ShredGatto
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shredgatto.bsky.social
ShredGatto
@shredgatto.bsky.social
150 followers 56 following 430 posts
She/her, Central Asian. Break the pavement, reveal the beach. Strangle the last king with the guts of the last bishop. Pixel artist and book writer. Email for commissions: shredgatto@protonmail.com
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shredgatto.bsky.social
C0mmission, of a Pikachu that just happens to be patrotic for the golden state :)
November 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
There was a time when US animation understood that. I definitely did not remember or care that 90s Spider-Man had lesser range of motion or overused stock footage, I cared about a Venom design that fucked and Black Cat with abs
November 15, 2025 at 11:04 AM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Commission of a mockup, a hypothetical gameboy title screen and screenshot of a game based on the original Night of the Living Dead movie!
A b/w title screen with six zombie hands on its side, the title says Night of the Living Dead, the text box says Continue - New game - Options and the cursor is in the shape of a crosshair A top down b/w screenshot mockup of Ben from Night of the Living Dead evading three zombies in a graveyard next to a few bushes, gravestones, a chest, and a broken tree
November 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Drew this Raichu for a Pokemon collab. Poor chonk needs some love, is far too neglected
Pixel art render of Raichu in 16 bit colors with dithering
October 11, 2025 at 11:13 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Me: I need to detox from Silksong's absurd difficulty

Also me: completing the only acheevo I didn't have in TMNT Shredder's Revenge and the hardest one
October 5, 2025 at 8:19 AM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Tails wishes you a happy birthday with some fireworks!

