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Thanks to G.E.R. for letting me know that Alex Kidd In The Enchanted Castle wasn't actually completed, as it was missing the aerial "To The Sky" stage, and then submitting it so that the first game alphabetically is now actually complete!  To think I was wrong in thinking that was complete for 13 years when it actually wasn't, sheesh...

[MAPS FOR THE 40 GAMES OF THE SEGA GENESIS MINIO Alex Kidd In The Enchanted CastleX Alisia Dragoon- Altered BeastO Beyond OasisO Castle Of Illusion: Starring Mickey MouseO Castlevania: BloodlinesO ColumnsO Comix Zone- Contra: Hard CorpsX Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean MachineX Dynamite HeaddyO Earthworm Jim- Ecco The DolphinX Eternal Champions- Ghouls 'N GhostsO Golden AxeX Gunstar HeroesO Kid ChameleonO Landstalker: The Treasures Of King NoleX Light CrusaderO Mega Man: The Wily WarsX Monster World IV- Phantasy Star (IV): The End Of The MillenniumX Road Rash IIO Shining Force: The Legacy Of Great IntentionX Shinobi III: Return Of The Ninja MasterO Sonic The HedgehogO Sonic The Hedgehog 2O Sonic The Hedgehog SpinballX Space Harrier IIX Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition- Streets Of Rage 2X StriderX Super Fantasy ZoneX Thunder Force III- ToeJam & EarlX VectormanX Virtua Fighter 2O Wonder Boy In Monster WorldX World Of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse And Donald Duck]

The Sega Genesis Mini comes out in less than a month, loaded with 40 classic Genesis games.  As with the NES Classic Edition and the Super NES Classic Edition, it would be cool to see how far along we've already come to mapping this and how many more could still be mapped.

MAPS FOR THE 40 GAMES OF THE SEGA GENESIS MINI
O Alex Kidd In The Enchanted Castle
X Alisia Dragoon
- Altered Beast
O Beyond Oasis
O Castle Of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse
O Castlevania: Bloodlines
O Columns
O Comix Zone
- Contra: Hard Corps
X Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
X Dynamite Headdy
O Earthworm Jim
- Ecco The Dolphin
X Eternal Champions
- Ghouls 'N Ghosts
O Golden Axe
X Gunstar Heroes
O Kid Chameleon
O Landstalker: The Treasures Of King Nole
X Light Crusader
O Mega Man: The Wily Wars
X Monster World IV
- Phantasy Star (IV): The End Of The Millennium
X Road Rash II
O Shining Force: The Legacy Of Great Intention
X Shinobi III: Return Of The Ninja Master
O Sonic The Hedgehog
O Sonic The Hedgehog 2
O Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball
X Space Harrier II
X Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition
- Streets Of Rage 2
X Strider
X Super Fantasy Zone
X Thunder Force III
- ToeJam & Earl
X Vectorman
X Virtua Fighter 2
O Wonder Boy In Monster World
X World Of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse And Donald Duck

The Sega Genesis Mini also comes with two more games, Darius and Tetris.  I'm not sure what the story is here (I'm sure I will edit this when I do know) so at the moment I don't know if they can be mapped, but if so, they're listed here too.

MAPS FOR THE BONUS GAMES OF THE SEGA GENESIS MINI
X Darius
X Tetris

I know that images of Cave Story's locations can already be found here but, the thing is, that's all they are: images. They don't tell players where items, characters and enemies are or where each exit goes. If someone could please upgrade those images into true maps, that would be much appreciated.

Final Fantasy Adventure

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

The Dark Lord seeks a way into the Mana Sanctuary, where he wishes to take control of the Mana Tree.  As the Hero, together with the Heroine, you will have to find a way to stop him, and eventually this includes searching for a powerful sword, Excalibur (or the Sword Of Mana).

