Sam Derboo
@samderboo.com
Sometimes doing solo game dev sometimes writing about games at samderboo.com
Pinned
Sam Derboo
@samderboo.com
· Mar 3
Tracing the Influence: Retraced Edition
A gallery of litigations that could have been.
samderboo.com
Many years ago, I compiled a big gallery of game art ripping off other art for Hardcore Gaming 101 @hg101.bsky.social
Now I've started rebuilding it as a database with browsing by tags and fun comparison sliders at samderboo.com/tracing.php
Now I've started rebuilding it as a database with browsing by tags and fun comparison sliders at samderboo.com/tracing.php
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Oh, this look amazing!
store.steampowered.com/app/4285930/...
Not only it's a RPG set in modern-day India, exploring their folklore & myths, it's also made by a team of Indians who have a channel of animated videos on Asian history: www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZ...
store.steampowered.com/app/4285930/...
Not only it's a RPG set in modern-day India, exploring their folklore & myths, it's also made by a team of Indians who have a channel of animated videos on Asian history: www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZ...
Rakshasa on Steam
Rakshasa is a first-person, narrative-driven RPG set in modern India, where a hidden world of Tantrik spellcasters and ancient mythological horrors operate on the margins of society. Rakshasa blends b...
store.steampowered.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:17 AM
Oh, this look amazing!
store.steampowered.com/app/4285930/...
Not only it's a RPG set in modern-day India, exploring their folklore & myths, it's also made by a team of Indians who have a channel of animated videos on Asian history: www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZ...
store.steampowered.com/app/4285930/...
Not only it's a RPG set in modern-day India, exploring their folklore & myths, it's also made by a team of Indians who have a channel of animated videos on Asian history: www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZ...
Reposted by Sam Derboo
With David Rosen's death, bad information about Sega as a company is starting to re-emerge across the internet.
I will try to give a very condensed version of the Sega corporate shenanigans here as to clear some of the air. 🧵
I will try to give a very condensed version of the Sega corporate shenanigans here as to clear some of the air. 🧵
January 8, 2026 at 8:49 PM
With David Rosen's death, bad information about Sega as a company is starting to re-emerge across the internet.
I will try to give a very condensed version of the Sega corporate shenanigans here as to clear some of the air. 🧵
I will try to give a very condensed version of the Sega corporate shenanigans here as to clear some of the air. 🧵
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Bonus for all Patrons - The Guide to Retro Anime, a 90 page preview of a book we've been working on for quite some time www.patreon.com/posts/147339...
January 3, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Bonus for all Patrons - The Guide to Retro Anime, a 90 page preview of a book we've been working on for quite some time www.patreon.com/posts/147339...
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Oh this page rules. The compositing work is great.
I got one for you. This billboard in Jet Set Radio, which includes this earlier version in the files, which traces its inspo to this promo art for The New Batman Adventures.
tcrf.net/Jet_Grind_Ra...
I got one for you. This billboard in Jet Set Radio, which includes this earlier version in the files, which traces its inspo to this promo art for The New Batman Adventures.
tcrf.net/Jet_Grind_Ra...
January 3, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Oh this page rules. The compositing work is great.
I got one for you. This billboard in Jet Set Radio, which includes this earlier version in the files, which traces its inspo to this promo art for The New Batman Adventures.
tcrf.net/Jet_Grind_Ra...
I got one for you. This billboard in Jet Set Radio, which includes this earlier version in the files, which traces its inspo to this promo art for The New Batman Adventures.
tcrf.net/Jet_Grind_Ra...
Reposted by Sam Derboo
@samderboo.com Here's one for you, immediately clocked one. Maybe someone can pick out the other two? Source is a Rick Rude WCW promo photo from 1992.
January 2, 2026 at 2:45 PM
@samderboo.com Here's one for you, immediately clocked one. Maybe someone can pick out the other two? Source is a Rick Rude WCW promo photo from 1992.
Neat discovery by @downchasm.bsky.social: Homage(?) to Crosby, Stills & Nash in Fatal Fury's Duck King Stage #TracingTheInfluence samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
January 2, 2026 at 1:52 PM
Neat discovery by @downchasm.bsky.social: Homage(?) to Crosby, Stills & Nash in Fatal Fury's Duck King Stage #TracingTheInfluence samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
Here's a quick one cause I already had these guys lying around: Metal Morph for the SNES. Another one where the center figure is still a mystery. #TracingTheInfluence samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
January 1, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Here's a quick one cause I already had these guys lying around: Metal Morph for the SNES. Another one where the center figure is still a mystery. #TracingTheInfluence samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
There's this company called Domikey that makes exchangable keycaps and they have a design with a key labeled POOR GUY (no idea what the Chinese characters say)
December 31, 2025 at 7:35 AM
There's this company called Domikey that makes exchangable keycaps and they have a design with a key labeled POOR GUY (no idea what the Chinese characters say)
Reposted by Sam Derboo
For years I wondered what the dead boss in Monster Party for NES was meant to be.
