Messages

1

Gaming / Re: Open World Maps... Sizes and Comparisons

« on: October 27, 2025, 07:03:39 am »

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

HA!

You think that's insane? Wait 'till you see and explore GTA VI's map! Said terrain's spoken to cover about 125 sq kilometers, and about closely 3x bigger than GTA V's map. Don't know how it is compared to previous open world games, but, that'll hit the spot as the biggest open world map yet... unless another game says otherwise.

On the other hand, there were the well-known Batman: Arkham games and its follow-ups that had their maps bigger than the previous, but they've been behind in their sizes compared to GTA's games.

For Arkham City, it was made five times bigger than Arkham Asylum, which, is kinda like a confined world of its own, but technically holds the makings of one. Then, Arkham Knight, which arrived later, made it, well, five times bigger than City, as well, to better accommodate anyone being able to ride the Batmobile across it.

Small fact: There was a prototype Batmobile made to see how it would flow well driving into Arkham City's already existing map, but the city's size was claustrophobic for Batman to glide and using grapple didn't work well. Meaning, the city was too tight to drive the Batmobile in that map. So, the city was redone with wider streets and taller buildings to accommodate ejecting the vehicle.

Don't know how big Sunset Overdrive's map is, but some guessed it's about 8 square km, bit more than Arkham Knight's.

Later came Gotham Knights, said to be bigger than Arkham Knight's, but Suicide Squad, which got out later, too, also had its map bigger than that. Don't know if SS is bigger than GH, but I hope for a comparison to see which is bigger than the other.

And, last, uninvolved with the whole Arkham series, there is another next game in the LEGO game series from Traveller's Tales, Lego Batman: Legacy of Dark Knight. That game is primed to have its map much bigger than Arkham Knight, even quite moreso than SS's map.

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.

Makes us wonder how other heroes, or even villains, if they have no vehicles to go around, have felt they've done the same after running through all those more and more bigger landscapes in each of their adventures.

2

Gaming / Re: Open World Maps... Sizes and Comparisons

« on: October 22, 2025, 11:23:32 pm »

I've been playing Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion recently and its open world is huge. By far the largest world I've experienced in a game. According to the numbers I could find online, Oblivion's world (Cyrodiil) is roughly 41 square kilometers (about 16 square miles).

The Shivering Isles DLC adds another 10 square kilometers. It's a separate island that you can warp to from Cyrodiil so it doesn't really expand the borders of the original world though.

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

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.

3

Gaming / Open World Maps... Sizes and Comparisons

« on: October 21, 2025, 03:01:21 am »

Mappers of the VGMaps community, I got a good challenge in mind about keeping track of open world games' maps' sizes and comparing them, from smallest to the biggest maps yet.

In open-world games, mainly 3D, they comprise of singular, vast landscapes that are sort of like playgrounds, mere sandboxes for people to roam about and explore, but they provide loads of missions, secrets, and loads and loads of optional tasks to take on.

What people take in charting their maps, they calculate by square miles, or alternatively, square kilometers, and they center on how far they've explored, and how far can anyone go.

As far as many know, we had not many open world games, because many games were platformers, and others different, but we also had hardware that limited scope, size, and scale of said maps, mainly is that to those working on games, they didn't had much RAM memory and strong CPUs to work with. Time went on and we were able to have it. The question is, how would people utilize all the increased RAM and CPU processing power to create more massive maps in open world games?

The more prominent game series that propelled the open world genre to elevation is the Grand Theft Auto series, likely GTA III. Mature as they are, they do provide vast landscapes for freedom of exploration, though they do have stories to progress through in order to unlock particular methods of traveling, and later abilities to reach other places.

Later games gave out more bigger maps to explore and more missions to undertake, but other than that, people do have their fun ideas on experimenting with traveling to heights normally deemed impossible by normal means of playing these games. I also think others like to see how long their playable characters can fall from extreme heights before they go splat out of boredom.

Of course, there are many other games that follow the open world blueprint, including others that had the maturity toned down to broaden to slightly younger people, but how they make their maps' sizes can be less than those, but there are those trying to come close to matching them, or even surpassing them, even if its not a GTA game.

On top of all that, so far, there's no patch update and DLC that expands any existing open world game's maps by adding extra land mass outside of regular borders. I don't know of any game that did it, but until there's one, I don't think I can count them. Of course, it would be interesting to see any open world game to do it...

