SimCity (1989 video game)

SimCity, also known as Micropolis or SimCity Classic, is a city-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright and released for a number of platforms from 1989 to 1991. "SimCity" features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective. The objective of the game is to create a city, develop residential and industrial areas, build infrastructure and collect taxes for further development of the city. Importance is put on increasing the standard of living of the population, maintaining a balance between the different sectors, and monitoring the region's environmental situation to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt.
"SimCity" was independently developed by Will Wright beginning in 1985, and would not see its first release until 1989. Because the game lacked any of the arcade or action elements that dominated the video game market in the 1980s, video game publishers declined to release the title in fear of its commercial failure, until Broderbund eventually agreed to distribute it. Although the game initially sold poorly, positive feedback from the gaming press boosted its sales. After becoming a best-seller, "SimCity" was released on several other platforms, most notably on the Super NES in 1991, in which its gameplay was significantly improved with Nintendo's involvement.
"SimCity" was commercially successful, selling 300,000 units for personal computers and nearly 2 million units for the SNES. The game was recognized as a new phenomenon within the gaming industry, and it broke the widespread belief that computer games were primarily intended for children. "SimCity" was met with critical appraisal for its innovative and addictive gameplay in spite of the absence of platformer or shooter elements. Reviewers considered the game to be instructive and helpful toward the player's understanding of the basics of urban planning, politics and economics. "SimCity" received numerous awards from various news publishers and associations. The success of "SimCity" marked the beginning of the urban simulation genre of video games, as well as publisher Maxis's tradition of producing non-linear simulation games, one of which – "The Sims" – would surpass all its predecessors in popularity and become one of the best-selling franchises in the video game industry. It is considered one of the greatest video games of all time.
Gameplay.
The objective of "SimCity" is to build and design a city, without specific goals to achieve. The player can mark land as being zoned as commercial, industrial, or residential, add buildings, change the tax rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and take many other actions, to enhance the city. Once able to construct buildings in a particular area, the too-small-to-see residents, known as "Sims", may choose to construct and upgrade houses, apartment blocks, light or heavy industrial buildings, commercial buildings, hospitals, churches, and other structures. The Sims make these choices based on such factors as traffic levels, adequate electrical power, crime levels, and proximity to other types of buildings—for example, residential areas next to a power plant will seldom appreciate to the highest grade of housing. In the Super NES version and later, the player can also build rewards when they are given to them, such as a mayor's mansion or a casino.
The player may face disasters including flooding, tornadoes, fires (often from air disasters or shipwrecks), earthquakes and attacks by monsters. In addition, monsters and tornadoes can trigger train crashes by running into passing trains.
Scenarios.
"SimCity" includes goal-centered, timed scenarios that could be won or lost depending on the performance of the player. The scenarios were an addition suggested by Brøderbund to make "SimCity" more like a game. The original cities were based on real world cities and attempted to re-create their general layout. While most scenarios either take place in a fictional timeline or have a city under siege by a fictional disaster, a handful of available scenarios are based on actual historical events.
Development.
"SimCity" was developed by game designer Will Wright. While working on the game "Raid on Bungeling Bay", in which the player flies a helicopter dropping bombs on islands, Wright found he enjoyed designing the islands in the level editor more than playing the actual game. This led him to develop increasingly sophisticated level editors. At the same time, Wright was cultivating a love of the intricacies and theories of urban planning and acknowledges the influence of System Dynamics which was developed by Jay Wright Forrester and whose book on the subject laid the foundations for what would become "SimCity". In addition, Wright also was inspired by reading "The Seventh Sally", a short story from "The Cyberiad" by Stanisław Lem, in which an engineer encounters a deposed tyrant, and creates a miniature city with artificial citizens for the tyrant to oppress. The game reflected Wright's approval of mass transit and disapproval of nuclear power; Maxis president Jeff Braun stated "We're pushing political agendas".
The first version of the game was developed for the Commodore 64 in 1985; it was not published for another four years. The original working title of SimCity was "Micropolis". The game was unusual in that it could neither be won nor lost; as a result, game publishers did not believe it was possible to market and sell such a game successfully. Brøderbund declined to publish the title when Wright proposed it, and he pitched it to a range of major game publishers without success. Finally, Braun, founder of the tiny software company Maxis, agreed to publish "SimCity" as one of two initial games for the company.
Wright and Braun returned to Brøderbund to formally clear the rights to the game in 1988, when "SimCity" was near completion. After Brøderbund executives Gary Carlston and Don Daglow saw "SimCity", they signed Maxis to a distribution deal for both of its initial games. With that, four years after initial development, "SimCity" was released for the Amiga and Macintosh platforms, followed by the IBM PC and Commodore 64 later in 1989.
