Instead of finding another partner, the two co-founded their own software company, Maxis, and converted the game to the newer Amiga and Macintosh platforms, while also adding some new features. Ultimately Brøderbund decided not to market the game, and it remained dormant for years, until Wright showed it to Jeff Braun, who saw its commercial potential. “They kept saying, ‘When is it going to be a game? When is it going to have a win/lose situation?'” Wright told Rouse. The success of the game – and a licensing deal from Nintendo – helped to expand the studio exponentially.Photo: Andy Freeberg, via Fortune magazine Jeff Braun (left) and Will Wright (right) co-founded Maxis Software in 1987 in order to self-publish SimCity. “I found out that I had a lot more fun building the islands than I did flying around in the helicopter,” Wright told GameSpot in a 1999 interview. ![]() The original version of SimCity was written by Will Wright for the Commodore 64 as a follow-up to his first game, 1984’s Raid on Bungeling Bay, a helicopter flight simulator that was published by Brøderbund.Īs Wright often tells it, the germ of an idea for SimCity actually evolved out of Bungeling Bay’s map editing tool. And to understand just why that is, we’re going to have to give you a brief history lesson first. However, once put into context, this artifact becomes extraordinary, and gives us new insight into one of the most unlikely creative collaborations in video game history. Here it is – SimCity on the NES! This video condenses about three hours of standard gameplay, and takes advantage of a glitch that gives the player nearly unlimited money.Īt a glance, the game doesn’t look like much more than an inferior version of the SimCity we saw on the Super Nintendo. ![]() Either way, the game was seen as something of a Holy Grail among collectors and archivists alike, and the odds of ever seeing it outside of a handful of published screenshots seemed slim, until a cartridge containing an unfinished version of the game materialized at 2017’s Portland Retro Gaming Expo. This version of the game was thought to be completely lost or, at best, confined to some deep dark archive inside of Nintendo’s offices. It made a brief appearance at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in 1991, but was canceled soon after, and was never seen again. This version of the game was announced at the same time as its 16-bit cousin, and was said to contain all of its same features. But did you know that Nintendo’s version of SimCity actually started life on the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System? The cartridge launched alongside the system here in the United States, and brought the popular PC game to a brand new console audience. SimTown (1994 PC known as SimCity Jr.The unreleased packaging illustration from SimCity, as seen on a rare retail display sign from VidPro.Ī lot of you are probably aware of Nintendo’s remarkable rendition of SimCity for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.SimCity 64 (2000 N64DD, only released in Japan, port of SimCity 2000 with 3D graphics).SimCity 2000: Network Edition (1996 PC).SimCity 2000: Special Edition (1995 PC).SimCity: Deluxe Edition (1996 PC, or SimCity for Windows 95, not the original DOS version).SimCity Classic (1993 PC, enhanced version with 16-bit graphics).Note: Main series games are labeled in bold and italics, while spin-off games, remakes, remasters, expansion and compilation packs are labeled in italics. SimCity has had unprecedented success and is considered by many to be the founder of the modern city-builder genre among PC games, and is also considered to be the inspiration for many other games, such as the Tropico, Cities XL, and City Skylines series, as well as the Facebook game, CityVille. The series continues to be released under the publisher Electronic Arts after Maxis was bought out by EA in 1997. ![]() It was created by Will Wright at Maxis and published its first game in the series in 1989. The SimCity series is a video game series dedicated to open-ended city-building and urban simulation.
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