Examples of an entire map of one game in its sequel?

[Aussie2B]

I was just thinking how cool it is that there are a couple games on NES that have the entire overworld of a prior game represented, and it's even cooler when the original maps are totally dwarfed in the follow-up. It makes you think "Wow, I felt like I was exploring a vast world before, but it was actually just a little speck in this much bigger world?"

Take, for instance, the representation of the original Zelda map in Zelda II:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zY7hIwMmNiA/SmgeW1UdcnI/AAAAAAAAAnw/svYqWkuvWO0/s1600-h/hyrule2.jpg

And the entire world of Dragon Warrior (the squarish cluster of islands) in Dragon Warrior II:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587248-dragon-warrior-ii/faqs/48059

I'd love to know of more examples of this, from any system, and pictures would be grand. :)

[Suikoman444]

Pokemon Gold and Silver works like this, I suppose. you have kanto which is the area from Red and Blue and then they add on Johto which essentially doubled the world.

Johto Map: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/960100-pokemon-soulsilver-version/faqs/57761
Kanto Map: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/960100-pokemon-soulsilver-version/faqs/58089

I love it when games do this as well. I really enjoy it when games have an overworld map, a lot of the fun comes from exploring every inch of the world looking for new towns or hidden places. When games add on to the world, but let you revisit the old locations as well, it brings a little nostalgia to it as well as give you some insight on to how things went on after the events of the last game.

[Blitzwing256]

dragon warrior 3 also has the original dw1 world actual sized (a little bigger( at one point in the game)

final fantasy x2 has the entire original world in it as well

castlevania 2 has a short rendition of castlevania in it as well.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, the ruins of the castle in Castlevania II is pretty cool, especially since it's completely barren except for when you revive Dracula, so it really does feel like it was left as-is from the end of the previous game.

Although if we start to include games that only reuse a portion, then we'd have an exponentially larger pool of examples. Seems like a lot of developers like to include a little bit of a past game as fan service, but it's rare to see a representation of the entire previous game. I wish more developers were clever like the Zelda II creators. It's great when you can visit the same towns and traverse the land basically as you did before, but it doesn't have to always be done that way. The representation of the original Zelda map has almost nothing to do on it and you can walk across it in seconds, so it's not a big part of the game or something that took much effort on the part of the developers. And since it's small and abstract, the reference isn't screaming in your face. When I first encountered it in Zelda II, I felt that something was suspicious about the area, but it wasn't until I read other people pointing it out and showing the comparison that it clicked.

[Suikoman444]

If you start talking about games that revisit only parts of the previous game there's Suikoden II which allows you to revisit the capital city from Suikoden.

Oh, and Suikoden Tactics uses most if not all of the map from Suikoden IV as well as adding some land in the north.

[ishashobar]

All of the locations from the first Golden Sun arepart part of the map of its sequel, but nothing can be reached.

GS1 Map: http://images.wikia.com/goldensun/images/f/f3/Angara.png

The Lost Age Map: http://images.wikia.com/goldensun/images/3/39/Worldmap_weyard.gif

[Drixxel]

Haha, cool idea for a thread. Donkey Kong on Game Boy features a run/tour through all four of the original DK stages as its opening segment. An honourable mention goes to Super Metroid - like the walk through Dracula's castle in Castlevania II, it is merely an iconic selection of the NES Metroid map being revisited in Super Metroid but one can assume that the rest of the tunnels and corridors found in the original caved in or something after the events of the first game. Maybe.

[burn_654]

The first thing that comes to mind is Kirby's Adventure - one of the last levels in the nes game includes very close black and white approximations of the levels from the earlier gameboy title, Kirby's Dream Land. The levels themselves were a nice touch but even mimicking the grayscale? That was awesome.

[mobiusclimber]

First thing I thought of was the town from Diablo showing up in Diablo 2. Granted, most of the first game was dungeon, but that IS the entire overworld map showing up in the sequel.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Although not at all a retro game, one that immediately comes to mind is Golden Sun: The Lost Age for GBA. The World Map of the first game is literally in the center of the world in the Lost Age. It's one of the many reasons why Golden Sun TLA is spectacular.

[Swamperon]

Shining Force ups all of these by having the map of Shining Force II in its opening scenes!

Well kinda. The book that Simone is reading at the start has a map of the SF world. It shows several continents and one of them is the land where SF II takes place.

