The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, first screen, by Will.

First Screen of Zelda 3. I had played this game maybe three times all the way through before I realized the lantern was RIGHT THERE. (If you miss it, it replaces five rupees in a later chest)

[Josh says: I never properly played through this one, even though I’d spent far too much time with Zelda and Zelda 2, because while we had a NES we didn’t get an SNES.  My best friend down the block did have the newer console but he was less into RPG/adventure stuff and more into fighting games, so I played a whole hell of a lot of Street Fighter II during the years where I’d have otherwise been crawling around inside this.

My wife had an SNES as a kid, though, and we’ve still got that in a closet along with a passel of games.  The question of whether to haul that out and try and find a TV we can even hook it up to anymore vs. just playing stuff on Virtual Console or emulators is sort of a tricky one, because nothing really beats the actual oldschool console for a visceral bit of nostalgia but what a pain.]

Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Stage 1, by Kate Glasheen.

This is as close as you can get to Toe Jam and Earl on the SNES.  Awesome co-op, great gameplay, and just straight hilarious.  One of my favorite details is the point system awarded to you for your various neighbors.  For example, a cheerleader is 1000 points while a school teacher is 10.  I noticed when you grab the guy grilling you get two separate scores for it.  Turns out, you get 5 points for him, and 100 for saving the burger he’s grilling.  Kills me.

[Josh says: awesome stuff as always, Kate.  These portrait-and-map treatments are just killing me.]

Gemfire (SNES), Isle of Ishmeria, by Ryan Telford.

I’ve been playing Gemfire on and off since I was eight years old and it still entertains me to this day. On my list of greatest games that most people have never played, this is #1. Strategy gaming at its finest.

Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, by lunathewarrior.

I’d have liked to continue drawing past the bridge and done the whole world map, but I can’t remember enough of it to make a sketch! My six-year old self spent most of her time on Yoshi’s Island; I don’t even know if I ever actually beat the game. I think I’ll go find it now, and try again. (Also, Luigi’s flag is on the castle because whenever possible, I play as Luigi. He’s much cooler, in my mind.)

Super Mario World, world map, by Q-BAWLZ.

Yay, Super Mario World. This is one of the first games I own ever and I’m surprised that I can still remember portions of the stage even though I never fully 100% completed it nor played it since middle school. 

Chocolate Island is hard, I don’t remember any of the stages there.  I also just remembered that there’s supposed to be a shiprwreck somewhere near Bowser’s Cave.

Chrono Trigger, 1000 AD, by Katrel.

Oh, man. I almost didn’t upload this, cause I’m so embarrassed by how much I’ve forgotten. I’m sure I could find anything in the game itself, but going completely from memory is crazy hard. It’s definitely not to scale, partially because I hit the edges of the paper, and partially because I don’t remember how the continents are shaped. However, I tried to put in as many of the important details as I could remember.

Donkey Kong Country, level 1, by dsfan.

This is the first level of Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. This game gave out extra lives at an incredible rate—I might have forgotten about one on this level. My brother and I beat it one long weekend in December (I think school was closed because of snow), and like an idiot I told my mother that I probably wouldn’t play it again since it was too easy. Of course she had gotten it for us for Christmas that year. In the 17 or so years since we got it, I would guess we played it at least 300 hours, since it turns out that very easiness made it a great way to lazily kill a half hour waiting for dinner or something, just pick it up and go to the fun levels without worrying about lives or anything. 

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, world map, by iknowwhy.

I started trying to draw the level map of the first level, but despite my muscle memory knowing that inside out, my visual memory failed me. So instead I went with the overworld map. DKC2 is my favourite side scrolling platformer, I’ve played it so many times. It has just the right level of difficulty, with some hugely tricky, but rewarding jumps at the end of the game, and a nice learning curve. It is also hugely characterful and atmospheric, with the world map teeming with promise when you first load it up.

I know I’ve got some of the placings wrong, but I was pretty pleased with this anyway.

Final Fantasy 4, world map, by a-screaming-clear-area.

I played the PSP rerelease last year so my memory of this map was a pretty vivid. That being said, I made a couple glaring mistakes. I put a series of great lakes where the underground waterway should go(kind of defeats the purpose of it being underground.) I forgot Mist so now the waterfall north of Baron flows directly from the sea. I actually drew the funky peninsula east of Kaipo but erased it because I could have sworn that only FFV had one of those. Mysidia is an island separated from Mt. Ordeals and takes the place of Agart which I completely forgot about.

Kirby Super Star, Milky Way Wishes, by mel.

I started playing this game in 96 when it came out, I was in 3rd grade I think. Well it remains that Kirby Super is still my favorite game to this day, and if I couldn’t remember most of this map, I would have been very disappointed in myself….