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#1
Gaming / Galope Studios' Ravva Games, p...
Last post by Cyartog959 - Yesterday at 03:37:02 AMI felt I should share a quaint, NES-esque game series from an indie studio stationed in Brazil, Galope Studios' Ravva.
Oh. I think not many of you in the VGMaps community heard of that fantasy-based platformer game series. Well, I'll give you the rundown and the word-of-mouth spreading about that.
It stars a young owl summoner, named Ravva, who is accompanied by 4 familiar-like companions, each with their own powers the summoner uses to defeat enemies and overcome obstacles across different stages to stop threats coming in that owl's way.
The games are clearly hi-bit in their own way; the graphics are NES based, but the music and sounds were mace with the YM2612 soundchip, a rather mix of flairs of 8-bit and 16-bit aesthetics.
The first game is "Ravva and the Cyclops Curse", where it started.
It puts Ravva on a quest to rescue the summoner's mother, who was put under a curse by a monster called the Cyclops Lord, and its up to the little one to save her by going to his castle and stop him.
The game has 3 stages, that are split into 3 levels; Swampomile Forest, Takenouchi Desert Wasteland, and the Cyclops Lord's Castle With No Name, but the last has 4, the 4th of which is the fight against the beast himself.
Traversing through the levels require good eyes, and keen senses to overcome the many dangers the levels are infested with, and using Ravva's companion powers will surely help the summoner to reach the castle.
There is a hidden ending in the game, but the requirements for it are quite tricky. And a few hidden surprises, too.
Here's some screenshots...
Here's the trailer for the first game, too...
The second game is "Ravva II and the Phantom Library".
In it, Ravva and the companions are thrown into a rather haunted library filled with worlds made of books, the kind that aren't for reading or show. They're portals to actual worlds, each holding a unique boss to face in the end. They're challenging, but fun to face!
After going through the first stage, The Forgotten Forest, you get to select the 6 stages that are all books with portals to their worlds.
The game features Ravva's companions being able to become combo forms to unleash incredible powers to blast away enemies and blockades. There's many to find and use!
The main villain herself can be fought after finishing off all the worlds, and like the previous game, it has a different ending, but the requirements are different.
There may be a few clever nods to select games you could find(one of the stages has a Bounce Man callback! its neat!).
Here's the sequel's screenshots...
And the trailer for its launch...
And now, here comes the third game in the series, "Ravva III and the Netherworld Train".
The new, upcoming sequel places Ravva on another new adventure; this time, to save the summoner's father by traveling through the land of the dead and its many deadly landscapes by using the one vessel that can help the little one around; the titular Netherworld Train itself!
Expect to seek out surprises and dangers beneath the new stages the game holds, because in this adventure, Ravva gains a new power, to merge with each of the 4 companions to inhibit new forms and utilize new abilities!
Here's Ravva III's screenshots...
And its recently made trailer...
That game's not yet released, but I have a feeling it will be very soon. The previous 2 games are out, so give these games a try!
The games are all made with Aseprite and Tiled, and they run in the engine, Unity, to let you know.
I also have a few behind-the-scenes images about the games' stages, enemies and bosses you should look...
The first was made in paper, but the rest were made digitally, through Clip Studio Paint, as I've looked into.
There's another game Galope Studios' been on the bakc burner time and again; the long-awaited platformer Meawja. IT showcases a ninja cat overcoming many obstacles across different stages to take down evil.
I'll give you a screenshot of that game that has its title for proof. Here it is...
Bear in mind, that studio's only got very few people(fewer than I thought, actually), and yes, their games take quite long to release, because they only have very little full-time people brought in to work on them. Hopefully with more attention and people purchasing them, it will help bring in more full-timers to lighten their load.
Here's Galope Studios' website's and social channels' links for those who want to visit.
Galope Studios' website - https://galopestudios.crd.co/
Galope Studios' YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@GalopeStudios/featured
Galope Studios' Twitter/X Account - https://x.com/GalopeStudios
Galope Studios' BlueSky Profile - https://bsky.app/profile/galopestudios.bsky.social
For the mappers, should you purchase them, feel free to map their levels out, so more people can feel ready to traverse them.
If you're eager to play them, give them a go! I'm having some fun with them.
