while he plays, taking notes that he’ll need for later.
Eventually he switches over to recreating those sketches in
Paint, going back and forth between drawing and playing.
“The game itself has to catch my attention in some way
for me to work on it,” he says. “Whether it’s the game itself,
or the particular layout of the game, there has got to be that
special something that pulls me in.” In Resident Evil,
navigation is actually part of the game’s puzzle. For the
early Zelda games, it’s a joy just to see entire game areas
contiguously laid out in a way that only a good map can
make immediately comprehensible.
“It’s much more fun to map things
out while exploring something new,
because I am always curious about
what’s around the corner to discover,”
he says, though he’s also worked on
mapping out some old favourites. “It
gives me a chance to relive the fun I
had with them, as well as appreciate
those games for what they are.”
STAR CONTRIBUTOR
StarFighters76 has been posting his maps on GameFAQs
for nearly 20 years, giving his work nearly the same
longevity as the site itself. “GameFAQs was the first
gaming site I went to when looking for help,” he says. “It’s
kinda become my internet home.”
StarFighters76 originally created written walkthroughs
too. Some of his old guides still contain hallmarks of the
early 2 000s era: large text art introductions and maps
recreated in text form. Despite those early walkthroughs
and his continued practice of creating maps that contain
text notes, the act of mapping is what he truly enjoys.
“I’ve been into mapping since I was a teenager,”
StarFighters76 says, explaining how he would explore
nearby neighbourhoods as a kid and has since recreated
his own map of his city multiple times. “Because I have
taught myself how to navigate throughout my city, friends
have literally called me their ‘human GPS.’”
That sense of dedication is the connecting factor in
how StarFighters76 talks about every part of his lengthy
history drawing maps. There’s something to envy in that
ongoing commitment. I’ve always wanted to be someone
who could say I’d been posting on the
same message boards for a decade.
Over where the grass appears greener,
StarFighter7 6 says it isn’t just
sunshine all the time.
“After I reached 3 ,000 maps back in
2019 , I wasn’t sure what I was gonna
do,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, the
art of game mapping is fun by itself.
But doing it for 20 years can get to me
at times because I feel like I’ve done all I could do, even
though there is tons more I could be doing.”
The wave of gratitude for Starfighter76’s maps spurred
by that tweet changed things for him. Players who
remembered his maps showed up in droves to comment
their thanks. The amount of attention it gathered caught
him by surprise. “I needed that,” he says. “Being on Twitter
has helped give me that boost in motivation just a bit.”
With 3 ,519 maps currently to his name on GameFAQs,
StarFighters76 has spent two decades dedicated to his
style. Here’s hoping that a quick injection of internet
appreciation carries him through to 4 ,000 and beyond.
Lauren MortonMAP EXPANSION How StarFighters 76 ’s maps have evolved over 20 years2007
The Cave of Bahamut in Final Fantasy IV
includes pseudo 3Dand some
complementary colours for clarity.2013
By 2013, this map of Chrono Trigger’s
Ocean Palaceusesmore complex
shapes, pseudo 3D, andpattern effects.2020
Another Link’sAwakeningmap from
2020, the Eagle’s Tower, shows an eye for
detail andconsistency.2004
The map of the Raccoon City Streets in
Resident Evil 2uses annotations and
some basiccoloursas direction.FAR LEFT:
StarFighter 76 ’s maps
of Link’sAwakening
are as artistic as they
are instructive.ABOVE LEFT: (^) Even
with a boxy layout and
basic colours, you
might recognisethis
Raccoon City map.
LEFT: For an even
greater challenge,
StarFighters76 took
on the fully 3D world
of Super Mario 64.
“IT’S MUCH MORE FUN
TO MAP THINGS OUT
WHILE EXPLORING
SOMETHING NEW”
NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT