Google Maps is available in some form or another on most of the electronic devices that you can purchase these days. Google, never satisfied with their ubiquity, has come up with a new initiative to start supporting retro devices with Google Maps. The first classic device that they are going to support is arguably the best-selling electronics device of all time, the NES or Famicom. With roughly 62 million units in the wild, there won’t be a shortage of people willing to try out Google Maps on their old consoles. To compensate for the NES’ lack of raw processing power, Google says that they’re going to do the brunt of the calculations required on a very large array of computers and basically just use the NES/Famicom as a display device. All you have to do is pop the cartridge into your console, connect a phone line (perhaps blow on the cartridge), and then you’re all set to use all of the features of Google Maps (including Street View) in a retro-chic way on your classic Nintendo system. Google was even nice enough to but a beta preview of this new functionality into the current maps.google.com, so head on over there and hit the “Quest” button if you want to check out what your town or some international landmarks look like in all of their 8-bit glory.
As a proud owner of both an NES and a Famicom, I’ll probably buy a cartridge or two depending on the price if only just for the awesome retro-ness of it all. You can see the announcement video for the Google Maps NES service after the jump (and yes, it’s one of the Youtube videos you get GP for watching!)
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