How rude of me to still not have even commented on this topic yet since the achievement of completing both castles of
Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, and compiling them into a single image! Wow, it is really something. Thank you so much, Revned!
If you remember my
GameSHOUT.com interview from over nine and a half years ago (not to mention several comments I've probably made before and since then), you would know that this is one of the dream maps I have always wanted to see...if not THE dream map. But I imagine that at times it must have been a nightmare to put together, since it took a couple years for the first castle alone, didn't it?
It's obvious there are certain genres of games that make for more impressive maps, and the more complex a game is, the more practical value there is, like something you'd see in a strategy guide. (That's not to say I don't love arcade game maps, as I do, but for different reasons.) While I love most console RPG map sets, they are often too big and disjointed to put into a single image or even a few...you'll have an overworld map, and then you'll have towns and castles and dungeons, but with some noticeable exceptions like the Ultima games (Zerker's
Ultima VI: The False Prophet (PC) map of Britannia is another map I cherish, though I would still like to see the Gargoyle World...though, FlyingArmor did both for the
Super NES version) they are usually not continuous...that is, you step onto a sprite/icon that represents a location and you're taken into its map, which is a separate one at a different scale. These map sets are better suited to one image per map. But the entirety of most "Metroidvania" games (is there a better name for this genre?) can each fit into a single image because they are continuous. This makes them more impressive than other platformers, and the variety of areas and "height" make them more interesting than even the largest top-down/bird's-eye-view RPG or RTS maps.
Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night is the biggest of these "Metroidvania" games, even larger than
Super Metroid (though even that is a huge deal, thanks again, Rick Bruns), and the visual spectacle of two castles together, well, that's really something! Since it was "soft-completed" on Hallowe'en, it seems almost criminal to hold on to an inevitable "Maps Of The Month" honour until next October just to theme it alongside next Hallowe'en...maybe I'll find a good opportunity to recognize it earlier. But really, though it will surely get it, until then, I think it really goes without saying that the complete map is incredible. Thank you again, Revned! And thanks also to Edsword, mephea, TerraEsperZ, Wileee, and Zeric for your contributions to the first phase of mapping Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night.
(Now, if anyone wants to tackle more 2D Castlevania, there are still other opportunities. While the three GBA games are done, thanks to all different mappers: sprays (
Circle Of The Moon), Zeric (
Harmony Of Dissonance), and TerraEsperZ (
Aria Of Sorrow) - there are still the three Castlevania DS games yet to be mapped (
Portrait Of Ruin might not be as continuous, but I bet it could still be arranged nicely in a single image). uladraz did well on mapping the Xbox 360 game,
Harmony Of Despair, but I recall there are still extra DLC chapters to be done. While the Metroid games are fully mapped (thanks to Rick Bruns and realSim (
Metroid), Zeric (
Metroid II: Return Of Samus), Rick Bruns again (
Super Metroid), zerofighter and rocktyt (
Metroid Fusion) and (
Metroid: Zero Mission)), there are some other non-Metroid, non-Castlevania games in the "Metroidvania" genre, such as
Shantae (GBC) (TerraEsperZ kind of started that, but hasn't officially submitted for it),
Shantae: Risky's Revenge (DSi), and
Monster Tale (DS), to name a few.)
