Messages

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Gaming / Mega Man: 15 Games Where You Face Cut Man

« on: January 21, 2026, 10:14:36 pm »

Sometimes I think of random things and then I have to do things like make a collage, just to express it, so I can move on...

I was thinking about how Cut Man is one of the optional bosses in just the Sega Saturn version of Mega Man 8, and then recently learned he's a hidden boss in Mega Man X 8, as well.

Being from the first game, he's one of the earliest and most well-known Mega Man Robot Masters, so he's had more appearances than many.

I count 15 different Mega Man games where you can fight Cut Man, and made this collage.

I was thinking about adding the cartoon appearances - along with Guts Man, he's one of the Robot Masters that shows up in every episode of the Ruby-Spears cartoon, and as "Cuts Man" (with an "s") he's the most powerful of the original Robot Masters in the Captain N: The Game Master episode... but I thought that might be a bit much.

Also, there are other cameos, like his appearance at the end of Mega Man 3, a database card in Mega Man & Bass, and, like the other Robot Masters from the original game, he's a good guy in Super Adventure Rockman.

I find it funny that he has more appearances than there are main Mega Man games...

Anyway, can you name all the games in this collage?
Am I missing any?

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: January 21, 2026, 11:01:09 am »

We've now got maps for another Japanese-exclusive 16-bit game, Marvelous: Mouhitotsu no Takarajima (J) ("Marvelous: Another Treasure Island") for the Super Famicom, thanks again to Guard Master!

This is a game that I've heard a bit about.  It is the first game directed by Eiji Aonuma, the director or producer of almost all of The Legend Of Zelda games since after The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, which Marvelous: Mouhitotsu no Takarajima is influenced by.

Considering Guard Master's recent submissions, it looks like we have another 16-bit RPG mapmaking master!  Keep up the great work!

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Gaming / Re: Crater, a Sokoban clone for MS-DOS

« on: January 17, 2026, 01:20:08 pm »

The map for FlyingArmor's game, Crater, are now up here... by mechakrom...

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Map Requests / Re: Mega Man Maps

« on: January 13, 2026, 10:12:33 pm »

As I mentioned in the Hand-Drawn Game Guides topic, I just received their latest book, the one on Mega Man (NES)!  It also covers Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Game Boy).

It's nice to see that people still care about Mega Man games. I bought it to support Phil Summers's efforts, so I'm glad that he is working on one for Mega Man 2, which is good since as you probably know, my brother and I sure have a lot of Mega Man 2 stuff between us...

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Map Gab / Re: Hand-Drawn Game Guides by Phil Summers (NES)

« on: January 13, 2026, 10:04:13 pm »

I just received the "Hand-Drawn Game Guides" book on Mega Man!
It came with all these goodies!

In the age of AI and overused CG, we should support efforts like this. There's a real charm to hand-drawn guides!
(I know that seems ironic coming from me, who runs this site, full of screenshot maps... 🙃)

This guide also covers Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge for the Game Boy, if you're wondering about the poster... the other side shows the same art as the book cover.

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: YouTube channel! (JonLeung1)

« on: January 13, 2026, 09:06:13 pm »

Sometimes, I really lean into a joke.

Here are fatalistic ninjas and Funtastic Nintendo 64s.

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: January 13, 2026, 04:34:10 pm »

Other than the PC, my most-requested platform is the Super NES, but we don't see those map requests fulfilled that often.

But, today we've got maps for the Japanese-exclusive Rudra no Hihou (J) ("Treasure of the Rudras") thanks to Guard Master!
Okay, it's a Super Famicom game, but you know, same diff.

Now, confession time: I haven't actually played this game.
But I requested it, because, well, it's a 16-bit turn-based fantasy JRPG by Square, released late in the Super Famicom's lifespan. Do I really need to say more?

As that's from the "peak Square RPG" era, I'd definitely consider playing it one day.
Of course, maps would be handy for that.

It's truly underrated - the only time I hear anything about it is when people are saying it's underrated.  It seems to get less attention than SaGa, Front Mission and Live A Live. Live A Live sorta-recently got a Switch rerelease, wonder if Square'll also consider giving Rudra no Hihou another shot? It sure seems like something that needs more attention, and now we have the maps for it!

Thanks again, Guard Master!

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: January 11, 2026, 07:29:57 pm »

We've got the maps for The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper!, thanks to zagato blackfist, of course!

As I told zagato, this is a funny coincidence.  Earlier today, my brother and I were talking about the NES games featuring The Flintstones and The Jetsons, and trying to remember if we actually rented them back in the day.  We definitely rented the first The Flintstones game, probably not the second (which is a later game and quite rare, and not actually a Blockbuster exclusive as many have claimed), but we were both sure we never actually rented The Jetson's: Cogswell's Caper! at the time.  And then, less than a couple of hours later, zagato sent me these maps, wow!

(I was at a Harlem Globetrotters 100th anniversary show this afternoon, that's why I couldn't get them up right away.  zagato blackfist also mapped the Harlem Globetrotters NES game, would've been funny if that was sent in today too, LOL.)

I recall that something similar happened in March 2024 when he sent in maps for Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street on the same day I got those games in the mail from eBay.  Crazy.

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: What's gonna be the 50,000th Map in VGMaps History?

« on: January 07, 2026, 11:53:21 am »

Well... I don't want people sending in a bunch of low-quality maps just to be the one that hits that milestone.