[Blitzwing256]

mighty bomb jack in a way, all the end of level rooms are the normal levels in bomb jack

[kupomogli]

Each Romance of the Three Kingdoms game has the entire map that the previous game had. That's kind of obvious though :P. Some other games are the GTA series, Gundam vs games, Gundam Battle games(same maps and add extras,) and the Yakuza games(all have Kamurocho.)

Arc the Lad 2 has all the locations of the first game and then some. In addition, you could actually walk around all areas in Arc the Lad 2, where in the original it was just a few places.

Going backwards, the original Driver had four cities, one of which was New York. In Driver Parallel Lines and Driver 76, they had New York only. Great games, but one city rather than multiple cities which was standard for Driver up to Parallel lines. So those two games had the entire city in their prequel(even if New York wasn't closer to scale like Parallel Lines or GTA4, even smaller than GTA3 New York actually.)

[Rickstilwell1]

I was just thinking how cool it is that there are a couple games on NES that have the entire overworld of a prior game represented, and it's even cooler when the original maps are totally dwarfed in the follow-up. It makes you think "Wow, I felt like I was exploring a vast world before, but it was actually just a little speck in this much bigger world?"

Take, for instance, the representation of the original Zelda map in Zelda II:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zY7hIwMmNiA/SmgeW1UdcnI/AAAAAAAAAnw/svYqWkuvWO0/s1600-h/hyrule2.jpg

And the entire world of Dragon Warrior (the squarish cluster of islands) in Dragon Warrior II:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587248-dragon-warrior-ii/faqs/48059

I'd love to know of more examples of this, from any system, and pictures would be grand. :)

wow I never realized that tiny area was supposed to represent the land in Zelda 1.

One time I was working on recreating the world map of Zelda 1 in RPG maker for the Playstation using the gray haired elf with the green coat as the character. The title of the game was "Just Like Zelda" and for random encounter monsters I was using things like Octopus, Kobold, Minotaur etc to represent enemies from the Zelda games. I didn't keep at it long enough to start making any of the levels dungeons but I should probably start back up again. It would be pretty cool to do that with other games as well.

[Aussie2B]

Each Romance of the Three Kingdoms game has the entire map that the previous game had. That's kind of obvious though :P. Some other games are the GTA series, Gundam vs games, Gundam Battle games(same maps and add extras,) and the Yakuza games(all have Kamurocho.)

Sequels in which you simply explore the same area as before isn't quite what I'm getting at. I'm talking about sequels that are their own games with new areas to explore while also including the entirety of a previous game's world. And I don't think real-world examples work so well. If you play a game that takes place in Japan and you're shown a map of Japan, you already know that the rest of the Earth is out there (unless the game states otherwise) whether it's acknowledged or shown or not. If a sequel lets you leave Japan and go to China or the US or whatever, it doesn't really have any "wow factor", as opposed to completely invented worlds suddenly revealing that there's so much more than you had imagined.

[cynicalhat]

super metroid for the snes has a small section (brinstar and taurian) of the original metroid in it near the begining.

[PentiumMMX]

The only one I can think of is with Pokémon Gold \ Silver \ Crystal; where, after you finish the main part of the game in Johto, you can go east and explore Kanto (Where Red \ Blue \ Yellow took place)

[spoonman]

Well, if you mean games that use the same level design (map) in a newer game I have I can think of...

1. Super Smash Bros. with it's level recreations.
I.E.: Ice Climber Level:
http://youtu.be/F5gwEztwGSE?t=1m24s

2. Mario Kart Super Circuit (Starting the tradition of Mario Kart games having classic courses from older versions).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u5KZM8ROaU

3. Super Paper Mario where the game's level is identical in design, at least for the first bit, to the original Super Mario Bros.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/KjItCybkLj8

4. Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES has the classic Mario Bros 2 player VS. game available. It has a few tweaks here and there, but it's virtually identical and a nice bonus! :)
http://youtu.be/QH06zyZAwsE?t=15s

5. Even Little Big Planet with it's recreated renditions of classic levels
Zelda's first dungeon recreated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1gOx2U0tW-Q

Pac-Man VS. also has a complete rendition of the first maze played in a new way.

I'm sure there are a ton more... neat topic by the way. :)

[old_skoolin_jim]

I wish more developers were clever like the Zelda II creators. It's great when you can visit the same towns and traverse the land basically as you did before, but it doesn't have to always be done that way. The representation of the original Zelda map has almost nothing to do on it and you can walk across it in seconds, so it's not a big part of the game or something that took much effort on the part of the developers. And since it's small and abstract, the reference isn't screaming in your face. When I first encountered it in Zelda II, I felt that something was suspicious about the area, but it wasn't until I read other people pointing it out and showing the comparison that it clicked.