Ports and versions.
After the original release on the Amiga and Macintosh, then the Commodore 64 and IBM PC, it was ported to several other computer platforms and video game consoles, specifically the Atari ST, Acorn Archimedes, Amstrad CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (which was later released on Virtual Console), EPOC32, mobile phone, Internet, Windows, FM-Towns, OLPC XO-1 and NeWS HyperLook on Sun Unix. The game is available as a multiplayer version for X11 Tcl/Tk on various Unix, Linux, DESQview and OS/2 operating systems. Certain versions have been re-released with various add-ons, including extra scenarios. Two 'Graphics Sets' packs were released, 3 sets in each, which change the graphics and messages in the game, for both DOS and Windows versions. An additional extra add on, included with the Windows version of "SimCity Classic" was the Terrain Editor - a 'level editor', or city map creator. The Terrain Editor is a simple tool that allows the user to create maps with forest, land, and water portions. "SimCity Classic" was re-released in 1993 as part of the "SimClassics Volume 1" compilation alongside "SimAnt" and "SimLife" for PC, Mac and Amiga.
A version was developed in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but never released; a prototype version was found in 2017. On December 25, 2018, a ROM image of the unreleased NES version was released online by Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation.
The original DOS version of "SimCity" supports a variety of graphics modes. SimCity v1.00 runs in CGA monochrome 640x200, EGA color 320x200, Tandy 640x200 mode, Hercules 720x348 mono, and EGA 640x350 in color or mono. v1.07 added MCGA 640x480 mono. A later v2.00 DOS release (SimCity 'Classic') dropped all of the old 200-line modes, added VGA 640x480 color, and a special VGA/MCGA 320x200 256-color mode.
A Windows 3.0/3.1 port of "SimCity" was released in 1992. It runs in the Windows GDI with new sounds and music, either PC-Speaker type or digital/MIDI type. The Windows PC-Speaker sound/music is quite innovative. Two later CD-ROM versions were released: One by Interplay in 1994 for DOS, with new 256 color graphics and event-triggered movies. The second is a Deluxe version by Maxis in 1995 with new 256-color graphics and sound, and also including all 6 graphics sets and a new Terrain Editor.
Super NES.
"SimCity" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) features the same gameplay and scenario features; however, since it was developed and published by Nintendo, the company incorporated their own ideas. Instead of the Godzilla monster disaster, Bowser of the "Super Mario" series becomes the attacking monster, and once the city reaches a landmark 500,000 populace, the player receives a Mario statue that is placeable in the city. The Super NES port also features special buildings the player may receive as rewards, such as casinos, large parks, amusement parks, and expo centers; some of which would be incorporated into "SimCity 2000". A bank can be built which will allow a loan of $10,000 to be taken, but it must be paid back before another loan can be taken out. The game includes schools and hospitals, though they cannot be placed by the player; instead, the game will sometimes turn an empty residential lot into one. There are city classifications, such as becoming a metropolis at 100,000 people. It has some of the same pre-set scenarios in the PC and Mac versions and two new ones. One is in Las Vegas under attack by aliens and another called Freeland. Freeland has no water and no rewards buildings are given. Also unique to the Super NES version is a character named "Dr. Wright" (whose physical appearance is based on Will Wright) who acts as an adviser to the player. The soundtrack was composed by Soyo Oka. The edition is featured as Nintendo's Player's Choice as a million seller.
In August 1996, a version of the game entitled "BS Sim City Machizukuri Taikai" was broadcast to Japanese players via the Super Famicom's Satellaview subsystem. Later, a sequel titled "SimCity 64" was released for Nintendo 64DD, the Japan-only Nintendo 64 add-on.
Cancelled NES version.
A version for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was announced alongside the SNES version, and had been showcased at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, but the NES version was never properly released. However, prototype cartridges for the NES version were discovered in 2017, and one copy was obtained by video game preservationist Frank Cifaldi, who extensively documented its features compared to the original personal computer game and the SNES version. It featured a completely different soundtrack (also composed by Oka) from that of the SNES version; besides "Metropolis Theme", a composition that Oka herself considers one of her best works.
"Micropolis".
In January 2008, the "SimCity" source code was released under the free software GPL 3 license, renamed to "Micropolis" (the original working title) for trademark reasons, and developed by Don Hopkins. The release of the source code was motivated by the One Laptop Per Child program. The "Micropolis" source code has been translated to C++, integrated with Python and interfaced with both GTK+ and OpenLaszlo.
In 2008, Maxis established an online browser-based version of "SimCity". A second browser-based version was later released under the name "Micropolis". In 2013, a browser-based version was released, ported using JavaScript and HTML5, as "micropolisJS".
