The Spatial Inconsistencies of Kattleox Island

The more I get into this project, the more I'm going to have to deal with some of the inconsistencies that existed in the original game. Things like spacial anomalies, areas overlapping, and a very inconsistent view of just what exactly Kattleox Island as a whole looks like.

That last one, in particular, is going to be an interesting one to overcome. Let's look at exactly what I'm talking about, shall we?

Throughout the game, we're given several different overviews of Kattleox, and none of them really seem to match up too much. Sure, they've all got the same basic layout, but they've all also got some pretty glaring inconsistencies. Let's start with the main one we have access to in the game, the map that's called up when we press Select.

First thing that jumps out is the fact that according to this map, Apple Market is wider than the entirety of Downtown, something which is just plain not true. In fact, none of the areas of the city are properly sized at all. City Hall is quite a bit bigger than Downtown, as is Uptown. The only one that's anywhere near being the proper scale is Old City. The rest? Totally off. Especially when you consider the size of the city to the size of the rest of the island. While I haven't mapped out everything else yet, I'm pretty sure the outdoor areas are quite a bit bigger than the city, and I know Lake Jyun is pretty gigantic in game.

But that's just a quick overview map to show you where things are, basically an in game tool. Well, let's look at how the island itself is shown to us!

Well, on the plus side, at least these are all mostly consistent with each other. However, they look pretty much nothing like in game map, and show several large inconsistencies with the game world itself.

First of all, unless we're only treated to a small portion of Apple Market, it is most definitely not that big. It'd be pretty awesome if it was, though.

Second, where's the Main Gate Entrance area? The power plant? Clozer Woods and that entire beach front area with the weird ruin-type raised ledges and stuff? The river you fight the Balcon Gelede through? Why are there what appears to be mountains? My goodness!

The only thing I can think of to explain these differences is that most of the in game overviews of the island were mainly based around the concept art and such. You can actually see some drawings of the island looking like it does in these last four pictures in the Megaman Legends Artbook. Along with that, it also has a lot of concept artwork of various areas of the city as well, making it out to be a  lot bigger and more complex than it ended up being, something I blame entirely on the hardware they were making it for.

Still, though, we're presented with three very different views of how Kattleox is set up. We have the regular, running around in game point of view, we have the minimap point of view, and we have the various overhead shots we're given point of view. And personally, I wouldn't consider any of them to be 100% correct. Yes, not even the regular running around one. Why? Because the game demonstrates in so many places that it doesn't care whether or not it's sending you to areas that technically occupy the same space as other areas. This is especially easiest to see in the ruins, but that's something to discuss later.

What does this mean for my build? Eh, not too terribly much. It just means I'll need to adjust things as I build them. Thankfully I have MCEdit to help me move around entire sections of the city as needed, and Worldpainter to help me adjust the actual island itself on a large scale.

Anyways, that's my little examination on the spacial inconsistencies of Kattleox Island.