Wow... I played the hell out of Zelda 1 and 2 (and even referenced the Nintendo Player's Guide / Game Atlas for lots of my first Zelda 2 play-through) and I just noticed that now.
Mind.
BLOWN.
:o

[old_skoolin_jim]

Also a fantastic example of this:Lunar: Eternal Blue.
It takes place in the same world as The Silver Star, and you get to see how the events in the past game (I think it was 1,000 years prior? I may be wrong but it sure sounds good) helped to shape the present world (i.e. Vane). A few major characters from the first even play some key parts in the story.
Now I'm feeling nostalgic. *sigh*

Lunar TSS Map: http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/lunarsss/lsss-map.jpg

Lunar: EB Map: http://imageshack.us/f/193/lunar2map.jpg/ (sorry for lack of a better resolution/english language map)

[Aussie2B]

Well, if you mean games that use the same level design (map) in a newer game I have I can think of...

That's not what I'm getting at. Check out the examples of Zelda II, Dragon Warrior II, Pokemon Gold/Silver, and Golden Sun: The Lost Age for the games that best capture the concept.

Keep the suggestions coming, guys, it's been great checking these out. :)

[FoxNtd]

Nobody mentioned Biohazard 3's police station yet? It's from the previous game. Figured that one would be obvious. :|

Oh, and Code Veronica has a mock-up of a few rooms from the original game's mansion.

[NayusDante]

There's a pretty good chunk of Shadow Moses Island in MGS4, and Portal 2 could be seen as similar.

Chrono Cross sorta counts, but CC's Viper Manor isn't quite the same as Radical Dreamers' Viper Manor.

The Katamari series recycles a lot of levels, and each game seems to push the scale up a bit more than the last.

I also believe that the Crazy Taxi series includes previous game's levels. They only added one level per game, but the idea is to play the old levels with the new mechanics.

[JSoup]

While not the entire map, per say, all of the map configurations for worlds seen in Dragon Warrior Monsters can be seen in the second game. Which, now I think about it, is kind of like saying you'll see the same wave formations in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

[kupomogli]

Nobody mentioned Biohazard 3's police station yet? It's from the previous game. Figured that one would be obvious. :|

Oh, and Code Veronica has a mock-up of a few rooms from the original game's mansion.

Resident Evil Outbreak 1 and 2 pretty much covers most areas from Resident Evil 2 and 3 as well as adding additional areas.

[j_factor]

Not sure if this really counts, but Maniac Mansion shows up in Day of the Tentacle in the form of the entire game, which you are able to play within the main game. The entire map/world is in there, on an in-game computer.

[Leo_A]

I remember watching a video of that Castlevania time trial game for XBLA/PSN that had one level as a recreation of the full world for Castlevania or Castlevania III (I forget which).

Edit - It's the first Castlevania.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYIx18C5DOs


Not sure if this really counts, but Maniac Mansion shows up in Day of the Tentacle in the form of the entire game, which you are able to play within the main game. The entire map/world is in there, on an in-game computer.

If you include that, it opens up tons of games that would be listed here.

Pitfall The Mayan Adventure (The 2600 game is hidden), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for the Xbox (Has the first two games hidden), Outrun 2 for the Xbox (Has the original Outrun), etc.

Seems more like it should be a category on it's own.

[j_factor]

If you include that, it opens up tons of games that would be listed here.

Pitfall The Mayan Adventure (The 2600 game is hidden), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for the Xbox (Has the first two games hidden), Outrun 2 for the Xbox (Has the original Outrun), etc.

Seems more like it should be a category on it's own.

That's not the same thing. For Pitfall, you play the original by entering a cheat code at the title screen. In the other two, you select the old game(s) from the menu. In none of those are you playing the original game within the main game. Out Run 2 doesn't let you make a pit stop mid-game to play an Out Run arcade machine.

The only other example I can think of is Pac-Man 2, in which you can play the original Pac-Man by wandering into an arcade.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, that would open the flood gates, but I do think it's very cool when a game organically incorporates an older game as in Day of the Tentacle, rather than have it as an unlockable that appears on the main menu or whatever. I love how to play Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong 64 you have to find the game's cabinet in one of the stages, pop a coin in it, and play it right there (although it does appear on the main menu later for easy access).

