2026/06: Magic Knight Rayearth (Saturn) - zagato blackfist

[JonLeung]

Magic Knight Rayearth

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to zagato blackfist's Magic Knight Rayearth (Saturn) maps.

Three eighth-grade girls - Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu - on a field trip to Tokyo Tower in modern-day Japan are transported to a magical world called "Cephiro".  The three girls are warriors, "Magic Knights" foretold by legend, whose innate magical powers will awaken, allowing them to save Cephiro from destruction while rescuing Princess Emeraude from the evil Zagato.

Speaking of Zagato, it is zagato blackfist, better known for his NES mapping efforts here on VGMaps.com, who travelled to the world of the Sega Saturn to map this colourful action-RPG.  Though similar to the first story arc of Magic Knight Rayearth's manga and anime, this game adds new characters and locations, which are all mapped here by zagato, so you will have no trouble making it from Tokyo Tower all the way to Zagato's Castle.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping one of the best Saturn games - also the last one officially released in North America - zagato blackfist's Magic Knight Rayearth (Saturn) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for June 2026.

[dark_lord_zagato]

This was the first anime I watched with subtitles when I got my hands on a VHS tape (eps 13-16) back in early 2000. I liked it so much that used one of the bad guys for my online name.

The SNES version was already on vgmaps but I definitely wanted to map all the other Rayearth games, including this. Saturn emulation wasn't quite perfect yet so this was a bit of a challenge. The emulator used was Yabause because I couldn't get BizHawk to take 1:1 screenshots of Saturn games. Despite all this, the only map that I think needs to be touched up in the future is Crimson Underpass.

I still have the transparent background layers for this game too.

[Cyartog959]

This was the first anime I watched with subtitles when I got my hands on a VHS tape (eps 13-16) back in early 2000. I liked it so much that used one of the bad guys for my online name.

The SNES version was already on vgmaps but I definitely wanted to map all the other Rayearth games, including this. Saturn emulation wasn't quite perfect yet so this was a bit of a challenge. The emulator used was Yabause because I couldn't get BizHawk to take 1:1 screenshots of Saturn games. Despite all this, the only map that I think needs to be touched up in the future is Crimson Underpass.

Was Yabause successful in doing 1:1 screenshots while you were mapping Magic Knight Rayearth after BizHawk couldn't? If so, that's good you made that choice. Perhaps many more Saturn games could be mapped with that emulator.

Really love its vibrant pre-rendered graphics, though. I can only guess Softimage 3D, Lightwave 3D and Alias Power Animator did the work for that amazing style. Makes me think of how such an aesthetic as that could be recreated, but only for the foregrounds, of course. For graphical styles, I enjoy different palettes and tastes; can't stick to just one alone.