Google has perpetrated one of their awesome April Fool’s jokes yet again. This time, they’ve made an NES-inspired version of Google Maps.
Just visit the Google Maps web page as usual, click the “Map” button, and you’ll see a “Quest” button, that will transform the map into a “Final Fantasy”-inspired world. There’s even an NES-style D-pad.
Street View has also been given the 8-bit treatment. You can drag a character onto the tile-based world, and you’ll see the real photos as taken by those Google cars, but with a very blocky look.
Google has also made a hilarious video that explains how it works:
They even show someone blowing on the cartridge to get the game to work, though that was mainly a problem with the original American version, not the Famicom or the later version with a conventional vertical cartridge slot.
Google claims that it will be available in their app store, but that’s most likely another part of the this really clever joke. It’s always great to see geeks with a sense of humor take their ideas and run with them, though.
If you’re looking to prank someone who’s using Google’s rival to Android, iOS, then why not check out this list? If you’re into 8-bit, you might also be interested in 8-bit versions of classic paintings.
