SimCity 2000 (
SC2K) is a simulation/
city buildingCity-building games are a genre of computer game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management...
computer gameA personal computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
and the second installment in the
SimCity seriesSimCity is an open-ended city-building computer and console video game series and the brainchild of developer Will Wright. It is published by Maxis . The game was first published in 1989 as SimCity, it has spawned several different editions sold worldwide...
.
SimCity 2000 was first released by
MaxisMaxis Software is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of the best-selling computer game of all time, The Sims and the sequels The Sims 2 and The Sims 3...
in 1993 for computers running the Apple Macintosh and
DOSDOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is a shorthand term for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions Windows 95, 98, and ME.Related systems...
operating systems. It was later re-released on a number of different platforms.
In 1995,
SimCity 2000 won "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game"
Origins AwardThe Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
.
Overview
The unexpected and enduring success of the original
SimCitySimCity is a city-building simulation game, first released in 1989 and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computers and game consoles, and spawned several sequels including SimCity 2000 in 1993, SimCity 3000 in 1999, SimCity...
, combined with the relative lack of success with other "
Sim" titles, finally motivated the
developmentGame development is the process by which a game is produced. Today this term most commonly refers to the development of video games.- Overview :...
of a
sequelA sequel is a work in literature, film, or other media that chronologically portrays events following those of a previous work.In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings. A sequel can lead to a series, in which key elements appear...
.
SimCity 2000 was a major
extensionA software extension is a computer program designed to be incorporated into another piece of software in order to enhance, or extend, the functionalities of the latter...
of the concept; the view was now dimetric instead of overhead, land could have different
elevationThe elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, often the mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an...
s, and underground layers were introduced for
water pipeWater pipes are pipes or tubes, frequently made of polyvinyl chloride , ductile iron, polyethylene, or copper, that carry pressurized and treated fresh water to buildings , as well as inside the building....
s and
subwayA rapid transit, metro, subway, underground, or elevated railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with high capacity and frequency, and which is grade separated from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically either in underground tunnels or elevated above street level...
s.
New types of facilities include
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, and jail , although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility...
s,
schoolA school , is an institution designed to allow and encourage students to learn, under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s,
librariesA library is a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. It can mean the collection,...
,
museumA museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary...
s,
marinaA marina is a sheltered harbor where boats and yachts are kept in the water and where services geared to the needs of recreational boating are found....
s,
zooA zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
s,
hospitalA hospital is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays....
s (although they appeared randomly on residential blocks in the first
SimCity, they could not be built by the player) and
arcologiesArcology, a portmanteau of the words "architecture" and "ecology," is a set of architectural design principles aimed toward the design of enormous habitats of extremely high human population density. These largely hypothetical structures would contain a variety of residential and commercial...
. Players can build
highwayA highway is a main road for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities and states. Highway designs vary widely and can range from a two-lane road without margins to a multi-lane, grade separated motorway. In English and U.S...
s,
roadA road is an identifiable route, way or path between places.
s,
bus depotA bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the sidewalk, where buses can stop...
s,
railway trackRail tracks are the surface structures that support and guide trains or other rail-guided transportation vehicles.Most familiarly they consist of* two steel rails on which the vehicle wheels run,...
s, subways,
train depotA railway station, train station, railroad station, or station yard is a facility at which passengers may board and alight from trains, and/or where rail-transported freight may be loaded or unloaded. Historically, the term depot has also been employed in North America...
s and zone land for seaports and airports. There are a total of nine varieties of power plants in
SimCity 2000, including
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
,
natural gasNatural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills...
,
nuclearNuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Commercial plants in use to date use nuclear fission reactions....
,
wind turbineA wind turbine is a rotating machine which converts the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones, the machine is usually called a windmill...
s,
hydroelectric damsHydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
(which can only be placed on
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
tiles) and the futuristic
fusion powerFusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion reactions. In this kind of reaction, two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus and in doing so, release a large amount of energy...
and
satellite microwaveSpace-based solar power is a system for the collection of solar power in space, for use on Earth...
plant. Most types of power plants have a limited life span and must be rebuilt periodically.
The budget and finance controls are also much more elaborate—tax rates can be set individually for residential, commercial and industrial zones. Enacting city ordinances and connecting to neighboring cities became possible. The budget controls are very important in running the city effectively.
