Messages

1

Map Gab / Re: VGMaps.com now has over 50,000 maps!

« on: April 08, 2026, 08:01:26 pm »

Hey! I just remembered something that's been forgotten/overlooked in the midst of our celebration!

Presently, for 3D games, VGMaps doesn't count the length of maps in distance meters, kilometers/square kilometers, miles, and so forth. The many game console atlas pages that have 3D game maps in the site, regardless of perspective, doesn't have their meter size counts alongside pixel and data file sizes, for traveling in different directions.

As I recall, from the GDC 2009 YouTube video presentation Sega made about Sonic Unleashed after its launch, the stages ranged from 5 to 20 square km, spotted at minute 43:28 in the video(I've left a video link to it in one of my posts). This led me to think, "What many other 3D games do have their meter size counts?".

I just had this thought after seeing your numerous calculations for select maps that are the longest, largest, narrowest, smallest, etc., etc., and my mind went "DING!" through a little thinking, and that's where it hit me.

Jon, if you're around, perhaps the atlas pages may need a new distance meter count section for 3D game maps added sometime soon. Think about it. I'm curious to see what they are.

2

Maps In Progress / Re: FlyingArmor's Map Projects Present and Future

« on: April 08, 2026, 03:52:53 pm »

Is it just me, or is everyone experiencing 2 minute wait times to load one page on the VGMaps forums? It took me something like 15 minutes just to get to point of posting this message.

In other news, Sansara Naga 2 is in the works.

It's not you, FlyingArmor. It just happened recently, I think. It's obvious maintenance work needs to be done, so the wait times can be cut down from minutes to seconds flat, as it is supposed to be all the time.

Yes, not many of us are patient, but we can still try to be moreso and not let this little situation or anything else run our nerves much.

Have faith, and peace and prayers to Jon and the forums' staff to resolve such situations.

3

Map Gab / Re: VGMaps.com now has over 50,000 maps!

« on: April 07, 2026, 11:09:44 pm »

Dang. 50,000 maps. That's... a lot of maps! Congrats, Jon! And I'm happy to have contributed to that total, small as it is. Wish I could think of more games to map out... but oh well. I'm sure I'll think of something else someday.

Anyway, here's hoping we'll one day hit 100k maps!

Oh, don't you worry. There's still loads more out there, the choices you may decide, whenever you do, can be right up your alley. The count is still going strong, and the ranges are so wide, so to speak.

4

Gaming / So many discrepancies in "Origins"...

« on: March 26, 2026, 10:44:58 am »

Been a bit in thought about the unaddressed discrepancies in Sonic Origins lately(and I do mean PLENTY of discrepancies), especially about a bit about the canon placements in games. Yes, that includes the wrong insignia and face decal Robotnik used from Eggman's decal in later 3D Sonic games and media.

I mean, Origins does good at fleshing out specific details about the characters from the Japanese manuals, such as Amy Rose' fortune card readings, Tails' bullying for what he was born with, and how Knuckles first got tricked, but there are so many things left out and/or have gotten wrong, including Tails' single-handed victory over the Battle Kukku Armada on Cocoa Island in Tails Adventure, said to take place before he met Sonic, not before Sonic met Robotnik for the first time, and not after Tails met Sonic. I get that Tails was slightly less brave there and then, but that was a worthy accomplishment for him.

Origins also ignores specific story points and details in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, such as Dr. Robotnik landing outside the island, attempting to exaggerate Knuckles' fears about the fabled and much feared dragon's egg the echidna remembered in legend about bringing destruction upon hatching to his advantage in tricking him, not to be linked to the Great Dark Dragon from Superstars NOR Perfect Chaos from Adventure, and Sonic and Tails discovering an engraved ring that came from Angel Island and actually heading off in the Tornado.

