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Golden Sun (https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/GBA/index.htm#GoldenSun)
For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Paco & Stefan Mahrla's Golden Sun (GBA) maps.
The worlds of RPGs are usually very large, with many different areas within them that could be complex, varied, and/or large themselves. In this genre, maps can be quite essential, whether for navigation or for locating items. Screenshot maps in particular are not only helpful, but they also let you see how vast, detailed and beautiful games in this genre usually are.
And yet, while RPGs tend to be large, they can yet be small enough to fit into a tiny GBA cartridge. Since RPGs were among the most popular games on the Super NES, the Game Boy Advance - which often feels like a portable Super NES - was of course going to be host to several more RPGs. Among the first RPGs, developed exclusively for the GBA by Camelot, was Golden Sun.
Isaac and Garet, with the help of the Djinn creatures they find along the way, travel across the world of Weyard to recover stolen stones, which, if placed in the elemental lighthouses, would fully unleash the power of Alchemy upon the world. From sunny Vale to the Venus Lighthouse, it's at least a pretty and brightly-coloured adventure.
Stefan Mahrla originally mapped out some areas, and Paco added to them and completed the rest of the game, so they share the honour this month. That's some teamwork right there...real synergy...or perhaps, Psynergy?
So to recognize the teamwork and effort put into mapping this RPG, Paco & Stefan Mahrla's Golden Sun (GBA) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for August 2011.