Oh. I think not many of you in the VGMaps community heard of that fantasy-based platformer game series. Well, I'll give you the rundown and the word-of-mouth spreading about that.
It stars a young owl summoner, named Ravva, who is accompanied by 4 familiar-like companions, each with their own powers the summoner uses to defeat enemies and overcome obstacles across different stages to stop threats coming in that owl's way.
The games are clearly hi-bit in their own way; the graphics are NES based, but the music and sounds were mace with the YM2612 soundchip, a rather mix of flairs of 8-bit and 16-bit aesthetics.
The first game is "Ravva and the Cyclops Curse", where it started.
It puts Ravva on a quest to rescue the summoner's mother, who was put under a curse by a monster called the Cyclops Lord, and its up to the little one to save her by going to his castle and stop him.
The game has 3 stages, that are split into 3 levels; Swampomile Forest, Takenouchi Desert Wasteland, and the Cyclops Lord's Castle With No Name, but the last has 4, the 4th of which is the fight against the beast himself.
Traversing through the levels require good eyes, and keen senses to overcome the many dangers the levels are infested with, and using Ravva's companion powers will surely help the summoner to reach the castle.
There is a hidden ending in the game, but the requirements for it are quite tricky. And a few hidden surprises, too.
Here's some screenshots...
Here's the trailer for the first game, too...
The second game is "Ravva II and the Phantom Library".
In it, Ravva and the companions are thrown into a rather haunted library filled with worlds made of books, the kind that aren't for reading or show. They're portals to actual worlds, each holding a unique boss to face in the end. They're challenging, but fun to face!
After going through the first stage, The Forgotten Forest, you get to select the 6 stages that are all books with portals to their worlds.
The game features Ravva's companions being able to become combo forms to unleash incredible powers to blast away enemies and blockades. There's many to find and use!
The main villain herself can be fought after finishing off all the worlds, and like the previous game, it has a different ending, but the requirements are different.
There may be a few clever nods to select games you could find(one of the stages has a Bounce Man callback! its neat!).
Here's the sequel's screenshots...
And the trailer for its launch...
And now, here comes the third game in the series, "Ravva III and the Netherworld Train".
The new, upcoming sequel places Ravva on another new adventure; this time, to save the summoner's father by traveling through the land of the dead and its many deadly landscapes by using the one vessel that can help the little one around; the titular Netherworld Train itself!
Expect to seek out surprises and dangers beneath the new stages the game holds, because in this adventure, Ravva gains a new power, to merge with each of the 4 companions to inhibit new forms and utilize new abilities!
Here's Ravva III's screenshots...
And its recently made trailer...
That game's not yet released, but I have a feeling it will be very soon. The previous 2 games are out, so give these games a try!
The games are all made with Aseprite and Tiled, and they run in the engine, Unity, to let you know.
I also have a few behind-the-scenes images about the games' stages, enemies and bosses you should look...
The first was made in paper, but the rest were made digitally, through Clip Studio Paint, as I've looked into.
There's another game Galope Studios' been on the bakc burner time and again; the long-awaited platformer Meawja. IT showcases a ninja cat overcoming many obstacles across different stages to take down evil.
I'll give you a screenshot of that game that has its title for proof. Here it is...
Bear in mind, that studio's only got very few people(fewer than I thought, actually), and yes, their games take quite long to release, because they only have very little full-time people brought in to work on them. Hopefully with more attention and people purchasing them, it will help bring in more full-timers to lighten their load.
Here's Galope Studios' website's and social channels' links for those who want to visit.
Galope Studios' website - https://galopestudios.crd.co/
Galope Studios' YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@GalopeStudios/featured
Galope Studios' Twitter/X Account - https://x.com/GalopeStudios
Galope Studios' BlueSky Profile - https://bsky.app/profile/galopestudios.bsky.social
For the mappers, should you purchase them, feel free to map their levels out, so more people can feel ready to traverse them.
If you're eager to play them, give them a go! I'm having some fun with them.
#2
Gaming / Re: Star Fox 64 Remake... AGAI...
