Level Map Display

An in-game display of a miniature version of the entire level. The game has to be one where your normal field of view is limited to the area around a player character. (Therefore Real Time Strategy and such doesn't count.)

Examples generally fit into one of two types:

• Type 1: The map is always available (at least in certain levels), either on the main screen or through a menu system or such. A Fog of War like effect may limit the map view only to already explored areas.
• Type 2: The map must be obtained, as a special power (which might even cost something to use) and/or collectible item (these are often not tracked for One Hundred Percent Completion because only the map for the area the player is currently in can be brought up).

Systems that display a map of where the player has already traveled are often said to be utilizing "automap". The term descending from early role-playing games where the player was often expected to create their own map, typically on graph paper.

Examples of Level Map Display include:

• Both Drakengard games displayed a map of the level when pausing the game; the second also allowed you to switch between your enemy-radar and level-map overlay at any time (once you collected the area's actual map).
• Dark Cloud allowed you to toggle between a small and large map overlay while crawling through its Randomly Generated Levels.
• Ratchet and Clank games have a map that you can pause the game and look at. Each game also has a Mapper gadget you can find, which makes said map also show secret areas.
• In Final Fantasy I and II, pressing a combination of buttons on the World Map would display its zoomed-out version. Final Fantasy III and IV had a Sight spell to display a map instead, while the latter games replaced the both methods with one that is always available instead.
  • In Final Fantasy V the map is a special item you need to find on the Ship Graveyard. However, once obtained it can be accessed anywhere on the world map, and even on the other world, the fusionaded world, and even underground on the center of the earth.
• Cave Story has a map item that can be acquired early and can be handy as it shows all hidden passages.
• In Mega Man X3, the head upgrade gives X access to a (very rudimentary) map of the level, dividing it into small sectors and showcasing the special items of the level.
• Diablo games. Especially true given that the maps are randomized. You need that map.
• The flash game "Peasant's Quest" on the Homestar Runner website follows Type 2 to the letter, though you fill in semi-crude drawings for each location visited.
• Minecraft has a Map item which you can craft to keep track of the world you explore.
• The Metroid Prime games have type 1 and some overlap with type 2, in that you can acquire the map, or explore everywhere to get the whole map layout.
• Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale's dungeons have a type 1 (a minimap that completes itself as you go through each randomly generated level). Two of the random effects that can happen on each level play with this; one reveals the entire map from the start, the other disables it.
• In The Legend of Zelda series, the world map can be viewed at any time via the menu screen. From Ocarina of Time onwards, a mini map display—complete with arrows marking your point of entry (represented in blue) and your current heading (the yellow one) -- usually occupies the lower left corner of the screen for faster, easier navigation.
  • The dungeon maps, which must be acquired from chests, fall under Type II. However, until the map is found, the game fills in and marks each room visited; including a flashing room to mark your present location. The compass must also be found, which helps you keep your bearings and reveals the location of all unopened chests on the map.
• All Mario Kart games have a map of the course you're racing on.
• This pretty much applies to at least half of all Racing Games. Every non-sidescrolling racer has a heads-up display that at least displays the positions of the other racers compared to the player(s), and nearly all have maps of every course somewhere in the games, if not during the races themselves.
• Doom was both type 1 and type 2. You could always look at a map of what you had explored so far. If you found a computer map you could see the entire level.
• Guild Wars has a type 1. There are actually three map displays; a radar-like map of your immediate area which shows the location of friends, neutrals and enemies; a "mini-map" which shows the larger mission or explorable area with objectives and paths; and a map of the entire continent which is obscured at the beginning by "fog of war" and which becomes more detailed and reveals various places as you explore more of the map.
• Iji has a map for completed levels, as well as a specific computer terminal in level 6 that reveals the map before you complete it.
• Dragon Slayer has the MAP spell to display a zoomed-out view of the level. Being a spell, it's not available from the start of the game. It also consumes magic power, like most other spells.
• La-Mulana has a Map item to be found in each area of the dungeon (there is no overworld map). Viewing a map requires equipping either or both of the Ruins RAM cartridges.
• Project IGI justified it as a satellite view from above, which marked locations of enemies. However, it won't show anything under a roof.
• Nitemare 3D had a map in the HUD that could be toggled on and off and drained a particular meter while it was on, and another meter (faster) when you chose to also see nearby enemies.
• The Etrian Odyssey series utilizes the map as a dominant aspect of gameplay. Unlike most modern games the player's progress is not automatically mapped, instead a full complement of mapping tools are provided for the player to make their own maps in the style of older role-playing games.
• The arcade version of Tutankham displayed a miniature view of the entire level at the top of the screen. It wasn't really useful for navigation or finding items, so most ports simply omitted it.