega Man entries, just as an example...

https://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/mm/
https://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/mm2/
https://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/mm3/
https://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/mm4/
https://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/mm5/
https://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/mm6/

Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on June 02, 2017, 08:56:13 AM
Yeah, I dont use sprites that are 228x66.  Those don't transpose well while scaling up, and then back down.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: Moviefan2k4 on June 11, 2017, 03:32:09 PM
Yeah, I dont use sprites that are 228x66.  Those don't transpose well while scaling up, and then back down.
If you use Photoshop, they will scale perfectly under the "Nearest Neighbor" setting. Just make sure to use even-numbered ratios, since the sprites are made of perfect squares. For example, my recent inlay for the first Super Mario game used sprites multiplied by a factor of ten. They were plenty big enough for my project, and perfectly sharp...so yours would be 2280 x 660.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on June 12, 2017, 07:06:44 AM
Maybe I'll try to make some. What about misc sprites like bullets and the life bar?
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on June 12, 2017, 11:39:15 AM
just use photoshop and use an emulator + pause button on keyboard...
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: Moviefan2k4 on June 12, 2017, 05:31:46 PM
Most of the Mega Man games for the NES didn't have a pause mode; pressing Start just brought up the sub-weapon menu. The original game would pause when you hit Select, but I don't think it was carried over into the sequels.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on June 12, 2017, 06:38:42 PM
just use photoshop and use an emulator + pause button on keyboard...

Most of the Mega Man games for the NES didn't have a pause mode; pressing Start just brought up the sub-weapon menu. The original game would pause when you hit Select, but I don't think it was carried over into the sequels.

6 / 6 Megaman games being allowed to be paused I guess is pretty bad odds  :-\  And you know, because I don't know how to do screenshot recreations, it's not like I know what I'm talking about  ::)

Megaman 1
(https://s21.postimg.org/k9nmhdj07/Capture.png)

Megaman 2
(https://s16.postimg.org/hajvyax9h/Capture.png)

Megaman 3
(https://s12.postimg.org/okqya7zbx/Capture.png)

Megaman 4
(https://s11.postimg.org/zeq44966b/Capture.png)

Megaman 5
(https://s9.postimg.org/3ojcsgbpr/Capture.png)

Megaman 6
(https://s21.postimg.org/kzbsbxxpj/Capture.png)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on June 13, 2017, 01:40:27 AM
Most of the Mega Man games for the NES didn't have a pause mode; pressing Start just brought up the sub-weapon menu. The original game would pause when you hit Select, but I don't think it was carried over into the sequels.

He means pausing the emulator, not the game itself.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on June 13, 2017, 09:55:57 AM
Most of the Mega Man games for the NES didn't have a pause mode; pressing Start just brought up the sub-weapon menu. The original game would pause when you hit Select, but I don't think it was carried over into the sequels.

He means pausing the emulator, not the game itself.

Correct (it does say it clearly in the post above his lol)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: e_brugal on June 13, 2017, 10:26:28 AM
Yeah, I dont use sprites that are 228x66.  Those don't transpose well while scaling up, and then back down.
If you use Photoshop, they will scale perfectly under the "Nearest Neighbor" setting. Just make sure to use even-numbered ratios, since the sprites are made of perfect squares. For example, my recent inlay for the first Super Mario game used sprites multiplied by a factor of ten. They were plenty big enough for my project, and perfectly sharp...so yours would be 2280 x 660.

That was the problem with my inlays, should mentione it before  ;). i got changes to do lol

Thanks
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: MannyCa1avera on August 02, 2017, 08:52:28 AM
I love the Japanese art, and I hate how all the US MM games have different logos, so I decided to remedy that.

This project and these templates really inspired me!  I use BitBoxes so I made some adjustments to the spine width and went from there.  I'm no graphic artist but I think they came out nicely.  

Thanks to ShootHimNow and VictiniGames for posting the MM1 and MM2 screenshots.  I integrated them into my covers, but I can't seem to bring myself to re-create the others from scratch.  Maybe one day ...

EDIT:  Oh, I have a *lot* to learn.

I didn't realize that Shadowfox cases have such similar dimensions to Bitboxes.  All my spine adjustments were completely unnecessary.  I've redone my covers by simply adding in the Japanese artwork and replacing the rear screenshots with high res replacements.  Some of the alignments aren't uniform across all the covers so they're not perfect, but I like them better than the first set I made. I've updated the DropBox link to the new set.


Here's a link to the finished(?) products:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nc7w7hlpa32ih53/AAB0Jbza4_woReQOScTF6LNYa?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nc7w7hlpa32ih53/AAB0Jbza4_woReQOScTF6LNYa?dl=0)

With marioxb's permission, I'd love to post these to the BitBox board.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on August 02, 2017, 12:12:50 PM
Yeah, I'd love to see em! Where'd you get your front art from? I'll finish mine up in the next few months. I've been busy with planning the in laws vow renewal and moving out of state.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: MannyCa1avera on August 02, 2017, 12:50:32 PM
Nearly all of the front art came from ShootHimNow's post. I think I Google imaged searched MM3's cover for a different color tone.

