First game to throw in a waypoint indicator?

NaturalNarcissist · January 2011

Hey all,

Need a quick question answered. A friend and I happened to get into a bit of an argument with our videogame lore. We were talking about how GTA pioneered the mini-map, and then I mentioned how Saint's Row was the first game to introduce street-gps directions to your destination.

He virulently denied this, and argued that saint's row stole this innovation from someone else. Now I definitely remember Vice city and the first GTA3 to be plagued with WHERE AM I GOING moments, but I never got around to playing San Andreas.

So did Saint's Row actually innovate, or was it just another cherry picked element from a better game?

Bartholamue · January 2011

I thought Crazy Taxi had some kind of waypoint system, didn't it?

BritishDavid · January 2011

just to be clear, are you talking about the ability to Drop a Waypoint on a map and have the game direct you how to get there? In a minimap or otherwise? Cause I'm sure a MechWarrior Game had that.

Taramoor · January 2011

I think he's asking specifically about the GPS-style in-game directions.

JacksWastedLife · January 2011

Mechwarrrior 2 had the first waypoint system I can remember.

Taramoor · January 2011

Civilization 1 had a waypoint system.

Defender (1980) featured the first minimap, I think.

UncleSporky · January 2011

It really depends on what you mean. If you are specifically talking about GPS-style street directions, like "turn right onto Pennsylvania Avenue," that's one thing. If you mean a game where you have a destination and the game tells you to go left or right or forward until you arrive there, that's something else entirely. Myst had a puzzle based on that very premise.

And GTA didn't pioneer the minimap, not by a long shot. Zelda 1 had a mini-map up in the corner, even though it was nearly useless. There were other games with better mini-maps afterwards, depending on how you want to define it.

EDIT: Yeah, Defender is a pretty early example of one.

useless4 · January 2011

A bunch of games in the 80s (arcade or home computer or possibly even atari) all had mini maps for sure.

lowlylowlycook · January 2011

I wish Daggerfall had a gps like system for its dungeons.

Turn left at the mummy in 100 feet.

Taramoor · January 2011

UncleSporky wrote: »

It really depends on what you mean. If you are specifically talking about GPS-style street directions, like "turn right onto Pennsylvania Avenue," that's one thing. If you mean a game where you have a destination and the game tells you to go left or right or forward until you arrive there, that's something else entirely. Myst had a puzzle based on that very premise.

And GTA didn't pioneer the minimap, not by a long shot. Zelda 1 had a mini-map up in the corner, even though it was nearly useless. There were other games with better mini-maps afterwards, depending on how you want to define it.

EDIT: Yeah, Defender is a pretty early example of one.

Police Quest 3 featured directions like that, I think.

I seem to remember street signs popping up while driving my patrol car around the city.

And I remember the Empire Strikes Back game for Atari having a minimap even.

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First game to throw in a waypoint indicator?

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