History Main / GridInventory

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' included a version of this trope. Not only did it include it for just about every item you could acquire(including the special final-boss-ass-kicking-gun), but you were able to purchase new cases of increased size. Now, how a rocket launcher takes up as much space as a few handguns is a WHOLE other issue...

* ''SystemShock 2'', with the variation that the size of the grid varies with your character's strength.

* ''SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' uses a similar system for its sticker power-ups: you can only use as many oddly-shaped stickers as you can fit on the round base of a trophy.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' was developed for SquareEnix by Level-5, and also features a grid inventory.

*** Although one can exploit the inventory for speed reloading, yo'll need it for weapons with slow reloading speed, such as Hydra shotgun and Smith & Wesson M500 magnum.

* While most items in ''VideoGame/DanballSenki'' use a traditional menu-style inventory, each [=LBX=] has its own Core Unit that houses things like CPU's, motors, and batteries. Its grid starts off relatively small, but expands at certain character levels

* The ''NeverwinterNights'' and ''NeverwinterNights2'' series have both a grid system ''and'' a weight system, although in ''NWN 2'' you almost never run out of grid space. They don't have a size limit, though, so, as long as you can carry items to the weight of ten full-plate suits of armour, you can carry ten full-plate suits of armour, even though any one of these is almost as big as you. And ''NWN 2'' does have a defragmenting button (?Arrange Inventory?). Ha!
** The key difference between both games is that ''NeverwinterNights'' takes different sizes into account: An armor set requires much more space then a potion although you are still given enough grid space to carry around several sets of full plate armor. In ''NeverwinterNights2'', every single item takes up exactly on space on the grid and containers such as bags can hold an absurd amount of items, rendering the GridInventory fairly pointless.

* In ''VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn'', each mobile suit has a Grid Inventory to determine how many weapons it can carry. Melee weapons are taller than longer, while the reverse is true for ranged weapons, and every MS has a unique grid in order to suit its specialization. That's right, they made the InventoryManagementPuzzle an integral part of the game balance.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' spinoff RPG ''MSSaga'', each mobile suit has a Grid Inventory to determine how many weapons it can carry. Melee weapons are taller than longer, while the reverse is true for ranged weapons, and every MS has a unique grid in order to suit its specialization. That's right, they made the InventoryManagementPuzzle an integral part of the game balance.
* ''MightAndMagic'' ''6''-''8'' (the original RPG, [[MorePopularSpinoff not the]] TurnBasedStrategy "[[VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic Heroes Of]]") had a Grid Inventory for each character in the party.

* ''{{FATE}}'', a VideoGame/{{Diablo}}[[{{Roguelike}} like]], featured this in all its irritating glory. In a grid that's ten blocks wide and four blocks high, there was a distressingly high frequency of items that took up 2x3 grid space and a distressingly low number of items that occupied 1x1 or 2x1. Items couldn't be rotated, so you couldn't fit another short sword in side ways to make room. There was [[SarcasmMode nothing more fun]] than warping home with an inventory "full" of six double-bladed axes, and about 33% of your grid actually empty.

* LegendOfMana: The Logic Blocks that go up into making your RobotBuddy are arranged on a grid, with more powerful Blocks taking up more space. Where they are arranged also affects the behavior of said robot.

** ''Resident Evil 5'' has an irritating variation on this which was one of [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee's]] complaints about the game. All items were shrunk to a single grid square (unrealistic, but good), but you only had 9 squares (unrealistic and BAD). Basically, it didn't matter what items you were carrying; you could only carry nine items...or types of items: some objects stack together into one inventory space while others don't, so in ''Resident Evil 5'', 81 incendiary grenades take up as much room as 9 smallish herbs.

* The ''DungeonSiege'' series features this, but refreshingly includes a feature to sort it all into the most continuous space possible. Your mileage may vary. Fortunately, if you run out of inventory space, you can get a mule at almost every city to carry your stuff.

** Later games in the series (''Space Siege'' and ''Dungeon Siege III'') moved over to a HyperspaceArsenal instead.
* ''[[{{ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura}} Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura]]'' does this with both weight and space, but you never really seem to run out - until you have to haul buttloads of treasure back. That's why God invented party members. Also, it features a defragment button which neatly tidies your inventory.