So, I simply issue our challenge to keep a collective track of any open-world game that have the biggest maps yet.

I do have a couple inputs in mind, in order from biggest to smallest...

1. - Grand Theft Auto V (75.84 sq km/29.28 sq miles)
2. - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (38.2 sq km/14.75 sq miles)
3. - Grand Theft Auto IV (16.14 sq km/6.23 sq miles)
4. - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (9.11 sq km/3.52 sq miles)
5. - Grand Theft Auto III (8.12 sq km/3.14 sq miles)

I can't place in GTA VI's map size, but I can say it's going to be bigger than GTA V's.

The many 3D Spider-Man games, on the other hand, all do tend to take place in New York, but how their differing sizes between them besides them sharing New York's layout is puzzling me.

If anyone has their own input, please go ahead. I welcome the effort. Show us what you can find as the biggest open world map yet.

ADVISORY: Flight simulations, sandbox only games, life simulation games, MMOs and such, cannot count to this.

4

Map Requests / Re: List of Looney Tunes Video Game Map Requests

« on: October 19, 2025, 10:37:18 pm »

A nice lowdown on mapping games, but many of them LTIan requested, albeit repeatedly, are 2D, the others are 3D.

I already knew there are tutorials about doing 3D maps before, but just for those that don't know, how do they do it?

And, to further add, there have been more 2D games made besides Looney Tunes games, despite not being mapped yet. While we do have other tools, I feel using Tiled, the level editor, is a more necessary choice in easing anyone's map ripping workflow.

The small matter of using Tiled for any past 2D game, even DS/DSi, is the low amount of custom-made tools needed to bridge particular gaps to rip their maps more efficiently. Meaning, how would anyone rip DS games easily without them, besides the regular procedure, of course?

5

VGMaps Social Board / Sonic 3's

« on: October 10, 2025, 01:36:31 pm »

A bit of an insight, but, didn't any of you know about what was Sonic 3's planned launch date?

Well, after watching Splash Wave's look into Sonic 3's development history on YouTube... I'm kinda sure some of you are quite familiar of what some of Sonic Team and S.T.I.'s devs went through, but, just in case...

It was not Feb 1994, but the game as a whole, if it wasn't split into 2 halves, WAS actually planned to be launched in Summer 1994, but, thanks to the promotional deal with McDonald's Sega made, that date got thrown off by many months, and we know where it led, to the invention of Lock-On Technology, to take care of such problems.

We also knew Sonic 3 started previously as a 3D game, planned with its Virtua Processor chip installed, which didn't happen because of it being too costly.

The dev work actually began in Jan 1993, shortly after Sonic 2's launch, but, thanks to mentioned complications, including the promotional deal, all that work got canned in June '93. Very shortly, though, it got restarted back to the 2D blueprint in about Jul '93, but improved from Sonic 2, including having mini-bosses in each Zone's 1st Act, instead of some.

Thanks to the pressure of launching the game to meet that deal's deadline, the game got split, with the 1st half to be launched in Feb. '94, and the second half in Fall '94, months later. At least, we had the first of its 3 Bonus Stages in the 1st half.

Then, after 3 more Sonic games got launched in later '93, its second half was given about enough time to finish all remaining Zones, resuming from Spring 94, including the Extra Zone, Doomsday, along with the additional 2 Bonus Stages, done in the next month, then, the remaining months spent building Lock-On Technology in the cart before its launch on Oct. 94.

Yes, you're already educated on that, but I felt a bit more history of Sonic 3, at least about the intended launch time, should be shared.

If you'd like, you can watch that video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdvtssb10Q8

6

Gaming / Comparisons between past true 2D Sonic games & Sonic Superstars

« on: October 10, 2025, 02:17:05 am »

There's a couple minor comparisons to remember between the many past 2D Sonic games(those from the Classic line, not counting Modern's own 2D games, even the "Advance" and "Rush" games in that line) and Sonic Superstars, most of which favor above Superstars' own. I may include Zone amounts in them, too.

Sonic the Hedgehog had 6 Zones, each having 3 Acts at the time, with only Final Zone holding the last fight against Robotnik.

