Recent Posts

41

Map Gab / Re: Jurassic Park (Sega Megadrive/Genesis)

« Last post by Cyartog959 on March 07, 2025, 11:31:17 am »

Very nice! I love your collection of Jurassic Park game maps! Really helps so many that had trouble on where to go and what to avoid. And with the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection already up and about, well, what better time to give guidance than having maps for that game, and others?

Really neat, all the same. And thanks for providing the links to the maps on JP Wiki, but you know, Vertigo, they can be simply submitted to VGMaps, too. Just saying. Love to see it in the Atlas.

And I see the game's first level is entirely made in an endless vertical loop, but you've given the necessary guidance to overcome it. No wonder I had so much trouble getting through that stage when I played it before. I ended up losing more lives than winning many times.

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Map Gab / Re: Jurassic Park (Sega Megadrive/Genesis)

« Last post by VGCartography on March 07, 2025, 07:31:25 am »

cool, love the big brachiosaur head. the two-version approach is nice also!

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Map Gab / Jurassic Park (Sega Megadrive/Genesis)

« Last post by Vertigo on March 07, 2025, 06:45:42 am »

This week I finished mapping all the levels for both campaigns of Jurassic Park for the Sega Megadrive / Genesis. There are two versions for each map - one is basic, just how it looks in the game (albeit with the backgrounds slightly edited to fit the frame). The other is a +hints version, which highlights enemies/items (I was watching a lot of Person Of Interest when I got started ), start/end points, climbable/pushable objects, brightens some of the backgrounds to make the foreground more legible, and occasionally has tips in places where passage requires a technique that's not immediately obvious.

I've attached the basic version of the Raptor's Canyon, and the +hints version of the Grant's Pumping Station. The whole set is up on the JP wiki:
Jungle
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

Power Station
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

River
Grant (basic) (+hints)

Pumping Station
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

Canyon
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

Volcano
Grant (basic) (+hints)

Visitor's Center
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

They aren't direct engine rips, I made all of them by just stitching together screenshots; thankfully Jurassic Park has a noclip mode built in. The backgrounds were a bit trickier - this layer scrolls at half the rate of the foreground, so the resultant image is half the size of the foreground layer. The obvious thing to do would be to enlarge it or tile it, but I thought this looked a bit odd. So instead I went through the background images (sometimes pixel by pixel) stretching/moving/copying them in specific places so they'd fill the visible area while still looking more-or-less how they do in the game. Another issue is that JP has a high-priority foreground layer that sometimes occludes the sprites; in most cases I've kept this occlusion in place, but some items in Grant's Visitor's Center are completely blocked by the occlusion, so I didn't bother implementing it in that level.

I'd like to map out JP Rampage Edition too, but it's a *vastly* bigger game. I mapped the penultimate level (Raptor Rapids) last year, and it was about the same size as the entirety of JP1... I think I'm going to need an auto-stitching tool to get it done, so if anyone has any recommendations for guides, or tools that still work in Windows 10, I'd love to take a look.

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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests

« Last post by JonLeung on March 05, 2025, 09:20:50 pm »

Kirby fan G.E.R. has mapped another DS Kirby game, Kirby: Mass Attack!

I remember having this game occupy my time on a flight, years ago.  Good times.

Though it wasn't on my requests list, it is still worth noting that at the same time as contributing Kirby: Mass Attack, G.E.R. also submitted maps for the Wii U game, Kirby And The Rainbow Curse.  We're probably running out of Kirby games left to map, aren't we?  That's a good thing.

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Maps Of The Month / 2025/03: Escape From Mars: Starring Taz (Genesis) - John Brain

« Last post by JonLeung on February 28, 2025, 07:48:06 pm »

Escape From Mars: Starring Taz

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to John Brain's Escape From Mars: Starring Taz (Genesis) maps.

Marvin the Martian is fascinated with "rare Earth creatures", so when he learns of one called the "Tasmanian Devil", he captures Taz, intending to keep him in a Martian zoo.  Unsurprisingly, the hot-headed Taz is not a fan of this arrangement, so he immediately breaks out and tries to find his way back home.

This is the adventure of "Escape From Mars: Starring Taz" (or, as the title on the box art reads, "Taz In Escape From Mars").  Somehow, via Acme shipping crates, Taz will travel from Mars to other planets, even back to Earth, though he must confront Marvin before he can return to Tasmania.  It's not an easy trek through all these large, sometimes labyrinthine areas, but Genesis fan and cartographer John Brain can help you and Taz escape from Mars, with these 19 maps ranging from Mars to Moleworld to Mexico.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping this above-average Looney Tunes-licensed platformer, John Brain's Escape From Mars: Starring Taz (Genesis) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for March 2025.

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Maps In Progress / Re: John Brain's Sega Genesis maps (25/25)

« Last post by TerraEsperZ on February 28, 2025, 07:01:33 pm »

Personally, I enjoy them mostly from an aesthetic point of view, either by themselves or assembled together to give an idea of what a game world looks like as a whole.