Last post by Cyartog959 - July 17, 2026, 01:58:41 AMQuote from: samlee on June 03, 2026, 12:27:01 AMI've only played a little bit of Zero but wasn't it a remake only in terms of general story etc. It was a reimagining of the same events but with its own gameplay, levels etc. I think people are too quick to throw it in the pile of Starfox 64 remakes - to fit the narrative that Nintendo has kept making and remaking SF64. I'm not defending Zero - I don't like the gameplay and it's disappointing that it is the same story but I wouldn't group it with the 3DS game and this new Switch 2 game, which are actual SF64 remakes.
Well, the fact is Star Fox 64's story is still the one game that gets retold over and over again, yes, even Zero holds a sorta shared backstory, and not a single new Star Fox game has set in anything new and original for the series, not saying gameplay wise, including new stories that are supposed to bring new main villains, perhaps new ways to resurrect Andross so he can recommence his revenge on Fox McCloud entirely for his defeats, and even explore new solar systems with many new planets past the Lylat System that should guarantee new adventures for the team.
My thoughts have been that Nintendo has clearly no coherent vision on actually moving Star Fox forward with anything new and original after Star Fox Command and Star Fox 2, the only games that went forward from past games' events; they're obviously lacking actual creative thought in their devs' and their teams' outputs. They just keep cashing in remaking Star Fox 64's story over and over again. Nobody wants over-flooded same story re-tellings.
To be precise, from my memory of reading now and then, there's no actual true final boss and ending for Command, only multiple endings that don't actually set up anything for any new Star Fox game, regardless of outcome.
Regardless of how many positive reviews its got, less than negative, actually, disappointment is what so many people are feeling now after they were still expecting new entries, including me.
#3
Map Gab / Coincidence - Ladybugs
Last post by JonLeung - July 15, 2026, 09:40:06 PMOccasionally, there are coincidences here on VGMaps.com, like when different mappers indepently submit maps on the same day that can be thematically connected. I probably should have made note of some of the previous ones...
But today, there's a really neat one.
George s submitted a map from the classic arcade game, Lady Bug.
qwert_vs_qwerty submitted maps of Record Of Lodoss War: Deedlit In Wonder Labyrinth, which was developed by... "Team Ladybug".
They even use a pixelated ladybug as their logo!
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Two different games... with ladybugs! Submitted on the same day! Wow!
But today, there's a really neat one.
George s submitted a map from the classic arcade game, Lady Bug.
qwert_vs_qwerty submitted maps of Record Of Lodoss War: Deedlit In Wonder Labyrinth, which was developed by... "Team Ladybug".
They even use a pixelated ladybug as their logo!
Two different games... with ladybugs! Submitted on the same day! Wow!
#4
VGMaps Social Board / Amazing artwork of Suikoden 1 ...
Last post by mechaskrom - July 10, 2026, 10:47:00 AMI just found these amazing artworks of the Toran and Dunan Castle headquarters in Suikoden 1 & 2. They're really cute and have a lot of cool details, so please check them out. Flik and Odessa together at the top in Toran Castle is just... (if you've played Suikoden 1, you know).
I attached some previews of the art, but all the original images (also individual floors) can be found here:
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/54054581
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/72159699
It's fun to compare them with my maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/Suikoden-ToranCastle(Lv4).png
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/SuikodenII-Headquarters(Lv4).png
I attached some previews of the art, but all the original images (also individual floors) can be found here:
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/54054581
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/72159699
It's fun to compare them with my maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/Suikoden-ToranCastle(Lv4).png
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/SuikodenII-Headquarters(Lv4).png
#5
Map Gab / Re: "Tom and Jerry: Frantic An...
Last post by mechaskrom - July 06, 2026, 08:53:41 AMSince no one finished the maps even though I'd already done much of the work I decided to do the rest myself. They were recently uploaded and can be found here https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#TomAndJerryFranticAntics
#6
Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests
Last post by JonLeung - July 05, 2026, 05:47:53 PMzagato blackfist plows through another NES request, this time for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero - The Atlantis Factor!
It's the day after The Fourth Of July, but I'm sure my American friends still wouldn't mind the appearance of some kind of American hero any day of the year.
(Though this one is published by Capcom, the first was published by Taxan. The developer for both is KID, who also made the very similar-styled NES platformers, Low G Man and Kick Master.)
