Topics

1

Maps Of The Month / 2020/08: Blasphemous (PC) - Eishiya

« on: July 31, 2020, 08:44:40 PM »

Blasphemous

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Eishiya's Blasphemous (PC) maps.

You are The Penitent One, the sole survivor of the massacre of the "Silent Sorrow".  Wielding a sword and mastering abilities earned by Relics, you seek to free the world from a curse known as "The Miracle".  Will you succeed, or die trying?  Well, you will die.  Again and again...

Blasphemous (stylized in lower-case as "blasphemous") is a Spanish indie game that features impressive art.  There is a variety of locales, each drawn with such detail, including lots of religious iconography.  There are definitely some strange and disturbing sights.  Yet it's beautiful, in that eerie way, where you don't want to look away, even when you should be creeped out.  Eishiya has laid out all of this horrific splendour into maps that can help you - and The Penitent One - to navigate the cursed land of Cvstodia.  Who wouldn't want help in a world like this, as you take on challenging sidequests and titanic bosses while you scour the land for useful Relics?  (Eishiya won't help you avoid getting torn in half by a giant baby, though - that's on you.)

Eishiya is clearly a fan of indie "Metroidvania" games, having also mapped Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight and Catmaze in recent years, and earning "Maps Of The Month" honours for those games, as well.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping this gorgeous nightmare, Eishiya's Blasphemous (PC) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for August 2020.

2

VGMaps Social Board / See something familiar in this picture?

« on: July 02, 2020, 06:45:08 AM »

Hmmm...

Also, not sure how to feel about this yet, to be honest.

Flattered?  Probably.
Angry?  Not really?  Not as much as I thought?

EDIT: I contacted her on Instagram, as I initially thought she was selling the dresses and wanted to know if she would at least mention VGMaps.com.  Turns out I misread that she is talking about the game's Kickstarter going live, not her dress.  Her full response:

hey there!! This is a wonderful design, thanks for bringing this to my attention! I actually bought this from someone off of Poshmark, a second hand clothing app, and the tags are from Koala Fashion. I'm very sorry if they used your print without your permission, but I'm just a clothing collector that likes to play dress up - I absolutely will not be trying to sell this design, I wouldn't even know how! I hope you have a wonderful week ☺️

Well, Koala Art & Fashion doesn't appear to be selling it anymore.  Probably for the best as I don't need a repeat of the whole Super Kid Icarus / Flip Industries fiasco.  I wouldn't have expected compensation but if it was still selling, and selling well, it would be nice if they mention VGMaps.

I guess in any case I should be flattered.  Made this morning interesting...

3

Maps Of The Month / 2020/07: Rolan's Curse (GB) - Shiny

« on: June 30, 2020, 08:33:28 PM »

Rolan's Curse

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Shiny's Rolan's Curse (GB) maps.

The evil emperor Barius has cursed the land of Rolan.  As a heroic (and generic) knight, it's up to you to stop Barius and lift the curse!

That's not much of a story, but not every fantasy game has to be a sprawling epic.  This top-down action-adventure is often compared to similar-looking Zelda games, but Rolan's Curse is very short and sweet.  There are only four chapters, with the fourth one much shorter than the first three.  Unlike the legendary game series its appearance evokes, this is a more linear experience and can be cleared in one sitting.

Even so, there may be some areas where maps can be handy, and VGMaps.com has got that covered - twice - with marked and unmarked maps of every chapter, so you won't feel alone in your quest to defeat the evil Barius, with Shiny, one of our resident Game Boy cartographers, as your guide!

But maybe you aren't really alone if you have a Game Link Cable!  Rolan's Curse has a feature that not many people have utilized - this journey can be done with two players!  Maybe it hasn't been played this way often enough because the game is not hugely popular to begin with - which is a shame, as it is simple and charming, the very epitome of pick-up-and-play Game Boy fun.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping a game cursed with obscurity, Shiny's Rolan's Curse (GB) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for July 2020.