A few years ago, I offered to old and new mappers that anyone who had submitted like 20 or 50 maps or whatever could get a free "Nintendo Quest DVD" from me (as I had so many after doing an event in 2015 but now needed to move them as they weren't selling). And, perhaps because DVDs are passé, or that a different version of "Nintendo Quest" is now on YouTube or whatever, very, very few people actually took that deal.

But it was around the time that this one person, a new mapper, who probably only just wanted the "free" DVD, started submitting a lot of low-quality stuff.  I'm not one to refuse maps if technically they are maps, but man... is the site always improved with more maps, especially if they're like those?

And as nice as it is to be able to say we have lots of maps, technically maps would work better the fewer there are.  As in, no unnecessary fragmentation.

Before we got complete Super Metroid maps for each area (thanks, Rick Bruns!), someone tried to send in maps they had extracted from the game somehow... meaning that it was hundreds of images, separate files, one for each room.  Come on, a single room isn't really a map...

I want there to be 50,000 maps, sure, but we'll get there.  And if I say we're close, I hope that if anything, that it encourages people to continue to make good maps, not to pivot to making worse maps that they can pump out faster.

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Map Requests / Re: Mega Man Maps

« on: January 07, 2026, 09:28:57 am »

Just came across this one... Mega Man: Space Rescue.  (Not a Mega Man: Star Force game... just looks like classic Mega Man but in a spacesuit.  Weird.)

I know we have at least one J2ME expert here, LOL...

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: What's gonna be the 50,000th Map in VGMaps History?

« on: January 06, 2026, 07:41:28 pm »

I could have sworn we had another topic here about the map count on VGMaps.com, but when I search for "count", this is the only topic that comes up.  Weird.

I did another count today, and we're at 48,189 maps.

In a bit shy of four years, the site has grown by almost 30%.

Especially considering how high on the list they already were, the NES and Genesis sections grew an impressive amount, no doubt due to zagato blackfist's attempt to get all of the NES games mapped, and G.E.R. going crazy on Genesis games, including the ones on the Genesis Mini and the Genesis Mini 2.  Of course, they're not the only ones; so, many thanks go to everyone for their contributions to any and all sections of VGMaps!

At 1811 maps to go, it seems very likely that we will receive our 50,000th map in 2026.

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: YouTube channel! (JonLeung1)

« on: January 06, 2026, 08:31:55 am »

I'm hoping to get back into the groove this year.

It seems that my "If Mega Man 2 Robot Masters Were Human" and "If Mega Man 3 Robot Masters Were Human" Shorts are doing really well for watch time for my channel, and people have been asking for more, so I might as well finish off the original trilogy by doing the same idea to the first Mega Man game (with the two extra Robot Masters from Mega Man: Powered Up, might as well)!

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Map Gab / Re: Shamus - full map

« on: January 03, 2026, 08:17:03 am »

I sent you a PM about details...

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: External site using VGMaps content?

« on: January 01, 2026, 09:38:16 pm »

Thanks, Cyartog959!

I know those of you in the VGMaps community, for long or for short times, know what's up.  Thank you for your support!
As I said, I'm not worried.  At all.  Whoever they are can't undo over twenty years of history.

Hey, look, even Google's AI overview knows what's up:

Funny that it's using the map of the Water Temple from The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, by Peardian, but I shouldn't be surprised; for a while it was the one map that people on reddit actually liked linking and relinking to.  (I don't go on reddit much anymore since it always feels so vile...)

The AI overview is drawing a lot of that info from this very topic here on the VGMaps forums, but hey, now we know that if anyone asks that question to Google, that's what they'll get.

Assuming people trust AI.  That's a WHOLE OTHER discussion...

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Maps Of The Month / 2026/01: Nightshade - Part 1: The Claws Of Sutekh (NES) - zagato blackfist

« on: January 01, 2026, 08:25:07 pm »

Nightshade - Part 1: The Claws Of Sutekh

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to zagato blackfist's Nightshade - Part 1: The Claws Of Sutekh (NES) maps.

The villainous Sutekh seeks to dominate and control Metro City through crime and terror. But a crimefighter named Nightshade might thwart Sutekh's plans. Playing as Nightshade, you will patrol the dark corners of the city to find clues and items, solve puzzles, gain "Popularity", and confront five crime kings, including Sutekh himself.

This game has a unique atmosphere and play style, absolutely unlike anything else seen on the NES.  It's mostly point-and-click action, but sprinkled in are some 1v1 and 1v2 fighting sequences.  There's even a brief fire rescue sequence that almost feels like a Donkey Kong level!  Popularity is required to progress at a couple of points, and you can build that up by winning fights and doing good deeds for Metro City's civilians.

Metro City (not to be confused with the Metro City in Final Fight, Captain Commando, or the Megamind movies) is a dark place, but zagato blackfist has mapped all 108 screens to give Nightshade a fighting chance, including the five traps that Nightshade finds himself in if he's defeated, four of which can be escaped with puzzle-solving skills (or zagato blackfist's provided solutions).  It's a neat twist on the concept of having a number of lives, and one of the things this game is known for, but if it were to have a Popularity meter, it's still on the low side and could use a boost.

So to recognize the effort put into recognizing this hidden gem, zagato blackfist's Nightshade - Part 1: The Claws Of Sutekh (NES) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for January 2026.