G.I. Joe's the team that defends the world from the evil Cobra... so zagato included maps for three other "Cobra"-titled NES games. And Cobra Triangle was mapped by zagato earlier as my most recent NES request. That's a lot of "CobraNESs"!
It's the day after The Fourth Of July, but I'm sure my American friends still wouldn't mind the appearance of some kind of American hero any day of the year.
(Though this one is published by Capcom, the first was published by Taxan. The developer for both is KID, who also made the very similar-styled NES platformers, Low G Man and Kick Master.)
G.I. Joe's the team that defends the world from the evil Cobra... so zagato included maps for three other "Cobra"-titled NES games. And Cobra Triangle was mapped by zagato earlier as my most recent NES request. That's a lot of "CobraNESs"!
#7
Maps Of The Month / 2026/07: Plok! (Super NES) - J...
Last post by JonLeung - June 30, 2026, 08:49:22 PM
For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Jackster's Plok! (Super NES) maps.
On the island of Akrillic, our hero, Plok, finds that his flag on top of his house has gone missing! It's a ploy by the evil Bobbin Bros. to lure Plok away to Cotton Island, allowing the Fleas to run amok. Will Plok be able to find Grandpappy Plok's amulet and make his way to the Fleapit to defeat The Flea Queen, and restore peace to Akrillic?
In this 16-bit platformer, Plok, with his detached limbs (a couple of years before Rayman debuted), hops and bops his way across the mulitchromatic lands of Cotton Island and Akrillic, the monochromatic Legacy Island (in a flashback featuring Grandpappy Plok), and the gloomy Fleapit. Many stages, especially the early ones, have secret Warp Levels that, if Plok finds and can complete the challenge within, can skip ahead in his adventure. The stages and their various secrets are all mapped here, thanks to Jackster!
So to recognize the effort put into mapping this cute and colourful cult classic, Jackster's Plok! (Super NES) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for July 2026.
#8
Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests
Last post by Cyartog959 - June 19, 2026, 07:03:23 PMQuote from: JonLeung on June 06, 2026, 09:53:21 AMGeorge s has mapped the twelfth arcade game that I've requested - and it's Spider-Man: The Videogame!
It's a fun four-player beat-em-up that I don't hear many people talking about.
When I worked at Playdium at West Edmonton Mall, there was a cleaning checklist for the arcade machines. Whoever made it listed Spider-Man: The Videogame as "Spider-Man: The Best Game Of All Time" or something, I always thought that was funny. It's a specific memory that probably not many people have, but, there we go, some of my requests are indeed personal. But Spider-Man is popular... right?
Thanks again, George s! You're the best! Especially when it comes to mapping arcade games!
Might as well also point out that until June 14, Gravity Circuit is free to claim on Steam, so if you're a PC gamer, why not go for it? It's an indie game that's 8-bit in style but plays much like Mega Man X. It's free because the sequel was recently announced, so they want to build excitement for it by giving out the original for nothing. Of course I bring it up because it's one of the games on my requests list, in the (long) PC section.
I wonder if one day I should split up the PC section into "retro-style indies" (usually platformers) and "point-and-click adventures" since most games there are one or the other... any thoughts about that?
Good story to share, and I like that Spider-Man arcade game's been mapped out. I haven't heard of it much. Looks real nice as a 4-player beat-em 'up. Wonder if Riot City(yes, its an arcade game, not the TurboGrafx-16 CD port, Riot Zone) may be up for being mapped.
I'd say this, do subsections to clear up clutter PC games and for "Retro-Style Indies". Would that help? There's loads of them, so they should at least have it.
SERIOUS?? Gravity Circuit 2?! Wow! Looks like Domesticated Ant Games really went into it in creating the sequel to that hit Mega Man-inspired robo-fisticuffed game, and it is Cable, the Power Circuit, one of the former renegade Circuits, partnered up with Kai for the adventure? I thought for sure he and the other Rebel Circuits were kaput in the first game. Oh, why worry? They're all robots; of course, they can be rebuilt and reprogrammed to be cleaned of any corrupt coding and influence.
