Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics IIFor this month's "Maps of the Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Captain Drake's Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (NES) maps.
With the worst of winter upon us, wouldn't it be nice to break away to a tropical paradise? Yeah, that'd be nice, wouldn't it? But the sequel to StarTropics isn't as much of an island-hopping adventure, but a time-traveling journey! Well, whatever gets you out of the snow. ...Except that the first stop is an icy mountain in the past. So much for that idea.
In any case, (and in any time period,) now's a good time as any to honour Captain Drake's Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II maps! The first game was a decent hit, thought the sequel came at the end of the NES era that many people may have missed it (because they were too busy debating whether the Genesis or the Super NES was cooler). If you do play/replay Zoda's Revenge, Mike Jones' second (and last) game will take you on a quest that includes encountering the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Sherlock Holmes. The maps here include every area, even every pitfall, so with these maps, you should be able to save Mica and your other alien friends from the evil Zoda. (But unfortunately you won't be able to save Mike Jones from Nintendo's choice to pull the plug on this franchise.)
So to recognize the effort put into making these maps from an underappreciated game, Captain Drake's Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps of the Month for February 2008.