I was just wondering how you people do it, Obviously I have own methods *cough*printscreen + pause*cough* but I was wondering if their was any easier and less time consuming methods?
I'd say that the quickest (though not always the easiest) way of ripping the sprites would be just ripping them from the tiles. That way, you're sure to get every sprite, and you don't have to worry about removing the backgrounds.
...Though, unfortunately, not all games can be ripped from the tiles.