Messages

1

Gaming / Re: Disappointments of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and What Not to Repeat

« on: June 26, 2025, 08:15:36 pm »

Have you seen the Nintendo Direct presentation specifically about Donkey Kong: Bananza?  Now THAT looks like a worthy killer app for the Switch 2!  I've always liked the launch games including a Mario or Zelda game.  Sure, Mario Kart World is a Mario game, and it has an open world now, with missions and stuff, but I want a real adventure, and Donkey Kong: Bananza looks it it should have been that "day one" game.  Still, it's only a few weeks away.

Anyway, what I am getting at, to tie it into what this topic is about, I've seen a few posts where some think that the villain, Void Kong, is somehow King K. Rool, maybe transformed and/or magically in disguise.

I personally think that idea is ridiculous.  It never crossed my mind.  I think there is zero reason to suspect that, as there is no hint or rationale why that should be the case.  Mario's faced other antagonists than Bowser, Link's clashed with other baddies than Ganon, and Kirby has tussled with more than just King Dedede.  There isn't an army of Kremlings around, VoidCo seems like it must be a whole thing, so... no.  Void Kong and K. Rool have to be separate.  Why should it be bizarre that Nintendo, who have created all sorts of characters, still wants to generate more new characters?

If anything, if there are more Super Smash Bros. incoming, at the rate they're going, they're putting in more characters than they can create, so I would think they would take literally every opportunity to make new ones.  I'm not saying that Void Kong, Poppy Kong, and Grumpy Kong necessarily have Smash Bros. potential... but heck, a Piranha Plant made it, so, anything's possible.

In the UNLIKELY case that Void Kong IS K. Rool or some previous character in disguise, we can all come back and laugh at me.  But at this time, a few weeks before released, based on what we know, I would really bet on Void Kong being a totally new villain.

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Map Requests / Re: Mega Man Maps

« on: June 24, 2025, 11:49:18 am »

Another Japanese-exclusive Rockman phone game has been preserved; this time it's Rockman: The Puzzle Battle!

It's a "match-3" puzzle game, where weapons have various effects.  Not too complex or surprising.  As a puzzle game, there's not much to "map", but there are backgrounds unique to each Robot Master, resembling their original stages.  That might be worth capturing, and the cartoony sprites.

Why is Ice Man (at 15:33) so cute with a frowny face?

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: Are there any graphics apps that can remove backgrounds or compare pixels?

« on: June 19, 2025, 04:43:30 pm »

I have made a paint.net plugin that compares all visible layers below the selected layer. The result is drawn to the selected layer (transparent=same, magenta=different).
https://www.mediafire.com/file/1hititv1zm1uhon/DiffLayers.zip/file

Apparently I forgot to say thanks, as the tool did come in handy when making maps for Beyond Shadowgate (PC).

Thanks, mechaskrom!

Or rather, it came in handy to fuel my obsession with getting all the possible states that a room could look like, but maybe I won't actually show them all.

Context: while I rarely make my own maps, I did make maps for this game while putting togther my "Beyond Shadowgate: Unboxing & Review" video on my "JonLeung1" YouTube channel.

I do plan on releasing another version of the maps that would be marked, but I likely won't be indicating EVERYTHING on them, just some stuff of interest like missable rooms (of which there are only a few), where the branch for the best/worst endings is, that sort of thing.  It's more a question of wording and formatting.

I might also do an "Screens" collage with all variations of all rooms, similar to what zagato blackfist did for the NES versions of Shadowgate, Deja Vu, and Uninvited.

But perhaps it's ludicrous to show EVERY possible state that EVERY room could be in.  Maybe two will be sufficient.

Still, all my quitting-and-reloading and picking up items in a different order just to get every one of these combos was time-consuming.  I didn't use mechaskrom's plugin as much as I should have, as it worked well enough the few times that I did, to spot differences between pixels, if I needed to recreate a scene in paint.net by changing some items around, instead of trying to get it in the game just right.

Thanks again!   

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: June 19, 2025, 04:25:38 pm »

JonLeung (that's me!) has started maps for Beyond Shadowgate (PC), a point-and-click adventure game that is a sequel to the NES version of Shadowgate including keeping its gameplay and 8-bit visuals.  (Note that this is not the same as the Turbo Grafx CD of the same name from 1993.)

I made them while I was also working on this unboxing and review video:

The maps that are up now are the unmarked ones.  It started out with all rooms being in their "initial" state, but some rooms are not QUITE how they look when you first enter.  For example, there are a few "rooms" in Torlin Forest that are shown with the creatures you encounter there, though that's not the true "initial" state as some only show up when you move or try to do anything, but I opted to show the creature as that's the main point of the room.