This had me into a brief thought. I had thought that when a game is a success, the company and team responsible for it would take the chance to utilize its momentum to create a sequel, as it was with the case of Ratchet and Clank 2, though, in Gravity Circuit's case, the time was spent doing many updates to smooth things, especially the tiniest of cosmetics.
I mean, I have no problem with them, but its the rather absurd, slow pace of them is what bothers me, and stalling time to create its sequel while the success momentum's still hot and rolling. A few more onboard would've at least kept the pace for updates steady while the sequel gets made.
If anything, I'm still really expecting the sequel's stages to be longer and have actual unique mid-bosses in them, including the opening stage, at least a minimum of one, I have no problem with some having more than one as mid-stage mid-bosses, and they don't have to be fought in one stage more than once with slight difficulty increases in their destined arenas(yes, I do know Mega Man does it in their games; I've been though them, but that doesn't mean Gravity Circuit should do that same bit, and it shouldn't), before facing its end-stage boss, with actual health gauges and battle themes of their own, and its finale not having a set of less than 4 stages, at least. Slightly above 4, maybe. I can handle any great challenge, and lately, I just feel like I want to be challenged on these kind of games, past and present; 2D Sonic, Mega Man Classic, Gunvolt, whichever.
I do remember seeing a Twitter post as a request of the rest of the game's stages needing to have mid-bosses in them, because it only had 2(Trace and Bit's stages, actually), one user, @JunyangLiu_Math, posted that to Domesticated Ant Games' account, but the reply was they unfortunately didn't do so, because it would have taken a bunch of time to retrofit one for each stage that doesn't have them. I formerly thought that would be done by updates, but they do have a point. I felt that would rather be used for the sequel. Hope anyone can send a line about that to them, if given time. I'm all up for thrashing loads more of them.
Here's the reply post's link from Domesticated Ant Games' Twitter account to look at - https://x.com/GravityCircuit/status/1674094880501399553#m
At least, its continuing its own hi-bit pixel art style, but now with more free moving parallax background layers. That's what many games and companies should keep on doing, because pixel art still shares it unique universal appeal to a lot of people, especially us, since we grew up with them. Anyone trying to dissuade, demoralize, and discourage us for it and downplaying that is plainly calling cop-outs, and its a big time-waster on their end.
Unusually, letting the original become free of charge, on Steam? I find it odd for that choice to be made... Actually, its made that for a limited-time, so, yeah. Also, have more people bought that game on consoles besides Steam?
#9
Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests
Last post by JonLeung - June 13, 2026, 10:45:25 AMGeorge s has mapped the thirteenth arcade game that I've requested - and it's Battletoads!
It's quite different from any of the console/handheld versions. Probably not as remembered, though it is bundled with some other Battletoads and Killer Instinct games in the Killer Instinct Arcade1Up, since they're all by Rare.
Great for this game to be preserved in these maps, too. Thanks again, as always, George s!
It's quite different from any of the console/handheld versions. Probably not as remembered, though it is bundled with some other Battletoads and Killer Instinct games in the Killer Instinct Arcade1Up, since they're all by Rare.
Great for this game to be preserved in these maps, too. Thanks again, as always, George s!
#10
Map Gab / Re: Cobra Triangle, oddities a...
Last post by TerraEsperZ - June 12, 2026, 10:39:00 PMGood find dark_lord_zagato!
When mapping Battletoads (NES), I remember finding the map data for stage 13 (final boss) under the starting screen of stage 11, which is why that map has a dark square to obscure the area.
The Immortal (Apple IIGS) also has multiple stages sharing maps. When inside a room, you see the shapes of the rooms around it and when assembling all of these outlines together, I noticed that for example, stages 1 and 2 share a map, and so do 3 and 4, as well as 5, 6 and 7.
As always, it's something I never made much progress with so I never posted anything.
When mapping Battletoads (NES), I remember finding the map data for stage 13 (final boss) under the starting screen of stage 11, which is why that map has a dark square to obscure the area.
The Immortal (Apple IIGS) also has multiple stages sharing maps. When inside a room, you see the shapes of the rooms around it and when assembling all of these outlines together, I noticed that for example, stages 1 and 2 share a map, and so do 3 and 4, as well as 5, 6 and 7.
As always, it's something I never made much progress with so I never posted anything.