10 Video Game Locations You Didn't Know Actually Exist

8. Corneria (Star Fox)/ Fushimi Inari-taisha (Kyoto, Japan)

Anor Londo Il Duomo
Nintendo/BriYYZ from Toronto, Canada [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The inspiration for Star Fox struck Shigeru Miyamoto when visiting the phenomenal Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine in his hometown of Kyoto.

Outside the shrine sits dozens of stone fox statues of just about every imaginable variety in tribute to Inari, one of the main gods, or kami, of Shintoism. Though none of them depict a vulpine-piloted spaceship, the oft-flying Inari gave Miyamoto the idea for his spacefaring fox.

Fushimi Inari-taisha is also known for its hundred and hundreds of red torii gates. Miyamoto mused that arches make people want to go through them - and later made it possible in Star Fox, albeit in the cockpit of an Arwing.

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.