I might also replace the dark rooms that need a lantern, as it might be more useful if they were shown when they are lit up. 

I do plan on releasing another version of the maps that would be marked, but I likely won't be indicating EVERYTHING on them, just some stuff of interest like missable rooms (of which there are only a few), where the branch for the best/worst endings is, that sort of thing.  It's more a question of wording and formatting.

I have screenshots of (hopefully) every variation of every room.  Some rooms have multiple things that can be in multiple states (like numerous items to take or not, or doors that can be open or closed) which led to some rooms getting like 60 or 72 variations just because of my insistence of capturing every combination.  Since you usually can't put items back down, that meant a lot of quitting and reloading and getting them in a different order to get all these permutations of possibilities.

As I do want to make a "Screens" collage featuring every variation of every room, like zagato blackfist did with Shadowgate, Deja Vu, and Uninvited on the NES, I should probably decide if all that was really necessary or just to show two variations (like every item not taken vs. everything taken, as opposed to ALL combos of some items being taken and others not).

One room in Themiere Mansion has a clock puzzle, with the hands having to be in a different position per playthrough, determined randomly.  I decided it wasn't worth the trouble to get every combination (in a room that already has many) multiplied by every possible combination of the position of the hands on the clock.  I could just show the clock combos separately...  but really, I might have overdone it.

I'll figure it out, eventually.

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

« on: June 18, 2025, 09:19:15 pm »

Here's my unboxing and review of Beyond Shadowgate for the PC!

(Note that this is not the same as the 1993 Turbo Grafx CD game of the same name.)

It's a sequel to the NES version, and looks and plays just like it!

And yes, you heard right, I do have maps of this game in progress.  Maybe I should put up the unmarked maps for now, at least...

EDIT: The unmarked maps are now up here.

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: June 08, 2025, 08:37:28 pm »

To be absolutely clear, since depending on the number of posts per page, my last post might be on the second-last page now and my explanation isn't visible if viewing this last page, the blue coloration is NOT for marking progress.

Please don't impede any actual progress by claiming they're being worked on, when they might not be, and confusing would-be mappers into thinking someone called dibs when they're actually more than okay to do!

Cyartog959 may have just made the case for me to remove coloration if it will instead scare people away from doing them if they misunderstand its purpose.

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: June 08, 2025, 08:10:06 am »

I'm trying something, I don't think it will necessarily speed up fulfillment of requests, but maybe it won't hurt to try?

I mentioned about how there are some games on my requests lists that are surprising that we don't have yet.  I've surely mentioned the Monkey Island games on PC, the Super Star Wars games on Super NES, the Resident Evil games on PlayStation, and the Super Mario Advance games on GBA, among others.

I've highlighted them in blue, though, as with the presence of games on my list, I may change them blue or "unblue" them as I look at this list again and again, as I realize it's a fine line between what I want and what I find surprisingly missing.

That certainly doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate maps submitted to VGMaps that are on this list but not blue, or not on this list at all.  Of course not.  Maps for any game are great!  It's just that these are the ones that I'm personally excited to see maps for, and the blue ones might have more of an "about time" kind of thing about them.

We'll see if the colouring has any value.  If it feels overly demanding, or that even despite not being my intention, it might still devalue other maps for other games, I could easily revert it.  You can comment what you think about it (which I'm sure you will).

I also might as well point out, since it was on the list, that I actually have maps for Beyond Shadowgate (the 2024 PC version) almost ready to go, at least, unmarked ones to start.  I've been working on a Beyond Shadowgate unboxing YouTube video (which has been dragging on for way too long but I hope to release sooner rather than later) and as a consequence of replaying the game multiple times, I think I got screenshots of pretty much everything (including every state of every room, which was ridiculous to capture in some cases). So, yes, I finally have been working on maps myself... a good reminder to myself of how much work making maps is.

If I'm taking months (!) with a relatively-technically-simple point-and-click game, we should all be more grateful of the maps that everyone has been making, as many are far more complex!

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: June 07, 2025, 01:47:50 pm »

Hey, Jon?

Can you add these game titles to your list?

I could technically add anything to my list, but there is emphasis on "my".  If you couldn't guess by the title of the topic, it's my list.  If the games have no interest to me specifically, why would I add them to my requests listing?

If I asked you to put all the games on my requests list to yours, would you?  I don't think you would, as that literally makes no sense.  I have my requests, and you have yours.

Now, I get that you want to piggyback on the supposed "popularity" of this topic, if by merely mentioning them, you could pique my interest in them, that I might add them, as if to "second" your request, and that whatever clout this topic has might get you your requested maps sooner, or at all.

But if you are curious, for a game to be interesting enough to me to be added to this list, the games would either have to be nostalgic to me personally, or that I have deemed iconic or worthwhile to have on the site, because they are classic/popular, look great, and/or would be useful.