Another new addition in
SimCity 2000 is the query tool. Using the query tool on tiles reveals information such as structure name and type, altitude, and land value. Certain tiles also display additional information; power plants, for example, display the percentage of power being consumed when queried, and querying roads displays the amount of traffic on that tile. Querying a library and selecting "Ruminate" displays an essay written by
Neil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
.
Graphics were added for buildings under construction in the residential, commercial, and industrial zones, as well as darkened buildings depicting abandoned buildings as a result of
urban decayUrban decay is the sociological process whereby a city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude, with depopulation or changing population, economic restructuring, abandoned buildings, high local unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement, crime, and a desolate,...
.
News comes in the form of several pre-written
newspaperA newspaper is a publication containing news, information, and advertising. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns that express the...
articles with variable names that could either be called up immediately or could be subscribed to on a yearly basis. The newspaper option provided many humorous stories as well as relevant ones, such as new
technologyTechnology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment...
, warnings about aging power plant, recent
disasterA disaster is the tragedy of a natural or human-made hazard that negatively affects society or environment....
s and
opinion pollAn opinion poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence intervals....
s (highlighting city problems).
SimCity 2000 is the only game in the entire series to have this feature (besides the discontinued children's version,
SimTownSimTown is a 1995 computer game published by Maxis, much like the best selling SimCity on a smaller scale. SimTown allows the player to construct a town consisting of streets, houses, businesses and parks...
), though newer versions have a
news tickerA news ticker is a small screen space on news television networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
. The newspapers had random titles (
Times,
Post,
Herald, etc.), and prices based on the simulated year. Certain newspapers have a special monthly humor
advice columnAn advice column is a column at a magazine or newspaper written by an advice columnist . The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt"...
by "Miss Sim". Some headlines have no purpose whatsoever in the game, such as "Bald Radio Found" or "Frog Convention".
Though there is no "true" victory sequence in
SimCity 2000, the "exodus" is a close parallel. An "exodus" occurs during the year 2051 or later, when 250 or more Launch Arcologies are constructed; the following January each one "takes off" into space so that their inhabitants can form new civilizations on distant worlds (although the visual representation of the scene consists of the Arcologies exploding in a manner similar to bulldozed buildings, one by one). This reduces the city's population to those who are not living in the Launch Arcologies, but it also opens wide areas for redevelopment and returns their construction cost to the city treasury. This is related to the event in
SimEarthSimEarth: The Living Planet is a life simulation computer game designed by Will Wright and published in 1990 by Maxis, in which the player controls the development of a planet...
where all cities are moved into rocket-propelled
domeA dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
s that then leave to "found new worlds" (leaving no sapient life behind).
The game also included several playable "scenarios", in which the player must deal with a disaster (in most, but not all scenarios) and rebuild the city to meet a set of victory conditions. These were based in versions of real-life cities, and some were based on real events such as the
1991 Oakland firestormThe Oakland Firestorm of 1991 was a large urban fire that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California and southeastern Berkeley on Sunday October 20, 1991, almost two years after the Loma Prieta earthquake...
, the 1989
Hurricane HugoHurricane Hugo was a destructive Category 5 hurricane that struck Guadeloupe, Montserrat, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and North Carolina in September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season, killing 109 people and leaving nearly 100,000 homeless....
in
Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the largest city and county seat of Charleston County. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Towne, Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of...
, or dealing with the 1970s economic recession in
Flint, MichiganFlint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 124,943, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the Flint/Tri-Cities...
—but also included more fanciful ones such as a "monster" destroying Hollywood in 2001. More scenarios added with the SCURK included a nuclear meltdown in
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
.
SimCity 2000 was the first
Sim game to feature the semi-nonsensical phrase "Reticulating Splines", which means to make a network of
splineIn mathematics, a spline is a special function defined piecewise by polynomials.In interpolating problems, spline interpolation is often preferred to polynomial interpolation because it yields similar results, even when using low-degree polynomials, while avoiding Runge's phenomenon for higher...
s. Will Wright has stated in an interview that the game does not actually reticulate splines when generating terrain, and he just inserted the phrase because it "sounded cool". The phrase has since been featured in
SimCopterSimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city. Like Streets of SimCity, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000 maps into the game.- Objective :...
,
SimCity 4SimCity 4 is a city-building simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is the fourth installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack known as Rush Hour which adds additional features to the game...
,
The SimsThe Sims is an American strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It was created by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons in a suburban household...