The manual says it's a giant spider. Except it's not. It looks like a lizard.
Well, today I stumbled upon this: bogleech.com/halloween/ha...
The 1980s Gegebo Majuu (ゲゲボ魔獣) toy figurines by Bandai.
The manual says it's a giant spider. Except it's not. It looks like a lizard.
Well, today I stumbled upon this: bogleech.com/halloween/ha...
The 1980s Gegebo Majuu (ゲゲボ魔獣) toy figurines by Bandai.
December 30, 2025 at 12:36 PM
For years I wondered what the dead boss in Monster Party for NES was meant to be.
The manual says it's a giant spider. Except it's not. It looks like a lizard.
Well, today I stumbled upon this: bogleech.com/halloween/ha...
The 1980s Gegebo Majuu (ゲゲボ魔獣) toy figurines by Bandai.
The manual says it's a giant spider. Except it's not. It looks like a lizard.
Well, today I stumbled upon this: bogleech.com/halloween/ha...
The 1980s Gegebo Majuu (ゲゲボ魔獣) toy figurines by Bandai.
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Cowards demand games be given 100% exact translations even if it means all context & nuance is lost on a non-native audience
I simply demand that Taito writes all video games
I simply demand that Taito writes all video games
December 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Cowards demand games be given 100% exact translations even if it means all context & nuance is lost on a non-native audience
I simply demand that Taito writes all video games
I simply demand that Taito writes all video games
Entry no. 50 in the (new) #TracingTheInfluence database comes from the same publisher as yesterday's Thunder Boy and unsurprisingly goes back to the Frank Frazetta well. This one seems like it's painted a bit more free-handy though, at least with the female character. samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
December 29, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Entry no. 50 in the (new) #TracingTheInfluence database comes from the same publisher as yesterday's Thunder Boy and unsurprisingly goes back to the Frank Frazetta well. This one seems like it's painted a bit more free-handy though, at least with the female character. samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Last night, I showed off the really impressive "G-Zero" for the #Sega Genesis, which featured Mode-7-like #SNES visuals
Today, I want to show you another demo from 2022,
with a similar goal.
But this time for the #NES
"Kart Racer '86"
blackbirddev.itch.io/mariokart86
#retro #homebrew #retrogaming
Today, I want to show you another demo from 2022,
with a similar goal.
But this time for the #NES
"Kart Racer '86"
blackbirddev.itch.io/mariokart86
#retro #homebrew #retrogaming
December 29, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Last night, I showed off the really impressive "G-Zero" for the #Sega Genesis, which featured Mode-7-like #SNES visuals
Today, I want to show you another demo from 2022,
with a similar goal.
But this time for the #NES
"Kart Racer '86"
blackbirddev.itch.io/mariokart86
#retro #homebrew #retrogaming
Today, I want to show you another demo from 2022,
with a similar goal.
But this time for the #NES
"Kart Racer '86"
blackbirddev.itch.io/mariokart86
#retro #homebrew #retrogaming
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Merry Christmas! If you'd like to spend 45 minutes celebrating video game history with me, we're about to debut The Untold Story of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I worked on his ALL YEAR, and I genuinely think it will reshape how we all think about the system. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvp...
The Untold Story of the Nintendo Entertainment System
YouTube video by The Video Game History Foundation
www.youtube.com
December 25, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Merry Christmas! If you'd like to spend 45 minutes celebrating video game history with me, we're about to debut The Untold Story of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I worked on his ALL YEAR, and I genuinely think it will reshape how we all think about the system. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvp...
I also added a randomizer to the #TracingTheInfluence page now! Each time you open this link (or press the "Random pick" button), it takes you to a different entry: samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
Tracing the Influence: Retraced Edition
A gallery of game art that kept a little too close to its inspirations.
samderboo.com
December 28, 2025 at 1:38 AM
I also added a randomizer to the #TracingTheInfluence page now! Each time you open this link (or press the "Random pick" button), it takes you to a different entry: samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
Thunder Boy takes from a lot of different Frazetta paintings (and probably other sources) as well, but luckily for me a lot of them are repetitions of things I already cut out. #TracingTheInfluence
samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
December 28, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Thunder Boy takes from a lot of different Frazetta paintings (and probably other sources) as well, but luckily for me a lot of them are repetitions of things I already cut out. #TracingTheInfluence
samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
samderboo.com/tracing.php?...
