#smti

I may be late to the party, but I just discovered something.

This is Kichijoji in Shin Megami Tensei I. Keep in mind that the Super Famicom came out a little more than two years before this game did, so graphics are primitive. Those two red things are houses (Kazuya lives in the one to the north), those purple lines are the train tracks and the purple shack is the train station, and those yellow tubes are the mall. Inokashira Park is a bit to the south, out of frame.

For the longest time, I wondered about why the mall was such a weird shape. Why a tube? Then I remembered that the iOS version called it the Arcade rather than the mall; turns out that 'arcade' can also mean 'street covered by an arched roof lined with shops.'

This isn't a building, no matter what it looks like on the inside. I'm guessing that high, arched ceilings would have been a hassle for a place you only visit once.

(Also, if you see the inside map, it's more of a T block than a + sign, which is why there's no east exit. Later versions had it as a T block, but you don't really get the same 'tube nestled in buildings' sense. It's also not an arch anymore.)

This is Kichijoji in Persona 5 Royal. Other sources show that it's clearly based on Kichijoji Sunroad Shopping District. The station is right behind you.

Thanks to this Reddit thread, I have this picture of where things from SMT I correspond to in real life (I added the red markings). We can see the shape of the t-block surrounded by buildings.

I found some interesting stuff when checking with Google Maps.

First, the train station (circled in red on the right) is more to the east than the south. You can see it better in the newer versions, but it looks like the in-game map was rotated. At this point, though, I'm mostly impressed that they got 'there's an entrance right next to the station' right; I'm not going to complain about the orientation.

The second interesting thing: that's Kichijoji Sunroad, circled in red on the left.

See that alleyway on the left? That's not an alleyway. That's one of the entrances to the Arcade. It's the 'south' entrance you see in SMT I.

If Joker was just allowed to go left, we could have seen a revamped version of the Arcade from Shin Megami Tensei I.

Anon requested SMT1 Heroine!