Also, it really ignores Knuckles' side of the story, where Mecha Sonic Mk.II, having still survived his defeat by Sonic and Tails, reactivating himself to find any intact robot to try to continue his creator's plans on Angel Island, and a proper new prelude where Mecha Sonic found the exact Eggrobo that emerged from the wreckage from Sonic's good ending, which should've been played not just for Super Sonic, but Hyper Sonic's best ending, too, and then having experienced a common experience, they partner up to take down Knuckles and steal the Master Emerald, and the good and best ending from Knuckles' story should have seen Robotnik throwing another tantrum, but on the junk heap from his Final Weapon's wreckage on the ocean, likely preferred to be set at night, rather than drifting with a Rexxon floatie in the day, and a particular distant light gleam that signifies another island about to surface from the ocean shortly, which leads to Knuckles' Chaotix's events.

Not to mention, there's loads more bugs and glitches in Sonic 3's remastering the original game does not have Origins never bothered to fix even after the patches did very little fixing, and its NOT how a well-deserved Retro Engine remastered re-release should've had. And, we would've had the additional option to play its split halves alone, rather than having the only option to play the whole game together.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles' ROM hacks and mods have done a more better job of bug fixing, technical and cosmetic details than Origins, specifically Sonic 3 Complete and Sonic 3 Rebuilt, such as the crystal platforms seen in Lava Reef's main boss fight changing colors right from hot to cool palettes after the lava cooled down, stage music remaining silent after finishing Act 2, and many more.

If the games get re-released again, we'd be far better off having either original emulated ports of all halves and the whole game, Retro Engine re-releases with new animated cutscenes that truly pay more great attention to the details from the canon and backstories from the Japanese manuals, or all of the above, to meet the best of many worlds, including the game preservationists'.

I don't know how many people do not know Sonic's history, but compared to us that do know more longer, I'd say the numbers are slightly less of them, as there are still a lot of us who know Sonic more longer.

Whatever present management SEGA's got there, that are responsible for rushing that compilation too soon just to make the anniversary date as its launch, they really need to get their facts straight again and re-evaluate their actions.

5

Map Gab / Re: VGMaps.com now has over 50,000 maps!

« on: March 25, 2026, 04:00:30 pm »

This made me realize I never submitted the ~80 maps I made for Tomb Raider 4-6. We'll hit 100k in no time 

Yeah, but we'd need to hit about 75,000 first, and there's loads and loads of games to cover it.

6

Map Gab / What an accomplishment!

« on: March 22, 2026, 10:24:17 pm »

Thanks for bringing up the time I asked for the total map count, Jon!

I knew VGMaps held many game maps, but hardly anybody until then asked about how many there are in total, and, well here we are! Ring the bells, and bake the ham, I'm feeling a bit festive today! 

I felt excitement in my heart and mind when I just saw the amount was counted past 50,000, and it was that game to get that count solidified and sped past that! You previously thought the amount would be met by Autumn, but you never knew how quick that can come up, and boy, did it come up so quick; just in time for Spring to begin! What a way to start off another usual season!

I say this, Jon, you, the site, and everyone that contributed maps, now and before, are TRULY blessed to make this happen, and I'm truly hopeful for all this to keep on going beyond decades to come!

I see a good celebration for this! Prayers, blessings, protection, hope and peace to all worldwide and in the whole community! Yeah! 

I know there's still lots more games to be mapped, but, for this, I'm feeling the need to celebrate.

We are feeling very good about this! Let's keep this traction going!

7

Maps In Progress / Re: The Pirates of Dark Water(Genesis)

« on: March 15, 2026, 02:17:45 am »

Greetings!
For many years, I've been hoping someone would make a map for The Pirates of Dark Water on Genesis, and now I have decided to complete it myself.
I have only just learned the basic ripping techniques and begun to experiment with it, so progress may be very slow(just finished the first jungle level). And I still trying to find a more efficient way to complete this.

Good for you to map that game based on that mostly forgotten original Hanna-Barbera TV show! I briefly had thoughts on who would do it, but, now, I already know. Take your time to finish. I have confidence in you.

