Thanks. I was shooting for that kind of realism, so I went and scoured the internet for pixel-art related stories. It happened to be news I was personally interested in, so I decided to make it the "exclusive". =)

I'm actually not much of a low color count guy, I attribute that color usage entirely to DawnBringer's palette, which includes a wide spectrum of colors and shades in 16 colors. I added ten additional colors as needed, which shows how little I care about color counts...

I don't really want to argue that point, but I prefer higher color counts to messy colorspace and texture issues. I'd call it neo-retro style, as opposed to pure retro. It's why I probably won't be doing this week's comp. =)

 You used the reference for... The sky and water...
This has to be some sort of win within itself C:

But I think that it's clever to use to-be-released games on the cover, it's more like a true magazine.

Also, I recently entered this week's challenge. It was the first time I had to limit myself to any amount of colors. Dealing with only the 12 was really difficult for me, but seeing the life in yours and you only using little more than double is very cool (in my books at least). So Kudos for the great color usage.

Heh, yeah. I'm a PS3 guy, but I may have to spend the money too. Dang WayForward...

I should have mentioned that the "girls of 2012" were in games released or to-be-released in 2012. I just went through the wiki page and picked four at mostly random. I actually don't play DOA either, but I figured a swimsuit special needed her. =)

From left to right, the four microsprites are: Jade (BG+E2, fingers crossed), Kasumi (DOA5), Peach (every nintendo game of 2012), and Aveline (AC3: Liberation). Those two white pixels under the hand are supposed to be that hidden blade. ...two white pixels couldn't possibly be anything else.

Yeah, the third ref is a little NSFW. Is it bad that I only used it for the water and sky shading? (literally hours looking at just the background...)

 Oh, and *puts on sunglasses* *bites lower lip* Dat Reference (the second to last one).

 Time the freak out.

Shantae's coming to Wii U?

Now that's a reason to drop a few hundred dollars. 

Also, I'm having some issues deciphering the four at the bottom. I can see Peach and the one from Dead or Alive (I don't play the games, so I don't know her name), but the other two are a mystery.

I haven't played yet but I have seen many of their animated sprites. They are great!

Thanks. It took forever to get that pose to look right, since I did it without reference. Yeah, I know I'm insane.

If you haven't played the Shantae games, get a ROM and do it right now. Excellent animation and palette swapping on a friggin GBC game, and it was made by one person.

The "top story" alludes to a real story, too. There's a new game being made for the Wii U.

 I like this . Shantale looks very good.

I recognize your style from miles away. I think the borders on the girl are too dark!

Apparently you can't delete unnecessary comments.