Speaking of "Sword Of Mana", that is the title of the GBA remake of this game (with its maps recognized here as the Maps Of The Month for February 2012), as this is actually the first Mana game.  The Japanese title, "Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden" means that it is a Final Fantasy spin-off, but other than sharing a few elements (such as the Moogle species) the Mana series has grown into something quite different from the typical Final Fantasy games.  If you want to get even more confusing, the European title of this game is "Mystic Quest", which is unrelated to the Super NES game, "Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest".  (Though the European name for that was "Mystic Quest Legend", and no one should be confusing any of these with the other Final Fantasy games on the Game Boy, The Final Fantasy Legend and its two sequels, which are actually part of the SaGa series...)

Whatever you call it, it's more typically compared with The Legend Of Zelda than Final Fantasy, as it has an overhead perspective and the action is real-time (as opposed to turn-based).  But even if it's not turn-based, it's still an epic game, and maps always come in handy for these.  One method of mapping that RyuMaster has employed here that should be used more often is indicating the room coordinates with letters and numbers, and underneath having a key indicating items, entrances/exits, anything else noteworthy.  While we all love labelled maps, doing it this way means the original graphics are also clutter-free.

Collection Of Mana, a compilation of the first three games of the Mana series, comes out this month in a limited physical edition for the Nintendo Switch, allowing you to play Final Fantasy Adventure if you can't get a hold of the original Game Boy game.  Along with the incredible Secret Of Mana (Super NES) and the official North America debut of Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom), now named Trials Of Mana, it's really quite the bundle of adventure!  Though you would think they could have included Sword Of Mana, the Game Boy game is indeed where this all began.

So to recognize the effort put into mapping the beginning of the beloved Mana series, RyuMaster's Final Fantasy Adventure (GB) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for August 2019.

I'm surprised that you are edit the HTML-tables on the site manually for 17 years. It's a very hard work and it need a great patience and interest in this work.
This problem is solved by a simple 110-line program


I see nothing wrong with that the site looks like as 1997 style. All necessary data is present there, without unnecessary elements (which only get in the way, usually).

Oh, it's been thought about.  I am very well aware that the site looks like something from 1997.

There are a couple of issues, but it's mostly my lack of willingness to put in the time to learn something new (I do have a YouTube channel, other personal projects and things to do), and also my lack of trust to ask someone to do it for me.  I realize how really stupid both of those sound, even moreso when I type that out.  "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", they say.  But I guess while not necessarily broken, the site being more than a little unwieldy and outdated isn't really much better...

I would certainly be open to a system that is easier than the current process, such as one that allows maps to be uploaded easily and with all its info automatically displayed without me having to type in filesizes and image areas, etc., basically anything that would save me a ton of time.  The trick is figuring out how to start making changes when there is already so much content.

I do have some real-life friends that know about computer stuff.  I could bring up the idea of working on it with them.  I've shied away from working with friends in case things go sour, because that's happened before, but I'm probably being paranoid.

I'm open to suggestions.  Well, open to hearing/reading them at least, I honestly don't want to promise anything.

Have you thought of modernising the site with CSS or at the very least splitting the lists among A-Z pages to make them simpler to load on mobile?

Like pictures of the screens with Maniac Mansion-styled lines connecting all the doors?
I think an isometric map would show off the floors and passages.. would need to find textures to draw them though.

[Shinseiki Odysselya]

Alright, I think a quick update is in order.

I'm still whittling away the remaining maps for Shinseiki Odysselya. I think I got about seven more maps to do and that should be it for that game. I've been submitting maps for it since January 2018, so it'll be nice to have this mapping project finally behind me.

I also submitted maps for Golf and Snow Bros. a few weeks ago.  They were pretty simple to capture and compile, so it's the least I could do to fill in some gaps in the NES Atlas. And speaking of filling in the gaps some more, I'm steadily working on Legacy of the Wizard, so that should be awesome to see once it's complete.

The three MacVenture games (Shadowgate, Déjà Vu, Uninvited) would be neat.  Another tie-in with VGMaps.com's inspiration, Nintendo Power, my first subscribed issue, Vol. 20/January 1991 with Mega Man III on the cover, had a poster of Bart Vs. The Space Mutants but on the back of it was a Déjà Vu map.  I always figured these three games could be mapped kind of like that.

Just looked it up, my memory didn't fail me.  I guess because it was my first issue it was so memorable, must've read that dozens of times...
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Nintendo-Power/Issue-20?id=50369&readType=1