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SimCity (Video Game)
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A Simulation Game released in 1989, and the first Sim game "created" by Will Wright (actually a team of developers, most notably Don Hopkins, who go largely uncredited). It's been around for a while: the original was widely released, it could be played on first-generation Apple Macintoshes (i.e. the ones with black-and-white screens) and popular 8-bit microcomputers (the ZX Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC, the Commodore64), as well as a console version released as a launch title for the Super Nintendo, which was developed by Nintendo themselves.You are the mayor of a city which is inhabited by Sims. You build the roads and infrastructure (power plants and other utilities, schools, etc.), you allocate the zones where your Sims will live and work, and the Sims decide where they want to live and what they want to do and (depending on tax policies) how many Simoleons they will pay you. You will need that money to maintain and increase the infrastructure. Natural disasters also happen on occasion, and you can even cause them on purpose.Eventually, SimCity proved to be so successful, it managed to spawn five sequels over eighteen years: SimCity 2000 (1993) was the first major extension, replacing the 2D top-view with faux-3D isometric graphics, and introducing most of the features of later games: water pipelines, underground rail, highways, healthcare, education, rewards, a wider assortment of power plants and a separate building editor, the SCURK (SimCity Urban Renewal Kit). Interestingly UK PC Gamer magazine still ranks this as the best SimCity despite its age. It is widely remembered as a port overdosed title, even though not a single console from Super NES to Nintendo 64 was capable of running that game without collapsing. This game was also a starting point for several other Sim spinoffs, at least in as far as two of them - SimCopter and Streets of SimCity - loaded SC2000 maps and rendered them in full-3D, making 2000 an ersatz Level Editor for them. SimCity 3000 (1999) was mostly a graphical and feature update. Originally it was going to be in full 3D, but the technical limitations of then-current hardware led Maxis to revert to 2D graphics. The graphics stayed isometric but were promoted to high-definition, new variables were added including fire hazard, approval rating, water and garbage pollution, neighbor deals (which were quite unfair), and support for bigger cities that could reach the million inhabitants with a bit of luck. (It also eliminated hydroelectric power plants that lasted forever, so you could no longer leave your city running overnight and come back to a prospering metropolis with a million Simoleons in the bank; this was counterbalanced by a much more forgiving revenue system that made it much easier to maintain power plants) A later expansion, called Unlimited / World Edition / UK Edition, added a scenario editor, a building editor, as well as Oriental and European building sets. This was remade as SimCity DSnote some people however argue that SimCity DS is just SimCity 2000 with 3000's skin slapped on and some minigames thrown in- the game suffered the same loading times and scrolling issues that plagued the console ports of SimCity 2000 and also for iOS under the title SimCity Deluxe. SimCity 4 (2003) was the second major extension; the buildings are rendered in 3D with high resolution, trimetric bitmaps, but the terrain was now a full 3D mesh, and the assortment of civic buildings was expanded (the schools, for example, were split into elementary schools, high schools and private schools), a maintenance cost was added for all the utility buildings, and the game was designed to allow for third-party mods. However, the greatest new feature was the regional gameplay: instead of playing with isolated cities, you could now play with an entire region divided in cities, you could get all your services from another city at a fair price, your Sims could live in your city but work somewhere else, and the demand in your neighboring cities would affect your own demand. A later expansion, called Rush Hour, added more transportation options, such as ground highways, monorail, elevated rail, one-way streets, toll booths, and there are also many third-party mods, such as the Network Addon Mod, which adds more rail systems, elevated roads, and more traffic crossings. Aside from the in-depth city management options, the player also had the option to design the region from scratch. This extended to the possibility of using real-life satellite imaging to add real world regions in game. The .sc4 files used as save files for city layouts in this game would also be used in The Sims 2 for neighbourhood layouts, so this game could be used as an effective Level Editor for that game. So far, due to its many, many hidden depths and vast modding community, this game is considered the best of the series. SimCity Societies (2007) was completely different from the previous games. Instead of laying out your zones, placing your infrastructure and seeing your city developing, you would place a building that generates a certain "societal value", which can be Productivity, Prosperity, Creativity, Spirituality, Authority, and