But, yeah, that's another topic for another time. :) Although those situations can have an impact on the scope of the prior game too, in that it can make you question if the prior was "real" or "just a game". And then there are all those games where you ultimately find out that it was all a dream/play/whatever. I like when developers challenge our perceptions (although, in some cases, it might just be a cop-out).

[TonyTheTiger]

Chrono Cross sorta counts, but CC's Viper Manor isn't quite the same as Radical Dreamers' Viper Manor.

Chrono Cross does it in reverse. It actually makes the original game's world look amazingly large. The first thing you notice when you play Chrono Trigger is how tiny the planet seems to be. You can walk around the whole western hemisphere in a matter of 20 seconds.

Then the entirety of Chrono Cross takes place in this tiny little community of tropical islands.

[Aussie2B]

It would've been interesting to see them render the land of Chrono Trigger on the map, even if it was completely inaccessible, if only to see how the two sections of the world compare in terms of size. The areas in Chrono Trigger are supposed to be to the north, right?

[TonyTheTiger]

I think so. They're not exactly clear about it in-game. It's obvious the El Nido archipelago is somewhere around the equator. But that would put Porre to the south.

It makes me think that the continents we saw in CT were retconned from the entire planet to just a small part of it in the north because I can't imagine El Nido being in the same latitude as Zenan Bridge.

[Brianvgplayer]

That's not the same thing. For Pitfall, you play the original by entering a cheat code at the title screen. In the other two, you select the old game(s) from the menu. In none of those are you playing the original game within the main game. Out Run 2 doesn't let you make a pit stop mid-game to play an Out Run arcade machine.

The only other example I can think of is Pac-Man 2, in which you can play the original Pac-Man by wandering into an arcade.

If I remember correctly, Pitfall the Mayan Adventure has the original hidden in the main game as well as code. I remember finding it on one of the levels (forgot which one) in the Windows 95 version, by finding a scorpian sprite or something alone those lines from the original game. Edit: It was a warp near some scorpian sprites.

Here's a video of it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOM2veVryPc)

[Leo_A]

That's not the same thing. For Pitfall, you play the original by entering a cheat code at the title screen. In the other two, you select the old game(s) from the menu. In none of those are you playing the original game within the main game. Out Run 2 doesn't let you make a pit stop mid-game to play an Out Run arcade machine.

The only other example I can think of is Pac-Man 2, in which you can play the original Pac-Man by wandering into an arcade.

Brianvgplayer is correct, you actually can access the original Pitfall by entering a hidden door in one of the levels. The cheat code is just a shortcut for convenience's sake.

But how you access it seems like a minor quibble to me. I don't think having an earlier game included in it's entirety in a later game, no matter how you access it, really qualifies for what this thread is about.

[Flack]

In Bard's Tale 3 you visit Skara Brae, the setting of Bard's Tale 1, after it's been destroyed. Not sure if that counts or not.

[Swamperon]

PSO III let's you revisit some of the areas from PSO I&II whilst showing you much more of Ragol, including a map. But as it's a card game and you can't explore, it's a bit limiting really.

[Cryomancer]

The first two Saints Row games take place in the same city. The second game drastically changes and expands the map from the first.

Crackdown and Crackdown 2 are similar, they have the same city, but it's in a lot worse shape in the second game.

Dragon Quest uses the same maps a few times, as mentioned, but another example of this is Dragon Quest Monsters Caravan Heart, in which you play as a character from DQ7, in the world of DQII...which itself includes the world of DQI.

[kupomogli]

I forgot about this. I mentioned GTA, and yes it's based off real world locations, but one mission in San Andreas you go to Liberty City. You can cheat and see that about a third of the city has been partially rendered and can be traversed.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is also based on real world locations, but playing about halfway through the game, you're able to go to the same location in the first game, except the graphics have been entirely redone, added dirt roads, etc. First game is way better, but TDU2 is good

The world map on Dissidia Duodecim is a 3d version of the world map from the original Final Fantasy. Now if Square Enix would only make another version of Final Fantasy using based off the Dissidia Duodecim graphics engine, and just build a battle system from that as well as other dungeons, etc. I'd purchase another version of the game.

I earlier mentioned Arc the Lad 2(AtL3 also but you don't go to many of the same places, but some of the same places and it expands on the world.) Just thought of End of Darkness and Twilight of Spirits. Even though neither game is really good, End of Darkness especially, the entire Twilight of Spirits world is reused in End of Darkness, but End of Darkness also has multiple additional areas.

