Help
Last Updated: March 31, 2025
Below, you'll find a number of frequently asked questions. If you’re unsure about something, this is the place to start. If you still have questions after reading through this page though, feel free to reach out via the contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Before we get to the questions though, we have one important thing we want to mention first: JavaScript is effectively required to use this site. Many elements will function without it but features like submissions and even some layout elements will break if it's disabled. Most people reading this likely already have it enabled but if for some reason you don't, just know that your experience will be degraded.
How do I register?
Fill out the registration form and then check your email for an activation link. As a method of spam/bot protection, a registration token may be required. If it is, it will be available at the bottom of this page and should be copied and pasted where requested during registration to ensure it matches exactly.
What is The Spriters Resource?
The Spriters Resource is a website dedicated to archiving and preserving video game media. This includes sprites, sound effects, 3D models, and textures. The archive is made up of contributions of our users, and maintained by a small team of dedicated staff. For more details, check out our About page.
Who runs The Spriters Resource?
The site was designed, developed, and is continually maintained by Dazz and Petie.
While they may also be approving submissions, it is thanks to our selected moderation team that the site can operate to its full potential. You can view our full staff list over on our Staff page.
How do I change my avatar?
The avatar at the top right of the screen can be clicked to drop down a navigation menu. At the bottom of that menu, you’ll find the Edit Profile link which will let you, among other things, change your avatar, update your email address, and modify your site preferences.
What are the rules for making a submission?
We have an entire page dedicated to Submission Guidelines as well as site-specific guidelines pages linked to from the top of each submission form. We also have a more general Rules page that all members should familiarize themselves with. While not specific to submissions, those rules apply to the submission process as well.
You don't have any assets for X game, can you get content from X?
These sites are operated by our community - an open group always welcoming of more contributors. If there is an asset missing from the site, it may be your best option to rip it yourself, and contribute it to the site so that others in your position can use it! We have an active discouragement of simply requesting of content; because the site is entirely created through voluntary submissions, there is really no validity to making requests of users!
How can I report inaccurate submissions or other mistakes I find on the site?
On each asset and game page is a "report" button - just click that, fill out the details, and submit. The staff will see the report and try to fix the issue as quickly as possible. You can also submit a revision via the pencil icon in the asset or game's info table, which will allow you to provide edits to the existing asset or game that can then be approved by staff.
And on a related note, there is also a report button on every comment which you can use to report comments that break any of the site rules.
Are there any search modifiers?
Our search system is built for users to find both assets and games with ease. We have tags in place to help filter down results, which can be seen on our Browse page. You can modify the search box in the site's header, starting your search with "g:" to search for a game, or "a:" to search for an asset.
Why hasn't my submission been approved yet?
We get thousands of submissions per month and have an extremely small staff to review them at the moment. The staff volunteer their time when they're able to but they all have lives and can't be looking through the queues 24/7. If you still see your submission in the queue, nothing is wrong and contacting us to ask about it will not help. Submissions with icons, where appropriate, tend to be accepted more quickly though so if you did not include them, that would be a good place to start.
How do I use the assets on this site?
There are many ways the content on this site can be used. First, you have to decide what you want to use the sprites for - are you making a comic? Are you working on a poster of some sort? Or are you making a game? If you're interested in these things, the best option is generally to search on Google for a tutorial on the subject specifically.
If you want to learn to sprite, then the first thing you should do is get to grips with the basics of a digital image application. For most spriters, the built in Paint application from Windows is great. It's simple, and does exactly what you need. For a bit more versatility though, Paint.NET (free), GIMP (free), or if you have access to it, Photoshop (paid) can all do quite a bit more.
Can I use the assets on this site in my own projects?
That depends. Is your project commercial in any way (as in, do you stand to make money from it by selling it, advertising in or around it, including in-app purchases in games, or in any other way)? If so, then no, you can't. These resources are all copyrighted works and as such, cannot be used in any commercial project without express written consent from their copyright holders. We do not own and cannot license any of them to you.
That said, if your project is 100% free (e.g. a free fan-game or non-monetized YouTube video - basically any project that was made just for the sake of making it and will not be used in any way to make you money), use away! This is one of the primary reasons we collected all of these resources and we'd love to see what you do with them!
As a special side note, we'd also caution against using anything from these sites in games published to any established market place (like Steam, Apple's App Store, or Google Play), even if they're completely free and contain no ads or in-app purchases. Because it's a formal publication at that point, it's still likely not allowed.
A note regarding credit: If you are going to use custom work in your project, commercial or otherwise, it is common courtesy to credit the original artist. Some submissions will show "no credit needed" or similar but many of these were created long before the idea of them being used in videos seen by millions was even a pipe dream so please consider crediting them regardless. In all other cases, proper credit should be given to the IP holder regardless of what the submission states (e.g. if you are using a sprite of Mario, Nintendo should be credited). To put it simply, always credit the original artist - it's just the right thing to do.