Birthday gift that I've done for someone who likes Tails :)
October 2, 2025 at 2:28 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Good day to Mona Lisa's walk cycle in TMNT Shredder's Revenge and nothing else
October 1, 2025 at 11:35 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Thinking with silksong 2/2
Yes, you can skip the Last Judge if you go the other way, I’m aware. The other way isn’t any easier and doesn’t justify slogging through it all just to skip the runback. Honestly, the Last Judge could’ve been a fun boss, if not for all of that. The relief came in Act 2, the Citadel act, the one with the Citadel, the Citadel-featuring act. Suddenly, the game opens up. You’re given this massive shining city to explore, full of wonders and mysteries, and most importantly - upgrades. More upgrades than you can shake a nail at, crests, tools, masks, spools, every single treasure of the world concentrated in that act 2 specifically. Movement abilities that help you go back and find actual secrets in act 1 areas as well. I’m suddenly finding myself having fun, suddenly finding myself motivated to look for various nooks and crannies and feeling like I can come back stronger to areas I found trouble in, strategizing with various tools to deal with whatever bout of horribleness the game’s throwing at me. I even found myself enjoying the story again, running to Sherma’s aid as soon as I needed to, learning the Citadel’s true scope of sins against the surrounding lands and the horrifying slave society it’s been cultivating, being moved by beautiful moments like the Cogwork Dancers. It suddenly felt like a good metroidvania again. The rough and narrow exterior of the first act was hiding a good game all along. So the end should be happy, right? Right? The difficulty slowly caught up with the upgrades. In bosses, in timed platforming gauntlets like Mount Fay, (gatekeeping the double jump behind a Mythologies Sub-Zero level harder than the game’s actual “path of pain” was sure a choice someone made, there isn’t even a way to deal with the cold until after you’ve beaten it) in horrifying enemy gauntlets like High Halls, the illusion of progression and getting stronger shattering in front of me. I was back in the Silksong mines, still expected to get by with nothing but mechanical skill and repetition of insanely long sequences without a checkpoint to practice them. With a special thanks to Bilewater. Bilewater is the primary reason I put up that Ninja Gaiden III comparison in the opening paragraph. A long challenging platforming sequence taking every movement option you have, a powerful enemy gauntlet full of tricky foes. And a boss that, while far from the hardest in the game, is no pushover. All three, one after another, on a single checkpoint. That is the most egregious example of artificial difficulty. A difficulty that isn't conductive to the simple pleasures of practice -> skill -> result, but one that only wastes time by underhanded means, making every try take longer and forcing more memorization. This is not good game design by any means. The original Hollow Knight was never like this. I did this before ever getting to survive 1 more hit, by the way... And the more stuff like this chipped away at me, the more I felt thrown back into the horrors of act 1, left without means to progress through, my time wasted, thrown away by something that only sought to troll me. The goodwill Silksong built throughout act 2 with me evaporated, by the time act 3 happened the only thing on my mind was getting it all to end. The difficulty of fights, platforming, bosses, it all became too much. The constant RNG of trying to dodge the boss’ first attack only for the boss to choose a second attack that hits exactly where you were dodging the first one, having to do everything hitless because one hit cascades into three more, it just wasn’t bearable anymore. I found myself skipping dialogues after long frustrating sequences, my mind too tired to pay attention to anything other than what horrors are coming next, because there were always horrors coming next. Act 3 threw away whatever sense of progression that was left by the end of act 2, which was already withering it away. Act 3 decided to just make you feel like you have 5 masks and 0 pale oils all over again, with morbed enemies ensuring you once again have to pay complete attention to even the smallest of threats, nothing you’ve built or acquired making it any easier. There was a small reprieve in Verdania, a reasonable area with spread out enemies, exploration that makes sense, and bosses that did not demand everything of me, like an oasis in a desert, but alas, the oasis was as brief as a dream. I unravelled, stuck in this torture chamber of a game for so long, cursing myself for ever getting invested into this franchise all those years ago and just wanting this sadistic torture machine to finally let go of me, and when by the virtue of fucking finally beating the final boss I did, all I felt was nothing, a sense of emptiness as vast as the blackest void beneath Pharloom, devouring all joy and happiness in its mindless assault. And I was left wondering why? Why was it done like this, when the first Hollow Knight game was so beautifully accessible without sacrificing any of its integrity? What possessed the developers to make the sequel so soul-draining to play in all the worst ways? Have they watched far too many videos of youtubers doing challenge and modded runs, leading to the devs thinking everyone was doing it for 7 years? Have they wanted the Dark Souls “muh game hard” reputation to uphold, despite Hollow Knight not really having that reputation until the last bits of content? Have they simply spent too long in isolation and mastered their own game, losing touch that an average person doesn’t have 7 years to do the same? Do they just hate me in particular? In any case, I felt alienated. I felt like there was a good game somewhere in there, but what I was playing was a terrible “hard mode” romhack of one. And although I mellowed out later enough to finish the game to 100% and found my new favorite boss in Crust King Khann, (in particular I appreciate the contrast between the lush coral reefs of the dream vs the barren “sands of karak” in the present, no longer capable of maintaining its corals because the Citadel must’ve drained all the water) I remain just as alienated and most likely won’t end up replaying the game ever again. On that rather grim note, I write the concluding statements. I don’t expect the difficulty issue to ever be fixed, not only because much of it is too deeply embedded into the game’s design, but also because in interviews and throughout the history of HK patches increasing difficulty, I only expect the devs to double down in response to the criticisms in any future DLCs. So the “git gud” crowd can rest easy, I don’t think there’s ever going to be an update that takes the game away from them. Sucks for everyone else though. And that’s that. P.S. Lace is my favorite. Little self-loathing yarnball. P.P.S. Do we ever find out lore-wise why some bugs cosplay crows and mice?
September 21, 2025 at 3:55 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
As promised, silksong thinking 1/2
Screenshot of 100% game completion in 66h 07m 58s Screenshot of Hornet resting in her house Silksong Review by ShredGatto On June 21, 1991, Tecmo released a Nintendo Famicom game known in Japan as Ninja Ryukenden III: Yomi no Hakobune. The game was a part of the infamous Ninja Ryukenden (Known as Ninja Gaiden overseas) franchise, pioneering tight explosive ninja action platforming, usage of cutscenes to tell the story, but also its great difficulty. Except Ninja Ryukenden III was deemed a great deal easier than its predecessors, having quality of life upgrades like an extended sword, lacking stage hazards and unreasonable runbacks like the first game’s legendary 6-1 reset. The Western publisher, fearing the series’ reputation of brutally hard games would be tarnished, updated the international NES release to involve double damage from all sources, lessened item pickup opportunities, and added runbacks in terms of limited continues, making it the only game in the series actually threatening you to force replaying the entire game all over again if you fail too often. Thus Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is regarded as the hardest rather than the easiest from these entirely artificial factors. Anyway, Silksong. I have waited years for Silksong like most of us, having gotten into Hollow Knight sometime after the release of Godmaster DLC. The game appealed to me from the very start - a cute hand drawn bug, beautiful environments, tight controls, slashing around and platforming, unravelling the mystery of a lost kingdom driven by its ruler’s desperate attempts to stave off a plague feasting on the denizens’ very own dreams... I have about 110% of Hollow Knight on me, the only two things with competition percentages I couldn’t do in the end were Trial of the Fool and Pantheon 4. In spite of those two roadblocks, I always thought of the game’s progression curve and difficulty as masterfully designed, allowing a wide array of strategies and charm synergies that could get you through without forcing you to one particular approach. But perhaps it’s not me but one of my friends, who is blind, is the much better testament to how diverse and accessible Hollow Knight’s gameplay is. Using the aforementioned array of strategies to get around his limitations, he was able to finish the game on Steel Soul, something I could never do. So what a surprise it was when I found myself completely gated and boxed in by Silksong’s limiting, narrow-focused difficulty that asks of you one thing and one thing only - mechanical skill with the platforming and nail, with no margin of error. What Hollow Knight asked of you only at the very end of the journey, Silksong demands in full perfection right away. There are no other options. From the very beginning of the game, platforming is filled with pogoing challenges that wouldn’t be out of place in the White Palace. Good luck with that confusing diagonal pogo, you won’t get another option for quite a while! Random regular enemies have complex movesets more befitting of mini-bosses, they strike for 2 damage then weave and dodge out of the way, flying enemies in particular have the dexterity of Touhou fairies on speed. And they all take 5+ hits to kill, despite killing you in 3. Bosses are paradoxically chill at the beginning, like they just came out of a different game. But bosses that do 2 damage, even 2 contact damage, appear nearly immediately. On a side note, did the game really need so many “collect 20 bug scrotums” quests? It’s already decently long without them. Most importantly, the beginning of the game, the entire first third of the game, is positively barren in terms of any and all progression upgrades. The classic metroidvania principle of coming back to a section later and stronger if it’s giving you trouble simply doesn’t apply here because there isn’t any “stronger” for the entirety of what the game calls Act 1. In fact, I only got the ability to survive one more hit from the omnipresent double damage enemies, i.e. a second mask, 34 hours into the game and well into Act 2. You don’t even wanna know what I got done before that happened. But you will, later into the review. A particular experience myself and a lot of others share is finding the entrance into Hunter’s March, seeing it gated by an enemy whose attacks were obviously meant to be dodged with a dash, getting the dash, (or killing it with timed pogos anyway) and entering the area. The area that hosts a horrible platforming gauntlet, a trapped bench, and a monstrously difficult boss gatekeeping a crest that’s worse than the starting crest. What’s the point of this area? Why do meaningful rewards for it only appear in act 3? If I’m not meant to be here early, why was it made reachable early with only a beefgate guarding it? This, for lack of a better couple words, is fucking baffling. Never have I seen a metroidvania game that stingy with progression and nonsensical with pathing, defying the applicability of the whole concept itself. Hollow Knight was never like this. The spectre of narrow-minded difficulty haunted me for the whole playthrough, gradually chipping away at my enjoyment of the world, Hornet’s conversations with the characters, and delightful characters themselves. I found myself slowly ceasing thinking about the great visuals, awesome soundtrack, or how precious Sherma is, just about what new flavor of bullshit the game was about to throw at me next, the flavor I had to tackle right away because it’s not like the game was ever going to give me an upgrade. And the issue of runbacks started creeping its ugly head. For the amount of pure mechanical skill and muscle memory the game demands of you, it goes out of its way to prevent you from practicing aforementioned mechanical skill and muscle memory by forcing you to go through unrelated segments just to have a chance at a boss again.
September 21, 2025 at 3:55 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
What movie do you consider perfect?
September 21, 2025 at 2:07 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
We have silked the song.

