For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to VGCartography's Super Mario 64 (N64) maps.
Princess Peach has invited Mario to her castle for some cake. But Bowser, the King of the Koopas, is up to no good again and has invaded the castle and used the castle's 120 Power Stars to imprison the princess and her servants. By jumping into magical paintings, Mario can access the worlds where the Power Stars are kept and, by retrieving enough of them, he can open up more areas of the castle, to go to more worlds and find more Stars and, eventually, make his way to a final confrontation with Bowser.
Compared to the 16-bit era, the Nintendo 64 was a major technological leap, and its flagship title, Super Mario 64, is an iconic game that pioneered much about 3D platforming, and 3D games in general, especially on consoles. Besides proving that 3D games can be accessible and intuitive, it is a solid game in its own right, still quite playable over 26 years later.
VGCartography, one of the regular mappers who isn't fazed by the third dimension, has dissected all of Peach's Castle, and all the worlds within the paintings. From Bob-Omb Battlefield to Rainbow Ride, every crucial detail is here on these maps - all the Red Coins and Power Stars are indicated, as well as the enemy placements. For the Stars that aren't obvious how to get from their in-game titles, helpful tips explain further. Some maps, like Tiny-Huge Island and Tick Tock Clock, have multiple perspectives to display everything in a 2D map. Thankfully, VGCartography has been able to do a "super" job all around!
So to recognize the effort put into mapping the first 3D Mario adventure, VGCartography's Super Mario 64 (N64) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for April 2023.