What about Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Square and Other Companies... Do they know about this site?
The assets on this website are all owned by the original companies that they originate from. Their character design or original drawings are the rightful property of said companies, and as such, we claim no rights over them. We have nothing to do with their original creation (in most cases, at least) and claim no credit for how they came into original existence.
Custom assets, although created by us, use designs created by the original company, and so we do not claim any ownership over the character design. We are however, the original artists of the assets and have rights over such art.
Although we have not obtained permission from these companies to host their assets on this website, we do anyway, in the hopes that these companies understand that our intention is not to steal their works, but to appreciate their work, and to distribute it as a fan service to help others research as well as to archive it for generations to come.
We have received very few requests by publishers / rights holders to have content removed and at least one was due to the game having not been released yet. It was then later put up again. Several companies know of our existence, and have been in contact with us for other purposes though this does not constitute an endorsement from any of the companies involved.
I'm the copyright holder for some of the content you have on your site and would like it removed. Who should I get in touch with?
While we would love to see all of the content we host remain online and accessible, we fully respect the rights and wishes of the content creators and owners. If you are the owner of a piece of content on any of our sites and would like it taken down for any reason, please just email us using the contact form. You'll be asked to verify you are who you say you are and then the content will be removed, no further questions asked. Formal DMCA takedown notices are not necessary - a quick email is all that's required.
You used to have X but I can't find it any more. What happened?
The item you're looking for may have been deleted for a variety of reasons. For customs, the artist may have asked us to remove it. In some cases, we'll delete content we later confirm to be stolen. It's also possible we received a takedown request from the copyright holder. You can check our DMCA page to see if it's listed there.
Can I become a member of staff?
We typically employ a "don’t come to us, we'll come to you" policy for selecting staff members so in general, asking for a position just for the sake of being on staff isn’t going to get you anywhere. That said, we are always in need of qualified individuals who are willing to help out with the queues, especially for models. So, if you have a history of approved submissions, are willing to volunteer some of your time, and want to help out reviewing submissions, please reach out via the Contact page. Otherwise, we will reach out to those we feel would be a good fit if and when we see them.
What time zone does the site use?
By default, guests (and users who have not selected a time zone) see all dates and times on the site in UTC. Registered users can set their time zone to have all dates and times instead display in their local time.
What is the registration token?
Before we get to the questions though, we have one important thing we want to mention first: JavaScript is effectively required to use this site. Many elements will function without it but features like submissions and even some layout elements will break if it's disabled. Most people reading this likely already have it enabled but if for some reason you don't, just know that your experience will be degraded.
How do I register?
Fill out the registration form and then check your email for an activation link. As a method of spam/bot protection, a registration token may be required. If it is, it will be available at the bottom of this page and should be copied and pasted where requested during registration to ensure it matches exactly.
What is The Spriters Resource?
The Spriters Resource is a website dedicated to archiving and preserving video game media. This includes sprites, sound effects, 3D models, and textures. The archive is made up of contributions of our users, and maintained by a small team of dedicated staff. For more details, check out our About page.
Who runs The Spriters Resource?
The site was designed, developed, and is continually maintained by Dazz and Petie.
While they may also be approving submissions, it is thanks to our selected moderation team that the site can operate to its full potential. You can view our full staff list over on our Staff page.
How do I change my avatar?
The avatar at the top right of the screen can be clicked to drop down a navigation menu. At the bottom of that menu, you’ll find the Edit Profile link which will let you, among other things, change your avatar, update your email address, and modify your site preferences.
What are the rules for making a submission?
We have an entire page dedicated to Submission Guidelines as well as site-specific guidelines pages linked to from the top of each submission form. We also have a more general Rules page that all members should familiarize themselves with. While not specific to submissions, those rules apply to the submission process as well.
You don't have any assets for X game, can you get content from X?
These sites are operated by our community - an open group always welcoming of more contributors. If there is an asset missing from the site, it may be your best option to rip it yourself, and contribute it to the site so that others in your position can use it! We have an active discouragement of simply requesting of content; because the site is entirely created through voluntary submissions, there is really no validity to making requests of users!
How can I report inaccurate submissions or other mistakes I find on the site?
On each asset and game page is a "report" button - just click that, fill out the details, and submit. The staff will see the report and try to fix the issue as quickly as possible. You can also submit a revision via the pencil icon in the asset or game's info table, which will allow you to provide edits to the existing asset or game that can then be approved by staff.
And on a related note, there is also a report button on every comment which you can use to report comments that break any of the site rules.
Are there any search modifiers?
