Redrawing 5 classic NES sprites at DOUBLE SIZE

I’m curious what would happen if we scale up NES sprites and redraw them, following stylistic cues from the originals - maybe there's new detail that can be uncovered in the higher resolution... let’s find out!

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0:00 Intro & Doubling Parameters
1:02 Initial Upscale Traces
2:40 Link
3:28 Mario
4:13 Mega Man
5:18 Darkwing Duck
6:29 Samus
7:34 All of them together
8:06 VID OVER

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Check out my art here:

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Software used: Adobe Photoshop 2022
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Title sequence theme music by Failpositive:

Background music obtained through Royalty Free Planet:

Downtown Walk by e s c p
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Other background music courtesy of YouTube Audio Library.

[Qwerasd]

What the initial upscaling and smoothing step revealed to me is how brilliantly made that darkwing duck sprite is

[jackgibson]

this is what those 32x minecraft texture packs look like

[ricardo.mazeto]

After seeing the final comparison, I cannot help but imagine how cool it would be to play a revamped version of these old games with double the resolution and reworked sprites. Awesome and inspiring work you just did there. 10/10.

[miraclePoints]

I think that for Megaman the black inner linework was a great choice. It helps sell the idea that he's a robot and not a guy in a leotard

[LeeChesnalavage]

Link, Mario and Megaman look so freaking cute upscaled! 😍

[ARDIZsq]

That initial step of doubling the scale and then basically smoothing the sprite is something I've done before, and it's a LOT of fun. What's also interesting is doing the step twice, smoothing it out again and again until you have these really strange looking characters.

[asher]

i love how the final megaman sprite turned out, the second megaman was probably my least favorite of the second batch of sprites but then the third one made it my favorite

[JuhoSprite]

Finally someone who doesnt just upscale and put a smoothing pixel filter on it

[Booskop.]

Mario and Darkwing Duck definitely worked out the best. Amazing pixelwork as always Brandon!

[Stimmtso]

I like how your videos sorta take you through a journey or a thought progress. Not just like "I did a sketch, then i did the colors"-way, but like "I took the first step from A to B, then tried going from B to C and ended up at D"-way

[CircusBamse]

It's incredible how little it seems you've changed on the darkwing duck sprite and how amazing it looks. I really think that speaks to how well the original sprite was made!
Awesome video, Mario is so much cuter 😊

[NukeOTron]

I hate to say this, but out of the five, I think Darkwing Duck got the best touch-ups, and possibly the best original sprites. Then again, with Disney characters, that might be a given.

[ronniemarion]

In around 1989 to 1992 or 93, there were Nintendo calendars that had this very kind of thing happening. It wasn't quite SNES graphics, but they were similarly "enhanced" sprites in the calendar. I remember in particular that the page for Metroid has a distinctly 3d Samus, very low-polygon and large.

[jakipop]

I would love to see a challenge where you see how far you can push making the sprites smaller before they become totally indistinguishable!

[robertwyatt]

Samus definitely benefited the most from the doubled resolution. Her original character design kinda had a lot of intricate mechanical details that couldn’t be conveyed that well with the limited resolution.

[enderphoenix]

The lil Mario and Link are so cute, love the artstyle! I also like the face you gave Megaman, like he’s in the process of being a lil gremlin haha
Also you’re right, that original Darkwing Duck sprite is so cool, the linework and color usage are superb.

[sam-gulch]

😁 mfw when he makes a picture out of tiny squares

[Best-Match]

Reminds me a lot of how Cave Story Plus worked- doubling the resolution but keeping the palettes the same.

[Flycanjack]

Those are actually fire! I always loved the Darkwing duck sprite, really shows the skill behind the sprite work of that game and you only made it better

[comradecid]

great video - and an excellent example of why it's important to establish full-resolution reference art before creating assets (and in this case, upgrading existing assets)