Just to say, as a small heads-up, I feel quite disappointed after reading that David Kirschner's TV series didn't get its proper conclusion that should've ended with Ren finally obtaining all Thirteen Tresures of Rule, extinguish Mer's long-time oceanic threat, the Dark Water, defeating and ending the Dark Dweller and the evil pirate lord, Bloth, in the formerly thought of final battle, and saving the world once and for all.

I mean, for the fans, they never got to see the actual conclusion because of budget cost underestimations(the half-hours were costly priced at $500,000 then, and the cel frames' amount for them was 12,000 each were twice as much as a Saturday morning show at the time), quality decline and channel moving that struck a nasty blow to its run, and left with only eight of the Thirteen Treasures collected.

If anything, I still hope one of these days, the show will finally get the conclusion it should have had all those years ago. It may take a miracle, even.

8

Maps Of The Month / A Word about the Game's Nod from The Chaotix Casefiles...

« on: March 14, 2026, 04:32:01 pm »

Apologies for bringing this back after inactivity, but, I really want to say this game got a good mention from Sonic's recent audio show, "The Chaotix Casefiles", the first episode.

Before leaving Angel Island, Vector the Crocodile tried to plea to Knuckles for help on their latest investigation by bringing up a rather distant memory he actually remembered.

That distant memory was the final battle against Dr. Robotnik(yes, still alternatively called Eggman) and Metal Sonic's form, powered by a captured Giant Ring that he turned into a crystallized Dark Battery Ring, Metal Sonic Kai, which he piloted from the inside, and how they were victorious against him in the central structural depths of the Newtrogic High Zone, his main base that was another attempt to conquer the world and build his own park, Robotnikland(or Eggmanland), stationed on the island they were all in, right after Knuckles and his then-newly founded allies got all the Chaos Rings.

Surely, with utilization of Sling Rings(clever name, though; not from me), the ring tethers used throughout the game, that gave them the upper hand to Robotnik's plans.

My heart felt a little down for Vector, though. Even as Angel Island's guardian, you think Knuckles could've been a bit more on-par with his memory when Vector brought the end of their first adventure up to him. I mean, he was involved.

I know, the game wasn't quite well-received because that Sling Ring gameplay mechanic dragged the game on a bit too long, among other reasons, but bear in mind that game was kinda rushed for its launch in 1995, and SEGA tried to get a Sonic game into the 32X before the Saturn became the focus at the time. The least we can do is appreciate their efforts.

I would be elated to think and see the game get a second chance by having it redone under the Retro Engine, with proper care, that is, and be given a more finely thorough polished work effort to it and loads of tiny cosmetics that were missed before the original launch day, especially having the Good Ending fleshed out quite more, to give it good closure to the game's story with the Chaos Rings.

If you haven't listened to that, give it a go.

9

Gaming / Re: It's MAR10 today. So what Mario game are you playing or replaying?

« on: March 10, 2026, 09:36:53 pm »

I'm maybe the only one here who recognizes this day enough to post about it...

I made this collage a few weeks back, with Japanese box art on the top and North American box art on the bottom.  The Japanese like to show the world and a bunch of other characters - the North American ones just seem to show Mario jumping.



But, hey, at least with the Game Boy, they kept the "crowded" box art:



I'm pretty busy currently with a few projects at once right now, including one with a deadline, and haven't been playing my usually-consistent 1½ hours of daily gaming while on the treadmill for almost two weeks (because I just had an operation and can't do anything strenuous), and felt guilty about playing games if I'm not on the treadmill especially as I have other things to do, but I did pick up Mario Tennis Fever on the Switch 2, so maybe I'll squeeze in a few minutes of it today somewhere just to say that I did.

Anyone playing anything with Mario in it today?

As much as I enjoyed the many Mario games before, I'm still not feeling the satisfaction of any game giving more challenge; more longer courses, more original bosses, maybe occasionally a new main villain that isn't Bowser, like how it was with a lot of his adventures.

All the increased memory and CPU Nintendo held for their computers and companies, and yet, the present minds there that made the games could at least spare extra effort to keep on challenging us; but not by shorter, tougher courses, rather the longer courses while still retaining their challenge level. Their minds need to be more open-minded to listening to others, especially their fans.