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Gaming / Re: Sonic 3 Competition Plus - my fangame

« Last post by Cyartog959 on February 28, 2025, 03:59:03 pm »

Oh! I nearly forgot one other thing to mention...

Did you, or anyone else, thought of trying the latest demo of "Sonic Galactic" yet? I've seen a video playthrough of it thus far, and let me tell you, it's a great Sonic fangame among others!

I've just played it lately, and let me tell you, it was so much fun!

That game speaks of how we may see Classic Sonic games continue after "Sonic Mania", but heading into a more onboard level akin to Saturn, yet, not intent on adhering to hardware limits, technically calling it "Hi-Bit" in its own right. And, let me tell you, the game's stages are really long! I mean MINUTES longer than past Sonic games thus far! There's even different, additional Mid-Act Mini-Bosses there, too, in the demo. Get ready for one long ride, there!

Coral Garden Act 1 is THAT LONG. I mean, took any skilled player about 6 or so minutes to get to the mini-boss at the end. I really don't mind long levels. That one being so long was unexpected to me. Guessing that level's map size was past the 30,000s range(no idea of its actual size yet.). I did have loads of fun, though.

I felt strongly that because of the Act's long length, there should've been about two Mid-Act Minibosses, unique, not recurring, placed there to fight along the way to the end. And they can be fought by everyone, alongside character exclusive bosses. Long levels do kinda call for more bosses to fight midway.

That game's engine is run through a custom one called "Hatch Engine", made by Aurum, and from what I've heard, its very flexible in creating Sonic fangames, or, actually, any 2D games besides Sonic, even inspired by it! And, from what I've seen on that demo's playthrough and another demo video about that, paired with OpenMania, it supports Retro Engine files and levels made through the open-source editor, Tiled. VERY flexible!

I've left YouTube video links here as proof. Take a look!

Sonic Galactic Demo 2 Playthrough YouTube video link is here, by "Peng" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhWcwom_Ui0

Sonic OpenMania and Hatch Engine Demonstration YouTube video link is here, by "Axanery" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4J1RWOKbe8

I sure would like to know how I, or anyone else, could try to use such an engine as that... Hopefully, if you're able, give it a try.

I... honestly have no easy idea on where to download that engine yet, especially with no direction to it.

The one thing that engine seemed to lack(from what I've seen, anyway) is actual line scrolling, the long-standing technique of one background layer creating column rows to create additional depth, or create some cool effects, like water rippling, for instance. I'd love to see that in.

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Maps In Progress / Re: John Brain's Sega Genesis maps (25/25)

« Last post by dark_lord_zagato on February 28, 2025, 10:00:34 am »

I've seen at least a few people use our maps for reasons other than actually playing the game.

Maps are sometimes used for creative purposes when making Youtube videos. Atlas Videos is probably the best example of this. Their work has gotten even better in recent months.

I saw another channel called GaMetal use the Crystalis "Wind Valley" map while playing a remix of this game's music. It really adds to the atmosphere.


So even if a map isn't useful for gameplay it's still a good thing to have it on the site. Someone, somewhere, will find a use for it.

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Maps In Progress / Re: John Brain's Sega Genesis maps (25/25)

« Last post by Cyartog959 on February 27, 2025, 11:59:03 am »

Thank you for all your maps and an interesting post about your mapping thoughts.

I noticed you mentioned a map's "usefulness" often. It's true that most people probably only look for maps when they need help finding something. However, I also
like looking at maps just to see a game's design and graphics and I don't think I'm the only one who does that. I've made a lot of "useless" maps just because
I liked how the game looked.

So if any mappers are reading this, I just wanted to say don't let questionable "usefulness" of maps stop you from making them.

No map is ever useless, no matter what. Don't ever forget that.

I don't ever view your maps as "useless", nor anyone else should think so. They're always handy to people trying to seek some guidance, whichever game they're playing, past or present. I often look at them to see how well they're made, regardless of size. They also help to reinvigorate fondness to those who missed playing them, alongside appreciating their artistry, and find whatever secrets they may have missed before, and give those who seemed to shun other games, regardless of status, give newfound appreciation and second opinions.

Nothing can ever deem any game map useless. Nothing.

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Maps In Progress / Re: John Brain's Sega Genesis maps (25/25)

« Last post by mechaskrom on February 27, 2025, 10:41:46 am »

Thank you for all your maps and an interesting post about your mapping thoughts.

I noticed you mentioned a map's "usefulness" often. It's true that most people probably only look for maps when they need help finding something. However, I also
like looking at maps just to see a game's design and graphics and I don't think I'm the only one who does that. I've made a lot of "useless" maps just because
I liked how the game looked.

So if any mappers are reading this, I just wanted to say don't let questionable "usefulness" of maps stop you from making them.