All six covers can be found through my DropBox link in my last post.  I hope I did your templates justice.  :)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on August 02, 2017, 01:25:57 PM
I've legitimately had them posted here forever, and no one... commented... lol...  It's like... no one... reads... what... I... post sometimes...  ::)

Not a problem man, it was just a quick google search for "temp" covers
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on August 02, 2017, 01:45:06 PM
I've legitimately had them posted here forever, and no one... commented... lol...  It's like... no one... reads... what... I... post sometimes...  ::)

Not a problem man, it was just a quick google search for "temp" covers

Yeah, I saw those, I think they came from the Mega Man fan page which was also referenced in this thread. I haven't had a close look at Manny's covers, so I assumed he found hi-res 300/600 dpi art.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: ShoothimNow on August 02, 2017, 02:38:21 PM
Yeah, I saw those, I think they came from the Mega Man fan page which was also referenced in this thread. I haven't had a close look at Manny's covers, so I assumed he found hi-res 300/600 dpi art.

http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/154f606fe992154d51e53bc60cbae690-1200-80.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/fps_anth/img756--screenshot.jpg~original
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/45/36/c4/4536c4ffa351ade3fb51b9d15a558876.jpg
https://i.warosu.org/data/vr/img/0017/38/1404500530500.jpg
http://www.journaldugamer.com/files/2011/07/Mega-Man-5-Charge-Man-Piano.jpg
http://www.luvjapan.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mm6.jpg

Best quality (that I saw) was from various sites, not the mega man fan page which was also referenced in this thread.  Links to the pictures are also... posted... above... the... pictures... It's legitimately like no one... reads... what... I... post sometimes...   ::)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: tylerbgood on August 02, 2017, 03:14:04 PM
Yeah, I'd love to see em! Where'd you get your front art from? I'll finish mine up in the next few months. I've been busy with planning the in laws vow renewal and moving out of state.

Looking forward to it marioxb! I've actually got this thread bookmarked so I don't forget about these covers. Glad to hear you're still working on them. Good luck with the move.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: MannyCa1avera on August 02, 2017, 04:11:36 PM
Quote from: ShoothimNow

Best quality (that I saw) was from various sites, not the mega man fan page which was also referenced in this thread.  Links to the pictures are also... posted... above... the... pictures... It's legitimately like no one... reads... what... I... post sometimes...   ::)

Yeah, I followed those links and grabbed the original res versions. They were a huge help.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on August 07, 2017, 10:30:30 PM
I just ordered this book for a pretty decent price, so I'll be able to make nice 300 dpi covers for these really soon!

(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODAwWDU2Ng==/z/aZwAAOSwZs1Zgdl9/$_3.JPG)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: wiggy on August 08, 2017, 11:03:13 AM
Yeah, I dont use sprites that are 228x66.  Those don't transpose well while scaling up, and then back down.

Another thing that helps (along with scaling using "nearest neighbor") is adjusting the resolution beforehand.  Scaling sprite art in its native 72dpi will force the software to make a lot more guesses about the placement of pixels versus a 300dpi image.  
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: flamepanther on August 15, 2017, 10:11:42 AM
I just ordered this book for a pretty decent price, so I'll be able to make nice 300 dpi covers for these really soon!

(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODAwWDU2Ng==/z/aZwAAOSwZs1Zgdl9/$_3.JPG)

If the book includes the alternate vertical or "poster" versions of the art, could you scan those too?
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: wiggy on August 15, 2017, 04:43:30 PM
I just ordered this book for a pretty decent price, so I'll be able to make nice 300 dpi covers for these really soon!

Don't get too excited.   The cover art images are rather small.


If the book includes the alternate vertical or "poster" versions of the art, could you scan those too?

It doesn't.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: tylerbgood on August 15, 2017, 05:13:34 PM

Don't get too excited.   The cover art images are rather small.


I believe the artwork is at least as big as it appeared on the original Japanese boxes.

(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/31a1/7jx7o6klqbc2xbx4g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/view/7jx7o6klqbc2xbx/nes_mega_man_artbook_sample.jpg)  (https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/72f3/cvz38qziiosicka4g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/view/cvz38qziiosicka/nes_mega_man_2_artbook_sample.jpg)
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on August 16, 2017, 08:16:20 AM
That looks about Famicom box size. I haven't had a chance to see the book yet, as I've been out of town for my grandma's funeral and other stuff. But it's sitting at the house waiting for me.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: flamepanther on August 16, 2017, 09:32:25 AM
Even if those are slightly smaller than a Famicom box, the lack of a logo is still a huge advantage.
Title: Re: Mega Man NES series with Famicom art (preview)
Post by: marioxb on August 17, 2017, 12:54:40 PM
Yeah it's great!