Board 8 > The Mount Rushmore of: Video Game Cities

(+) Yeah! (+)

Rules

1. You may vote up to 4 entries that fit the prompt.
2. No alts.
3. No deleting or editing posts; though, editing posts shortly after you post is fine.
4. If you change your vote, clearly indicate that you are changing a previous vote. Same for adding or subtracting picks.
5. In general, if there are two picks that can be considered the same product (i.e. Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle), I will combine them.
6. If a vote is vague, I will pick the first available choice that best matches the vote (i.e. "Mario" for Wii Games becomes Super Mario Galaxy).
7. I will post the parameters of each Rushmore topic. Other than that, feel free to vote however you like and based on any criteria that best fits the "Mount Rushmore" of that topic.
8. If a vote doesn't fit the topic, it will count as a blank vote.
9. You may nominate as much as you want and have an unlimited amount of seconds for established nominations.
10. Every Sunday, I'll post the schedule for next week. I will pick based on the number of nominations. Any ties will be determined by RNG.

Spreadsheet & Nominations

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aatA25pW6OsDn2RlAAGP1_GOGCMNvLLumAKckHOhtFk/edit?gid=1117984190#gid=1117984190

Last Topics Results

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0e6c3312.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8c408718.png

I jinxed Mario 64, which split up the vote 3-ways. If they combined, they would have gotten on. Now I will jinx OOT, as Water Temple got in easily and Fire Temple continues to come up in the discussion.

My poll reflects this idea about bad video game levels, especially as water levels have a certain reputation due to their arcane and unique game mechanics like drowning, swimming, vertical ascension, etc. Though, I find it funny that Atlantica got on, which I thought was universally hated.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/30f4e3aa.png

Gulg was never really threatened.

Last 5 Rushmores

Cartoon Villains: Mr. Burns / Skeletor / Shredder / Dick Dastardly
American Film Directors: Steven Spielberg / Martin Scorsese / Quentin Tarantino / Stanley Kubrick
Video Game Starting Stages: 1-1 (Super Mario Bros.) / Green Hill Zone (Sonic) / Bombing Mission (Final Fantasy VII) / Bob-omb Battlefield (Super Mario 64)
Video Game Fire-Related Stages: Lethal Lava Land (Super Mario 64) / Norfair (Super Metroid) / Fire Temple (Zelda: Ocarina of Time) / TBD
Video Game Water-Related Areas: Coral Capers (Donkey Kong Country) / Water Temple (Zelda: Ocarina of Time) / 2-2 (Super Mario Bros.) / Atlantica (Kingdom Hearts)

This Week's Rushmores

Monday: Video Game Cities
Tuesday: Video Game Earth-Related Stages
Wednesday: Video Game Air-Related Stages
Thursday: Video Game Secret Areas
Friday: ON BREAK
Saturday: ON BREAK
Sunday: ON BREAK
(next Monday): ON BREAK
Themed Week will start early and continue until August 21, as I'll be taking August 22 - 25 off.

Today's Parameters

You must pick cities in video games.

Cities can be as big as metropolises or as small as villages. Really, any group of settlements would count as a city.

Cities are typically peaceful and are places to talk to NPCs and shop, but it doesn't have to be. You may choose typical video game levels that happen to take place in cities as well.

Stages/levels/areas should be contained to singular areas, but can be as large or as small as you like. If most of the game occurs in a single city, it counts.

Cities explicitly based on real cities count.

https://gamerant.com/most-iconic-video-game-cities/
https://www.thegamer.com/video-game-settlements-towns-cities-feel-alive-real/
https://www.dualshockers.com/most-iconic-video-game-cities/
https://en.gamefa.com/2467/10-fictional-cities-in-video-games/
https://pixeldive.substack.com/p/livin-it-up-in-the-city-the-top-21
https://www.videogamer.com/features/top-10-video-game-cities-of-all-time/
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MetropolisLevel
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GraffitiTown
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UrbanRuins

Pallet Town (Pokemon Red/Blue)
Midgar (Final Fantasy VII)
Orgrimmar (World of Warcraft)
Kamurocho (Yakuza)

Midgar
Rapture
Liberty City
Citadel (if it counts)

Pallet Town
Midgar
Orgrimmar
Rapture

Yep.

Pallet Town
Midgar
Rapture
Liberty City

Midgar (Final Fantasy VII)
Vice City (GTA: Vice City)
Rogueport (Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door)
Inaba (Persona 4)

Voting can go so many ways with this one.

Kamurocho (Yakuza)
Midgar (Final Fantasy VII)

Novigrad (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)
Court of Fontaine (Genshin Impact)
Kamurocho (Yakuza)
Arkham City (Batman: Arkham City)

Pallet Town
Midgar
Rapture
Kamurocho

The City (Limbus Company) [I mean it's called that even though its...bigger but hey]
Stormwind City (World of Warcraft)
Night City (Cyberpunk 2077) [does this count since Cyberpunk was originally tabletop?]
Raccoon City (Resident Evil series)

Midgar
Clock Town
Raccoon City
SimCity

Midgar
Silent Hill
Stormwind City
Vice City

Metro City (Final Fight)
Kamurocho (Yakuza Series)
Raccoon City (Resident Evil)
New Vegas (Fallout: New Vegas)

Midgar (Final Fantasy VII)
Silent Hill (Silent Hill)
Night City (Cyberpunk 2077)
Rapture (Bioshock)

All entries count so far!

