The Washington State Cougars mascot is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #4 of 347. Pac-10 mascot #4 of 10. (View reference images.)
Washington Husky – No. 4
The Washington Huskies mascot is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #3 of 347. Pac-10 mascot #3 of 10. (View reference images.)
Oregon Duck – No. 3
The Oregon Ducks mascot, Donald Duck wearing University of Oregon colors, is NCAA Division I pixel mascot #2 of 347. Pac-10 mascot #2 of 10. (View reference images.)
QBasic Gorilla – No. 1
The inspiration for Mascot Mashup was 8-bit childhood nostalgia. More specifically, it was QBasic Gorillas, a turn-based artillery game first distributed with MS-DOS 5 and published in 1991 by IBM. The gorilla had four animation states, which I have redrawn (in a modified aspect ratio that matches how the program used to display on my dad’s old laptop screen). All sprites created for Mascot Mashup will be based on this style and animation.
Oregon State Beaver – No. 2
The Oregon State Beavers mascot, Benny Beaver, is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #1 of 347. Pac-10 mascot #1 of 10. (View reference images.)
This is the first character in what I expect will be a long series of 8-bit college mascots. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to draw pixel art for a retro-style game instead of finishing my master’s thesis, Mascot Identity: The Symbolic Consumption of University Athletics Brands. So, in honor of my Oregon State University M.A. studies that intellectually prepared for making pixel art like it’s the 1980s, here is Benny Beaver.