History Main / HubCity

* Millenium City in ''ChampionsOnline'' is this, as well as a CityOfAdventure. The trope mostly focuses on Renaisance Center, which is the one stop shop for pretty much everything in the game. Other zones have conveniences as well, but nothing comes close to RenCen. [[/folder]]

* ''{{Wolfenstein}}'' has Isenstadt, in which the player can interact with various resistance groups, buy weapon upgrades, and tangle with random Nazi patrols between missions.

* In a variation, ''FinalFantasyVII'' makes this the FirstTown, but Midgar is still the Capital of the planet (Shinra's HQ is located here, natch)
* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' has capital cities for almost every race, but only two on each side are ever visited in any large numbers: for the Alliance there's Stormwind (the Human capital) and Ironforge (Dwarves and Gnomes), and for the Horde there's Orgrimmar (Orcs and Trolls) and the Undercity (Undead). The other racial capitals are rarely visited unless a player is questing, due to their remote locations (though some players prefer the less popular capitals if they're running on a slower system, especially during peak hours). As a result, the new races in ''Cataclysm'' will simply be given districts in existing cities: Darnassus (the Night Elf capital) for the Worgen and Orgrimmar for the Goblins.

* The Grand Duchy of Jeuno in ''FinalFantasyXI'', although nowadays Al Zahbi/Whitegate is busier.

* In the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games, Toad Town, Rogueport, and Flipside serve as a combination of this, the FirstTown, and the HubLevel.

** Quite a bit of the early part of the game uses Balmora as a hub, the island's second largest city.

** The ''actual'' capital of ''Morrowind'', however, is Mournhold, [[ShiningCity City of Light]] (and don't forget the magic) - although it doesn't initially seem as big as Vivec. King Helseth has his home here, as does [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]]. The Tribunal expansion takes place in the city.
*** Meanwhile, the technical capital of Vvardenfell (the province where the main part of the game is set) is Ebonheart, which amounts to not much more than a couple of Imperial-style buildings housing the Imperial-appointed Duke and some consular services, across the waterfront from Vivec City.

* ''BaldursGate'' was rather unusual in that the eponymous city didn't appear until very late in the game, and didn't even have all that much directly to do with the plot in it--though it ''was'' huge, composed of six areas where every other town in the game was no more than two screens if one was generous. ''Baldur's Gate 2'', on the other hand, starts you off in Athkatla ([[ArtifactTitle not only several hundred miles south but in a completely other nation]]), which you'll be returning to more than once. ''Throne of Bhaal'', the expansion to the sequel, didn't really ''have'' a capital city, though it did have your pocket plane as a home base.
** BioWare did more or less the same thing in ''DragonAge: Origins'': Denerim is the largest city in the game (which isn't saying much), but you're discouraged from going there until later by a BeefGate or two. Justified in that the EvilChancellor is there at the centre of his power. It ''is'' full of sidequests and critical sequences of the main quests, and [[spoiler:TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]].
*** Obviously in Awakening, it's Amaranthine and in Dragon Age 2 it's Kirkwall, seeing how there aren't any other cities in either game.

** The ''actual'' CapitalCity of ''Morrowind'', however, is Mournhold, [[ShiningCity City of Light]] (and don't forget the magic) - although it doesn't initially seem as big as Vivec. King Helseth has his home here, as does [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]]. The Tribunal expansion takes place in the city.

*** Whiterun ultimately is this city for players though because it contains much of the main plot, BoringYetPractical layout, 2 blacksmiths, the Companions and is hub for most of the quests in game.

* ''TheElderScrolls: Oblivion'' partially subverts this by starting the main character out at the Imperial City prison sewer exit. While this does place the character closest to the Imperial City on the main map, the usual progression for a first-time player is to follow the first quest, which immediately takes you to Weynon Priory, just outside the city of Chorrol. The Imperial City is available to travel to at any time, though.

** ''The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind'' has Vivec, the biggest city in the entire Vvanderfell island, divided in several "cantons" or neighborhoods, each one within a given building. Since the entire game is a WideOpenSandbox, you can go over there any time you want.
** The ''actual'' CapitalCity of {{Morrowind}}, however, is Mournhold, [[ShiningCity City of Light]] (and don't forget the magic) - although it doesn't initially seem as big as Vivec. King Helseth has his home here, as does [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]]. The Tribunal expansion takes place in the city.

** ''Skyrim'' actually muddles this trope. Whiterun ultimately fits the description best as it is the HubCity of Skyrim due to it's central location. However, due to the Civil War, the political hub cities of Skyrim are Solitude (for Imperial-aligned) and Windhelm (for Stormcloak-aligned) and both are large cities with port access to the other side of the country. Add into this the fact that all the Hold Capitals are HubCities for their holds... well, it's complicated.

* Liberty City and Vice City in the ''GrandTheftAuto'' series - the former of these is played more straight in ''[[GrandTheftAutoIII GTA3]]'' and ''[[GrandtheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]'', where the action is more self-contained (Alderney in ''[[GrandTheftAutoIV GTA4]]'' is treated by the Libertonians as a separate city, despite sharing the same conurbation zone - not quite unlike New Jersey to New York City IRL). As for ''[[GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', it's an odd case because the action is rather equally split between Los Santos and San Fierro, with a smaller part of the action being set in Las Venturas.

* The huge, multi-layered Ceres City seems to take up nearly half the game in AlterAila Genesis.

** Every [[TalesSeries Tales]] game has at least one. ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia'' had two, one for each planet the player can visit.