Since "Micropolis" is licensed under the GPL, users can do anything they want with it that conforms with the GPLthe only restriction is that they cannot call it "SimCity" (along with a few other limitations to protect EA's trademarks). This allows other, differently named projects to be forked from the Micropolis source code. Improvements to the open source code base that merits EA's approval may be incorporated into the official "OLPC SimCity" source code, to be distributed with the OLPC under the trademarked name "OLPC SimCity", but only after it has been reviewed and approved by EA.
Reception.
"SimCity" was a financial success, selling one million copies by late 1992. In the United States, it was the ninth best-selling computer game from 1993 to 1999, with another 830,000 units sold. It was critically acclaimed and received significant recognition within a year after its initial release. As of December 1990, the game was reported to have won the following awards:
In addition, "SimCity" won the Origins Award for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game" of 1989 in 1990, was named to "Computer Gaming World"s Hall of Fame for games readers highly rated over time, and the multiplayer X11 version of the game was also nominated in 1992 as the Best Product of the Year in "Unix World". "Macworld" named the Macintosh version of "SimCity" the Best Simulation Game of 1989, putting it into the Macintosh Game Hall of Fame. "Macworld", in their review, praised its graphics as well as its strategic gameplay, calling it "A challenging, dynamic game, realistic and unpredictable", and notes how "as the population grows the city's needs change." "SimCity" was named No. 4 "Ten Greatest PC Game Ever" by PC World in 2009. It was named one of the sixteen most influential games in history at Telespiele, a German technology and games trade show, in 2007. Sid Meier in 2008 named "SimCity" as one of the three most important innovations in videogame history, as it led to other games that encouraged players to create, not destroy. It was named No. 11 on IGN's 2009 "Top 25 PC Games of All Time" list. In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" declared "SimCity" the 6th-best computer game ever released.
"Entertainment Weekly" gave the game an B+.
In 1991, "PC Format" named "SimCity" one of the 50 best computer games ever. The editors called it "a town planner's dream".
The University of Southern California and University of Arizona used "SimCity" in urban planning and political science classes. Chuck Moss of "The Detroit News" found that Godzilla attacking the city in the 1972 Detroit scenario caused less destruction than the mayoralty of Coleman Young. In 1990 "The Providence Journal" invited five candidates for Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island to manage a "SimCity" town resembling the city. Victoria Lederberg blamed her close loss in the Democratic primary to the newspaper's description of her poor performance in the game; former mayor Buddy Cianci, the most successful player, won election that year.
The "SimCity Terrain Editor" was reviewed in 1989 in "Dragon" No. 147 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the expansion 4 out of 5 stars.
The ZX Spectrum version was voted number 4 in the "Your Sinclair Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time".
In 2004, "SimCity" was inducted into GameSpot's list of the greatest games of all time.
On March 12, 2007, "The New York Times" reported that "SimCity" was named to a list of the ten most important video games of all time, the so-called game canon. The Library of Congress took up a video game preservation proposal and began with the games from this list, including "SimCity".
Legacy.
"SimCity" yielded several sequels. "Sim" games of many types were developedwith Will Wright and Maxis developing myriad titles including "SimEarth", "SimFarm", "SimTown", "Streets of SimCity", "SimCopter", "SimAnt", "SimLife", "", "SimTower", "SimPark", "SimSafari", and "The Sims", which spawned its own series, as well as the unreleased "SimsVille" and "SimMars." They also obtained licenses for some titles developed in Japan, such as "SimTower" and "Let's Take The A-Train" (released as "A-Train" outside Japan). "Spore", released in 2008, was originally going to be titled "SimEverything"a name that Will Wright thought might accurately describe what he was trying to achieve.
"SimCity" inspired a new genre of video games. "Software toys" that were open-ended with no set objective were developed trying to duplicate "SimCity"'s success. The most successful was most definitely Wright's own "The Sims", which went on to be the best selling computer game of all time. The ideas pioneered in "SimCity" have been incorporated into real-world applications as well, as urban developers have recognized that the game's design was "gamification" of city planning by integrating numerous real-world systems for a city or region interacted to project growth or change. For example, VisitorVille simulates a city based on website statistics. Several real-world city improvement projects started with models inspired by "SimCity" prior to implementation, particularly with the onset of more-connected smart cities.
The series also spawned a "" collectible card game, produced by Mayfair Games. Rick Swan reviewed "Sim City: The Card Game" for "Dragon" magazine No. 221 (September 1995). Swan says that "While the card game doesn't scale the heights of the computer game, it comes close."
Dr. Wright from the Super NES version has made appearances in several video games. He is a non-player character in "", and an assist trophy in the "Super Smash Bros." series.