History Main / ZipMode

Compare DoorToBefore, a shortcut to a previous location, GlobalAirship, a vehicle that can get you to any part of the WorldMap quickly, WarpWhistle, an in-game teleportation device between fixed areas, and SprintShoes, an item required to make Dash Mode work. See also RunDontWalk, a tendency in later games for characters to just run everywhere.

* VirtuesLastReward allows you to jump between diverging points of the story. This was a response to NineDoorsNinePersonsNineHours where you had to tediously play the game multiple times trying to unlock the true ending. Most importantly, this mechanic [[spoiler: also serves as a plot device.]]

* Fast travel was introduced in AssassinsCreedII as a response to the really open but also really empty field the first AssassinsCreed took place in.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has railroads, teleporting Ender Pearls, and Nether Portals.

* In ''RagnarokOnline'', Kafra employees offer teleport service that allows instant travel between towns. A consumable item, Butterfly Wing, allows instant travel to your save point.

* In the ''{{Diablo}}'' expansion ''Hellfire'', the character's walk speed is doubled while in town. In the sequel, you can run in towns without depleting stamina.
* In the ''{{Metroid}}'' series, most of Samus' acquired items/weapons can destroy giant clusters of blocks that compose some areas one would normally have to take a long path around. The most notable are the Speed Booster, the Screw Attack and the Power Bombs.

* In ''TheElderScrolls'' series ''{{Morrowind}}'' has large insects you could pay to ride to set locations. ''{{Oblivion}}'' took this further with a fast travel system that allowed you to travel to any major city from the start (although a nominal amount of in-game time still passed). The next Bethesda title, ''{{Fallout}} 3'', uses the same fast travel system, but requires that you visit a place before it became available. ''{{Skyrim}}'' uses a combination of all three. You can fast travel to locations you've visted, much like ''{{Fallout}}'' 3, and there are carriages you can pay to take you to any of the major cities like ''{{Morrowind}}''.

* ''{{Myst}}'' is the TropeNamer here. If you were at the end of a linear series of rooms, certain hotspots would turn the cursor into a lightning bolt, letting you back to the beginning of the chain instantly. In the last two games, you would also be given thumbnails of [[HubLevel hub areas]] so that you could get from one part of the game world to another easily.
* In the third ''MonkeyIsland'' game, double-clicking an exit would take Guybrush there instantly, which is considerate because he walks very slowly. Later games switched to a 3D format and a corresponding change in controls, replacing the teleportation with a Dash Mode (but in ''[[EscapeFromMonkeyIsland Escape]]'' you can leave the room you're in immediately by pressing O).
* Sierra's PointAndClick SCI Engine games generally had the ability to adjust the character's walk speed up to a very fast rate, including installments of ''KingsQuest'', ''SpaceQuest'', ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight'', ''PoliceQuest'', and ''QuestForGlory''.
* In at least some of the ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' games, double-clicking on an exit will make Larry walk at hyperspeed.

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' you can pay to fly yourself from city to city (as long as you've visited enough cities or reached a high enough level to unlock the "flight path"). This system is restricted to given set paths, unlike the flying mounts instituted later.
* In ''GuildWars'', you can travel, at will, instantly to any public area that your character has yet visited, making it unnecessary to trek there more than once.

* All Infinity Engine games had the issue of characters taking ''very long'' to leisurely walk across vast locations, so ''PlanescapeTorment'' added the option to make all characters run while not in combat. It was enabled by default.
* In ''DragonAge: Origins'', party members told to hold position will later teleport to your controlled character's location when taken off hold (if they are far enough away). Since you can change which character you control at any time, this can make for some easier exploring and backtracking in some areas, though it is disabled in combat. Even more strangely, however, a rogue can stealth through groups of enemies and then teleport his allies to his location. All this despite being told that there is [[GameplayAndStorySegregation no such thing as teleportation in-universe]].

* ''{{Minecraft}}'' has railroads, teleporting Ender Pearls, and Nether Portals.