* Speaking of stickers, Paper Mario: Sticker Star uses a sticker album with several 5x3 pages to hold stickers (the game's inventory); most stickers are 1x1 but some are 1.5x1.5 or even 2x2, and sometimes the in-game sorting function (Start button) doesn't optimally sort the stickers, so that you need to manually move some around to fit that last sticker in.
* Many games fail to account for different sized objects properly. In ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'', six sheets of paper take up as much space as a breastplate. ''BaldursGate'' is even worse, since all items take up the same amount of space, a character with maximum strength could carry sixteen suits of full plate, but they still couldn't hold more than sixteen pearls (unless you get a jewel bag, ''good luck finding one''.)

* FirstPersonShooter ''Chrome'' is not a RolePlayingGame combo, it's not a stealth game, it doesn't require particularly smart tactics. It's just a FPS. So it wouldn't make sense for it to have a GridInventory, right? Well, tell it to the game designers. It's even worse than usual, too, because the inventory is not one large rectangle - it's a medium rectangle, two small ones and a square (or thereabouts). This makes it virtually impossible to carry anything more than two weapons (and even that becomes a problem if you have to wield a rocket launcher) and some ammo.
* The ''Dark Sun'' games had an inventory system similar to ''BaldursGate'' (which owes ''Dark Sun'' a lot in terms of UI), where each item took one slot and there was also a weight limit. However ''Dark Sun'' had a lot of chests and bags which you could use to multiply inventory size several times.

* ''MightAndMagic'' ''6''-''8'' (the original RPG, [[MorePopularSpinoff not the]] TurnBasedStrategy "[[HeroesOfMightAndMagic Heroes Of]]") had a Grid Inventory for each character in the party.

* In the first ''SoldierOfFortune'' the number of inventory slots is inversely proportional to the difficulty level, and weapons occupy from one to three slots depending on their size.

* The ''BattleTech'' boardgame (as well as its computer equivalent, ''MechWarrior''), did this for 'Mech construction and outfitting. Each part of your 'Mech's chassis had a finite number of slots that you could plug stuff into, each item taking up a varying number of slots. Being that this included weapons, armor, heatsinks (to keep the 'Mech running in battle), sensors, etc. this made fitting out a 'Mech [[strike:almost]] a minigame in itself. Where you put things actually mattered in combat, as different areas have different armor, and all of it is tracked. If you put all your guns in your arms, and that arm gets blown off, no more guns.

* ''{{FATE}}'', a VideoGame/{{Diablo}}[[{{Roguelike}} like]], featured this in all its irritating glory. There was nothing more fun than warping home with an inventory "full" of six double-bladed axes, and about 33% of your grid actually empty.

** And its [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual successors]] ''Mythos'' and ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon''.
** In Mabinogi, gold only stacks up to 1,000 per square. However, there are items called Gold Bags which occupy four squares each, and can hold up to 50,000 gold each. Also, your bank account can hold up to six million gold per character, and any of the characters can access it (useful for kitting out a new character with no money of their own).
** Diablo II also had a plot-necessary item (the Horadric Cube) that contained several inventory slots. It was actually used for transmuting various items together, but doing that is rare enough that it usually got used just for extra inventory space. The Horadric cube took a 2x2 spot in your inventory but could carry [[BiggerOnTheInside 3x4 worth of items inside]].

** ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'' ''2'' was quite a bit more generous with grid space, as it's extremely difficult to completely max out your inventory grid. Helpfully, like items stack this time around. However, it only has ONE inventory grid, unlike the previous game, so '''everything''' you have--recovery items, key items, weapons, outfits, weapon upgrade items, robot parts, Georama elements, fishing stuff--'''all of it''' goes on one huge-ass grid.
** ''DragonQuest'' VIII was developed for SquareEnix by Level-5, and also features a grid inventory.
** ''RogueGalaxy'' has a grid inventory which is divided into 7 pages, six of which hold 40 items each, the seventh of which is designed specifically to hold the game's rarest items. The warehouse is also gridded. Like items stack, like in [=DC2=]. It's still possible to cram most of your inventory panels completely full of the ridiculous amounts of crap you collect in this game.

* ''SilentStorm'' has a grid inventory, but due to the shapes of some items it is very prone to InventoryManagementPuzzle syndrome despite its auto-sort feature. And to survive properly you pretty much have to loot every battle map before leaving for home, making things even more difficult. And yeah, weight is meaningless.