Sonic 2 had 11 Zones, most being 2 Acts, Metropolis having 3, and the rest having 1, most of which were a bit longer than Sonic 1's.

Sonic CD had 7 Zones(though, if DLC for the 2011 port wasn't cast aside in favor of it being too faithful to the regular's amount, 9 Zones, with Zone 2 maybe being Dubious Depths being added, and the last being Final Fever with a satisfying conclusion to the time-traveling adventure on Little Planet), 3 Acts, most of which had time periods suiting to the time-travel theme.

Sonic 3, as the whole game, had 14 Zones, the last of which is the first Extra Zone Sonic only went to by having all Chaos/Super Emeralds. They were three times larger than Sonic 2's, and they were all enjoyable.

Sonic Mania had 13 Zones, 8 from past games, 5 original. Again, the last is an Extra Zone, and is focused on the anniversary aesthetic, but having the pixel art graphics upped to solidify the thrill of a 2D Sonic game on the Sega Saturn, if such a one was made. The Zones were made quite long, but to compare on their size and length, not quite more than Advance's, Rush and Rush Adventure and even Colors DS'. They were all still enjoyable, though.

Of course, Mania Plus' Encore Mode felt a bit lacking in what we often expect as a New Game+ mode of some sort; none of the bosses were given their own upgraded counterparts(but I don't mean needing bland palette swaps to call it that), not like how later Kirby games did after Super Star Ultra(I quickly imagined DD Wrecker becoming QQ Demolisher and Hotaru Hi-Watt becoming Hotaru MAX-Watt), nor an actual exclusive final boss, and hardly the levels' layouts were changed to become more challenging than Mania Mode's levels, save for Mirage Saloon giving a different Act 1.

Sonic Superstars only had 11 Zones, all original, but same amount as Sonic 2's, but their Act amount differs through many Zones. The true final fight against the Great Dark Dragon is claimed to be a level, but isn't.

What is truly common for those 2D games, they're all made from the original pixel art style and aesthetic, of which Sonic was originally made from. The animation frames in Mania are more fluid, and there are more background layers that moved freely in all directions, even those that replicated line scrolling, due to them being free from the Genesis' past constraints.

Sonic Superstars was made in 3D, but placed in 2.5D view. Aside from numerous misses in different aspects, the aesthetic doesn't work well for those still expecting for more 2D Sonic games to retain the pixel art style, and no, I don't mean sticking too close to the limits of the Genesis, nor Saturn's, but not too high from the latter. It also does not deliver the atmosphere and excitement felt and seen in an actual 2D Sonic game.

There's certain things 3D can work, but others, well... they just plainly won't. Just only saying.

For the record, in my perspective, I'm strongly against Takashi Iizuka's quite out of touch mindset about pixel art games' viability and relevance(which is an obvious bland cop-out to the opposite and to the talents people held from growing up with these games), because we have NUMEROUS games made in said style, PC and console, and they don't really need to adhere to the tech constraints of many past consoles, nor their singular sound chips' channel amounts(of course, Furnace does retain said fidelity to numerous sound chips, but the freedom to use a lot as we want, even the original chips that Sonic's music and sounds were made from, is much more widespread).

I do, at the very least, agree about only one thing(nothing more than that). Sonic Mania, still being actual 2D in its own right, is made as a commemoration to Sonic's 25th Anniversary, and it's only made to be exactly that. Another Sonic game that continues said anniversary adherencies as a sequel to it(complete with the obvious name and number to boot) can be dismissed as a rehash of the previous.

It's been nice to celebrate, but original 2D Sonic games still retaining the original pixel art aesthetics would still be the best choice, with the exact tools an engine that would've still been used, too, and the stories all still need to be well-made and original, and sometimes, have new villains to face instead of Robotnik a lot. It does not really have to be called "Sonic Mania 2" at all.

The continuity arrangement for Superstars doesn't really make sense being placed before Adventure(we really don't even get an explanation about how Robotnik escaped from the Phantom Ruby's grasp in Encore Mode's good ending). I'd been more content having Classic and Modern Sonic's canons still being separate on their own, but co-existing. Makes their storylines and continuities less convoluted that way. Superstars tried to have Classic Sonic remain independent from Modern's games, but I'm not sure how that went.

