Google Map Quest?

When it comes to Nintendo-themed April Fools jokes, Google showed plenty of creativity with Google Maps 8-bit. Some of our readers with a solid grasp of NES classics observed that the music and overall theme of the fictional cartridge strongly resembled the original Dragon Quest: accessing the trial version online also involved clicking on a link titled 'Quest'. It's transpired that this wasn't Google showing appreciation for an old franchise, but actually represented a direct collaboration with Square Enix on the project.

According to a U.S. representative from Square Enix, the famous developer was responsible for all of the lovely sprites and NES assets in the video.

It was a collaborative effort between Square Enix and Google. Google came up with the idea, then we provided the assets and helped them to create the map.

So while some may have spotted the Square Enix mention on the title page, it's interesting that the developer became directly involved in this April Fools. Two industry leaders collaborating on an NES-themed prank is always worth another look: the video is below.

[source gameinformer.com]