Will put up my thoughts on it tomorrow, perhaps.
September 20, 2025 at 2:14 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
www.newgrounds.com/art/view/red...

The Shantae Collab yours truly is in <3
September 1, 2025 at 4:45 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
90s comic book artwork is so funny

Look at this goofy lizard bastard

ROWL!
August 24, 2025 at 7:59 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Spider-Man used to be real...
Spider-Man at a live recording of a TV show TV Host: "Not a bad entrance, but what do you do for an encore?" Spider-Man: "Too bad I forgot my guitar." Someone offscreen: "How do you know he's the real Spider-Man? Anyone can wear a mask!" TV Host: "Did you hear that?" Spider-Man: "I heard it." Spider-Man: "Let's see how many imposters can do this little stunt! And if walking up the wall isn't enough, they can always try coming down again, on their own special webbing. And if more proof is needed..." He webs up the TV Host TV Host: "No! No! Enough, that's enough, you made your point!" He puts the host down TV Host: "What else can you do, Spidey?" Spider-Man: "Plenty. But first I've something to day. Now that I have a captive audience, I wanna talk about some other captives. I mean the prisoners who are locked-up oin our understuffed, over-age, over-crowded jails." Spider-Man: "I'm talking about conditions where young, first offenders are put in the same cells with hardened criminals. About an antiquated system that makes prisons breeding grounds for crime. I'm talking about men who stay locked-up for months, waiting for trial - because there aren't enough judges, not enough courts. Crime and justice are everyone's problem! And it's a problem that must be solved before it's too late." Spider-Man (thinking): "What's all that commotion out front?" Cops break in. Cop 1: "Sorry about your show, but there's a warrant out for him. Okay boys, close in." Spider-Man (thinking): "Police." Cop 2: "Hurry! He sees us." TV Producer: "Quick! Put on the soap commercial!" Spider-Man swings away. Spider-Man: "Nuts! That's what I get for talking too much! I should've figured the cops would have to close in. Another few seconds and they'd have had me. I wonder if there'll ever be a way to clear myself of...Oh no! I just remembered soemthing! I took off before he could pay me!"
August 16, 2025 at 12:37 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
My PS1 collection on the PS3 <3 It took so long to arrange the thumbnails and make sure every game doesn't have a shitton of (Track) bin files

But it's all so good and it works

Yeah even the Friday Night Funkin homebrew demake has a thumbnail

Accepting suggestions on what to add here
August 11, 2025 at 7:30 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Ya girl Alexis is making propaganda posters, yes. Wait no, it's not propaganda when it's our side, is it?