* EveOnline has a grid system. A display option is for inventory items to show icons in a grid pattern of the same size. However, Each item has an m^3 associated with it. So your ship can only hold so much.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft''. You start off with a 4x4 backpack. You also have 4 slots for bags, which each add anywhere from 4 to 22 additional inventory spaces. There are also specialized bags which can hold even more items (up to 32), but only of certain type. (These originally included quivers and soul shard pouches, at least before Blizzard [[BottomlessMagazines phased out the systems of "Ranged Weapons Use Ammo"]] and "Soul Shards Take Up Inventory Space". Now the only specialized bags are for crafting supplies.) Items stack depending on type; some as few as 5, others over 200, and weapons and armor do not stack. Keys used to have their own bag ("keyring") that would grow indefinitely, but it has been removed from the game along with the vast majority of the keys themselves - the ones that are left have to fit in the normal inventory.
* ''{{Solatorobo}}'' allows the Dahak to be upgraded with modules slotted into a grid, but the entire grid isn't available at first. Finding Power Crystals to unlock new slots is one of the main reasons to search areas thoroughly! The modules come in all shapes and sizes, including some of the classic Tetris blocks. Once you get the Mk 2, the total unlockable space increases as well, allowing for further enhancement.
* ''KidIcarusUprising'' uses this for equippable powers.
* ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' has an inventory of 28 spaces, no more, no less. However, some small things like coins or feather stack (meaning you can have a large amount of them only taking up one inventory space), but other small things you think would stack (herbs and other items), don't.

* SirYouAreBeingHunted makes escaping from mustachioed robots that much trickier by limiting you to whatever gear you can fit inside your grid.

** Diablo II also had a plot-necessary item (the Horadric Cube) that contained several inventory slots. It was actually used for transmuting various items together, but doing that is rare enough that it usually got used just for extra inventory space. The Horadric cube took a 2x2 spot in your inventory but could carry [[BiggerOnTheInside 3x3 worth of items inside]].

[[caption-width-right:256: A rather literal example.]]

An alternative to the HyperspaceArsenal. Instead of having an infinite amount of generic space to store things, you have a grid to store them in. The size and shape of objects varies; a key may fit into a single grid section, while a box of ammunition takes up a larger square of sections, and a rifle needs a long rectangle. Usually an object must always take up at least one section, no matter how small the object, so one's inventory can quickly become filled up with small things like keys and scrolls.

* The first ''SoldierOfFortune'' had a variation of this, with a line of squares whose length is inversely proportional to the difficulty level, and weapons occupying from one to three squares depending on their size.

* {{Minecraft}} has a grid system for your character's inventory. 40 slots, including 4 for crafting and armor as well as 9 available for use/hotkeyed. One slot can hold up to 64, 16, or one of an item, depending on the type. You can also build chests, which have 27 slots or 54 for the big chests. While there are no objects larger than one slot, one often has to rearrange inventory just to put what you need in the use row, to be able to find things in it, or to combine multiple stacks into one 64-stack to free up slots.
* {{Terraria}} also has a grid inventory similar to the Minecraft example. Along with four slots to hold coins, ditto for ammo, three slots for armor and ditto for vanity sets, as well as 5 slots for accesories, the player also has access to two personal storage objects, a piggy bank and a safe for keeping coins safe from being lost when dying.

** Diablo II also had a plot-necessary item (the Horadric Cube) that contained several inventory slots. It was actually used for transmuting various items together, but doing that is rare enough that it usually got used just for extra inventory space.

* ''7.62 High Caliber'' uses a grid inventory, but divides it between various carrying methods. All characters have 8 inventory slots (divided into two four-slot pockets) on their clothing no matter what uniform they wear, while various backpacks, tactical vests, and belts provide slots of different size and configuration; all carrying equipment uses bold lines to divide inventory slots and represent smaller spaces, so a particular backpack may eschew a large central space for more small pockets suitable for holding a single rifle magazine or grenade. Only the character's main pockets, tactical vest, and belt can have their items accessed without going into the inventory screen; an important part of preparing for combat is loading your ready pockets with magazines, first aid kits, spare ammo boxes, grenades, and other important items so you don't have to go scrounging through your backpack.