Google Maps equal Dragon Warrior

[FLRoads]

Google Maps has added an interesting feature this morning. There is now a Quest button in the upper right (next to the Map button). When you click it, you will be transported to a Dragon Warrior based map. This has been done for the entire world. Kind of humorous.

Something tells me this is an anticipatory snicker of a pre-April Fool's day joke...

[J N Winkler]

I checked it out--StreetView gets the eight-bit treatment too, and the "man pin" is a warrior of some kind.

It definitely looks like an April Fool's joke.

[hobsini2]

that's freaking awesome. Brings me back to my teens.

[english si]

Don't forget that that parts of the world are 18/19 hours (unsure about DST) ahead of Florida, so at 5am, some people are already on the next day. New Zealand is the first place of any population, and that's 16/17 hours ahead of Florida.

Thus it is an April Fool's joke, just released worldwide for the 50 hours that it is April 1 somewhere in the world.

[kphoger]

I actually find it annoying, because the thumbnail icon takes priority over Map or Satellite; so, when I actually want to toggle back and forth between the two, I have to mouse over Quest every time.  Argh!

[Takumi]

It didn't work on my phone. I guess it's just a desktop thing.

[realjd]

It's related to their new Google Maps for the NES project. They even made a YouTube video about it:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/31/google-maps-8-bit-version-for-nes-april-fools/

[Bickendan]

"Blow in cartridge to fix bugs."

Beautiful.

[bugo]

I hope this is a permanent feature. 

I noticed that national forests are marked with a tree icon.  The Ouachita Mountains are marked with the mountain symbol, except for the parts within the Ouachita National Forest which are marked with the tree. 

[algorerhythms]

There's a giant mouse blocking I-35 north of Oklahoma City, and another giant mouse on US 220 on the Maryland/Pennsylvania state line.

[Alex]

There's a giant mouse blocking I-35 north of Oklahoma City, and another giant mouse on US 220 on the Maryland/Pennsylvania state line.

There are random monsters from Dragon Warrior scattered about the world on the quest maps. There's a Druinlord in South Jersey, the Werewolf north of OKC as you mentioned, a Goldman east of Red Bluff, CA, a Drakee in eastern Oregon, etc. etc. (Can you tell I played Dragon Warrior a lot over the years?  ) There are also 8-bit style graphics for significant points of interest, like the Space Needle in Seattle.

[algorerhythms]

I still say the werewolf looks like a giant mouse.

[Takumi]

Semi-related, these April Fools headlines at the top of the screen are hilarious.

News: My daddy works here

[algorerhythms]

News: US FEDERAL ROUTE 31-DUB, SOUTHBOUND TRAFFIC NEAR A LITTLE GREEN SHRUB

[hbelkins]

News: US FEDERAL ROUTE 31-DUB, SOUTHBOUND TRAFFIC NEAR A LITTLE GREEN SHRUB

I haven't done an April Fools post on m.t.r yet. Thought about posting that I have embraced vi*tology, but instead posted on Facebook that two of UK's players had got caught smoking dope after their ballgame last night and were out for Monday night.

[Alps]

Enter 0.00, 0.00 as coordinates in the map, and look at the tightest two zoom levels. Each one is different, which is the only place on the map it occurs. (Don't forget to pull down the menu to the top right and uncheck the pointer so that you can see.)

[Scott5114]

Semi-related, these April Fools headlines at the top of the screen are hilarious.

News: My daddy works here

Glad you enjoyed them. Those were my doing.

[Michael]

Scott, you should have had one read "I-99 Designation Removed, Reverted to US 220"

I actually find it annoying, because the thumbnail icon takes priority over Map or Satellite; so, when I actually want to toggle back and forth between the two, I have to mouse over Quest every time.  Argh!

I agree, but it was only for one day.  Even though it's been removed from Maps, you can still access it via http://maps.google.com/?t=8.

P.S.: I miss the old three-button layout of "Map/Terrain/Hybrid".

[NE2]

I miss the old layout where you could get non-hybrid aerial in one click.