My thirst for long, challenging stages/courses could never be satisfied. Not to mention those that test our basic know-how of platform gaming for it, including using our minds to solve puzzles.

Sorry you went through an operation. Many prayers for your healing, Jon, and for your recovery!

Also, happy Mar10 Day, Jon! Hope you get well soon! Thought and prayers are all with you!

And, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is one of my recent favorites. Really great to play!

10

Map Requests / Found Freedom Planet Maps!

« on: January 29, 2026, 07:28:01 am »

People, I may have been down, but, I'm not out with my search for the game's maps. After a bit more looking by trying again, I definitely found a batch of Freedom Planet stage maps in a gallery!

I just only found it now, and felt that should've been found sooner, but, we all can't lament on what anyone should've done before; only to live the moment.

The only tiny thing is, I couldn't find the names of the map rippers responsible. Oh, well. I won't spend some time trying to find it; that can be left to anyone else.

Anyway, here's the gallery's link I found - https://imgur.com/a/freedom-planet-map-rips-qUvQY

And, to show proof, here's some example stage maps I've found with the gallery in image links. There's out of bounds sprites and such here and there, but I won't bother.

DRAGON VALLEY

Map 1 -

Map 2 -

Map 3 -

Map 4 -

RELIC MAZE

Map 1 -

Map 2 -

Map 3 -

Map 4 -

Map 5 -

FORTUNE NIGHT

Map 1 -

Map 2 -

Map 3 -

Map 4 -

Map 5 -

Map 6 -

AQUA TUNNEL

Map 1 -

Map 2 -

Map 3 -

Map 4 -

SKY BATTALION

Map 1, Metal Airship -

Map 2, Fire Airship -

Map 3, Earth Airship -

JADE CREEK

Map 1 -

Map 2(its in jpeg from that gallery. Sorry, its all I could find  . Don't worry. Only temporarily until I'm provided with a png link to it so I can replace it) -

Map 3 -

Map 4 -

Map 5 -

THERMAL BASE

Map 1 -

Map 2 -

Map 3 -

Map 4 -

Map 5 -

Map 6 -

Guess their sizes are very close to the 20,000s range(not like most of Spark the Electric Jester's stages, which they seem to be are), but they're within the 10,000s range, horizontally, at the very least.

I think these can be worth comparing to prior Sonic games' maps(well, before later games like Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Rush, and Sonic Colors DS) and perhaps needing references to any 2D stage designers wanting them for their projects.

There's a small problem; I couldn't seem to find the rest within that gallery, including Mayor Zao's airship as a sort of its hub in Sky Battalion, the rest of Pangu Lagoon, and the whole of Final Dreadnought, Lord Brevon's massive starship that housed a large fraction of his army of created robots, bio-engineered aliens, including monstrous aliens, and hybrids of both, alongside his Super Troops that constitute much of the games midbosses.

At the very least, I gave you the maps I tried to search for. Hope whoever can find the mappers responsible to contact them. Otherwise, whoever's up for doing or finding the rest, if already ripped, the decision's yours.

I didn't make them, mind you, only found them, so you know. I did search where not many did, even without intent.

Hope you like them! If anyone finds more, let me know!

11

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

« on: January 23, 2026, 08:15:44 pm »

He sure is quite the uppercut of the blue bomber's foes. All those appearances and fights, and yet I often wonder how and why Cut Man is more popular among the many past Robot Masters.

I count his cameo appearance at the opening of Mega Man 7, the shot with the newspaper of Wily being finally arrested after Mega Man 6, a joke title in its picture named "Cutman 2" can be seen if you look close enough. Wouldn't that make the 16th appearance?

12

Maps In Progress / Re: FlyingArmor's Map Projects Present and Future

« on: January 16, 2026, 07:34:22 pm »

Using Tiled would've taken 10 to 20 times longer than just taking 30 seconds to a minute to clean up each room. I used Tiled for the very first room, then I switched straight away to screenshots because it took way too long. All the tiles don't fit into a neat 18 x 24 grid since there're tiles that sit halfway between those grid lines in pretty much all the rooms. While Tiled is great for a ton of other games, it's a bad fit with how ElecHead is constructed.