4

Maps Of The Month / 2020/06: Lunar: Sanposuru Gakuen (J) (Game Gear) - zagato blackfist

« on: May 31, 2020, 08:14:26 PM »

Lunar: Sanposuru Gakuen (J)

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to zagato blackfist's Lunar: Sanposuru Gakuen (J) (Game Gear) maps.

Ellie and Lena are two girls from a little town called Burg, and the story begins with them enrolled at a new magic school.  When they arrive at the island of Ien, they find that the school is empty and their instructors are missing, so they team up with other students to uncover what happened.  This mystery has monsters and magic and more in this fairly late Game Gear release, which is the first handheld game of the Lunar JRPG series.

Maybe to get around the Island of Ien, Ellie and Lena could consult these maps by our resident Game Gear fan, zagato blackfist, who seems to have a knack for mapping obscure, but interesting, RPGs and strategy games.  The game may not look huge, based on the number of maps, but it is quite possible to get lost in the Coastal Cavern or Demon Castle D, which are positively labyrinthine.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping another handheld epic, zagato blackfist's Lunar: Sanposuru Gakuen (J) (Game Gear) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for June 2020.

5

Gaming / What are the best emulators for directly capturing video?

« on: May 29, 2020, 08:44:30 PM »

I haven't played with emulators much lately but I have been doing more with video... (If you didn't know, I have a YouTube channel under the name "JonLeung1".)

I am wondering if there are some good emulators (primarily for the popular consoles) that can output gameplay directly to a video file (such as an .AVI or .MP4) with really good quality and at the same resolution and frame rate as the game.

I'm not doing speedruns, I'm not doing live-streaming.  I'm not doing anything fancy, I just want something as simple as "hit record, play some of a game, hit stop" and then have a file of game footage to work with in any video editor.

I know there is generic video capture software, but I feel that would be a pain to set up for the resolution and frame rate.  And I do have capture hardware if I were to do anything with HDMI, sure, but again, that usually only captures at particular resolutions and I want the perfect resolution and frame rate and it sounds like something emulators could probably do more directly.

Someone here surely has more experience than me, so does anyone have any suggestions?

6

Gaming / Nintendo Switch Online's NES / Famicom / Super NES / Super Famicom layout

« on: May 22, 2020, 03:30:56 PM »

Here are the retro games of the Nintendo Swtich Online service as of May 20, arranged in my layout which I think is ideal.

Each row fills up to the end (some numbers of items, like three NES games, leave a space at the end), and the order is the same between the North American and Japanese versions.

Exclusives are at the bottom - the Famicom has two rows (and also a Special/SP version of NES Open Tournament Golf that North Americans didn't get for some reason), the NES and Super NES have one row each, and at this time the Super Famicom does not - which is weird considering how many exclusive games Japan got (I would know since I'm still partway reviewing books on that subject for my "JonLeung1" YouTube channel)...

What do you think of the order I put them in?  Do you agree with my layout, or how do you do it?

(Click on the images to enlarge.)

Famicom:


NES:


Super Famicom:


Super NES:

7

VGMaps Social Board / VGMaps.com is now 18 years old!

« on: May 07, 2020, 01:00:52 PM »

VGMaps.com is now 18 years old!  (Well, it turned 18 yesterday, and I missed it.  How rude of me, as its parent, to miss such a milestone.)

I didn't really prepare anything for this, so, for discussion I guess we could go with:
1. how long have you used VGMaps.com, and
2. what maps do you think are possible in the next 18 years?

For me, obviously I've been here since the beginning, through a whim of "just trying this out for a year", thinking that images would be hard on bandwidth - guess I never imagined we'd get to the point when almost everybody streams HD video on multiple devices, so now, what's a few kB or MB for some .PNGs, right?  I remember getting it set up at the end of April (literally after I finished university) but it wasn't actually visible for a week because I had "index.htm" capitalized or something silly like that.  I was playing the then-new Resident Evil (the 2002 GameCube remake) at the time; funny that now my gaming backlog includes the recent remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3...