Remember: coordinated, prolonged, intense public backlash stopped the payment processors' evil plans against OnlyFans, it can do so again.

stop-paypros.neocities.org
Pixel art picture of mostly naked Chief Warden Karryn from Karryn's Prison, censored via yellow tape. She has long purple gloves matching her bob cut hair and a blue warden hat. Also a halberd. "In the dark year of 2025, the four dark cards of censorship have slain Itch.Io and wounded Steam. Will you join the ranks of heroes fighting against their evil intentions of boundless control over your art?" "The forces of evil are: Visa, Stripe, [MasterCard logo], PayPal." Stylized to look like CRT. Pixel art picture of mostly naked Chief Warden Karryn from Karryn's Prison, censored via yellow tape. She has long purple gloves matching her bob cut hair and a blue warden hat. Also a halberd. "In the dark year of 2025, the four dark cards of censorship have slain Itch.Io and wounded Steam. Will you join the ranks of heroes fighting against their evil intentions of boundless control over your art?" "The forces of evil are: Visa, Stripe, [MasterCard logo], PayPal."
August 4, 2025 at 7:25 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Shantae time!

A little thing I made for an upcoming Newgrounds Shantae collab
Pixel art of Rottytops being held in Shantae's arms, Shantae is surprised, Rotty is calm, and Rotty's right sock is slipping
July 31, 2025 at 5:37 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
After much consideration I've chosen to go with NES colors and harsher lighting instead.
Pink-haired girl in a blue hoodie and a blueish jacket over it, the hoodie is half-open and she's also wearing a heart locket. The background is blue and white beams of color, horizontal. Filtered to look like a CRT screen. Pink-haired girl in a blue hoodie and a blueish jacket over it, the hoodie is half-open and she's also wearing a heart locket. The background is blue and white beams of color, horizontal.
July 27, 2025 at 9:12 AM
shredgatto.bsky.social
I bought a 50x50 pixel mosaic a while ago and finally found a way to turn this rather limiting format into something cool. So here's a Devil Kazuya, inspired by his classic win pose in Tekken 2 and Tekken Tag 1, and also by Cyclops' victory pose from the MvC series. Both fire lasers after all.
Devil Kazuya (a purple demon humanoid with a glowing scar) is firing a yellow laser up into the night sky, as depicted with a pixel mosaic hanging on a wall. Devil Kazuya (a purple demon humanoid with a glowing scar) is firing a yellow laser up into the night sky. This is a mockup for the mosaic in the other picture, so it uses brighter colors.
July 14, 2025 at 7:26 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
I figured since I opened up NSFW commission options recently, I should start drawing some NSFW. It also doubles as a bit of an anatomy study, I tried to get more of the finer details.

So Shantae got into a bit of an accident in one of the dungeons of the game. What should Sky do with this...
Topless Shantae standing in the middle of Scuttle Town, two random citizens looking at her, shocked. She's got an "oopsie" expression on her and is scratching the back of her head with one of her arms. Sky is talking to her from a dialogue box offscreen, saying: "You lost your clothes at the Golem Mine again?!"
July 14, 2025 at 6:28 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Hi, I'm ShredGatto, I draw our little 8 and 16 bit memories. I love retro games and drawing in their style of pixel art. If you wanna support these kinda silly pixel shenanigans, come over to my ko-fi: ko-fi.com/shredgatto Available for commissions!
Commission sheet detailing various options and prices. I draw pixel art! 8 and 16 bit limited nsfw allowed Sprite $25 Gameboy scale $45 160x144 scale Home console scale $65 256x240 or similar pixel scale PC-98 scale: $100 640x400 or similar pixel scale Each option has 1-2 example drawings.
July 6, 2025 at 1:38 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Version without the CRT filter
June 29, 2025 at 6:08 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
A redraw of Road Rash title screen on the Genesis, but with Bowsette and Peach!
June 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
This is a redraw of a certain Robert E.O. Speedwagon and his, in my opinion, finest moment - dismantling of Dio's lies. I did a combination of official manga colors and outfits with overall anime designs, and tried to squeeze this moment into 2 pages rather than 3.
June 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
shredgatto.bsky.social
Oh there are self-labels, neat. Wasn't a thing before. Anyway here's the God of War gag comic with and without the CRT filter. Mild NSFW.
June 16, 2025 at 6:17 PM