Splash Archive

Creation

The very first splash image, knocked up quickly for the grand opening. It did have sprites on it at one point, but it looked cheesy and was taking too long.

Classicgaming

NinDB had been down for about a month when Classicgaming swooped in with their offer of free hosting. This move was very temporary before another shift to PlanetNintendo was needed. But Wario seems happy about it.

The End of an Era

You could still send blank Famicom Disk System disks to Nintendo in Japan to get games written to them. The service finally ended on 30th September 2003, 17 years after it began.

As Seen In… Nintendo Official Magazine UK

I was contacted by Nintendo Official Magazine UK who asked if they could use the trophy screenshots from NinDB's trophy guide. I obliged and… they got the credit wrong.

The Legend of Zelda: E3 2004

Regardless of what you think about Twilight Princess now, that E3 reveal was jaw-dropping.

Getting a Job

Money was tight, and I was on the hunt for work. After making this, it turned out I was still able to do some updates here and there.

NinDB Forums

I'd set up a forum before, but this time I wanted to make one that stuck. And you know what? The forums are still there!

2005

So many titles to look forward to in 2005! Please ignore than only Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance got a Western release in 2005. That Kirby game didn't even get released at all!

Super Smash Bros. Classic

One of the more popular early splash images. So much so that people legitimately contacted me to ask if it was a real game. It's not! (But it should be…)

Neglected Nintendo Heroes Convention 2002

Hakkun (Sutte Hakkun), Demon (Power Sokoban) and Muguru-kun (Power Lode Runner) grumble about their obscure status in life.

Super Smash Bros. Classic: Character Select

This splash image ran for a long time, and every once in a while I find it stolen somewhere on the internet. One of those images where people say "I didn't realise YOU did that!"

Dr. Mario Virus Check

I was dealing with some viruses on my PC that were slowing down work on NinDB. At least it gave me a good idea!

Link vs. Your Mum

This splash image was created by my old friend Tom Stelling as desktop wallpaper. I asked his permission to use it and he agreed.

Pikachu is Real

Another work by Tom Stelling. This was the splash image for the website's first long hiatus and so technically it was the longest-running one.

Super Mario Sunshine

This cartoon was drawn by my brother. FLUDD chokes on a Poink and explodes! Classic Super Mario Sunshine hijinks.

Dance! Boogie!

I liked Pokémon Colosseum well enough, but I wasn't prepared to fall in love with the disco-dancing Ludicolo! So I paired it with Nintendo's other disco-loving maniac, Jimmy T.

Reggierock

Sometimes I just have a stupid, lame idea that makes me laugh.

The Morning After a Mario Party

I was a student and almost certainly overdoing the drinks myself. Sometimes you just have to draw what you know.

Master Hand Trophy

The Trophy series was made before the release of SSBM, and before loads was known about the game. It's not really a surprise that Master Hand turned out to be a boss in SSBM, but this was made before I knew that. This is actually an edit of Mario's hand from an official SSBM render.

Hakkun Trophy

The hero of Sutte Hakkun as a trophy. I found the render on Nintendo's Japanese website, which was perfect for trophy making.

Ken Griifey Jr. Trophy

I don't come from a country that plays baseball. Everything I learned about it I learned from Nintendo games. And that one episode of The Simpsons where Ken Griffey drinks all that nerve tonic.

Pokey the Penguin Trophy

He's not a Nintendo character, but the hero of one of my favourite webcomics. Pokey the Penguin continues to this day!

Coupe Trophy

I didn't use this one featuring one of the cars from Stunt Race FX in the end. I couldn't think of anything funny (and it shows).

Before the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, I wanted to offer some quick background on where some of the lesser-known characters (at the time) originated.

Pit

The first profile was for Pit who hadn't starred in a game for a decade, and was another decade away from being revived in Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Marth

You've all heard of Fire Emblem NOW, but at the time, the series hadn't left Japan.

Ice Climbers

They may be better climbers than they are fighters, but Popo and Nana were representing the old, unloved NES games.

Lip

With Lip's Stick appearing as an item, this explains the origin in Panel de Pon (aka. Tetris Attack).

These splashes were originally removed from older splash archives. But I still kept hold of them… deep in the bowels of my hard drives…

The Mysterious Murasame Castle

I experimented with putting my drawings into realistic photo scenes for a while. I'd probably balance the colours better now, but I still like it.

Slowpoke

I really like the Pokémon: Gold & Silver sprites. I guess there was a server move with a risk of downtime.

Duck Hunt Dog

I don't remember what this was used for. Looks like a 404 error image.

Wish you were here… C-Island

A postcard from C-Island in StarTropics.

Skiing Yoshi at Christmas

This sprite of Yoshi falling down a mountain in his skiing gear might be my favourite sprite in a game jam-packed full of amazing sprites. I love Yoshi's Island.

Gates Shot

I don't remember what this was for. Was I mad at my PC? Was I mad about Microsoft buying Rare? I can't remember, and it seemed mean-spirited, so it wasn't up for long and didn't make it into earlier splash archives. But in this day and age it's important to hate billionaires again!

Toad

This is just stolen artwork. I didn't make this. I don't remember what I used it for.

Tingle RIP

There was an interview or something that Tingle wasn't going to be in Twilight Princess. As the number one Tingle Fan in the world, I was devastated.

Famicom Medley

I originally drew this Medley for a piece of PC desktop wallpaper. I repurposed it for this splash image. Fun fact: I have three updated drafts of this that I've never finished.

Revolution

When the working title of Nintendo's next console was announced as "Revolution", I couldn't resist.

Revolution and Mario

I don't think I realised how prophetic this would become at the time, with the glorious Virtual Console becoming one of my favourite features of the Wii.

Odama

The late Gamecube pinball strategy game Odama was such a big surprise, I really dug it. That is until I played it. I'm really bad at Odama, everyone.

Tingle's Back!

I was elated when Tingle returned. I was even happier when Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland got a European release.

Wii

Y'see, it's like he's saying 'oui'. Oh dear, I think this might be racist now.

Pit

While in no way as detailed as the original Melee profiles, this was a Super Smash Bros. Brawl attempt to do something similar.

Unfortunately, this was the only one I did before I finally ditched the splash page.

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