Now, even at that, my requests list is a little large, so I might one day have to cut out some entries.  And/or maybe highlight/bold the truly iconic ones that surprise me that they are still unmapped after all these years.  For example, some of the point-and-click adventure games on PC, like the Monkey Island series, or actually-labelled Pokémon maps with Pokémon locations, etc.

I hardly think that if heavy-hitters like those haven't been mapped after ALL these years, there's much less of a chance that TWENTY licensed Looney Tunes games which are mostly "mid" would be, even if I added them to the list.

No offense. I know you love your Looney Tunes, and there is something to be said about their place in animation and pop culture, but their video games are often just quick cash grabs and are rarely interesting to most gamers - other than nostalgia if they grew up with those games, because it's a "safe" bet for clueless parents.  Heck, I've got that too, somehow I grew up with The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle on the NES.  Luckily for you, that and (some of?) its sequels have also been mapped, but I didn't request them, so they have nothing to do with this requests listing - someone just liked those games enough.

I did ask for Road Runner's Death Valley Rally on the Super NES because I thought it has some charm, plus it made it on a cover of Nintendo Power.  I remember it took a LONG time to get those maps.  I think the only other game featuring Warner Bros. animated characters that I currently have on my list is Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! on the Super NES, because that's a great-looking game and being by Konami means that it's also a solid game.  Just remembered it is also on a cover of Nintendo Power.  See, that's one whose absence actually suprises me, and would like that lack to be remedied.  But looking at your list again, it seems like you're all about the classic Looney Tunes, and Tiny Toons don't mean much to you, sorry about that.  But just like how Tiny Toons aren't important in your eyes, others probably think the same about Looney Tunes.

You can make your own Looney Tunes requests topic if you haven't already.  (Have you?  I'd be I'm surprised if you haven't already.)  But from what I do remember from the various posts you've made here and Discord, it seems like you rarely ever say "please" or "thanks in advance", which makes your requests come off as demands.  The entitlement seems like there would be a lack of appreciation if someone one day actually DID map a game from your list.  Maybe I'm wrong?

But what I do know is that you've been asked back multiple times that if you love Looney Tunes video games so much, why you haven't looked into making the maps yourself, because after YEARS of repeatedly asking, it feels like there's a hint to be taken that others aren't as interested in these games as you are, so if maps for them are ever to be made, it will be by your hands.

(I bring up again that you submitted maps that you said you made yourself, for Wile E Coyotes Revenge (Prototype) for the Super NES a couple years ago, so you do know how to assemble them. So... just do that again with the games in your list?)

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Map Requests / Re: Request Listings

« on: June 07, 2025, 12:59:36 pm »

The winky face () that FlyingArmor used likely means that comment about asking AI was a joke. Perhaps a jest that you might get better luck that way.

On a related-note, I wonder when AI could actually handle such hyper-specific prompts like asking for "a fully labelled map of a JRPG game in the style of Nintendo Power magazine" and have it actually make something accurate. The "Nintendo Power look" would be one thing, but the maps would require the AI to know not only what game you're talking about, but the actual map data in the ROM and etc. and then to know how to represent it in a useful way.  That would be impressive, but also scary... I suppose that goes for AI in general these days.

Ableist.

Just like I asked on the Discord server a couple weeks ago, related to your "ableist" remark, I'm still not understanding how, if you are somehow unable to make maps, that you were able to make the Wile E Coyotes Revenge (Prototype) maps that you submitted here for our Super NES atlas page in 2023.  Other than the too-small "(Small)" maps, the other maps, even though they are unlabelled and basic - demonstrate that you do know the fundamentals of assembling a map.  What has changed since 2023?  You were asking for maps even before that, if you started to learn to put them together, why a prototype, of all things, why not one of the ones you're specifically wanting?

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

« on: June 05, 2025, 05:06:52 pm »

My brother and I went to the GameStop Switch 2 Launch Event in Southgate Mall here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

We left the house at 9:30 PM and got home at 2:30 AM. So, a bit tired, but now we have a Switch 2!

Did you manage to get a Switch 2 at launch?

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Maps Of The Month / 2025/06: Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (Genesis) - Vertigo

« on: May 31, 2025, 09:30:23 pm »

Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Vertigo's Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (Genesis) maps.

Who would want to return to Isla Nublar?

In an alternate continuation to the original Jurassic Park, while Dr. Alan Grant escapes in an InGen helicopter, he spots another InGen helicopter with an armed team of field agents arriving on the island.  He deduces that they are there to recollect eggs and DNA samples for nefarious purposes, perhaps starting another Jurassic Park or creating an army of dinosaurs. Grant reaches for the helicopter radio to warn the Costa Rican army that is already there intending to destroy the park, but a fight with the InGen pilot causes it to crash back on the island.  And so, Grant's adventure on Jurassic Park continues.  (Now with more rampage, apparently.)

