River City Random!

[havocplague]

I'm toying around with a "remake in the spirit" of River City Ransom, and I'm working on the player sprite. Besides the obviously deformed physique and the rather annoying shading on the hands, I think it's coming along ok. The problem I've run into right now is the pants and the lower part of the body. I'm just not sure about how to create a nice feeling of depth on the character, without making him look blocky. C&C and/or edits would be great.

As far as heads go, I'm planning on going in a totally different direction from the original, but right now I'd like to get a few pointers before I continue.

My WIP and the original, resized to fit my resolution.

[JonathanOfDrain]

River City Ransom is easily one of my favorite games to date. The one for DS could've offered better graphics but didn't. Shame.
If you don't want to make him look blocky then I suggest you change the pose entirely. Don't mimic their cramped pose, it worked on NES but you don't have the same restrictions of size or color.
Play with the poses because the body language is important. I can live with the funky anatomy, but the pose needs reworking. I'll try to make an edit of alternatives.

I think the color can use a little more contrast and minor hue shifting, those straight ramps are boring. Play around a little more, then please post whatever you've concocted.

[havocplague]

As I see it, the pose is the most instantly recognisable feature about the characters, and since I've allready got an engine up and working with the original sprites, I'm not too keen on changing them at the moment. But I'm going to work on the sprites and see what turns up.