Guess you felt how certain different tile sizes that aren't evenly sized weren't effective as you thought. Oh, well. Thought I'd suggest, anyway. There's still others that do very well.

13

Maps In Progress / Re: FlyingArmor's Map Projects Present and Future

« on: January 15, 2026, 02:05:05 pm »

A new year has come and I bring with me a new map set!

For a little change of pace, I decided to try mapping a more modern game instead of the SNES stuff I usually gravitate toward, so here's the PC game ElecHead. Given how the graphics are fairly NES-like, it wasn't too difficult stitching rooms together. The main annoyance was getting rid of the particle effects that were present in nearly all the rooms. The rooms with stars had me taking twice as many screenshots just so I wouldn't accidently erase a star I had thought was a stray particle.

I'm fairly certain I didn't forget any rooms, but if I did, I'm sure the ElecHead fans will let me know.

I'll probably try to merge all the stages into a single image some time just for the fun of it. Hopefully 32 GB of RAM should be enough to make that happen, haha. 

Since I've mapped this game, I've been thinking of taking on Nama Takahashi's most recent game Öoo as well, but that'll be something to do later down the road.

Well, that's good. Doing a platform game is a good change of pace for your previous RPG inclined mapping works. Have you thought of mapping the whole Blaster Master Zero Trilogy games sometime? I'm quite curious to see how they are.

Perhaps they'll let you know, should they find this site and contact you.

I think it'd be quite less than 32GB of RAM if you did, given the game's map sizes I've looked at, but, if you do put all of ElecHead's stage maps into one, well, I'd be surprised if it was that close to it.

Did you use Tiled to do the maps? If not, well, give it a go. It helps cut down time. Worked well for eishiya while The Mummy: Demastered was being mapped out.

14

Gaming / Expert Software's Casino CD Game, Anybody Remember That?

« on: January 07, 2026, 04:35:40 pm »

It's been quite at my mind towards memory lane lately, but does anyone actually remember playing Expert Software's Casino CD Game from your young years?

As much as I can remember, I enjoyed playing the many casino based games in that CD, on Windows 98 then, and much I could remember are the recognizable casino sound effects heard in many TV shows before and later on when I was in the midst of selecting any game. I still remember having fun playing them again and again for many days... just not too crazy long, that is.

In case some of your memories are hazy, here are some images as proof.







I love those fond memories, but, so far, I don't see anyone posting gameplay/longplay videos of Expert Software's Casino CD Game online. I've been trying to search for them wherever I could get the chance, and, so far, no dice(no pun intended).

I hope and feel someone who can utilize their time to create and upload said videos online to give us a good time reliving it, wherever we are.

To those who have played it before, what do you remember about that CD game? You can tell us your memories here.

15

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

« on: January 07, 2026, 04:07:34 pm »

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)....

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.

I didn't say we'd want maps rushed to that low-quality. I'm just saying of what kinds of commemorations to think of in that honor when it happens.

The overall, updated map count you gave really gave me some excitement, but you do have good points of wanting maps at good quality, and yes, encouragement is necessary to keep on going. We do have universally basic standards to keep.

Yeah, I wouldn't want all rooms of any Metroidvania as their own maps, either. Separate areas, yes, but not all rooms as maps.

Aside from people still wanting physical discs, DVD, Blu-Ray, whichever(new formats can still be made alongside them), and still fighting to preserve them(believe me; certain outlets, like streaming, are like unstable, slippery slopes that can hurt quite badly), I'm sure your Nintendo Quest is a good favorite among others, and whatever you may cook up next for another release afterwards will be more well-enjoyed.

But, other than that, we're sure to have a good celebration for the 50,000th map that we can remember from. There's plenty of time to think of commemoration ideas, but I won't get into them.

I'm sure we'll all be looking forward to that moment when it comes in VGMaps history.