Knowledge. These societal values were used to affect the look and functioning of your city: a lot of Authority, for example, would turn your city into a Stalinist capital, with security cameras, slum housing for the poor, posh buildings for your leaders, and Secret Police, while a lot of Productivity and Prosperity would turn your city into a New York-esque metropolis filled with skyscrapers and high-rise condos. The entire societal value system, as well as its long-promised full 3D graphics, greatly hyped up its pre-release value; however, the community found it disappointingly easy and shallow, and the 3D engine was prone to grinding even hulking great PCs to a halt at higher zoom levels. SimCity Creator (2008) is a standard SimCity game that offers a wide selection of architecture themes such as Egyptian, Roman, Japanese, European, Las Vegas, near-future, and even fantasy themes that result in crystal-style or confectionery-style cities. The game was exclusively released on the Nintendo Wii and DS. It's notable for being the first game in the series to allow curved roads, as well as for having advisorsnote who consisted primarily of characters from MySims alongside other characters designed in the same style who could actually take over a section of the city and see to its needs, though they had to be leveled up in order to do a good job. It also has the widest variety of available disasters. SimCity (2013) was designed by Maxis, who intended this game to be more of a direct sequel to SimCity 4 than Societies was. It also introduces online multiplayer to the series proper, a game mode that has not been explored since the long-forgotten SimCity 2000 Network Edition. However, due mostly to poor planning, server overload and bugs wrecked its release — badly enough to prompt Paradox to greenlight Cities: Skylines, which literally bills itself as "the SimCity 5 that never was". Periodic updates over a period of eight months restored the game to approximately the level of functionality promised on launch, albeit with major bugs still gone unsquished. Late the same year, an expansion was released: Cities of Tomorrow, focusing on bringing cities into The Future by building huge Arcologies called Mega Towers, unlocking new technologies with an advanced Academy, or taking over the region as OmegaCorp and dispensing the highly addictive phlebotinum Omega while gradually overtaking all facets of Sim life. SimCity Social was a Facebook game that took the concept of both the 2013 remake and The Sims Social and combined them. The game was retired in June 2013. SimCity BuildIt (2014): Developed by Track Twenty for iOS and Android, SimCity BuildIt is technically a spiritual successor to SimCity Social though not advertised as such. It's visually styled to resemble the 2013 release, but everything you hate about SimCity Social, including Facebook integration and socialization, and microtransactions, returns.Unlike The Sims, SimCity requires you to work above the level of the individual Sim. You are managing a city, and what you do will affect dozens to millions of Sims, at least, if you know what you are doing.The game is open-ended. There is no win condition (although in 2000, if you've built enough launch arcologies "the exodus" occurs and all your Sims fly off to live in space), but it is not an Endless Game either; you can tell if you're doing better or worse, but you can keep doing it as long as you want, resources permitting. It should be noted, however, that certain versions of the game do have a Game Over scenario. For example, certain versions of SimCity 2000, 3000, and 4 will end with you getting kicked out of office if your city's treasury enters the red for a certain period of time.It shouldn't be confused with Sin City, unless you forget to build police stations. Or are playing on the appropriate map.The series also spawned a number of spin-offs other than The Sims, some of which are listed below. Most of them tend to be "SimCity meets such-and-such." SimFarm: SimCity meets a farm. Grow crops, raise livestock and influence the fate of the local town. SimEarth: SimCity meets a planet. Take a terrestrial planet from formation to the point where its sun goes red giant, through the evolution of life and development of civilization along the way. The "largest scale" Sim game, Spore included. Notable for coming with a Doorstopper of an instruction manual. SimLife: SimCity meets evolution. Similar to SimEarth, but focused in more on life and evolution. SimAnt: SimCity meets an ant colony. Win the battle of the back lawn against both the red ants and the humans, and try to invade their home. SimTower: SimCity meets a skyscraper — similar to the "regular" games, but on a smaller scale. SimIsle: SimCity meets the rainforest. Balance the demands of industry, ecology and tourism on a series of tropical islands. SimTown: A "kids' version" of SimCity with bigger graphics, a smaller town, simplified game mechanics and more focus on individual citizens. SimPark: SimCity meets a nature reserve in North-West America. Doubles as an enviromental educational tool and a way to hear people constantly whining about there not being enough cars. Its disasters include Kudzu (a rapidly spreading weed) and a garbage dump. Like SimTown it's mostly geared