[spoonman]

That's not what I'm getting at. Check out the examples of Zelda II, Dragon Warrior II, Pokemon Gold/Silver, and Golden Sun: The Lost Age for the games that best capture the concept.

Keep the suggestions coming, guys, it's been great checking these out. :)

Ahh. Well maybe someone should start a topic for newer games that utilize levels & maps from older games too. :P

[skaar]

Saints Row is a great example.

How about Space Quest IV, you go back to Space Quest I.

[wingzrow]

Chrono cross did the opposite. It takes place on a part of the original games world so small you could never even find it.

EDIT: damn seems someone beat me too it. Chrono cross mind.

[spongerob]

Technically Silent Hill would count too wouldn't it? Same town, with a few previously unexplored areas thrown in once in awhile.

MGS4's return to Shadow Moses was epic, to me. I love nostalgic bits like that. It'd been a decade but it felt just like the day I first played it.

[jammajup]

I must be getting old as the only game i can think of is Jet Set Willy II,he is back in the original mansion but new rooms have been built inbetween the existing ones making the whole game bigger to explore.

[TonyTheTiger]

Has anybody mentioned Symphony of the Night? Most Castlevanias tend to reproduce areas but this particular one does it a lot. I'm pretty sure the entire first game is built into the castle in some way.

[NayusDante]

I found that estimated map (http://www.cot.drackir.com/nido.htm) of Chrono Trigger's planet.

http://www.cot.drackir.com/elnido.jpg

Chrono Break, if it ever goes back to the dev table, needs to somehow incorporate all of this, or at least clarify that Guardia, Porre, Choras, and Medina are just a few continents in a much, much larger planet.

[Aussie2B]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting that.

[TonyTheTiger]

I did a Castlevania 1/Symphony of the Night comparison. I estimated stages 3 and 5 as best as possible using similarities of theme and location. But generally speaking, almost every single area in Castlevania 1 has an analogue somewhere in Symphony.

Here's the plain CV1 and SotN maps. They're big so fair warning.

http://www.nesmaps.com/maps/Castlevania/CastlevaniaCompleteMapA.html

http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/Castlevania-SymphonyOfTheNight-Dracula%27sCastle.png



And here is what I came up with:

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7175/castlevaniacomparison.png

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2927/castlevaniacomparison1.png

[bangtango]

The 12-year old in me had this running through my noggin:

So with Zelda II featuring the world from the original Legend of Zelda as part of the world map, it makes me wonder where the likes of Horsehead or Thunderbird were during the events of the first game since they are essentially flunkies of Ganon.

[Aussie2B]

The 12-year old in me had this running through my noggin:

So with Zelda II featuring the world from the original Legend of Zelda as part of the world map, it makes me wonder where the likes of Horsehead or Thunderbird were during the events of the first game since they are essentially flunkies of Ganon.

Actually, they don't have anything to do with Ganon. They're guardians of the palaces put in place by the ancient king that hid the Triforce of Courage in the Great Palace. By defeating these guardians and clearing these palaces, Link proves that he's worthy of possessing it. The people that turn into bats are Ganon's minions and theoretically the overworld monsters, but beyond that Ganon's presence isn't in the game much.

I don't know if I'm really buying this CV1/SotN comparison, but that long drop in SotN is a bit suspicious.

[TonyTheTiger]

The first two levels are absolutely similar. You can see the lower level with the water and mermen. There's even meat hidden in the same place (that big rock). The place where you fight the Giant Bat boss is a longer corridor in SotN but has the same design (the full staircase by the left door and the half one by the right). And the second level starts with a vertical area duplicated after meeting with Death in SotN.

The aforementioned big drop to the lower water caverns, the clocktower area being right before the stairway to Dracula and having vaguely reminiscent (although demolished) layout, and before the clock tower is a large outdoor area. The first game has you go through the bottom part of it and then again in the upper area. SotN just makes it one giant section.

[j_factor]

Is this unique to SOTN? Several Castlevania games sort of remake old levels, especially the first level.

[kupomogli]

And here is what I came up with:

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7175/castlevaniacomparison.png

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2927/castlevaniacomparison1.png

There are a lot of references to the original CV(and others) and I do believe that the long drop in the game is a reference to the original Castlevania, just like Azmodan 2(Mummy,) Frank, Giant Bat, Death, and Medusa are all bosses in the inverted castle(every boss from the original CV.) But other than the entrance, there are really no areas that carry any huge similarities to the original. Most of this map was just cut and paste and is really just trying to grasp at straws for the most part. You could disprove most of it by a lot of the locations that are pasted aren't even connected.