Our search system is built for users to find both assets and games with ease. We have tags in place to help filter down results, which can be seen on our Browse page. You can modify the search box in the site's header, starting your search with "g:" to search for a game, or "a:" to search for an asset.
Why hasn't my submission been approved yet?
We get thousands of submissions per month and have an extremely small staff to review them at the moment. The staff volunteer their time when they're able to but they all have lives and can't be looking through the queues 24/7. If you still see your submission in the queue, nothing is wrong and contacting us to ask about it will not help. Submissions with icons, where appropriate, tend to be accepted more quickly though so if you did not include them, that would be a good place to start.
How do I use the assets on this site?
There are many ways the content on this site can be used. First, you have to decide what you want to use the sprites for - are you making a comic? Are you working on a poster of some sort? Or are you making a game? If you're interested in these things, the best option is generally to search on Google for a tutorial on the subject specifically.
If you want to learn to sprite, then the first thing you should do is get to grips with the basics of a digital image application. For most spriters, the built in Paint application from Windows is great. It's simple, and does exactly what you need. For a bit more versatility though, Paint.NET (free), GIMP (free), or if you have access to it, Photoshop (paid) can all do quite a bit more.
Can I use the assets on this site in my own projects?
That depends. Is your project commercial in any way (as in, do you stand to make money from it by selling it, advertising in or around it, including in-app purchases in games, or in any other way)? If so, then no, you can't. These resources are all copyrighted works and as such, cannot be used in any commercial project without express written consent from their copyright holders. We do not own and cannot license any of them to you.
That said, if your project is 100% free (e.g. a free fan-game or non-monetized YouTube video - basically any project that was made just for the sake of making it and will not be used in any way to make you money), use away! This is one of the primary reasons we collected all of these resources and we'd love to see what you do with them!
As a special side note, we'd also caution against using anything from these sites in games published to any established market place (like Steam, Apple's App Store, or Google Play), even if they're completely free and contain no ads or in-app purchases. Because it's a formal publication at that point, it's still likely not allowed.
A note regarding credit: If you are going to use custom work in your project, commercial or otherwise, it is common courtesy to credit the original artist. Some submissions will show "no credit needed" or similar but many of these were created long before the idea of them being used in videos seen by millions was even a pipe dream so please consider crediting them regardless. In all other cases, proper credit should be given to the IP holder regardless of what the submission states (e.g. if you are using a sprite of Mario, Nintendo should be credited). To put it simply, always credit the original artist - it's just the right thing to do.
What about Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Square and Other Companies... Do they know about this site?
The assets on this website are all owned by the original companies that they originate from. Their character design or original drawings are the rightful property of said companies, and as such, we claim no rights over them. We have nothing to do with their original creation (in most cases, at least) and claim no credit for how they came into original existence.
Custom assets, although created by us, use designs created by the original company, and so we do not claim any ownership over the character design. We are however, the original artists of the assets and have rights over such art.
Although we have not obtained permission from these companies to host their assets on this website, we do anyway, in the hopes that these companies understand that our intention is not to steal their works, but to appreciate their work, and to distribute it as a fan service to help others research as well as to archive it for generations to come.
We have received very few requests by publishers / rights holders to have content removed and at least one was due to the game having not been released yet. It was then later put up again. Several companies know of our existence, and have been in contact with us for other purposes though this does not constitute an endorsement from any of the companies involved.
I'm the copyright holder for some of the content you have on your site and would like it removed. Who should I get in touch with?
While we would love to see all of the content we host remain online and accessible, we fully respect the rights and wishes of the content creators and owners. If you are the owner of a piece of content on any of our sites and would like it taken down for any reason, please just email us using the contact form. You'll be asked to verify you are who you say you are and then the content will be removed, no further questions asked. Formal DMCA takedown notices are not necessary - a quick email is all that's required.
You used to have X but I can't find it any more. What happened?
The item you're looking for may have been deleted for a variety of reasons. For customs, the artist may have asked us to remove it. In some cases, we'll delete content we later confirm to be stolen. It's also possible we received a takedown request from the copyright holder. You can check our DMCA page to see if it's listed there.
Can I become a member of staff?
We typically employ a "don’t come to us, we'll come to you" policy for selecting staff members so in general, asking for a position just for the sake of being on staff isn’t going to get you anywhere. That said, we are always in need of qualified individuals who are willing to help out with the queues, especially for models. So, if you have a history of approved submissions, are willing to volunteer some of your time, and want to help out reviewing submissions, please reach out via the Contact page. Otherwise, we will reach out to those we feel would be a good fit if and when we see them.
What time zone does the site use?
By default, guests (and users who have not selected a time zone) see all dates and times on the site in UTC. Registered users can set their time zone to have all dates and times instead display in their local time.
What is the registration token?