,
The Sims 2The Sims 2 is a 2004 strategic life simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims, which debuted on February 4, 2000. It was first released on September 14, 2004 for Microsoft Windows. A port to Macintosh...
and
The Sims 3The Sims 3 is a strategic life simulation video game in The Sims franchise, originally created by Maxis.It was released on DVD for Microsoft Windows and for Macintosh, using cider emulation, on June 2, 2009 in North America, on June 4, 2009 in Australia and on June 5, 2009 in Europe...
(Reticulating 4D Splines), as well as being referenced by a status message in
MozyMozy is an online backup tool created by Berkeley Data Systems, a Silicon Slopes company based in Pleasant Grove, Utah. The Mozy online backup service allows both Windows and Mac users to back up their data to an off-site server...
, an off-site backup solution offered by
EMC CorporationEMC Corporation is a U.S. Fortune 500 and S&P 500 provider of information infrastructure systems, software and services. It is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA. Its flagship product, the Symmetrix, is the foundation of storage networks in many large data centers.-History:EMC was...
. It is also parodied in the game
SporeSpore is a multi-genre single-player metaverse god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008. Spore is also available for direct download from EA games...
which features the phrase "Reticulating Spines" in some of its loading screens.
Scenarios
- Charleston
Charleston is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the largest city and county seat of Charleston County. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Towne, Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of...
: Begins in August, 1989. The city is hit by a hurricane, a recreation of Hurricane HugoHurricane Hugo was a destructive Category 5 hurricane that struck Guadeloupe, Montserrat, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and North Carolina in September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season, killing 109 people and leaving nearly 100,000 homeless....
.
- Dullsville: Begins in June, 1910. The citizens are bored and the objective is to make the town into a metropolis.
- Flint
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 124,943, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the Flint/Tri-Cities...
: Begins in August, 1974. The city has high unemployment, because of the mass exodus of industries.
- Hollywood
Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema...
: Begins in January, 2001. The city is attacked by a giant robot.
- Oakland Hills
Oakland Hills is an informal term used to indicate the city neighborhoods lying within the eastern portion of Oakland, California.-The geologic feature:...
: Begins in October, 1991. A recreation of the Oakland Firestorm of 1991.
Scenarios Vol. I: Great Disasters
In 1994, Maxis released a slew of expansions for the already popular
SimCity 2000. One of these was a scenario package which include a number of disaster scenarios ranging from the fictitious (such as a UFO attack in future Atlanta,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
) to real world disasters, such as
Great Flood of 1993The Great Flood of 1993 was among the most costly and devastating ever to occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages. The hydrographic basin affected covered around 745 miles in length and 435 miles in width, totaling about 320,000 square miles...
. This pack included:
- Atlanta: A UFO
Unidentified flying object is the popular term for any aerial phenomenon whose cause cannot be easily or immediately identified...
attack devastates Atlanta in December of 2050, causing widespread panic and setting the city ablaze.
- Barcelona
Barcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
: Terrorists have planted a nuclear bomb beneath the Estadi Olímpic Lluís CompanysEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is a stadium in Barcelona, Spain. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition in the city , it was renovated in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics...
, where the 1992 Summer OlympicsThe 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992.-Host city selection:...
are going to be held. Right in the middle of the games, the bomb is detonated. The stadium and everyone inside are instantly vaporized by the nuclear explosionA nuclear explosion occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from an intentionally high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission, nuclear fusion or a multistage cascading combination of the two, though to date all fusion based weapons have used a fission device...
, which takes much of Barcelona with it. Thousands are killed and entire city is contaminated with radiation.
- Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
: A major chemical spill routes the industrial sector of 1999 Chicago into an exodusHuman migration is movement by humans from one district to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups....
of sorts, forcing the city to rebuild its corporate sector.
- Davenport
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 98,359 and is Iowa's third-largest city. Davenport is one of the Quad Cities, along...
: Massive amounts of rainfall instigate the flooding of the Mississippi River in 1993The Great Flood of 1993 was among the most costly and devastating ever to occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages. The hydrographic basin affected covered around 745 miles in length and 435 miles in width, totaling about 320,000 square miles...
. This scenario recreates the Davenport incident.
- Homestead: A major hurricane has devastated a 1992 Homestead. Fortunately, FEMA funds have finally arrived.
- Malibu
Malibu is an incorporated city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population is 12,575....
: In the fall of 1993, Southern California was ravaged by terrible forest fires. This scenario recreates the infamous Malibu incident.