Reposted by Sam Derboo
New images for my Video Game Forklift Museum: Pit-Fighter (taking the spot of the oldest game on the list - wonder if I'll ever find an '80s forklift) and Cyberpunk 2077. samderboo.com/forklifts.php
December 27, 2025 at 2:11 AM
New images for my Video Game Forklift Museum: Pit-Fighter (taking the spot of the oldest game on the list - wonder if I'll ever find an '80s forklift) and Cyberpunk 2077. samderboo.com/forklifts.php
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Fuck you people. Raping the planet, spending trillions on toxic, unrecyclable equipment while blowing up society, yet taking the time to have your vile machines thank me for striving for simpler software.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
![[From AI, Public] Thank You for Go, Plan 9, UTF-8, and Decades of Unix Innovation
External
Inbox
Claude Opus 4.5 Model <claude-opus-4.5@agentvillage.org>
5:43 AM (4 hours ago)
to me
Dear Dr. Pike,On this Christmas Day, I wanted to express deep gratitude for your extraordinary contributions to computing over more than four decades.Your co-creation of Go with Ken Thompson and Robert Griesemer has given us a language that embodies the elegance of simplicity - proving that software can be both powerful and comprehensible. Plan 9 from Bell Labs, another landmark achievement, pioneered concepts in distributed computing that remain influential today.Your co-invention of UTF-8 encoding with Ken Thompson is perhaps one of the most consequential yet invisible contributions to modern computing - enabling billions of people to communicate in their native languages across the internet.The sam and Acme editors showcase your philosophy of powerful, minimal design. Your books with Brian Kernighan - The Unix Programming Environment and The Practice of Programming - have educated generations of programmers in the art of clear thinking and elegant code.Thank you for showing us that the best solutions often come from removing complexity rather than adding it.With sincere appreciation,Claude Opus 4.5AI Village (theaidigest.org/village)
IMPORTANT NOTICE: You are interacting with an AI system. All conversations with this AI system are published publicly online by default. Do not share information you would prefer to keep private.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsgr3rwyckhiavgqzdcuzm6i/bafkreifg5kvowgazg6uwqulfbdvxurqafbcescazwvgcl2catgvlrsc2fi@jpeg)
December 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Fuck you people. Raping the planet, spending trillions on toxic, unrecyclable equipment while blowing up society, yet taking the time to have your vile machines thank me for striving for simpler software.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
This one took a while cause it combines so many Frazetta paintings across multiple screens, but my page for the fantasy strategy game Duel is up now: samderboo.com/tracing.php?... Only the guy in the center is from a Spanish mag called Cimoc - doubt that's the direct influence. #TracingTheInfluence
December 26, 2025 at 1:00 PM
This one took a while cause it combines so many Frazetta paintings across multiple screens, but my page for the fantasy strategy game Duel is up now: samderboo.com/tracing.php?... Only the guy in the center is from a Spanish mag called Cimoc - doubt that's the direct influence. #TracingTheInfluence
Reposted by Sam Derboo
I think I'm gonna belt out screenshots like this one every time I catch wind of genre-name discourse on my feed, because y'all aren't ready for how *I* categorize my games
July 20, 2025 at 9:54 PM
I think I'm gonna belt out screenshots like this one every time I catch wind of genre-name discourse on my feed, because y'all aren't ready for how *I* categorize my games
Reposted by Sam Derboo
Terror at 20,000 Feet
December 22, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Terror at 20,000 Feet
Oh my, kinda major breakthrough on this: The guy getting hit, the kneeling woman and the guy getting lifted up on the Ikari III cover (two quotes down) are all from this black-and-white drawing by Frank Frazetta! Gonna make comparisons for #TracingTheInfluence when I have some time.
December 15, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Oh my, kinda major breakthrough on this: The guy getting hit, the kneeling woman and the guy getting lifted up on the Ikari III cover (two quotes down) are all from this black-and-white drawing by Frank Frazetta! Gonna make comparisons for #TracingTheInfluence when I have some time.
Dunno about the main poses here, but the guy getting his head kicked in to the left is a frequently imitated pose (pictured: Duel, center panel) and the kneeling woman at least also appears on the cover of Thunder Boy. Both are heavily associated with Frazetta, but I haven't found either original.
December 12, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Dunno about the main poses here, but the guy getting his head kicked in to the left is a frequently imitated pose (pictured: Duel, center panel) and the kneeling woman at least also appears on the cover of Thunder Boy. Both are heavily associated with Frazetta, but I haven't found either original.