For a while I've wondered if there would be a 3D format that would be a ubiquitous enough filetype that it would be no different to put up than, say, a .PNG (or .GIF or .JPG).  Imagine something like The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time maps that we have but instead of 2D .PNGs at a fixed angle, they could be in a 3D format that we could just rotate and move around easily (with whatever is required to view them being standard in all browsers) to have a true 1:1 map (arguably maybe not exactly so with anti-alisasing and whatnot, but you know what I mean).  That said, first-generation 3D game consoles like the N64, PlayStation and Saturn could have many more maps, hopefully long before 2038!  Also, I hope there is still interest in the NES and Super NES that maybe someone will automate some way to map literally everything in every game for those consoles.  Would require some human input, I would imagine, but you never know, with AI these days, right?

What are your answers to those two questions?  And any other thoughts about the future of VGMaps?

8

Maps Of The Month / 2020/05: Trials Of Mana / Seiken Densetsu 3 (J) (Super NES) - xyzbilliu

« on: April 30, 2020, 08:00:28 PM »

Trials Of Mana / Seiken Densetsu 3 (J)

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to xyzbilliu's Trials Of Mana / Seiken Densetsu 3 (J) (Super NES) maps.

Eight powerful beings - the Benevodons - were sealed into the Mana Stones by the Mana Goddess long ago.  Now, the Mana Stones are sought by those who wish to unleash the Benevodons and take over the world.  Six characters - Angela, Duran, Charlotte, Kevin, Hawkeye and Riesz - three of which are playable in any one playthrough - face one of three different antagonists in their journey that will involve seeking out the Mana Sword and defeating the Benevodons to save the world.

Like its immediate predecessor, Secret Of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3 is a beautiful top-down action-RPG that supports multiple players (though only two instead of Secret Of Mana's three).  With multiple combinations of characters and multiple storylines across a huge world, this adventure is one of the biggest that can be experienced on the Super NES or Super Famicom!

There's an interesting thing about this game's name.  Seiken Densetsu 3 was a Japanese exclusive until the first three games in the series were rereleased together in a bundle called "Collection Of Mana" for the Switch in 2019.  As it would now need a title in English, by following the convention of all the Mana games being titled "_____ Of Mana", this was rechristened as "Trials Of Mana" (with the "tri" in "Trials" being an intentional reference to the number three).  The Switch (as well as PS4 and PC) also received a complete remake in the spring of 2020, built as a modern game.  Though it is an entirely different engine, comparing many maps between the old and new versions show that there are quite a lot of similarities.  We can thank xyzbilliu for traversing this world and mapping it all out.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping this massive Mana game (the other Square original to receive a remake this spring), xyzbilliu's Trials Of Mana / Seiken Densetsu 3 (J) (Super NES) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for May 2020.

9

VGMaps Social Board / Star Wars, Final Fantasy and Ultima: a geeky observation

« on: April 12, 2020, 01:14:50 PM »

Star Wars, Final Fantasy and Ultima are all very similar... the seventh is the highest-grossing, the eighth is the odd one out, and the sixth is the best.  Do you agree?  (Full-size: https://vgmaps.com/temp/Comparison-StarWars-FinalFantasy-Ultima.png) #GeekyObservation

10

Maps Of The Month / 2020/04: Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - FlyingArmor

« on: March 31, 2020, 08:07:30 PM »

Final Fantasy VII

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to FlyingArmor's Final Fantasy VII (PSX) maps.

The Shinra Electric Power Company is draining the planet of its Lifestream to produce Mako energy, but AVALANCHE, the eco-terrorist group, seeks to disrupt Shinra's operations. Also a danger is Sephiroth, who seeks the Black Materia to cast the spell "Meteor" to damage the planet, which would allow him to absorb the Lifestream to become a god. Can the mercenary Cloud, with AVALANCHE members Tifa and Barrett, and other allies and friends (inluding a robot cat and a vampire), save the world?

Final Fantasy VII is considered one of the greatest video games of all time, and it helped popularize JRPGs worldwide while boosting the sales of the original PlayStation, of which it is considered an iconic title (though it would also appear on the PC a year later). This 1997 game is the first Final Fantasy game featuring polygonal graphics and full-motion cutscenes, making use of the optical media on which it originally appeared. It has seen a number of rereleases in the last decade alone, including PC (again), iOS, Android, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and the mini-console, PlayStation Classic, to be followed by an episodic remake appearing this month for PlayStation 4.

