History Main / ExpansionPackWorld

** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has this trope in full swing within the game itself, however within the underlying world and lore from the previous games, all new areas existed before being put into this game. It subscribes to the rule that if you can't go there yourself, it's not on the map, since that would make your map a bit confusing, so it appears as if this is happening, but all locations have pre-existed in some form. The first two expansions brought back Outland and Northrend, the third expansion pack filled out inaccessible (but clearly existent) regions and the elemental planes that had been elaborated on in TabletopGame/WarcraftTheRoleplayingGame. The fourth expansion pack brought us to Pandaria, which had not been accessible in any previous game, but was implied in Warcraft III and elaborated on in the aforementioned RPG. The fifth expansion sees an alternate timeline of the long-established Draenor, and the sixth expansion pack goes to the Broken Isles first established in Warcraft II. The seventh expansion continues this trend by returning to Kul Tiras (a kingdom introduced in Warcraft II) and exploring Zandalar (an island described in the RPG).

* The ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' like ''Suikoden'' above goes to great lengths to avert this. The [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky first series]] takes place in Liberl, a small kingdom that borders the empire of Erebonia and the Republic of Calvard. While we don't see Erebonia in person until the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel third series]], it's completely justified as the ''Sky'' games take place a decade after the war between the two countries still weighs heavily on local politics and the border security naturally isn't keen on you trying to cross. Nevertheless, we do learn several things about it in the meantime, including the names of several important locations, the state of its politics, and several characters hail from there. In fact, we learn about the BigBad of those particular games and his goals [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything 7 years before the game that introduces him came out]]. Meanwhile, there's [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Crossbell]], the city-state some ways away from Liberl we see glimpses of in a flashback before the second series would explore it. The series' consistency is such that the likely plot points explored in the Calvard Arc can be deduced before the next series has been announced (as of the current edit).

It's a simple and well received story - the main characters have explored a vast and magical realm, with limitless borders, fantastical races, and did I mention limitless borders?

* The story of ''Manga/FairyTail'' takes place primarily in the Kingdom of Fiore, which is located on the continent Ishgar. The final arc of the series reveals the continent Alakitasia, where the antagonistic Alvarez Empire rules. Meanwhile, the sequel series ''Manga/FairyTail100YearsQuest'' takes place on a third northern continent called Guiltina.

** Also, a few regions aren't sure to fit within the country of Gens I-IV - it helps that they're based on [[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Arizona]], [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite New York]], [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY France]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Hawaii]] in contrast to the Japanese inspiration of the others.

* The ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games, as well as all the RPG spinoffs, at least when it doesn't just [[ChaosArchitecture seem to rebuild the entire Mushroom Kingdom from scratch]], like to suddenly reveal all new countries just across the border from the main area, such as the lands of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', Sarasa Land from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'', Mario's own (unexplained in subsequent games) kingdom in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoina'', Beanbean Kingdom from ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' and Rogueport and the surrounding areas (plus the offscreen adventures of Luigi in the Waffle Kingdom and nearby lands) from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. However, Isle Delfino from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' is a plane journey away, so it's presumably not "the next land over", and the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' games? ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The final boss of ''Super Mario Galaxy'' is even fought at the centre of the universe.

* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' had a similar expansion in its sequels. The Literature/LandOfOz was revealed to be surrounded by a vast desert with magical death-powers that separated it from other similarly fantastic realms. It was one of the few things in the Baum stories that actually retained consistency from one book to the next. And even here, it will only be consistent if we grant it a {{Retcon}}. In the first two books, it was implied that the deadly desert was separating Oz from the normal world full of {{Muggles}}, and not from other magical lands. ''Literature/TheWickedYears'' attempts to justify this by placing Oz in an AlternateUniverse, which sometimes could catch dim glimpses of our own ("cities of smoke and glass").

** This was done EXTENSIVELY to the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' campaign setting, adding entire new continents from out of nowhere, including Kara-Tur and the Utter East.

** Also, what was at least slightly more plausible, was introducing ''Maztica'', which was basically the Americas before Columbus, and not located on the same "supercontinent".

* In the sequels to the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, it's revealed that ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' took place in the region of Kanto, which is just one region within a larger nation. ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' takes place in the region of Johto, just to the west. ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' takes place on Hoenn, an island far to the south, and ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' on Sinnoh, far to the north - but they are all encapsulated within [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_nation the same country]], a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture thinly-veiled approximation of Japan]]. ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'', meanwhile, takes place in a different area (Orre), and its sequel, ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', adds a new section to the northwest of the region, while keeping most of the original game's locations. ''XD'' also adds a seaport, despite the map of Orre in ''Colosseum'' depicting Orre as being landlocked.

