MapleStory

MapleStory is a 2D scrolling platform game. The controls for the game are executed using the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard is used for many game functions, and much of it can be rearranged to suit users' needs. The mouse is mainly used to trigger non-player characters and manipulate items.

Gameplay centers on venturing into dungeons and combating monsters and instanced bosses in real time. The players combat monsters and complete quests, in the process acquiring in-game currency called "Mesos", experience points, and various items. Players are able to acquire in-game professions, allowing them to craft equipment, accessories or potions.

The plot of MapleStory takes place across several different worlds, such as Maple World, Arcane River, and Grandis. Created by these people with powers called the Overseers, they assigned each world with three guardians to look over both worlds: the Transcendent of Time, the Transcendent of Life and the Transcendent of Light. The first major arc revolves around the antagonist of Maple World, the Black Mage. The Black Mage was once the Transcendent of Light and was called the White Mage until an experiment went wrong and his pure light core was corrupted.

The six heroes managed to seal the Black Mage for the next few centuries at the cost of being sealed away themselves. In the present day, the Black Mage's forces called the Black Wings, began resurfacing and attempted to revive him. Fearing his resurrection, Empress Cygnus created the Cygnus Knights in order to stop the Black Wings and the Black Mage's Commanders. As the seal on the Black Mage began weakening, the heroes of legend began returning as well.

MapleStory was originally developed and released in South Korea and was localized to ten different regions as of 2003. As other publishers license the game for their region, proxy blocks are put in place (excluding the Korean version, it requires a KSSN), forcing players to play their localized version. In 2011, LevelUp! Games did not renew the contract for localization in Brazil.

An update entitled Big Bang was released in Korean MapleStory in July 2010 with other regional servers following suit soon after. Big Bang changed the game's core coding, and changed many aspects of the game. An update entitled Chaos features the introduction of professions, and PvP.

In Global MapleStory (GMS), more than a million players bought items in the Cash Shop, by 2010. By 2006, MapleStory had a combined total of 39 million user accounts worldwide. MapleStory Global had over 8 million users by 2011. As of 2014, it was among the top ten MMOs by worldwide revenue. As of 2020, the game has reached over 180 million registered users worldwide.

Up until 2011, the game grossed $1.8 billion. Between 2013 and 2017, the game grossed $1.181 billion, including $326 million in 2013, $240 million in 2014, $253 million in 2015, $83 million in 2016, and $279 million in 2017. As of 2020, the game has grossed over $3 billion worldwide in lifetime revenue.