And, so far, no 2D Sonic game has its Zone amount went past 14, if I'm not counting Extra Zones. I handled longer Zones, as many of you have, but what can you imagine if a new 2D Sonic game, still made in pixel art and with Retro Engine, had about, at the very least, 17 Zones, and they were longer and/or larger than Colors DS, even Asteroid Coaster Act 2's size(well, not too crazy large than what we've been through so far, but still...)?

I could imagine some of you being fatigued after a few runs.

If Classic Sonic got another new game, which still needs to retain the 2D pixel art aesthetic, it'd best be an interquel that takes place after Mania Plus' events, where Robotnik and all of his remaining Badniks finally got out of the unstable, self-created pocket void the haywire Phantom Ruby created and re-enacts his conquering plans, but having been landed on an unknown alien world, he attempts to go intergalactic, and Sonic and his friends would go on a planet-traveling adventure to stop him.

Wouldn't that be really neat?

7

Gaming / Re: Broken Relic (point-&-click adventure game on Kickstarter that I'll appear in!)

« on: October 08, 2025, 09:03:07 am »

He's right! If anyone's willing to donate more money to reach those stretch goals, now is the time! The countdown's begun! Make Jon's dream come true!

8

VGMaps Social Board / D'OH! Forgot...

« on: September 30, 2025, 02:21:09 pm »

Of all the parts I've brought up, I forgot one more subject that should've been covered...

There's no part of the blog series that covers the in-game intros of Sonic 3, halves itself, the intros from selecting Sonic and Knuckles' stories, Sonic's beginning at Angel Island Zone, and Knuckles' at Mushroom Hill Zone(though, it does only reside in Part Two, and it was relocated to Angel Island at Sonic 3 Complete, yet set erroneously to the former in Sonic Origins), nor the seguing from scene to gameplay, complete with the HUD scrolling on-screen, and the endings, especially Knuckles' after defeating Mecha Sonic Mk.II's semi-super state that segues to ending and credits.

I can only guess such coding made it possible for that seguing. The matter is how to do it, and even how to have the HUD scroll off-screen and the timer stop for in-game scenes and resume after they're done.

Well, I'd like to see those processes sometime.

9

VGMaps Social Board / What do you like about "Go! Go! Kokopolo"?

« on: September 26, 2025, 01:43:48 pm »

Well, since I'm still waiting for the next installment of Kokopolo to come out(and I REALLY still do hope it comes out), maybe I can ask anyone in the community that may have played these games what they like about this unique chase-'em-up series to pass the time.

Having already beaten them so far, and seen all of their endings, I should perhaps tell you a few favorites.

For the first game, I really enjoyed fighting Totemator, Maple Park's boss. It was a rather fun fight to have the totem based creature that has parts of himself sent to drive away Kokopolo/Tatsumo, but I really got to turn his segments against each other for damage, and leaving the one left to defeat him. Can't lie, really great boss to me!

The second game, Punch Castle's boss, Kintaron. It was real fun to get Tatsumo, Kokopolo's best friend who's an okapi, into a duel with that robot himself, as it was a bit exciting to dash slash against him while avoiding his attacks and his mines planted over the map! He also took 8 hits to defeat, not like others that take less, and its also what I like on bosses having to take more hits than less, regardless of series. Still, it was a very fun boss to take part in!

The funny thing to see in the first game was Kokopolo/Tatsumo get furious after tapping the Starfish Houdini on the touchscreen rapidly(it's random at times, so I keep an eye out) and go on a frenzy on him, only to end up slashing out any enemy in the way and ended up getting rid of them instead of feeding them to the SnapSnap Plant.

Finding cards in the guise of butterflies that differ on following their paths to get them is also a real good favorite, too. the challenge is where and how to follow them.

The music also have many favorites I love to listen to. The pity is there's no unlockable sound test in those games, by far, as well as needing a bit more unlockable content, including a few minigames.

I've seen a video from Jmac and Webb's series,  "Who Are the Twinsanity Developers??", and I did see what Keith's been working on. I do really love that kind of work, but I still feel he should at least finish development on his 3rd game in the series before getting to his other projects.

If more Kokopolo games were made a bit more frequently, we'd have more favorites to talk about.

His artwork and storyboards are rather lovely to see,  because its well-made, and I still can't wait to see what more he cooks up!

If any of you have played these games before, please tell us, what favorites do you have for Kokopolo?