[TonyTheTiger]

Is this unique to SOTN? Several Castlevania games sort of remake old levels, especially the first level.

It's probably not. There are always throwbacks to old games since the castle tends to keep the same thematic elements but SotN is the one time they seemed to really try to incorporate everything. The areas are not OMG cut/paste but they have at least as much similarity as that Zelda II region. If the Zelda II area can be a mere abstraction of the Zelda 1 map then I don't see why obviously similar areas in the castle don't qualify when the idea of "same things as before but more" is pretty much exactly what you're getting.

Again, the staircase filled clock tower, the big open space before the clock tower (a bridge suspended above) which you can clearly see covered, both the lower area and the upper bridge, in the CV1 map, the long drop into the caverns, etc. It's all there.

Now if you want something actually identical? Yeah, it doesn't always work outside of not too few very specific details of stages 1, 2, 4 and 6 with thematic aspects of 3 and 5 carrying over to an area or two. But given the prior examples I don't think something being straight up identical is necessary.

[wingzrow]

Chrono Break, if it ever goes back to the dev table, needs to somehow incorporate all of this, or at least clarify that Guardia, Porre, Choras, and Medina are just a few continents in a much, much larger planet.

The faster you admit to yourself that the series is never getting another game the better off you're going to be.

[muteKi]

It's probably not. There are always throwbacks to old games since the castle tends to keep the same thematic elements but SotN is the one time they seemed to really try to incorporate everything. The areas are not OMG cut/paste but they have at least as much similarity as that Zelda II region. If the Zelda II area can be a mere abstraction of the Zelda 1 map then I don't see why obviously similar areas in the castle don't qualify when the idea of "same things as before but more" is pretty much exactly what you're getting.

Again, the staircase filled clock tower, the big open space before the clock tower (a bridge suspended above) which you can clearly see covered, both the lower area and the upper bridge, in the CV1 map, the long drop into the caverns, etc. It's all there.

Now if you want something actually identical? Yeah, it doesn't always work outside of not too few very specific details of stages 1, 2, 4 and 6 with thematic aspects of 3 and 5 carrying over to an area or two. But given the prior examples I don't think something being straight up identical is necessary.

Which is sort of funny because Rondo of Blood's clock tower is pretty much EXACTLY the same in Symphony, with only minor changes in layout. The only major difference is that due to the format of the game, the collapsing platforms at the start (a staple of the older CV games, really) don't lead to a bottomless pit.

[bangtango]

It's probably not. There are always throwbacks to old games since the castle tends to keep the same thematic elements but SotN is the one time they seemed to really try to incorporate everything. The areas are not OMG cut/paste but they have at least as much similarity as that Zelda II region. If the Zelda II area can be a mere abstraction of the Zelda 1 map then I don't see why obviously similar areas in the castle don't qualify when the idea of "same things as before but more" is pretty much exactly what you're getting.

Again, the staircase filled clock tower, the big open space before the clock tower (a bridge suspended above) which you can clearly see covered, both the lower area and the upper bridge, in the CV1 map, the long drop into the caverns, etc. It's all there.

Now if you want something actually identical? Yeah, it doesn't always work outside of not too few very specific details of stages 1, 2, 4 and 6 with thematic aspects of 3 and 5 carrying over to an area or two. But given the prior examples I don't think something being straight up identical is necessary.


Wasn't Dracula X the game which took you through at least one destroyed town from Simon's Quest?

[exit]

The first two Mother/Earhbound games have very similar maps in some areas.

[BetaWolf47]

No mentions of Wind Waker yet? The entire game takes place over a drowned Hyrule, the very same from Ocarina of Time. You eventually get to go down into Hyrule Castle, and be saddened at seeing the land of Hyrule dead underwater.

[TonyTheTiger]

Wasn't Dracula X the game which took you through at least one destroyed town from Simon's Quest?

Yes, the first stage of Rondo, at least part of it, looks strikingly similar to the towns in Simon's Quest. Castlevania is probably the one series constantly filled with shout outs to earlier entires.

But what I was trying to get at is simply all six CV1 stages have SotN parallels that more or less are in roughly the same area as the CV1 map with plenty of references.