Introduction
SimCity
Released in 1991 for the SNES by Maxis
Overview:
In Simcity, you have the ability to create an entire city from the ground up. You select where you want to build your city through the available land forms, and with a modest budget create a tiny hamlet or a thriving metropolis.
Although the choices of what you can build are limited (after all, this is a SNES game), you still have choices to make. Will your city run on coal or nuclear power? Will your city be on an island or on a river? Will your city be filled with heavy industry, or peaceful parkland?
So much variety, but are there any goals?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is it depends on which part of the game you play. In this version of SimCity, there are three types of gameplay:
- Tutorial Mode - Build a city on a small island while the game introduces you to the gameplay. Your goal here is to reach a Metropolis of 100,000 citizens.
- New City Mode - Build a city on any landform you want. Your goal is to reach 500,000 citizens, or create a Megalopolis.
- Scenarios - Play various existing cities, each with a particular disaster or problem. As mayor, attempt to solve these problems or mitigate disaster as best as you can.
What are we going to play?
I feel it would be fun to play all of the game and not leave anything out. Plus, because there is a lot to cover in the game, the Tutorial Mode, while tedious, would give me an adequate chance to talk about the specifics of the game before we start free-styling our city.
Once the tutorial is completed, we will start a new city on an existing landform. I will try to reach 500,000 people as quickly as possible WITHOUT cheating. I may try to push it to 550,000 or more, but we'll see what I can accomplish.
Then, we'll see what happens once you complete all of the scenarios. Maybe there's a way we can get our population even higher?
Tutorial Mode:
- Part 01 - Building Cities the Wright Way [Notes]
- Part 02 - Zone Stacking and Grids vs. Doughnut Blocks [Notes]
- Part 03 - Island Metropolis [Notes]
New City Mode:
- Part 04 - Maps Beginning in Ixty One [Notes]
- Part 05 - River Metropolis [Notes]
- Part 06 - Industrialization [Notes]
- Part 07 - Almost There [Notes]
- Part 08 - Megalopolis and Beyond [Notes]
- Part 09 - Super Megalopolis [Notes]
Scenarios:
- Part 10 - San Francisco, 1906 [Notes]
- Part 11 - Bern, 1965 [Notes]
- Part 12 - Tokyo, 1961 [Notes]
- Part 13 - Detroit, 1972 [Notes]
- Part 14 - Boston, 2010 [Notes]
- Part 15 - Rio de Janeiro, 2047 [Notes]
- Part 16 - Las Vegas, 2096 (and Freeland) [Notes]
Bonus City: