The first day of April is more than just a normal, boring, day. It is April Fool’s Day! This means that you can expect to come across all kinds of unusual, and unexpected, tricks today. I suggest that you take a moment to play around with Google Maps. Google is celebrating April Fool’s Day by re-creating the world in 8-bit format.
Gamers will immediately think of the graphics featured in the early Nintendo games. Instead of photographic images, today, you can see the world in little blocks of color. Use Google Maps the same way that you usually would. Search for your favorite city, or a famous landmark. Look for the town or city that you live in. At the corner of the screen, a small box will appear that says “Quest”. You must click that in order see things in the glory of 8-bit graphics.
Area 51 shows a small UFO, complete with alien pilot, trying to suck up a cow with a tractor beam. The Statue of Liberty sits on a green, blocky, island, surrounded by the familiar blue and white water pattern from the old video games. Nessie is somewhere in the middle of Loch Ness peeking out of the water. Enjoy the 8-bit version of the Pyramids of Giza, and the Sphinx. These are just a few of the fun things to see.
Try this! Enter your address into the search engine. See what your house would look like if you lived inside a Nintendo game from the late 1980’s. I entered the main street of a nearby town, and couldn’t stop starring at the 8-bit version of it.
Remember the Dragon Warrior video game? Google does! It has placed several of the monsters, or enemies, from the game into the 8-bit version of the world. You could spend your entire April Fool’s Day searching around for these little “Easter Eggs”.
Image: Google by BigStock