(Its iconic status has put protoganist Cloud Strife into a number of other games, from Chocobo Racing, Ehrgeiz, and the Kingdom Hearts series - though those were all by Square (later Square-Enix), as well, but Cloud also managed to be a surprise guest character in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series starting with Super Smash Bros. For 3DS/Wii U.)

FlyingArmor is definitely a JRPG fan, judging from the many epics he has mapped for VGMaps.com. Having put together over 800 maps for the Super NES atlas alone, mostly for RPGs, he now adds almost a hundred PlayStation maps by mapping out Final Fantasy VII. Though fully labelling RPG maps to show where items and points of interest are should be the norm by now, FlyingArmor went so far as to recreate icons, such as the icon for the save point, which was originally seen (though distorted) on the fourth disc of the International version. Now that's attention to detail!

So to recognize the effort put into finally fully mapping this fan-favourite Final Fantasy, FlyingArmor's Final Fantasy VII (PSX) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for April 2020.

11

Maps Of The Month / 2020/03: Earthworm Jim (Genesis) - G.E.R.

« on: February 29, 2020, 09:19:30 PM »

Earthworm Jim

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to G.E.R.'s Earthworm Jim (Genesis) maps.

This month brings spring, and soon the birds and the worms will be out and about again!

Psy-Crow is tasked with delivering Professor Monkey-For-A-Head's Super Suit to Queen Slug-For-A-Butt. The suit accidentally falls to Earth and lands on an earthworm, and this is the origin of the weird and wacky (and wormy) hero, Earthworm Jim!

Everything about this game is just as weird and wacky as its hero. The other characters are also bizarre, from his friend Peter Puppy with Hulk-like anger management issues, the bungee-jumping ball of snot that is Major Mucus, and Bob The Killer Goldfish. The game takes you from New Junk City to Heck to Level 5 (yes, that's its name) to Buttville, each with unconventionally-designed stages, lacking the "blockiness" of many platformers of this time and instead has a more freeform, cartoonish design. Fittingly, Earthworm Jim was adapted into an animated series, though Playmates Toys planned to have a franchise of their own (after the success with their license for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) but beginning with a video game - which was unusual at the time. But again, being unusual fits the overall theme...

Though this game also appears on the Super NES, which we also have maps for (by Tropicon), we recognize the Genesis version's maps (by G.E.R.) here since it is the original and has an exclusive stage, Intestinal Distress! You can also snag Earthworm Jim on the Sega Genesis Mini.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping this groovy game, G.E.R.'s Earthworm Jim (Genesis) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for March 2020.

12

Maps Of The Month / 2020/02: Sonic Advance (GBA) - TerraEsperZ

« on: January 31, 2020, 09:27:06 PM »

Sonic Advance

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to TerraEsperZ's Sonic Advance (GBA) maps.

As Sonic heads to the big screen this month, let's take a look at one of his small screen adventures...

Doctor Eggman is once again causing trouble by "roboticizing" animals to build an army and threatening to take over the world. Who can possibly stop him? Well, the same hero that's stopped him for a little over a decade by this point, Sonic The Hedgehog! With his friends - Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose - and any Chaos Emeralds he can find along the way, he should have a chance to make it through numerous Zones, ranging from the Neo Green Hill Zone to Angel Island Zone and beyond.

Created in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the first Sonic The Hedgehog game, Sonic Advance is also notable for being the very first Sonic game to be released on a Nintendo platform. This Sega mascot has appeared in numerous games on Nintendo's (and others') gaming devices since, even appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series as one of the first non-Nintendo characters (alongside Konami's Solid Snake) beginning with Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, and also starting at about this time, Sonic competes against Mario in numerous games based on the Olympic Games. So perhaps a whole generation of gamers don't find it unusual, but near the start of the millennium, Sega's main mascot on a Nintendo machine was sort of a big deal.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping this pivotal, portable adventure, TerraEsperZ's Sonic Advance (GBA) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for February 2020.