As with the first Genesis Jurassic Park game (which Vertigo has also mapped), Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition can be played with one of two characters, either Dr. Alan Grant or a velociraptor.  Though many of their stages are similar, the order differs slightly, and there are some landscape differences, as well as the placement and types of enemies and items, depending on who you play as.  Vertigo mapped out both Grant's and the raptor's stages, as well as both marked and unmarked, if you like to be able to see the enemies, items and weapons, or if you'd rather take in the quiet natural beauty of Isla Nublar without distraction.  That means Vertigo mapped some of these areas FOUR times!  It's a good thing that this game looks great, and Vertigo sure did it justice.

So to recognize the effort put into these maps allowing us to survive Jurassic Park again, Vertigo's Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (Genesis) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for June 2025.

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Gaming / Re: Nintendo Console History

« on: May 27, 2025, 03:30:51 pm »

With only ten days to go, I decided to FINALLY update the lower-right corner of the image, since we have long had the Switch 2 release date, we also have the original Switch's lifespan until that.  The Switch sales data is now up to the end of March of this year, and while the average daily sales are now less that when I originally posted this three years ago - unsurprising since it's now an average over a longer span of time, and it's certainly slowed down - it's interesting that it is STILL more successful than the Wii was.  And by over 5000 more units a day, wow.

This still isn't fully updated into its final form because we don't have true lifetime sales of the original Switch, which I imagine still has a couple years left at least.  And the final Switch game is probably years away yet, too.

The image was made with 4K resolution in mind, so if I wanted to update this to include the Switch 2, I would have to make a larger, non-standard image size.  I mean, that's not a problem, really, but if I'm okay with not trying to make it fit compactly on one screen, then I might as well redesign the whole thing so all the text and images aren't packed in TOO tightly.

And if I did, I guess the two games I would use to represent the launch would be... I guess Mario Kart World and... the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour?  Maybe that's a weird choice but I kind of want to keep the pattern going of choosing a second game that showcases the features of the new console and I guess that game literally does show that.  But if it's digital-only, that might be confusing, since for the game counts I only count physical releases.  And the whole "Game-Key Cards" thing might muddle how people choose to count games...

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« on: May 26, 2025, 02:02:33 pm »

zagato blackfist has mapped a bunch of NES baseball games; it seems that probably all of the North American ones are done now.  That's a lot of baseball!
And besides all those, zagato has created maps for Wurm: Journey To The Center Of The Earth, an interesting multi-genre game that few people talk about.  And when they do, they usually have to say that few people talk about it.  Oops, I guess I just did that.

Thanks again, zagato!

Not many left on my NES requests list, but I had to go and add Xexyz.  As I was putting up the Wurm maps, I noticed nearby, alphabetically, that we only have one map for Xexyz, from Will Mallia.  This really surprised me, that I hadn't noticed this lack earlier, so I felt I should put it on the list.  Since zagato is trucking along in the quest to have every NES game mapped, I'm sure it will be done eventually... but I should still mention it.

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

« on: May 23, 2025, 09:11:52 pm »

This probably seems ridiculous, but It's World Turtle Day, apparently.  And my brother seems to really like making Hookbill the Koopa cough, so... here we go, 12 hours of that.  I made this in considerably less time than that, of course.

I don't know if that's going to earn me much watch time; if anyone's got 12 hours to spare they should watch my "One Minute of Music from EVERY SNES Game (US & Canada)" video instead...

I'm just finishing up another "real" video, so look forward to that!

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Map Requests / Re: List of unmapped NES games

« on: May 19, 2025, 06:29:33 pm »

That was quite the load of baseball games we got a few days ago.

Surprised that Base Wars wasn't in that batch... or as it is sometimes known as, "Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars".  Wonder if, had it been more successful, they would have expanded the series with more futuristic games featuring robots playing other sports.  "Cyber Stadium Series: Hoop Wars" for basketball, perhaps?  (I guess there already is a robot football game, Cyberball...)

Funny how in Base Wars, the robots are mostly humanoid, and look similar to each other, except for their lower halves.  Some have humanoid legs, but others might have a single wheel, or tank treads, or a flying saucer-like bottom that enables them to hover.

Anyway, that's what I remember Base Wars for - for standing out a bit, with its unique setting and players, in a sea of baseball games.  Funny how the NES had so many.  I'm sure this one will be mapped eventually.  Looking forward to that.

Doing a search for "ball" on the list shows that there are not many of these "ball" games left!  Keep up the good work!