10

Gaming / Re: The Legend Of Zelda is 33⅓ years old today!

« on: September 24, 2025, 05:08:34 am »

I'll tell you what I feel, Jon.

Just a little... mind wringed.

Still, happy belated anniversary to "A Link to the Past", our very favorite Zelda classic that did more than bring joy to people.

11

Map Requests / Re: Capcom's Aladdin GBA Not Up?

« on: September 24, 2025, 04:48:20 am »

Why would anyone even think you were responsible in the first place?

(sigh) Never mind. Just trying to keep on-topic, here.

12

Gaming / Re: Broken Relic (point-&-click adventure game on Kickstarter that I'll appear in!)

« on: September 21, 2025, 03:43:23 am »

That's an amazing opportunity, Jon! I like how you're going to be a part of that new entry to the point-and-click games as a voiced NPC, whoever it'll be. That game will surely give satisfaction to those who grew up playing these kind of games before. And if it reaches the goal to be put on a Nintendo console, that's really neat to fulfill your dream of being in one.

Say, is there a stretch goal that allows actual phonemic lip-syncing for English voices? I could guess numerous point-and-click only had very little phonemes and lip-syncing for voicing characters, regardless of language, and its surely to then-present size limits for unique animations, even those that have expressive emotions in them, story-exclusive scenes, and lip-sync altogether... well, until later games were placed in discs and such and had some clever coding done to provide lip-sync in them.

Maybe when people see the backer credits with your name in it, they'll likely remember you. In any case, let's hope for great success to that game! And, congratulations for volunteering!

13

Map Requests / Re: Capcom's Aladdin GBA Not Up?

« on: September 20, 2025, 10:12:38 pm »

LOL, wut

What is the story behind the maps for Looney Tunes games, and what do politics have to do with it?

Please pay no mind to that. It has nothing to do with the game's port in mind.

LTIan's trying to fish for attention lately because many Looney Tunes games aren't mapped yet, and many mappers seem to have plenty on their plates presently that's putting their tasks of mapping games on the back burner, albeit repeatedly, and keeps requesting them over and over again, and invoking matters we cannot, and are trying not to, talk about here in this post, or anywhere here. We're trying to maintain a clean, toxic-free place.

I mean, I get waiting until they're mapped and uploaded, but bothering people about the same thing too much(and, believe me, I try not to) doesn't help with anything, really.

He can take such matters outside of here, lest he pokes too much and messes with the bull... big time.

I won't bear responsibility for whatever LTIan's trying to stir. What he tries to do is on him, NOT me.

14

Maps Of The Month / Re: 2025/08: Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube) - VGCartography

« on: September 18, 2025, 01:27:09 am »

Hey, I just had a little realization about the "Boos" from that game...

Those Boos in that game are not alike the regular Boos with their menacing faces. The Boos I've seen in Sirena Beach's Hotel Defino are kinda a different branch of 'em, and judging from their actions, I'd say they're quite more on drooling and scaring people than normal Boos, and their name that is shared is not quite original.

Even their branch's leader bears the same name, "King Boo", and I don't find him the one and the same King Boo Luigi thwarted time and again.

I feel they should have a more fitting, distinct name among the other varieties. Given their obvious nature, maybe they should be called "Slob-Boos", and their leader, "King Slob-Boo", just like how Super Mario 3D World finally gave the once long-dormant variant of Goombas from Super Mario World, "Galoombas". It combines the two words, "Boo" and "Slobber" together, because, well, they tend to slobber a lot, even their king. Makes it more original sounding that way.

Neat distinction, yes?

15

Map Gab / Re: Sonic Advance - Sonic Colors Maps' sizes

« on: September 16, 2025, 06:57:07 am »

I think this quick-way gameplay can may have a bad influence on people and lead to excessive haste in the live. I noticed one strange feature when I explore a tourist object or go through a forest route as soon as quickly not clear why. This is useful when it need to pass the distance in 16+16km from a bus stop through the forest to cave, exploring this cave and come back and 'finish' within 6 hours to catch the bus, but I noticed that in this mounth I thied to explore castles or river valley quickly/as soon as possible (is not clear why).

Uhhh... 

I don't think it was related to the topic I'm talking about here. I also mentioned there's no Super Sonic option to play through regular Acts in these games.