History Main / LawOfCartographicalElegance

** Noteworthy however is that with the exception of the Hoenn Region, all the regions are shown to be part of a larger landmass. In fact, [[PokemonGoldandSilver Gold and Silver versions]] show that beyond the Elite Four is Johto/Kanto (depending on your starting point) - and the [[PokemonHeartGoldandSoulSilver remakes]] feature one location not shown on any map: the Sinjoh Ruins, which are shwon to be somewhere far to the North of Johto, which serves to tie the Johto region to Sinnoh.

-->'''''Law of Cartographical Elegance:''''' ''The world map always cleanly fits into a rectangular shape with no land masses that cross an edge.''
-->- TheGrandListOfConsoleRolePlayingGameCliches, Rule #45

* Minecraft is a flat, square-shaped world but is notable in the fact that's the current map format makes usable maps out to the tune of 8 times the surface area of the earth.

* MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga has a fairly logical map and averts all this, with not only the world not looping, but it actually being shown to border the Mushroom Kingdom from the rest of the series. And you start by crossing over and getting past the border patrol station after Bowser's ship gets shot down by the villains. And there's a town home to immigrants from the Mushroom Kingdom right on the border complete with stylings based on other Mario games.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is the only exception in the ''FinalFantasy'' series so far. While the world map isn't freely navigable there's no indication of it looping.

* SuperMario64 has the worlds not only neatly fit into a square, but also has them as FloatingContinents above the void with an invisible wall bordering them on all four sides. Justified in that these worlds are contained inside rectangular paintings.

* SuperMario64 has the worlds not only neatly fit into a square, but also has them as FloatingContinents above the void with an invisible wall bordering them on all four sides.

* ''{{Terranigma}}'' is an especially bad example of wraparound, because the world is supposed to be, y'know, ''Earth''.

* ''{{Terranigma}}'' is an especially bad example, because the world is supposed to be, y'know, ''Earth''.
** Not quite an Insurmountable Waist High Fence in this case, though, so much as Insurmountable Mountain Ranges and Unmoorable Coastlines.

* ''WildARMs: Alter Code F'' has a huge if narrow piece of land that extends through most of the vertical part of the map and wraps from bottom to top.

* [[WrapAround Loops]], where the player can travel to one end of the map and appear roughly on the same X- or Y-coordinate on the other side of the map. Topologically, this would mean the world is shaped roughly like a [[WorldShapes donut]] (In geometry, such a shape is referred to as a "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torus Torus]]"), or a cylinder if it only loops on one axis. Even so, this is merely part of the game's presentation, and none of these games are [[GameplayAndStorySegregation ACTUALLY supposed to take place]] on a toroidal or cylindrical world[[note]](with a [[VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}} notable exception]])[[/note]].

* The world in ''SecretOfMana'' actually is spherical. It rotates normally on the X-axis, but if you fly along the Y-axis long enough, you'll eventually see some of the countries scrolling by upside-down. Interestingly, this makes it harder to navigate since most players aren't used to viewing game worlds that way.

* In all of the ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' games (and the spinoff ''[[SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Alpha Centauri]]''), the worlds are cylindrical: you can circle endlessly east and west, but north and south you are blocked by "the poles". You can, however, enable an option that allows you to build flat worlds.

*** ''Civilization IV'' also allows donut worlds, as well as ones that wrap north-south, in addition to the traditional east-west wraps and flat worlds. It also has a zoom-out function for the standard cylindrical map that makes it look like a globe with very large impassable polar caps.
* ''{{Spore}}'' averts this with planets actually shaped like spheres and land masses and/or bodies of water that cross the edge of the mini-map. Navigating based on the mini-map while inside the atmosphere makes it appear there is looping on the X axis, no looping on the Y axis and faster movement on the X axis as you get closer to poles to represent the distortions caused by the projection of a 3-dimensional body onto the 2-dimensional map (just like in real flat maps of Earth).

-->'''''[[TropeNamer Law of Cartographical Elegance]]:''''' ''The world map always cleanly fits into a rectangular shape with no land masses that cross an edge.''

* The ''FinalFantasy'' games. (Except for ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII II]]'', where the map is still a toroid but a land mass actually crosses the edges. And ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' where the world map is projected that way, but the airship doesn't fly freely around it.)

* Most of the ''DragonQuest'' games (see exception below).
* ''FinalFantasyAdventure'' is a torus with a land mass that crosses on both edges.
* Justified in ''ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne'', where the "Vortex World" is, essentially, the area along the inside of a giant sphere.

* In ''Doshin the Giant'', it is possible to walk off the edge of the world.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}} II: Missing Presumed...'', where, of course, the world really does have an edge.

* ''Populous: The Beginning'' is a RTS from 1998 with with planets instead of maps, meaning that every world you fight on is round. If you zoom out, you'll see half the world. You can never see the entire world in one screen, but you can scroll in any direction. Your units can move in any direction as well. For a RTS this is quite remarkable.

* ''{{Spore}}'' averts this with looping on the X axis, no looping on the Y axis and faster movement on the X axis as you get closer to poles to represent the distortions caused by the projection.

It should be noted that this trope can be blamed on actual maps of earth which also happened to be set up in such a way that the only land mass that actually crosses over the edges is Antarctica and the Chukchi Peninsula. In any case, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality an acceptable break from reality]].

* [[WrapAround Loops]], where the player can travel to one end of the map and appear roughly on the same X- or Y-coordinate on the other side of the map. Topologically, this would mean the world is shaped roughly like a [[WorldShapes donut]] (In geometry, such a shape is referred to as a "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torus Torus]]"), or a cylinder if it only loops on one axis. Even so, this is merely part of the game's presentation, and none of these games are [[GameplayAndStorySegregation ACTUALLY supposed to take place]] on a toroidal or cylindrical world[[hottip:*:(with a [[VideoGame/{{VVVVVV}} notable exception]]).

* In the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games, Liberty City consists of 2 islands and a peninsula with mountains separating it from mainland, Vice City is made of 2 long, parallel islands, and the state of San Andreas is pretty much a huge, neatly formed square of land.

[[caption-width-right:335:[[MightAndMagic3 Every content neatly in its grid.]]]]