A long time ago (at least a long time to you kids) games used to come bundled with maps. And I'm not talking about "Collector's Editions" or anything like that. No, this was in the normally priced versions of the games. And it wasn't just one or two games here or there either. Believe it or not, this was actually pretty common place at one point in time.

Of all the changes in the packaging, marketing, and presentation of games over the last decade or two I think it's the loss of maps that ticks me off the most. There's really no better way to get people interested in the virtual world that you've created than to make it seem like a living, breathing place that they'd want to actually visit. And the best way to make that fictional world come alive in the player's mind is with a map.

ITT: I'm going to prove how awesome game maps are by posting a metric fuckton of them. Some will be on cloth, while others will be edited together from screen shots. Some will be officially illustrated, and a few will even be fan made. If you have anything at all to contribute then PLEASE DO.

Lastly, I'd like to make a request for the Mario 3 stage selection screen maps. I tried to find complete versions of them and was only able to come up with one or two. Those are some of my all time favorites and I think this thread would really be complete if someone could post them.