Midgar
Liberty City
Pallet Town
Raccoon City

I would generally avoid bad entries yeah. Think nobody thought Washington or Jefferson were bad a century ago. And people who do are a miniscule minority today.

anyway

Midgar
Raccoon City
Kamurocho
Night City

Pallet Town (Pokemon)
Midgar (Final Fantasy VII)
Raccoon City (Resident Evil)
Vice City (GTA)

For the GTA one, I had to really think about which city was the most worthy. I've never been too fond of Liberty City since it doesn't have much character. Los Santos is better, but not Rushmore-worthy.

Honorable mentions to Rapture (BioShock) and Inaba (Persona 4).

Gotham City (in the Arkham games)
New York City (in the Spiderman games)
Night City
Midgar

if i was doing just personal favourites, it'd probably end up very ps2 jrpg flavoured lol

Raccoon City
Silent Hill
Liberty City
Midgar

pallet town is an awful choice, it has nothing going for it other than recognizability. there are better and more meaningful cities in that very game!

Rapture - Bioshock
Liberty City - Grand Theft Auto
The Citadel - Mass Effect
Raccoon City - Resident Evil

SeabassDebeste posted...

pallet town is an awful choice, it has nothing going for it other than recognizability. there are better and more meaningful cities in that very game!

https://youtu.be/fOsdy1ZsXUs?si=J5U7dgOwItp2XKLs

gotta go there

Metro City (Final Fight)
Clock Town (Majora's Mask)
Midgar (FF7)
Arkham City (Batman: Arkham City)

Kamurocho
Rapture

SeabassDebeste posted...

pallet town is an awful choice, it has nothing going for it other than recognizability. there are better and more meaningful cities in that very game!

I would vote for Castelia if I thought anyone else would. But RPG quaint starter town is a really common archetype and Pallet is the most known of them.

Stormwind
Rapture
Raccoon City
Liberty City

Remove:
Raccoon City
Clock Town

Add:
Silent Hill
Liberty City

Silent Hill
Midgar
Stormwind City
Twilight Town

Silent Hill
Midgar
Raccoon City
Night City

Kamurocho
Midgar
Night City
Silent Hill

Can't really understand the Pallet votes - it's super flavorless and has nothing going on other than one of the small handful of houses there being where you start the game. I don't even think it even rightly qualifies as a city!

Midgar
Vice City
Raccoon City
Night City

If Midgar didn't exist I'd have gone with Rabanastre as the FF rep.

If Midgar didn't exist, the FF answer should be Esthar imhotbqh

Ishgard the best non-Midgar city.

Midgar
Silent Hill
Rapture
Vice City

I don't think FF has a rep that deserves to be on this list outside of Midgar.

KamikazePotato posted...

I don't think FF has a rep that deserves to be on this list outside of Midgar.

To be serious for a moment, I mostly agree, but I think you could make a solid argument for Zanarkand.

Silent Hill
Los Santos
The City of Glass (Mirror's Edge)
Dalaran (Warcraft)

Hear me out for the last one - it was the main hub not once but twice during WoW expansions, and it got destroyed at the start of the most recent one, with its remains polluting one of the shores of the Isle of Dorn.

Midgar
Silent Hill
Anor Londo
Radical City (Sonic R)

tfw you're livin' in the city

Isquen posted...

Silent Hill
Los Santos
The City of Glass (Mirror's Edge)
Dalaran (Warcraft)

Hear me out for the last one - it was the main hub not once but twice during WoW expansions, and it got destroyed at the start of the most recent one, with its remains polluting one of the shores of the Isle of Dorn.

I dont disagree with you in terms of Dalarans importance in-game but both Stormwind and Orgrimmar are way more iconic and recognizable. And also its way too late to make a push for a third city, lest none of them end up on the Rushmore (which is probably going to happen anyways lol)

Zil Padon (Grandia)
Eshtar (FF8)
City of Tears (Hollow Knight)
Bledavik (Xenogears)

HMs: Troia (FF4), Termina (Majora's Mask), Market Town (Ocarina of Time), Bejeweled City (Legend of Mana), Shevat (Xenogears), Okinawa Ocean City (FM3).

Midgar
Los Santos
Kamurocho
Stormwind

This could go in a bunch of different directions, but these are the 4 I feel the best about.

Midgar (Final Fantasy VII)
Vice City (GTA: Vice City)
Arkham City (Batman: Arkham City)

Liberty City (GTA III)
Silent Hill
Saffron City (Pokmon RBY)
Kokiri Forest (Zelda OoT)

KamikazePotato posted...

I don't think FF has a rep that deserves to be on this list outside of Midgar.

Corneria?

I like swords?

Rapture
Vice City
Silent Hill
Arkham City

Racoon City
Midgar
Vice City
Silent Hill