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Pretty much what everyone have already said, but I just wanted to add one feature that I REALLY want in an emulator for mapping and that's scripting. It's extremely useful for automating the screenshot+stitch process and saves a lot of time and work. Sadly, very few emulators have script-support. BizHawk is one of the few that does, which is why it's my goto emulator for mapping games. Plus it has many other excellent features/tools.
https://tasvideos.org/Bizhawk/LuaFunctions

Some other emulators with scripting that I know of is FCEUX, Lsnes and Snes9X Rerecording (snes9x rr).

Scripting exposes an API to the emulator so you get great control of the emulated game. My scripts usually just use the memory read/write functions to change the camera position in the emulated game and then the take screenshot function.

Something BizHawk lacks in its scripting and I would like to see is an in memory drawing canvas that you can blit copy a rectangular part of the current screen to. The canvas could then be used to stitch together the map into and then saved to file. Currently I have to call an external tool that takes a txt-file with blit commands from the BizHawk script that stitches together all taken screenshot files. It works, but it would be nicer if this could be done entirely inside the script.

BizHawk has a canvas (LuaCanvas object), but it's a GUI desktop window and as far as I know it's not possible to close or hide it which is annoying. Especially when stitching a really big map. Plus you cannot copy from the screen to the canvas, only from image files.

Welcome!

It sounds like you're on the right track. Most maps are made by basically taking many screenshots with an emulator and then stitching them together in an image editor.

My normal process for mapping a game look like this (in broad strokes):
-Thoroughly familiarize myself with the game, play it, read guides, and so on.  Create many emulator save states while playing, so I can quickly "jump" to different parts of the game.

-Search for memory addresses/codes useful for mapping the game. For example codes for the camera position, freezing animations/sprites, etc. Emulators often have memory/code search functions and hex editors. Otherwise I use the Cheat Engine program.

-Write a script or an external bot to automate the screenshot+stitch process using the addresses I found in the previous step. Sadly, very few emulators have script-support. BizHawk is one of the few that does, which is why it's my goto emulator for mapping games. Plus it has many other excellent features/tools. Creating a bot for emulators that lack scripting is more work and has other drawbacks. Still better than manually screenshot+stitch everything though. I made a post here with a link to a BizHawk script that you can look at as an example:
https://www.vgmaps.com/forums/index.php?topic=4211.msg23860#msg23860

-Put together the final map using a custom program I made and the Paint.NET image editor. Here I add text, icons, arrows and other annotations to the map.


But to get started, I suggest you choose a simple 2D game you like and just start taking screenshots and stitching them together into a map. You'll learn the more advanced stuff later. You probably want to look into memory/code search first as that is very useful and often needed for screenshotting parts of a map that you normally cannot reach.

Good job on improving KingKuros maps and making them more complete. I played all three Wizard & Warriors NES games a lot when I was young. Despite their difficulty and clunky controls I like them. Never managed to beat Ironsword though. The final boss fight against the four elementals at Icefire peak is hard.

All the different Ys 1&2 releases are quite confusing so I made a collage of all of them (I hope) from 1987 to 1991 to give me a better overview. It's a bit simplified with one entry per platform. The FM-7 got an extra release of Ys 1 for the more powerful FM77AV with better sound for example. And Ys 2 was only released for the Sharp X1 turbo and Fujitsu FM77AV (hence its nicer title screen). Finding details of all the different Ys 1&2 releases is hard though.

I've played a lot of different Ys 1&2 versions and I think that TG16 Book 1&2 is superior to all of them. Good graphics, good controls, voiced dialogs, not that grindy or difficult and awesome music. The TG16 music is even better than what modern versions have in my opinion. It's really strange that no remake used it as far as I know. Maybe some licensing issue?

Ys I & II Chronicles is also quite good if you want something more modern, but it's missing the TG16 music and the graphics style, although very pretty, doesn't really capture the look of the old Ys games. That together with many other changes makes it feel like a new game rather than a remake of Ys 1&2.

Which Ys 1&2 versions have you played and which is your favorite?

