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The moon, up your mother's ass (Mr. Show), some parts of the Sahara and Gobi deserts...

Hm...are you suggesting that these are the only places with more freedom than the USA?
You need to travel more, matey

You missing the point, buddy.

If you want to quibble, I compete in the fencing World Cup circuit a few years back... which gives me more international travel experience than most Americans (and more mileage than most Europeans).

What places are you talking about?

He might throw it overhand, too. I wouldn't want a grenade exploding near me if I'm throwing it.

Who said anything abotu more colors? The games I listed use 16 colors or fewer per sprite.

Please don't pick your colors while the sprite is on a white background, it'll throw you off.

I would recommend that you study existing game sprites, but I don't think Metal Slug is your best bet. The MS sprites are known better for their animation than the quality of their rendering (inconsistent outlining, etc).

The sprites you drew are visually confusing, especially the leftmost one. Since these will be very small at 100%, clarity is of upmost importance. I would focus more on getting interesting shapes that work together rather than the nitty gritty shading techniques. Also, the interior black outlining (mainly on the leftmost sprite) might look ok on a cel style sprite, but not on ones this small and buffered.

It might be nice to include a bit more secondary animation to make it more dynamic. Guns tend to drift upwards because of the kick when shots are fired in quick succession. You may mant to add a few spent cartridges ejecting from the gun.

It's a unlikely that a trained soldier would fire a shouldered weapon (far range) from a standing position. If his target is distant, he'd generally crouch or lie down for increased accuracy. When firing at close range with an automatic weapon, he would keep it at about waist level (or chest for medium range).

For a platform sprite, the colors are far too subdued. It's crucial that the character is visible against a background, since this can mean the difference between winning and losing the game. I'd suggest putting him against the background tiles before you get too far into his animation. Also, look at other arcade style games like:

Alien vs. Predator: http://www.rom-world.com/viewscreenshots.php?id=130

Metal Slug: http://www.mobygames.com/game/metal-slug-super-vehicle-001/screenshots

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/C/xCadillacs_And_Dinosaurs.png
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/C/wCadillacs_And_Dinosaurs.png
http://digilander.libero.it/calimerosegg/gallery/callus/dino.gif
http://www.aitpast.com/games/dino/dino04.png

Notice the colors they picked and the sprite to background contrast. Hope this helps.

The moon, up your mother's ass (Mr. Show), some parts of the Sahara and Gobi deserts...

Ummm....wasn't it broadcast nationally?

Isn't that mainstream enough?

Someone read the combo guide.

A real Ryu would've abused the hadoken as much as Scorpion threw his harpoon.

At least this is titled "my character designs" and not "my penis size".

Shut up Big Brother...

I want to have like, ten million of your babies, Eric.

Is the spelling supposed to be different every time?

Nothing says a rushed job like a typo on the title screen. 

Very sentimental.  Remember that no one respects someone they can walk over. Love necessitates respect.

When marketing is concerned, an internet problem translates very easily into a real life problem.

Sure the name might not affect the capabilities of the system, but it hurts the reputation. If the intention is serious, it's not good when your target consumers end up laughing at it. Let's face it, I would rather not say the new name in public. To someone unfamiliar with consoles, it makes any sentence sound goofy. The marketing has successfully widened the gap between the marginal consumers and the devoted gamers. As Eric mentioned, the gamers will get over it. Whether or not other consumers want wee in their living room is another matter.

The name is certainly not arbitrary to Nintendo, which they proved by changing it in the first place. They could've picked anything, and they picked 'pee'. Oops, 'wee'. Retarded.

As for the joke being short-lived, I think Uranus has been around for a while.

A W followed by two I's? Sounds reminscent of the shorthand way of writing World War 2...

And didn't the Japanese lose that war? I seem to remember something about Truman pulling a switch or something. It's just all so hazy.

How can those marketing assholes have forgotten recent national history? I mean, aren't there still fallout effects in Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

I think the name is an obvious example of groupthink. These are the same people who slap X-Treme in the title of snack food or use a Z instead of an S in a product name because it's more "urban". (You know, since that's our target audience, let's condescend them.)

Gay gay gay gay gay.

Hooray for the floppy hands!

Remember that a female head should be a tad smaller than a male one.

I think the similar poses is part of the original style (and makes character design easier). The new pose looks awkward since it violates contrapposto.

loominoused!

You should totally draw a similar lineup with female versions of those characters. That'd be classic.

Hm, most sprite artists use a non-neutral colour as a background, just to make sure it doesn't blend in and create glitches or transparent pixels when loaded into the sprite-manager.
Pink or very bright green are quite suitable, imo.

Sprites end up against magenta on the actual sprite sheet, but are seldom drawn that way. Due to the miracle of optical mixing, your colors will look different depending on the hues they're against.

Unless your intended background is extremely bright and saturated (please God, no), you're better off working with a neutral color behind your sprite.