Real life locations that serve as the inspiration for video game locales

[gbpxl]

I was in art history class when I first learned about the Bamyan Buddhas. Being the gamer that I am I almost immediately thought of the Desert Collosus from Ocarina of Time. I am not sure if this was actually the inspiration for the temple or not but the similarities are there (well not anymore, since they were blown up in 2001.)

A part in Sonic Adventure is clearly inspired by the Mexican pyramids. It's in the Mystic Ruins section of the game.

I got to wondering, where did the developers of some other games with great scenic locales draw their inspiration from? Is there a story behind the library level in Halo Combat Evolved? The architecture reminds me of that of the movie Total Recall.

What are some other games that you guys can think of whose fantasy realms aren't much different from some places here on Earth?

[gbpxl]

Another one I just thought of is the beginning stages of Outrun 2 and Outrun 2 SP remind me of a section of shoreline in Chicago with the skyscrapers near Sandy beaches

Castlevania SOTN seems to draw heavily from Bran Castle which apparently is known as Draculas Castle according to Google.

[mkenyon2]

I was thinking it would be good to collect a list of these. Maybe find places that inspired these games and collect them here.

[Nz17]

New York City and the greater New York area are direct inspirations for the Blackwell adventure games as well as most (all?) adventure games made by Dave Gilbert.

Speaking of which, New York City is also the inspiration for locales in the Batman and Spider-Man games.

Then again, I suppose these are locations which are referenced by their real names in the games and translated directly into the games instead of being inspirations for new creations by new names.

[Wraith Storm]

I remember playing Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side like crazy when it came out.
The pirate character Riptide and her stage "Off the Barbary Coast" always stuck with me. A year or two later in history class we learned about The Barbary Coast and the Pirates that sailed it.
I was like "Holy Crap! I know about this! I never knew that EC:CD was so educational."

[WulfeLuer]

We need to do this. We might to try some ground rules, like if a game comes from a franchise that uses a particular IRL location a lot or outright exclusively, put it on a separate list. Mostly I'm trying to say that we'd be looking for nifty little geographical references or allusions.

Sometimes, games can get it wrong. There's at least one NCAA football game floating around that uses a local high school (Fort Gordon High School) and has the field out in the middle of nowhere in a flat desert. It's actually pretty hilly and green here in Augusta, Georgia, with lots of woods and water (for now).

[YoshiM]

Sid Meier's Pirates games, Oregon Trail and (perhaps a stretch) the Carmen Sandiego games come to mind. "San Francisco Rush", "L.A. Rush", "Cruisin' USA" were probably inspired by locations. Many simulators probably are as well to a degree.

In more modern games, "Amazing Frog?" main city is based and somewhat modeled after the developer's home town of Swindon.

[WulfeLuer]

Carmen Sandiego would count, it's all about the little bits and pieces of IRL places (usually). Though I'd hate to dignify it, Mario is Missing would also count. Mega Man 6 also makes the list with the cultural pastiche in some of the stages. Illusion of Gaia would also fit. Castlevania: Bloodlines.

[Nz17]

The World Ends with You (various locations in Shibuya, Tokyo)
The Unavowed (NYC)
Kyoto Colorful Days (Kyoto)
DOOM, DOOM II (Phobos, Demos, Mars, Earth)
Civilization (series) (various nations and cities)
The Caribbean Sail (various nations, islands, and cities)
Pro Pinball - Big Race USA (various American states and cities)
Star Control (series, real planets and stars)
The Last Express (places along the route of the Orient Express)
Sonic (series) (San Francisco, Angel Island)
My Japanese Coach (cities and prefectures across Japan)
Castlevania (series) (Wallachia, Transylvania, Romania)
Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure (locations in France, Paris)
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (various American locations)
Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (Tokyo from decades past)
Sakura Wars (series) (real-life buildings and locations in America, Japan, France, Europe)
Valkyria Chronicles (Europe during World War II, particularly Poland)
Any game set during a war from the real-world
Really, if you look at it, the number of games inspired by real-life locations is staggering. These examples are only from a small sampling of my total game collection, and I know there are many more from both my collection and from beyond my collection.