- Manhattan
Manhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
: Manhattan's efficient nuclear power station has a major meltdownA nuclear meltdown is a term that is neither recognized by the International Atomic Energy Agency nor by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission but is used in certain circles to describe a severe nuclear reactor incident that results in core damage and is classified as anywhere from Level 4 to...
in October 2007, sweeping the city with chemical fires and radiation.
- Oakland: In 1991, Oakland suffers a fire destroying some of the city and the player must rebuild it. This references to the Oakland Fire in 1991.
- Portland
Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...
: A summer's day in 2001 Oregon is interrupted when a previously unknown wellspring of volcanic activity erupts in downtown Portland, destroying a large portion of the city.
- San Francisco: In October 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake single-handedly demolished many areas of Santa Cruz. Of the areas affected, San Francisco also suffered extensive damaged, including many fires caused by erupting gas mains. This is a recreation of that particular disaster.
- Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, United States. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now...
: The high-tech society of the 2010 Silicon valley is hit hard when its futuristic power source goes awry - microwave beams transferring solar energy from an orbital satellite miss their intended receiver and instead incinerate many businesses and people in the area.
- Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
: A fictitious day in 1995 is beset with hordes of drunken lawyers causing riots and mayhem.
SimCity Urban Renewal Kit
Along side the
Great Disasters Scenarios package came the introduction of a separate toolset called the
SimCity Urban Renewal Kit (
SCURK for short). It enabled players to modify the images used in-game to represent various buildings in much the same manner as general image manipulation software. The player was able to create basic bitmap files of a standard size with a standard 256 color palette. The use of limited palette cycling, which permitted animation, was also possible. A number of pre-altered graphics packages were distributed, including some which replaced the "reward" buildings with images of various well known international buildings, such as the
Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in...
, but most buildings were made by fan-artists and shared on the Internet. Several
SCURK designs influenced the designs of
SimCity 3000SimCity 3000 is a city building simulation personal computer game and the third installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts and developed by series creator Maxis, a wholly owned subsidiary of EA...
s original buildings.
The
SCURK is divided into three areas.
- Paint the Town – A graphics program fashioned to produce custom buildings for SimCity 2000.
- Pick and Copy – A tileset (building set) modifier, which allows users to produce new tilesets that display specific custom buildings.
- Place and Print – A sandbox-style city builder with fewer restrictions than SimCity 2000, which also enables users to print cities on paper. The SCURK was also bundled along with Streets of SimCity
Streets of SimCity is a 1997 racing and vehicular combat computer game published by Maxis. One of the game's main attractions was the ability to explore any cities created in SimCity 2000 by car in a cinematic style. The game, like SimCopter, is in full 3D and the player's vehicle can be...
and SimCopterSimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city. Like Streets of SimCity, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000 maps into the game.- Objective :...
, as the Place and Print aspect of the program was especially useful for non-SimCity 2000 users who intended to build custom cities for either game.
The cities made in SCURK can be saved and used for SimCity 2000.
Ports and special editions
SimCity 2000 has been released on a wide range of platforms and version since its debut in 1993, ranging from ports of personal computers and video game consoles, to special editions.
SimCity 2000 Special Edition
A re-packaged version of
SimCity 2000,
SimCity 2000 Special Edition, was released in 1995 for Apple Macintosh,
Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces...
and
DOSDOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is a shorthand term for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions Windows 95, 98, and ME.Related systems...
PCsA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
, partly because the original
SimCity 2000 cannot be run under
Windows 95Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
, even in prompt mode. In addition to containing
SimCity 2000, it also featured the
SimCity Urban Renewal Kit, the Vol. 1 scenario pack, new cities selected by Maxis from a 1994 competition, bonus scenarios and cities, and movies. The movies were a first for Maxis;
SimCity 2000-SE was the first "Sim" game to feature "real" videos (compared to "animated bitmaps", such as the winning screen in
SimAntSimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a 1991 life simulation computer game by Maxis focusing on ants. It was designed by Will Wright, maker of other 'Sim' games such as SimCity and The Sims. In 1992, it was named "Best Simulation Program" at the Software Publisher Association's CODiE...
). These videos included the introduction movie and four commentary videos by Will Wright; the latter were accessed via the "WillTV" application that came with the game.
SimCity 2000 Network Edition
A network version of the game,
SimCity 2000: Network Edition was released in 1996 for Windows.
The network edition had the ability to share in-game resources and to compete or cooperate with other cities. If the user is on an appropriate
networkA computer network is a group of interconnected computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics. This article provides a general overview of some types and categories and also presents the basic components of a network....
