Download Simcity Classic

[Armanda Kicks]

SimCityalso known as the retronyms Micropolis or SimCity Classic)[3] is a city-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright, and released for several platforms from 1989 to 1991. SimCity features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective. The game's objective is to create a city, develop residential and industrial areas, build infrastructure, and collect taxes for further city development. Importance is placed on increasing the population's standard of living, maintaining a balance between the different sectors, and monitoring the region's environmental situations to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt.

SimCity was independently developed by Will Wright, beginning in 1985; the game was not released until 1989.[2][4] Because the game lacked any arcade or action elements that dominated the video game market in the 1980s, video game publishers declined to release the title for 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 Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1991. Its gameplay was significantly revised with Nintendo's involvement.

The player may face disasters including floods, tornadoes, fires (often from air disasters or shipwrecks), earthquakes and monster attacks. In addition, monsters and tornadoes can trigger train crashes by running into passing trains.

SimCity features goal-oriented, time-limited scenarios that are contingent on the player's performance and could result in either a win or a loss. The implementation of scenarios was suggested by Broderbund, as a means of transforming SimCity into a more traditional game format. This addition was intended to enhance the overall experience for players, by introducing clearly defined objectives and increasing the level of challenge in the game.[7] In SimCity, the initial cities were modeled after real-world cities and endeavored to replicate their general layout. Although the majority of scenarios featured in the game exist within a fictional timeline or involve a city besieged by an imaginary catastrophe, a select few are based on genuine historical events. This incorporation of actual historical events adds a unique layer of realism to the game and enables players to engage with significant moments in history in a novel way.

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 rather than playing the actual game.[8] This led him to develop increasingly sophisticated level editors.[9] At the same time, Wright was cultivating a love of the intricacies and theories of urban planning[10] and acknowledges the influence of System Dynamics which was developed by Jay Wright Forrester and whose book on the subject[11] laid the foundations for what would become SimCity.[12] 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.[13] The game reflected Wright's approval of mass transit and disapproval of nuclear power; Maxis president Jeff Braun stated "We're pushing political agendas".[14]

The first version of the game was developed for the Commodore 64 in 1985; it was not published for another four years.[15] The original working title of SimCity was Micropolis.[16] The game was unusual in that it could neither be won or lost; as a result, game publishers did not believe it was possible to market and sell such a game successfully. Broderbund 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.[8]

Wright and Braun returned to Broderbund to formally clear the rights to the game in 1988, when SimCity was near completion. After Broderbund 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.[15]

After the original release on the Amiga and Macintosh, the game was released on the Commodore 64 and IBM PC compatibles, and afterward saw more releases for computers and video game consoles: Atari ST, Acorn Archimedes, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron,[17] Super Nintendo Entertainment System, 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.

Shortly after the game's initial release, Maxis released the SimCity Terrain Editor for the original versions of the game, which was sold as a mail-order add-on in North America but gained a standalone retail release in Europe. The Terrain Editor is a simple tool that allows the user to create maps with forest, land, and water portions. In 1990, Maxis developed two 'Graphics Sets' packs for the MS-DOS and Amiga versions: "Ancient Cities" and "Future Cities". Each pack contained themed sets which changed the graphics and messages in the game to fit certain themes.

In 1991, an enhanced version of the game was released for Windows 3.0/3.1. It runs in the Windows GDI with new sounds and music, either PC-Speaker type or digital/MIDI type. In 1992, to coincide with other re-releases of their games, Maxis re-released the Windows version of SimCity as "SimCity Classic", which bundled the game with the MS-DOS version of the Terrain Editor. The Graphics Sets were also reissued to run on Windows 3.1 as well. SimCity Classic was re-released in 1993 as part of the SimClassics Volume 1 compilation alongside SimAnt and SimLife for PC, Mac and Amiga.[18] In 1995, a Windows 95 compatible version of the game titled "SimCity Deluxe CD-ROM" was released, which included new 256-color graphics and sound, and bundled the Graphics Sets and an updated Terrain Editor together with the base game.

In 1994, Interplay Productions developed and published under license from Maxis a version of the game titled "SimCity Enhanced CD-ROM" for DOS, which included 256 color graphics and FMV movies that would trigger events.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) followed a mid-1989 call to Maxis co-founder Jeff Braun from Nintendo expressing interest in porting the game, as Nintendo developer Shigeru Miyamoto was very interested in how the game allowed the player to create their own world. Braun flew to Nintendo of America's headquarters to meet with chairman Howard Lincoln and president Minoru Arakawa. They offered Braun to do all the porting to the SNES, paying Maxis $1 for every copy sold, and offering Braun a $1 million check for accepting the deal on the spot, which Braun accepted. During this development time, Miyamoto would work alongside Wright to develop means to bring the game to the console.[19]

SimCity for the 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 can be placed in the city. The SNES 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 of 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 is called Freeland. Freeland has no water, and no rewards for buildings are given. Also unique to the SNES version is a character named "Dr. Wright" (whose physical appearance is based on Will Wright) who acts as an adviser to the player. Dr. Wright was inspired by Miyamoto, at time known to fans as "Dr. Miyamoto", and Nintendo had come to recognize the value of cartoonist mascots for games, leading to Dr. Wright's creation.[19] 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 SimCity Machizukuri Taikai was broadcast to Japanese players via the Super Famicom's Satellaview subsystem. Later, a sequel titled SimCity 64 was released for the 64DD, the Japan-only Nintendo 64 add-on.

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.[20][21] It featured a completely different soundtrack (also composed by Oka) from that of the SNES version;[22] besides Metropolis Theme,[23] a composition that Oka herself considers one of her best works.[24]

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