* In ''TheElderScrolls'' series ''{{Morrowind}}'' had large insects you could pay to ride to set locations. ''{{Oblivion}}'' took this further with a fast travel system that allowed you to travel to any major city from the start (although a nominal amount of in-game time still passed). The next Bethesda title, ''{{Fallout}} 3'', used the same fast travel system, but required that you visit a place before it became available.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' used a Dash Mode- holding a button would cause Link to charge forward at considerable speed, pushing aside or destroying enemies and obstacles and continuing until he left the screen, hit a wall, or was damaged mid-sprint. Later games would mimic this with the Pegasus Boots item.

* Whether traveling the vast expanse of the overworld or exploring its many dungeons, backtracking is a given in the ''LegendOfZelda''. Thankfully, many games in the series afford Link faster means of travel; such as on horseback, or the Goron roll or [[SprintShoes Bunny Hood]] in ''MajorasMask''. There are also numerous {{Warp Whistle}}s.
** ''ALinkToThePast'' used a Dash Mode- holding a button would cause Link to charge forward at considerable speed, pushing aside or destroying enemies and obstacles and continuing until he left the screen, hit a wall, or was damaged mid-sprint. Later games would mimic this with the Pegasus Boots item.
** The LOZ series even has these in multiple tiers. First something that lets you go between a few specific locations (like, A Link To The Past has whirlpools that lead to specific other whirlpools, accessible once you get the Zora Scale) followed some time later by something that's an express flight to every major area (such as the original WarpWhistle, the bird in A Link to the Past, and the warp songs in ''OcarinaOfTime.'' )

* ''DarkCloud 2'' allowed transportation to key areas from the pause menu.

** ''ALinkToThePast'' used a Dash Mode- holding a button would cause Link to charge forward at considerable speed, pushing aside or destroying enemies and obstacles and continuing until he left the screen, hit a wall, or was damaged mid-sprint.

* DarkCloud 2 allowed transportation to key areas from the pause menu.

* {{Minecraft}} has railroads, teleporting Ender Pearls, and Nether Portals.

* In at least some of the ''LeisureSuitLarry'' games, double-clicking on an exit will make Larry walk at hyperspeed.

* In ''TalesOfSymphonia'', the game often lets you "quick jump" through a dungeon you have already traversed when you have to go back to its final room for plot reasons. One time it simply doesn't happen. Lloyd gets amusingly frustrated about it in a rare moment of BreakingTheFourthWall.

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' you can pay to fly yourself from city to city (as long as you've visited enough cities to unlock the "flight path"). This system is restricted to given set paths, unlike the flying mounts instituted later.

* In ''{{Metroid}}'', Samus' Dash could be considered this if having to trek along a long straight path; she will travel fast enough to kill all normal enemies in the way.

* Sierra's PointAndClick SCI Engine games generally had the ability to adjust the character's walk speed up to a very fast rate, including installments of ''KingsQuest'', ''SpaceQuest'', ''GabrielKnight'', ''PoliceQuest'', and ''QuestForGlory''.

* In DragonAge: Origins, party members told to hold position will later teleport to your controlled character's location when taken off hold (if they are far enough away). Since you can change which character you control at any time, this can make for some easier exploring and backtracking in some areas, though it is disabled in combat. Even more strangely, however, a rogue can stealth through groups of enemies and then teleport his allies to his location. All this despite being told that there is [[GameplayAndStorySegregation no such thing as teleportation in-universe]].

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' you can pay to fly yourself from city to city (as long as you've visited enough cities to unlock the "flight path"). It essentially replicates the effect of flying mounts (which were introduced long after the fast travel system) but automatically follows a set path. Sorry to nitpick but how exactly can flightpaths replicate flying mounts if flight paths came first?

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' you can pay to fly yourself from city to city (as long as you've visited enough cities to unlock the "flight path"). It essentially replicates the effect of flying mounts (which were introduced long after the fast travel system) but automatically follows a set path.