* Liberty City and Vice City in the ''GrandTheftAuto'' series - the former of these is played more straight in ''[[GrandTheftAutoIII GTA3]]'' and ''[[GrandtheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]'', where the action is more self-contained (Alderney in ''[[GrandTheftAutoIV GTA4]]'' is treated by the Libertonians as a separate city, despite sharing the same conurbation zone - not quite unlike New Jersey to New York City IRL).

* The Citadel in ''MassEffect'' certainly counts, and it's even the capital of interstellar politics.

* The ''DeusEx'' series features these heavily. Each game is basically a series of hub cities, linked by story missions.

* Millenium City in ''ChampionsOnline'' is this, as well as a CityOfAdventure. The trope mostly focuses on Renaisance Center, which is the one stop shop for pretty much everything in the game. Other zones have conveniences as well, but nothing comes close to RenCen. [[folder]]

[[/folder]]

** Like, the state?

Compare with TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse and BigApplesauce, when ''everything'' takes place in Tokyo or New York. See MerchantCity for the capitalist version of the CapitalCity, and HolyCity for the religious equivalent--either one could overlap. Often has shades of ShiningCity. May also be a HubLevel.

* ''BaldursGate'' was rather unusual in that the titular city didn't appear until very late in the game, and didn't even have all that much directly to do with the plot in it--though it ''was'' huge, composed of six areas where every other town in the game was no more than two screens if one was generous. ''Baldur's Gate 2'', on the other hand, starts you off in Athkatla ([[ArtifactTitle not only several hundred miles south but in a completely other nation]]), which you'll be returning to more than once. ''Throne of Bhaal'', the expansion to the sequel, didn't really ''have'' a capital city, though it did have your pocket plane as a home base.

* It varies in each ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' game. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' had The Hub as the largest population and trade center of the wastes. New Reno got all the developer love in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', but the New California Republic's capital city was also very important in terms of the story since it belongs to the largest faction in the game universe, and there are much more shops there. San Francisco was pretty important in the last quarter of the game as their shops offer many end game high-tec equipment that you can't get from anywhere else. VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}} was more decentralized, with no real cities. Megaton and Rivet City were the biggest, with Rivet City being bigger and having a better market, while Megaton had more plot and player housing. Like in the second game, the Citadel was big after The Waters of Life. In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the titular city is in almost all ways. While it's only the center of political power for Mr. House and the Families, all the major factions have an interest in it.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* The planet Mid-Childa in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', a bustling inter-world hub that contains the headquarters of both the [[TheFederation Time-Space Administration Bureau]] and the [[TheChurch Belkan Saint Church]].
[[/folder]]

** It was inspired by Trantor in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''{{Foundation}}'' novels.
*** Which was, in turn, very similar with Earth from his [[{{Foundation}} Robot]] novels.

[[folder:Literature]]
* Ankh-Morpork from the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. WordOfGod says its primary inspirations are London, [[BigApplesauce New York]] and Seattle.
* Trantor from {{Foundation}} by Creator/IsaacAsimov. The entire planet is one city, the capital of the [[SpaceRomans Galactic Empire]].
* Minas Tirith from ''TheLordOfTheRings''.
* The StarTrekNovelVerse has quite a few. Among the recurring locations are the following capital cities (with the planet they serve as capital for in brackets): Laibok and later Lor'vela (Andoria), Cardassia City (Cardassia), Ki Baratan/Dartha (Romulus), vosTraal (Mestiko), New Samarkand (Alpha Centauri), Ashalla (Bajor), Medara (Betazed), Leran Manev (Trill), Keelee-kee (Tezwa), Iaron (Damiano), Federation City (New Mirada), Shi'Kahr (Vulcan), hiLeyi'a (Pacifica).
** The capital of Romulus has two names; which one is used is based on era. In StarTrekVulcansHeart, the capital was given the name Ki Baratan. It had previously been called Dartha, but that was a century prior. Later novels used the time gap for a reasonable {{Retcon}}: the capital's name changes as new regimes come to power. Now, books set in the 22nd or 23rd centuries use "Dartha", those set in the 24th use "Ki Baratan". The name change is explicitly mentioned in the first StarTrekTitan novel.
** San Francisco seems to be capital of Earth, although Paris is the official capital of the Federation.
*** Both Starfleet Academy and Starfleet Headquarters are in San Francisco. Since most Trek characters are in Starfleet, it's only natural that many of the earthside references one encounters will be in that region.
* Chasm City on the planet Yellowstone from the ''[[AlastairReynolds Revelation Space]]'' universe.
* King's Landing in ASongOfIceAndFire is the most populous and wealthiest city in Westeros as well as being the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. Before the Conquest Lannisport might have served as an example in the Westerlands as a large prosperous city very close to the Lannister seat of Casterly Rock. The other major cities in Westeros (Oldtown in the Reach, Gulltown in the Vale and White Harbour in the North) can't count because they are all geographically distant from their kingdoms seats of power (The Highgarden, the Eyrie and Winterfell respectively).

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Capital City]], the capital of the state [[TheSimpsons Springfield]] is in. ([[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield whichever it is]])
* Ba Sing Se, the capital of [[TheFederation the Earth Kingdom]] in the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''-verse.
** Fire Nation capital is called... "Capital City".
** In SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Republic City is the capital of the [[TheFederation United Republic of Nations]], explicitly created with the intent of serving as a multicultural center and ShiningCity to the world.
* {{Transformers}} Iacon is usually the Capital City of Cybertron.
[[/folder]]