13

VGMaps Social Board / Video Game Box Art: The Stories Behind The Covers (A Gaming Docu-Series)

« on: January 14, 2020, 10:44:32 AM »

You probably know of Rob McCallum as the director of Nintendo Quest.  Now, his Video Game Box Art: The Stories Behind The Covers, which is a documentary series about video game box art, is available starting today for Vimeo On Demand users, here.  (Assuming you're in the correct region of course, check robmccallumfilms.com for more info.)

You'll notice that "VGMaps.com: The Video Game Atlas" is listed in the opening credits and I myself make a couple brief appearances in episode 7!  Check it out!

Video Game Box Art: The Stories Behind the Covers [Special Edition] from RobMcCallumFilms on Vimeo.

14

Map Requests / JonLeung's Requests

« on: January 10, 2020, 10:54:06 PM »

Hi, all!  The past couple years have been kind of slow here, so I figured I'd throw in a topic of my own requests, for whatever that's worth.  I know these forums don't exactly have a history of consistently fulfilling requests, but as with any of them, I figured I'd at least get these out there, if someone's hankering for a mapping project but has no idea what to do next, here are many suggestions.

Now there are already many requests on this board, and normally I'd prefer requests to each be in their own separate topic, but as I run this site - and I'm gonna be blunt here - I feel I have at least some clout to be able to say "hey, I'd really like to see these mapped."  Does that count for anything?  It would be nice if maps of these were on the site eventually, preferably sooner rather than later, though there's no actual rush.  But if these light a fire under anyone's butt, I will similarly drop whatever I'm doing and get these maps up the moment you submit these to me (if possible)!

Some of these have been requested before - consider this me "seconding" those requests.  There are going to be obvious requests (popular games) and some obscure ones (perhaps games I personally enjoyed even if not well-known).  Some may be partially mapped but appear abandoned by now.  Some we already know have technical challenges.  But if at all possible one day, I'd like to see these.  I think most of these are reasonable enough.  I could update this repeatedly on a whim at any time.  Take them or leave them, they are what they are.

Arcade
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Thanks, George s!

Atari 2600
Pitfall!

ColecoVision
Donkey Kong
Front Line
Jumpman Junior

NES / Famicom
Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure
Crystalis (we need more maps to be at the proper 1:1 pixel scale)
Déjà Vu
Dragon Warrior: Part 2 (that's the actual in-game title, we probably know it better as Dragon Warrior II or Dragon Quest II (J)) Thanks, FlyingArmor!
Flying Warriors
Milon's Secret Castle
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Nightshade
Rockin' Kats
Shadowgate
Spy Vs. Spy
Sweet Home (J)
Totally Rad (would like maps to somehow include the story sequences)
Uninvited
Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Paseri Jou (J)

Genesis / Mega Drive
Contra: Hard Corps
Gunstar Heroes
Light Crusader Thanks, G.E.R.!
Sonic 3D Blast
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist

TurboGrafx 16 / PC Engine
Bonk's Adventure
Final Lap Twin
Keith Courage In Alpha Zones

Super NES / Super Famicom
The Addams Family
The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
Daze Before Christmas (E)
DinoCity
Donkey Kong Country Thanks, G.E.R.!
Do-Re-Mi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daibouken (J)
Equinox Thanks, Cleeem and TerraEsperZ!
The Firemen (E)
Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shougun Magginesu (J)
Ganbare Goemon Kirakira Dochu: Boku ga Dancer ni Natta Wake (J)
Illusion Of Gaia (fully labelled)
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Kirby Super Star (would be nice if "The Great Cave Offensive" maps have treasures indicated) - Thanks for Revenge Of Meta Knight and The Arena, G.E.R.!
Magical Pop'n (J)
Marvelous: Another Treasure Island (J)
Nosferatu
Plok
Pop 'N TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures (E)
Secret Of Mana (fully labelled)
Shadowrun
Skyblazer
SmartBall
Super Star Wars
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Super Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose!
Violinist Of Hameln (J)

Neo-Geo
The King Of Fighters '98

PlayStation
Final Fantasy VIII (also on other platforms, including PC)
Parasite Eve
Resident Evil (also on other platforms, including PC)
Resident Evil 2 (also on other platforms, including PC)
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (also on other platforms, including PC)

Nintendo 64
The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Mischief Makers
Super Mario 64

GameCube
The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Xbox 360
Castlevania: Harmony Of Despair (the DLC chapters, especially the one that looks like the original Castlevania map)

GBC
Shantae
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (are there more maps than what we have here?)