I just found these amazing artworks of the Toran and Dunan Castle headquarters in Suikoden 1 & 2. They're really cute and have a lot of cool details, so please check them out. Flik and Odessa together at the top in Toran Castle is just... (if you've played Suikoden 1, you know).

I attached some previews of the art, but all the original images (also individual floors) can be found here:
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/54054581
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/72159699

It's fun to compare them with my maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/Suikoden-ToranCastle(Lv4).png
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/SuikodenII-Headquarters(Lv4).png

Since no one finished the maps even though I'd already done much of the work I decided to do the rest myself. They were recently uploaded and can be found here https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#TomAndJerryFranticAntics

A friend of mine gave this to me back in the 1990s, when we were in highschool, and showed me the basics of how this game works. The graphics and sound are pathetic for an SNES game, and while the story is okay there isn't anything too special about it.

What really sold us was all the stuff you can do outside of storyline progress. You can just forget about your mission and screw around for years of in-game time. I wanted to explore all of Japan and find the towns that you have no real reason to go to. My friend liked recruiting all the generic characters just to sell their stuff and kick them out of the party. We both liked tracking down the characters that are hostile towards the hero, so we could challenge them to a duel and beat the CRAP out of them. Later on in the game I found out you could take spying and sabotage missions, and even help out in wars between provinces. I tried to turn the entire mini-map of Japan yellow (for Tokugawa Ieyatsu) but only conquered half of it before my generals were stretched too thin.

That was a nice story about how even bad games can entertain and influence you. 

If I had made a list of games that influenced me, it would probably only have been a bunch of NES games. One I could think of right now is Swords and Serpents, a not so great NES game. Borrowed it from a friend at school, he hated it, but I really liked it despite its many flaws. Just this thing about exploring a big mysterious dungeon, building characters and having to draw maps by hand. So it's a game that strongly contributed to my interest in RPGs and game maps today.

Zagato, why did you pick Inindo: Way of the Ninja? I haven't played it, but it has really mixed reviews online and doesn't seem very good. Plus, it's made by Koei. 

Is it worth playing anyway?

I played a few stages in Super Mario World. Happy MAR10 day!

Choosing just 10 games is hard, but I tried to pick some favorites from different genres that I really like.
Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)
Super Metroid (SNES)
Settlers IV (PC)
Silent Hill 3 (PS2)
Castlevania SOTN (PSX)
FlatOut 2 (PS2)
Secret of Mana (SNES)
Solomon's Key 2 / Fire 'n Ice (NES)
Guardian Legend (NES)
Super Probotector / Contra 3 (SNES)

I thought the game was good enough to deserve a map. In order not to spoil the whole game, I left out the ending for now, but I might submit an update with the ending after 1-2 years.

If you're even remotely interested in puzzle games, you should give Crater a chance.

They haven't contacted me about hosting my maps either. It's pretty obvious that it's an unauthorized clone of the real VGMaps.

But like FlyingArmor, I don't really care. It's very hard to control things you've uploaded online. I've found my maps on some very strange sites, some even made changes to them (e.g. removed my name) which at least Better VGMaps hasn't.

I guess the biggest problem with Better VGMaps is that it might be stealing traffic from the real VGMaps. Most people who contact me about my maps found them via Better VGMaps (I always tell them to visit the real site instead) which is a bit worrying. I wonder why Better VGMaps seems more popular in search engine results than the real VGMaps?

Any progress on your Tom and Jerry maps kiddingfan? You seemed very committed to mapping this game, but have been worryingly inactive since your first post.

Nice maps eishiya.

How did you map this game (tools, methods, etc. used)? Ripping the parallax layers separately in a PC game must have been difficult. It also sounds like you were able to rip the tiles from the game. How?

Good. Not sure it surpasses GTA V's size, but, that does place it above San Andreas' size by a few miles.

I haven't played GTA V yet, but it having a world almost twice as big as Oblivion sounds insane to me.

I should say this, with all the bigger landmasses, any playable character's already bound to have their own physical workouts from all the running they've done without using vehicles... not that I've thought of such little outcomes before.

Funny you should say that since moving around is how you increase some skills in Oblivion. Considering also how much inventory (weight) you can carry the player must get a real workout.