(
TCPThe Transmission Control Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. TCP is one of the two original components of the suite , so the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP...
or
IPXInternetwork Packet Exchange is the OSI-model Network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol stack.The IPX/SPX protocol stack is supported by Novell's NetWare network operating system. Because of Netware's popularity through the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, IPX became a popular internetworking...
), then
SimCity 2000 Network Edition works in a similar way to
SimCity 4SimCity 4 is a city-building simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is the fourth installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack known as Rush Hour which adds additional features to the game...
, giving the ability to cooperate with other cities.
SimCity 2000 Network Edition featured slightly different gameplay in network mode, where mayors may start with more money, but must buy land before building upon it.
This version also features a revamped
user interfaceThe user interface is the aggregate of means by which people—the users—interact with the system—a particular machine, device, computer program or other complex tool...
. Instead of a static
toolbarIn a graphical user interface on a computer monitor a toolbar is a GUI widget on which onscreen buttons, icons, menus or other input or output elements are placed....
, items are accessed via cascading menus from the right of the screen, resulting in more screen real-estate for
SimCity itself, without sacrificing functionality.
SimCity 2000 (PlayStation)
The
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
version of the game remains largely unchanged (although the game's directions for getting help is to press
altThe Alt key on a computer keyboard is used to change the function of other pressed keys. Thus, the Alt key is a modifier key, used in a similar fashion to the Shift key. For example, simply pressing "A" will type the letter a, but if you hold down either Alt key while pressing A, the computer...
+
shiftThe shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row...
, which is only possible using a computer keyboard). The only additions are scenarios, including one that involves a new volcano forming in
VancouverVancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The city is bounded by English Bay, Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, the city of Burnaby, and the University Endowment Lands. Vancouver is named after Captain George Vancouver, a...
(destroying most of the city, and requiring the mayor to rebuild it). The port also allows the player to tour their city from a car's perspective and has a
full motion videoFull motion video based games, usually abbreviated as FMV-based games, are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors or 3D models to display action in the game. A diverse set of games utilized this format...
intro. This version was released on the Playstation Network in Europe for both
PSPPSP most often refers to:* PlayStation Portable, a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment** PlayStation Portable Slim and Lite, a redesign of the PlayStation Portable** PlayStation Portable Go...
and PS3 on November 20, 2008 and in North America on Aug 28, 2009.
SimCity 2000 (Nintendo 64)
A
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
-only release of
SimCity 2000 for the
Nintendo 64The , often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, September 29, 1996 in North America, March 1, 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1, 1997 in France and December 10,...
in 1997, produced and published by Imagineer Co., Ltd., featured some additional features, mainly minigames, a dating game, horse races and monster breeding, among others, all of them in 3D. A few new "natural" disasters were also included, most of them being giant monster attacks (players were able to use their monster to fight against them). Even when these extras gave the game a lot more to do, many consider it lost the original feeling of the game, since the extras were intended to appeal specifically to the Japanese market.
SimCity 64 (Nintendo 64DD)
Another Japan-only release, SimCity 64 was based on the SimCity 2000 game but was heavily customized for the
Nintendo 64DDThe Nintendo 64DD was a peripheral for the Nintendo 64 games console. It plugged into the N64 through the EXTension Port of the Nintendo 64's bottom side, and allowed the N64 to use proprietary 64 MB magnetic disks for expanded data storage...
game system. The ability to view the city at night was added, pedestrian level free-roaming of a city, and individual road vehicles and pedestrians controlled by their own AI wandered the player's city. Cities in the game are also presented in much more advanced 3D graphics, making SimCity 64 the first true 3D SimCity game.
SimCity 2000 (Sega Saturn)
First console version of the game and one of the first titles for the American Sega Saturn. Release in autumn of 1995.
