SimCity (1989 video game)

SimCity
1990 North American box art, depicting a jukebox with a picture of a city being hit by the "Tornado" disaster. The initial 1989 release of the game featured the "Monster" disaster on the jukebox which was changed over the unauthorized usage of the Godzilla-esque monster.
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Maxis
Designer(s)Will Wright
SeriesSimCity
Platform(s)Archimedes, Electron, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, CDTV, DESQview, MS-DOS, EPOC32, FM Towns, iOS, J2ME, Linux, Mac OS, MSX, OLPC XO-1, OS/2, PC-88, PC-98, SNES, Unix, Windows, X68000, ZX Spectrum
Release
February 1989
  • Mac OS, Amiga
    Commodore 64
    • NA: August 1989
    IBM PC
    • NA: October 1989
    MS-DOS
    FM Towns
    • JP: March 1990
    PC DOS
    • NA: April 9, 1990
    ZX-Spectrum
    • EU: August 1990
    Amstrad CPC
    • EU: January 1991
    SNES
    • JP: April 26, 1991
    • NA: August 23, 1991
    • EU: September 24, 1992
    Wii Virtual Console
    • NA: November 19, 2006
    iOS
    • NA: December 18, 2008
Genre(s)City-building
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

SimCity (also 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.

SimCity sold 300,000 units for personal computers and nearly 2 million units for the SNES. SimCity was met with critical acclaim for its innovative and addictive gameplay despite the absence of action elements. Reviewers considered the game instructive and helpful toward the player's understanding of urban planning, politics, and economics. SimCity received numerous awards from news publishers and associations. The success of SimCity marked the beginning of the urban simulation genre of video games, as well as publisher Maxis' 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.

  1. ^ Lacey, Eugene (September 1989). "Screentest - Simcity". ACE. No. 24. EMAP. pp. 66–67. Amiga: £TBA Out Now
  2. ^ a b "SimCity That I Used to Know". Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  3. ^ "SimCity Classic". Archived from the original on April 3, 2014.
  4. ^ "IGN". Archived from the original on July 24, 2012.