SimCity

"One of the finest debuts ever made while its also quite possibly the finest game to ever come out of its genre."

In the late 1980's now famous Will Wright started on the revolutionary concept that is to build your own city. It began as a Computer Game which went rather well with the gamer populous. It was initially planned to be ported into the Nintendo Entertainment System but instead they decided to make it for Nintendo's next console instead. (And unlike almost all of Nintendo's other cancellations I can actually understand why and agree with here. Okay I admit a NES Sim City game might've been intresting but this was most easily for the best.) It was one of the many titles that appeared shortly after the arrival of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Many of the games that were the ''initial releases'' for the Super Nintendo were known to be quite the excellent games which has never changed even to this date & needless to say it was no exception. However in retrospection one can be almost suprised that it did so well when you put all things into consideration. I mean sure its not hard to see why it would do well as a Computer Game since they were more marketed to older viewers. However consoles became more aimed at all ages even though seemingly at younger gamers, SimCity wasn't the first game on a Nintendo console to ever introduce the concept of taking a real normal job and turning it into a game and they did rather... ''subpar''. (One of the more known examples would ''Wall Street Kid''.) Then again it gives you the power to be a Mayor of your own city and no offense to our certain financial workers out there but... Needless to say gamers preferred to be Mayors rather than Stock Brokers.

The main basic concept of this game is that you can make your own city from scratch. While there are eventual concepts like choosing between easy to hard. You can choose from the various 999 location landscapes you can build your city in. After when your done with that you can name your city and then with help from a comical little green-haired man by the name of Mr. Wright. (One of the many differences between this and its late 1980's prodecessor.) He'll frequently try to aid you on your way to become a great mayor as your suppose to build your city from a humble village to a full-fledge metropolis. The game is built on a rather timed structure and when you start a new city you ALWAYS start on Janurary of 1900. (Yeah it leads itself into some anachronisms but its purely harmless I can easily assure you.) The more you play the game the more you'll notice time passing as the seasons change and the years go higher. Your perfectly allowed to take your time of course but don't underestimate on how time will fly.

The buildings you can use come in a very good variety from Residental, Commercial & Industrial Zones. To Coal & Nuclear power plants alongside with Police & Fire Stations with Air & SeaPorts heck you can even build Sport Stadiums if you so desire as well. And there are many sorts of ''Gifts'' you can receive once you perform certain good tasks such as your own personal house, Amusement Parks, Zoos, Casinos and various others which give this game quite the nice spice of sorts. One of the things that give this game a good sense of challenge is on how many of the buildings you build have their advantages and disadvantanges. Alongside with transportation which are roads and rail tracks alongside with power lines and parkland fit within the game greatly. Though I have one bit of advice, to reiterate that ol' Real Estate motto the way you can use buildings to their best can depend on none other than ''Location, Location, Location!''.

The Graphics do fit within the structure of the game well and by themselves they are genuinely above average. And the music is just simply fine (my favorite being the nice & soothing ''Village'' theme) as the gameplay fits perfectly within the game structure as the Control receives not one iota of complaint from me. Your generally able to build your city in more traditional methods of on how most cities generally are made. HOWEVER another one of the beauties of this game is that you can also be able to run it in various sorts of unique ways & you can be surprised on how effective they can be. And of course SimCity's trademark extra treat has been utilized well here which is none other than of course the Disasters. For all you more maniacal types out there its a way how to ''mix things up'' a bit even though it means at least a good portion of your city will be smashed. Most of the disasters are natural ones like Fire and Plane Crashs. But there is the option of letting ol' King Bowser of SMB fame taking a stroll in your town giving it his best Godzilla impersation. While it is true that its sequels are a lot more complex in its structure but in all honesty this one always felt like the most fun. Why is that you might ask? Am I being too nostalgic here? Well I won't deny the fond memories I had with this game even by a more unbiased comparison I'd still find this one to be the best. Though for the record even though I said that its sequels are more complex this one was not a utterly simplistic game as well. You had to deal with Taxes, analyzing charts, listening to the people's surveys and other various sorts of work and yet they never feel truly boring at all. Strange huh?

Any flaws to mention of in this game? Well yes there is one though a somewhat slight one. Building your own city is not the only thing you can do in this game it also has the extra option of you being the mayor of various certain known cities such as San Fancisco, Detroit, Berlin and Tokyo. Sometimes they are set in the future while they can also be in the distant past of the early 20th century. The concept itself is far from bad however unfortunately the problem is this the difficulty rating is a lot higher than the regular game which can certainly cause a lot more frustration.

Overall this is just simply another classic game that exceeds on various levels. While its not a terribly rare game like oh say ''Final Fantasy III'' or ''Mega Man X3'' its not a highly common one as well. (Though fortunately at least its price range is generally good.) Its sequels may be bigger but the original is still going stronger...

+ An exceptional debut of a highly respectable series as in how its still the finest of its series and quite possibly its genre (and yet one does not necessarily HAVE to be a genre fan in order to like it) Its also one of the system's finest games as its also one of the better games out there.
+ Its sequels may be a lot more complex but this always felt a LOT more fun as in how it stood the test of time quite perfectly well.
+ Above Average Graphics with Wonderful music
+ Plenty of fun little extras to give it difference over its computer version. (Which is lets just say one of the reasons why I prefer the SNES version a lot more.)
+ A splendidly balanced sense of challenge alongside with solid gameplay and control (And the rather unconventional ways you can run a city can be quite fascinating.)
- Its not REALLY easy to find (even though its not immensely expensive nor rare)
- The ''Scenario Mode'' is not utterly impossible but it can be awfully hard.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/04