SimCity 2000 (Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Family Computer/Super Famicom)
This was actually one of the first console ports of SimCity 2000 to any home system. However, there were a lot of losses and differences from the original version of SimCity 2000. The disasters of riots and volcanoes (as well as possibly a few other disasters) were inexplicably removed from the game. The scrolling screen takes much longer than normal to scroll, which was considered to be one of the reasons for the overall rarity of this particular port of the game. The game had less songs to choose from than the original PC version but they were also considered to be surprisingly superior to the original version of SimCity 2000 on the PC. However, the in-game controls, while having big and rather childish looking icons that would be later used in the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Game Boy Advance ports of the game, were actually considered to be far easier to use than the original controls for the PC version of the game. However, unlike the previous SimCity title, there was no SNES Mouse support for this game. Also, there were far more errors than the original PC version of the game when it came to the newspapers and their articles. Furthermore, there was only one newspaper for the whole city, no matter what size that the city is, and it will be always labeled as (insert the name of a city here) Newspaper, which means that the player could not choose to name their newspaper the Times, Sentinel, Courier, Post, or other such names. In addition, unlike the PC version of the game, the stock photographs were replaced with more Japanese anime/manga-like pictures in this port of the game. This is also the only port of the game to have such pictures in there, too. Also, even though a player could have five different types of stadiums for their city in the PC version, they sadly could not have a choice to name their teams (though the authenticity of this is uncertain at this time) but in this particular port, they could only have one or two different kinds of stadiums and yet they could choose the name of a team for their city. Sadly, all team names, city names, and mayor names were limited to only eight characters whereas the PC version allows for up to thirty-two character spaces for a city name and a mayor name. Finally, each city allows the player to choose a name for the mayor at the beginning instead of the player being forced to have the same name for the city mayor no matter what city that they build unless the game was uninstalled and reinstalled like the PC version of SimCity 2000. Also, perhaps the worst decisions that were made while building this port, were the omission of the cheat codes, the limiting of the city maps to just a paltry six maps, no easy, medium, or hard difficulties in this port of the game, only five generic scenarios, the possible omissions of the Arcologies, Maxis Man, and the pollution animation, and the omission of the African Swallow speed setting of the PC version of this game. Lastly, there was no mayor statue option that was given to the player as well in this version of the game.
SimCity 2000 (Game Boy Advance)
Released by Zoo Digital in 2003, SimCity 2000 for the Game Boy Advance featured most of the same content as previous versions, but several features are omitted. There is no water system, but it is unknown whether this was to make it a better portable experience or because of technical limitations.
Subsequent releases based on SimCity 2000
- SimHealth
SimHealth: The National Health Care Simulation, released by Maxis in 1994, is a management simulation of the U.S. Healthcare system produced with assistance from the Markle Foundation. It was produced only for DOS, and is difficult to locate on the market today, let alone play on a modern operating...
– Released in 1994, the game simulated President Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
's healthcare reform proposals for the USThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; designed for a niche audience at best, the simulation never achieved great popularity. It featured a user interfaceThe user interface is the aggregate of means by which people—the users—interact with the system—a particular machine, device, computer program or other complex tool...
that resembled a city in SimCity 2000.
- SimCopter
SimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city. Like Streets of SimCity, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000 maps into the game.- Objective :...
– A flight simulator based on the cities of SimCity 2000, SimCopter, was published in 1996. It had the capability of importing SimCity 2000 cities and allowing the user to pilot a helicopter around them and accomplish missions such as rescuing people or putting out a fire. SimCopter was perhaps best known for a rather notorious Easter egg which, if successfully triggered, depicted scantily clad men in a homosexually provocative state. Due to the uproar, this "feature" was patched over in a future release.
- Streets of SimCity
Streets of SimCity is a 1997 racing and vehicular combat computer game published by Maxis. One of the game's main attractions was the ability to explore any cities created in SimCity 2000 by car in a cinematic style. The game, like SimCopter, is in full 3D and the player's vehicle can be...
– Published in 1997, Streets of SimCity was a racing gameA racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first- or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
based on the SimCopter engine. In addition to racing, it also featured courierA courier is a person or company employed to deliver messages, packages and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of services, and committed delivery times, which are optional for...
missions and vehicular combat. However, the fact that this game was incredibly processor-intensive prevented this game from being a commercial success.
However, despite the lukewarm reception of each, both
SimCopter and
Streets of SimCity later inspired the feature "U-Drive-It" from the
SimCity 4: Rush HourSimCity 4: Rush Hour is the expansion pack for SimCity 4 created by EA Games and Maxis, where the player builds a city from scratch.-U-Drive-It:...
expansion pack.
External links
- Sim City 2000 Zone, an active Sim City 2000 website that lets users upload their cities and tile sets to be viewed by the public
- [ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/maxis/patches/SC2000/ SimCity 2000 updates]
- [ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/maxis/patches/SC2000%20Network/ SimCity 2000 Network updates]
- [ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/maxis/patches/SCURK/ SimCity 2000 Urban Renewal updates]