* The ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails]]'' series like ''Suikoden'' above goes to great lengths to avert this. The [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky first series]] takes place in Liberl, a small kingdom that borders the empire of Erebonia and the Republic of Calvard. While we don't see Erebonia in person until the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel third series]], it's completely justified as the ''Sky'' games take place a decade after the war between the two countries still weighs heavily on local politics and the border security naturally isn't keen on you trying to cross. Nevertheless, we do learn several things about it in the meantime, including the names of several important locations, the state of its politics, and several characters hail from there. In fact, we learn about the BigBad of those particular games and his goals [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything 7 years before the game that introduces him came out]]. Meanwhile, there's [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Crossbell]], the city-state some ways away from Liberl we see glimpses of in a flashback before the second series would explore it. The series' consistency is such that the likely plot points explored in the Calvard Arc can be deduced before the next series has been announced (as of the current edit).

* In the ''Franchise/{{Ys}}'' series, Adol always go on a new adventure on a new continent.

** The early books carried scraps of information and seemingly throwaway one-line-jokes suggesting there was an Australia-like country on the Discworld but it wasn't all that important for the plot of ''those'' books. Come Book Twenty-Two in the series and what do we get... ''[[Discworld/TheLastContinent a Discworld Australia]]''. it has been noted that throughout the series there are lots of similar snippets and one-liners suggesting there is a Discworld "South Africa", which is yet to be properly explored. Alas. AuthorExistenceFailure intervened, but Creator/TerryPratchett's personal assistant did note that at his death, one unfinished novel outline would have explored the Discworld Africa and its working title was ''The Dark Incontinent''. Snippets of Terry's ideas may have been released in the posthumously produced ''Complete Discworld Atlas''.
** A brief mention is made in ''Discworld/SmallGods'' of a tropical island ravaged by a tsunami and the need for the survivors to have to adapt to new circumstances. This is never explored in the Discworld but it's interesting to note Terry Pratchett later wrote a standalone novel, ''Literature/{{Nation}}'', which explored this very concept at some length.

* The ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games, as well as all the RPG spinoffs, at least when it doesn't just [[ChaosArchitecture seem to rebuild the entire Mushroom Kingdom from scratch]], like to suddenly reveal all new countries just across the border from the main area, such as the lands of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', Sarasa Land from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'', Mario's own (unexplained in subsequent games) kingdom in ''Super Mario Land 2'', Beanbean Kingdom from ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' and Rogueport and the surrounding areas (plus the offscreen adventures of Luigi in the Waffle Kingdom and nearby lands) from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. However, Isle Delfino from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' is a plane journey away, so it's presumably not "the next land over", and the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' games? ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The final boss of ''Super Mario Galaxy'' is even fought at the centre of the universe.

* The ''SuperMarioBros'' games, as well as all the RPG spinoffs, at least when it doesn't just [[ChaosArchitecture seem to rebuild the entire Mushroom Kingdom from scratch]], like to suddenly reveal all new countries just across the border from the main area, such as the lands of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', Sarasa Land from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'', Mario's own (unexplained in subsequent games) kingdom in ''Super Mario Land 2'', Beanbean Kingdom from ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' and Rogueport and the surrounding areas (plus the offscreen adventures of Luigi in the Waffle Kingdom and nearby lands) from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. However, Isle Delfino from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' is a plane journey away, so it's presumably not "the next land over", and the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' games? ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The final boss of ''Super Mario Galaxy'' is even fought at the centre of the universe.

** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' series was set in ''North'' Hyrule, a region directly north of where the first game occurred. Death Mountain, located at the extreme north of the map in the first ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'', is now located at the extreme south, and two additional continents come into play.

** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]''. The game starts in the Hyrule of ''A Link to the Past'', and the map is an almost one-to-one recreation. And then the player is plunged into Lorule, yet another Alternate Hyrule that is not to confused with the Dark World in Link to the Past despite looking practically identical.

* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' had a similar expansion in its sequels. The Literature/LandOfOz was revealed to be surrounded by a vast desert with magical death-powers that separated it from other similarly fantastic realms. It was one of the few things in the Baum stories that actually retained consistency from one book to the next. And even here, it will only be consistent if we grant it a {{Retcon}}. In the first two books, it was implied that the deadly desert was separating Oz from the normal world full of {{Muggles}}, and not from other magical lands. ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' attempts to justify this by placing Oz in an AlternateUniverse, which sometimes could catch dim glimpses of our own ("cities of smoke and glass").

