Hello,

I’m Jaymer, a Nexon Picker.

May 22 was

'Biodiversity Day', a day established to protect and celebrate the many forms of life on Earth!

MapleStory, too, is home to a wonderfully diverse collection of distinctive monsters.

So what if we made our own creature encyclopedia for the Maple World?

Today, I put together an encyclopedia of five lifeforms that help shape the Maple ecosystem.

1. The very first encounter: the 'Snail family'

Back in the day, the very first monster you would meet when starting Maple was the Snail.

Alongside the basic green Snail, there are also Blue Snails and Red Snails depending on their habitat.

Of course, we also can’t leave out the field boss 'Mano,' found near Lith Harbor.

Then, at around level 160, if you head to Destroyed Henesys, you can also find the 'Mutant Snail.'

Unlike the others, it stands out as the highest-level and strongest among snail-type monsters.

2. Maple World’s most widespread species? The 'Slime family'

Among Maple monsters, Slimes may be the most widely distributed species of all!

Everyone is probably familiar with the basic Slime, Bubbling, and King Slime.

These days, there are also Gold Beach Slimes, Seed Slimes,

Black Crescendo Slimes, Cube Slimes, Unknown Slimes, Mutant Slimes, and more—

truly a colorful range of monsters.

In particular, the boss ‘Guardian Angel Slime’

summons all kinds of followers during battle, including

Magma, Troublemaker, Gold, Bomb, Halo, and Romanticist Slimes.

And if we include the Red, Silver, and Gold Slimes that once appeared in Neo City (yes, that very same one that shows up in the G.A.S. boss fight!),

you can really see just how many Slimes are living throughout the world.

I really miss Neo City 😥

3. MapleStory’s mascot! The 'Mushroom family'

When it comes to mushroom monsters, Orange Mushroom, MapleStory’s mascot, is the very first one that comes to mind!

On Victoria Island, a wide variety of species live there, including the classic monsters Spore, Green Mushroom, Blue Mushroom, Horny Mushroom, and Zombie Mushroom.

You can also encounter field boss mushrooms such as Mushmom, Zombie Mushmom, and Blue Mushmom.

Beyond that, variants have firmly taken root all across the world, including the Mutant Orange Mushroom of Destroyed Henesys, the Mushroom Chandelier and Armored Mushroom of Mushroom Kingdom,

Moss Mushroom of Ellin Forest, Bushroom of Yum Yum Island,

and the Nightmare Poison Mushroom summoned by Lucid.

4. Cute but headstrong: the 'Pig family'

Pig-type monsters make for a charming encyclopedia theme as well!

From the familiar Pig to Ribbon Pig, Blue Ribbon Pig, Strange Pig, and Toxicated Pig, each one has its own appeal.

There are also more evolved(?) pigs such as Iron Hog, Iron Boar, Wild Boar, and Fire Boar.

In high-level areas, you can also encounter Mutant Ribbon Pigs and mutant boar-types.

Pigs also live in Ellin Forest, which preserves the Maple World of the past.

Namely, Primitive Boar and Chao!

In the Tangyoon quest, you can even encounter the mouthwatering Foodie and the Very Fat Pig.

This shows that the Pig family also forms one of the sturdy pillars of the Maple World.

5. The beautiful creatures of Aqua Road

Lastly, the place that rounds out this encyclopedia is 'Aqua Road,' where a deep undersea world unfolds.

Puffer, which puffs up its body like a blowfish,

Pinboom, with its sharp spines,

and even Scuba Pepe, perfectly adapted to the underwater environment with scuba gear equipped!

It is also home to a wide variety of underwater creatures,

and I included it because it is one of my personal favorite maps 😆

That’s how I organized a creature encyclopedia of the Maple World around five themes.

They were monsters I had defeated without much thought until now,

but looking at them through the lens of biodiversity,

I was reminded once again of just how rich and detailed MapleStory’s worldbuilding really is!

Thank you for reading this post as well :)