Topic: I give up, what game is the background from?

[Marscaleb]

So the slight site redesign from a little while back has shown details from maps on the site background, and I love it.
On the main page they have been cycling through different maps, roughly with the seasons of the Northern hemisphere.  Last spring I recall it was a map from Little Nemo with a bunch of flowers.  Really nice stuff.

I've been able to recognize the maps, even if some took me a little bit of time.  But the one that's up there right now...  Alright, I give up, I can't place it.
It looks like something from a GBA game, but I'm not very certain.

[Lüt]

Looks like Robotrek's Rococo Town:

https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/SuperNES/Robotrek-Rococo.png

Admittedly, I thought it was from a Pokemon game at first. It's a somewhat similar style to a thing I've had saved for a while now called Costa City.

[JonLeung]

Indeed it is!  Funnily enough, early this month, somebody asked me the same question on Twitter.

I guess it really is a good way to showcase lesser-known games that should get some recognition.

I do indeed try to have them match the season (in the Northern hemisphere) or holiday or something to do with that month.  Since I started this in February, we haven't done this for a whole year yet.  So I'm not sure if I am going to use the same monthly image every single year, or if I will change it, or if I will make it random to showcase a few each month and just add more whenever I feel like it.

Do you also like the background images for the individual atlas pages?

[Marscaleb]

I think there are plenty of options for great maps to use for seasons; there's not really a need to recycle the same ones.  I think it's kind of a fun extra to stop by and see what map is being used, so I'd be in favor of seeing new seasonal images.
The only thing that comes to my mind though is that they might get kind "lost to time" if new ones are chosen every year, and I kind of would want to see some spot on the site that mentions what the previous background maps were.
I already can't remember what any of them were other than the Nemo one, and that I just remember because it took me so long before I found where it was from.

Do you also like the background images for the individual atlas pages?

Yes!  This is the greatest addition to the site behind doubling the random map sets!
And I find the choice for what map is being used for each console is just absolutely perfect.  I loved opening up various pages for the first time and thinking 'Of course it would be THAT map!"
Except for the lack of a Metal Gear background on the MSX page; that needs to be fixed.  Also the lack of a Rusty background on the PC-98 page, but that could probably be blamed on the lack of Rusty maps to begin with.  (But I guess that's a different subject.)

[JonLeung]

I thought about Metal Gear for the MSX, and revisited that idea again last night.  Check out the MSX page now.

I chose "Building 1: Rooftop" because that was the one that was easiest to edit away the labels.

But then I thought: should I continue to insist on unmarked/unlabelled maps for the backgrounds?  I do prefer maps to be labelled, so why for backgrounds do I prefer them unlabelled?  Is it an function vs. aesthetics thing?

Maybe I should try using a more interesting floor from Metal Gear, even if they are marked up.  Or maybe its sequel.  The jungle from "Building 1 To Building 2" from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake might work.

[Marscaleb]

I would say they look better without the labels.  You don't want the background to be distracting, afterall.
The jungle would look nice.  Perhaps MG2's Building 1 Floor 1 might hit that right balance between memorable and looking good?  Plus it has a nice large section with no labels.