GBA
Final Fantasy IV Advance
Final Fantasy V Advance
Final Fantasy VI Advance
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Gunstar Super Heroes
Kirby: Nightmare In Dream Land
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
Mother 3 (J)
Super Mario Advance

DS / DSi
Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia
Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin
Chrono Trigger (if the DS version is different than the Super NES)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Kirby: Mass Attack
Kirby: Squeak Squad Thanks, G.E.R.!
Kirby: Super Star Ultra Thanks, G.E.R.!
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time
Monster Tale
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Shantae: Risky's Revenge (also on other platforms, including PC)
Super Princess Peach

PSP
Mega Man: Powered Up
Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X

PC
(1991) The Adventures Of Willy Beamish
(1993) Alien Carnage (originally "Halloween Harry")
(2017) Alwa's Awakening
(1990) Bad Blood (uses same engine as Ultima VI)
(2018) Bloodstained: Curse Of The Moon
(2020) Bloodstained: Curse Of The Moon 2
(1995) The Dig
(1993) Doom
(1989) Dragon Wars
(1992) Eternam
(1995) Full Throttle
(1992) Gobliiins
(1992) Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon
(1993) Goblins Quest 3
(1992) Hero's Heart / Hero Gold
(2018) Iconoclasts
(1992) The Island Of Dr. Brain Thanks, Will Mallia!
(1994) The Legend Of Kyrandia - Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge
(1992) The Lost Files Of Sherlock Holmes: The Case Of The Serrated Scalpel
(1987) Maniac Mansion (both classic and enhanced)
(2018) The Messenger
(1991) Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
(2015) Odallus: The Dark Call
(1992) Rise Of The Dragon
(1990) The Secret Of Monkey Island
(2014) Shovel Knight (also on other platforms)
(1993) SimCity 2000 (Scenario maps)
(1993) Simon The Sorcerer
(1992) Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
(1991) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Missions (not to be confused with The Manhattan Project on the NES)
(2017) Thimbleweed Park (also on other platforms)
(2018) Timespinner
(1990) Ultima VI: The False Prophet (specifically the PC version!)
(2015) Undertale (also on other platforms)
(1989) Wasteland
(1988) Zak McKracken And The Alien Mindbenders

And here are some other request topics I made earlier:
Nintendo Power - 1988-1996 cover games
Sega Genesis Mini - full map set

15

Maps Of The Month / 2020/01: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (Arcade) - BumFengShui

« on: December 31, 2019, 09:46:27 PM »

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to BumFengShui's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (Arcade) maps.

Time under normal circumstances flows linearly and steadily, but when the Ninja Turtles pursue Shredder and Krang in this classic arcade game, they jump from one time period to the next, after only a few minutes of smashing Foot Soldiers and other goons.  After leaving 1991 New York, they find themselves in the prehistoric era, then face pirates and cowboys and end up on another planet more than a century later than when they began this journey.  So unsheathe your bō, katana, nunchaku, or sai, and unleash some Turtle Power!  You know this adventure is timeless when Konami has included it in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare (GameCube, PS2, Xbox) and remade it as Turtles In Time Re-Shelled (PS3, Xbox 360).

Though we'd recognized the Super NES version 11 years ago, the recent release of Arcade1Up's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Home Arcade Game (which includes both of the original arcade games) makes the arcade version of Turtles In Time specifically relevant... as well as the fact that one of the years that the Ninja Turtles visit in this time-hopping adventure is the year 2020!  Will we ever see hovering vehicles like those seen in "A.D. 2020: Neon Night-Riders"?

So to recognize the effort put into mapping this timely adventure, BumFengShui's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (Arcade) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for January 2020.