* The ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails'']] series like ''Suikoden'' above goes to great lengths to avert this. The [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky first series]] takes place in Liberl, a small kingdom that borders the empire of Erebonia and the Republic of Calvard. While we don't see Erebonia in person until the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel third series]], it's completely justified as the ''Sky'' games take place a decade after the war between the two countries still weighs heavily on local politics and the border security naturally isn't keen on you trying to cross. Nevertheless, we do learn several things about it in the meantime, including the names of several important locations, the state of its politics, and several characters hail from there. In fact, we learn about the BigBad of those particular games and his goals [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything 7 years before the game that introduces him came out]]. Meanwhile, there's [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Crossbell]], the city-state some ways away from Liberl we see glimpses of in a flashback before the second series would explore it. The series' consistency is such that the likely plot points explored in the Calvard Arc can be deduced before the next series has been announced (as of the current edit).

** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', despite literally adding a new world or continent in each expansion pack (and providing a good page image), [[AvertedTrope averts]] this. It ascribes to the rule that if you can't go there yourself, it's not on the map, since that would make your map a bit confusing, so it appears as if this is happening, but all locations have pre-existed in some form. The first two expansions brought back Outland and Northrend, the third expansion pack filled out inaccessible (but clearly existent) regions and the elemental planes that had been elaborated on in TabletopGame/WarcraftTheRoleplayingGame. The fourth expansion pack brought us to Pandaria, which had not been accessible in any previous game, but was implied in Warcraft III and elaborated on in the aforementioned RPG. The fifth expansion sees an alternate timeline of the long-established Draenor, and the sixth expansion pack goes to the Broken Isles first established in Warcraft II. The seventh expansion continues this trend by returning to Kul Tiras (a kingdom introduced in Warcraft II) and exploring Zandalar (an island described in the RPG).

** A worse example is ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]''. At least three major species (Denobulans, Xindi, and Sulaban) are introduced in the expansion pack ''prequel''. Since they were never mentioned before, it means at least three species have vanished entirely from the galaxy. Of course, space is a big place, so it could be handwaved that they simply never came up on stories set in later years.

** Then there are the Ferengi, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness who are introduced]] in ''Next Gen'' as a relatively newly-encountered and dangerous species, but by ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' are depicted as [[RetCon having been a major economic power in the quadrant for decades]].

** Another example is Zakhara, the setting for the ''Al-Qadim'' game that was set in the same world as the Realms, and around about 1992 suddenly materialized to the south of both Faerun and Kara-Tur (and even connected to both by a land-bridge) despite never being referred to before; references to it became strangely fashionable after that point.

* Throughout David Eddings's ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', the heroes stick primarily to the Aloria region of the world; countries like Cthol Murgos and Mallorea are only mentioned as where the opposing RedshirtArmy comes from. In the sequel series, ''Literature/TheMalloreon'', the quest sends the heroes into the aforementioned countries -- allowing Eddings the chance to lift the AlwaysChaoticEvil labels off of said country's inhabitants while he's at it. Then he did it ''again'' in ''The Elenium'' and ''The Tamuli''. In ''The Tamuli'', the official reason the main characters come up with for the trip to Tamuli is that, what with the old AlwaysChaoticEvil regime in the country in between them fallen, and travel and contact easier, it is now time to establish official relations. And ''The Belgariad'' not only mentioned Malloria, but actually went to it at the end of the first series, albeit only the extreme and virtually deserted northwest corner

** The early books carried scraps of information and seemingly throwaway one-line-jokes suggesting there was an Australia-like country on the Discworld but it wasn't all that important for the plot of ''those'' books. Come Book Twenty-Two in the series and what do we get... ''[[Literature/TheLastContinent a Discworld Australia]]''. it has been noted that throughout the series there are lots of similar snippets and one-liners suggesting there is a Discworld "South Africa", which is yet to be properly explored. Alas. AuthorExistenceFailure intervened, but Crerator/TerryPratchett's personal assistant did note that at his death, one unfinished novel outline would have explored the Discworld Africa and its working title was ''The Dark Incontinent''. Snippets of Terry's ideas may have been released in the posthumously produced ''Complete Discworld Atlas''.

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' series introduces a vast BackStory (and several thousand planets) not hinted at in the film. The creators of the film had their own backstory in mind, which was elaborated on in spin-off novels, but the series ignored it. Not to mention the fact that after the main immortal godlike alien bad guys of SG-1 got defeated, they decided to piss off immortal, godlike aliens from another galaxy, or that the spin-off series, ''Atlantis'', is set in a third, unique galaxy.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM-KljboL7Y&feature=iv&src_vid=rTT91ywkSaA&annotation_id=annotation_2230058621 Preliminary analysis]] of the map in ''Zelda Wii U'' implies that the game will try to consolidate the maps of Zelda I and II, Ocarina, and Twilight Princess.