towards children. SimSafari: SimPark meets a safari park in the savannas of Africa. It is a similar environmental education game, but you also hire employees from the nearby village, helping to bring the people out of poverty by supporting their economy rather than through charity. Streets of SimCity: Actually a major break from the resource simulation genre, instead being a driving sim - with some combat elements thrown in, no less. Perhaps most notable for two things: you can upload SimCity 2000 maps into it, and it was a rather remarkable forebearer of much later open-ended games like Grand Theft Auto (except that the player is stuck in his car, and it was naturally much more primitive; that said, it even shares many similar themes, if you can believe that) Sadly, it had a number of bugs that kept it from gaining a wide audience. SimCopter: Another break from resource management simulations into a primitive flight sim; the player's goals were to deliver people to various destinations, drop water on fires, assist police chases and deliver patients to hospitals (many of which were injured by the player if he or she dropped them from his or her helicopter from too great a height). All of the player's craft were based on real-life helicopters, including the unlockable Apache attack copter. Like Streets, SimCopter also took SimCity 2000 maps as playable settings. SimGolf: Create your own golf course and then play on it. Various elements of design are the starting locations, hole locations, placement of water, rocks, sandtraps, trees, and other hazards, and even changing the gravity if so desired. Not to be confused with Sid Meier's SimGolf, which was published by Firaxis. SimHealth: Try and change the circa-1993 US healthcare system! Although remarkably deep, it was policy-heavy, had a 90 degree learning curve, and was not very entertaining. SimTunes: A break from simulation entirely, this was a pixel art and music creation program that happened to be under the Sim label. It was marketed under the Maxis Kids label like SimTown. | |
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Creator Cameo | |
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Creator Cameo: Using the Query Tool on a sailboat will result in a caption naming the boat "First Light", and listing the captain as J. Scirica, who was the then-Vice President of Product Development at Maxis. | |
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No Celebrities Were Harmed | |
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No Celebrities Were Harmed: The portrait of the Green Gaians spokesman looks like actor Howard Hesseman- known for playing Dr, Johnny Fever on WKRP though the portrait looks almost identical to his appearance on Dragnet as a hippie. One of the neighboring mayors looks like weatherman Al Roker, while another bears a strong resemblance to Fred Rogers- one of your advisors looks a fair bit like his puppet Lady Elaine Fairchild, as well. | |
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Abnormal Ammo | |
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Abnormal Ammo: The beams that the alien monsters from SimCity 2000 used usually set your city on fire. On some occasions, their beams planted trees, created surface water or even built wind turbines, while still destroying the intervening buildings and infrastructure. Perhaps they were Well Intentioned Extremists who thought the Sims' environment needed some help? This makes the Dorkly video seem more accurate. | |
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Does This Remind You of Anything? | |
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Drowning people that couse too much trouble? Where have we heard that one before? | |
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All There in the Manual | |
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At least some of the money-management difficulties can be solved by applying the lessons in a tutorial in SC4 appropriately named "Making Money Tutorial". | |
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Flying Saucer | |
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Flying Saucer: Alien invasions, although the SimCity 2000 alien was a robotic eyeball with four legs. You can fly one in SimCity 4 with the Rush Hour expansion. | |
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Violation of Common Sense | |
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Violation of Common Sense: Again, just like the original game listed above, the SNES port had a strategy of building a city with no roads and just strictly with train tracks; thus eliminating traffic and reducing pollution in your city. In fact, the SNES game's instruction manual blatanly encourages this. | |
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The Cameo | |
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The Cameo: In the SNES SimCity, you're able to erect a statue in Mario's honor. There is also a disaster where Bowser rips through the city looking for the portly hero. If the statue is present when Bowser arrives he'll snatch the statue and leave your city alone. | |
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Easy-Mode Mockery | |
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Easy-Mode Mockery: A minor example in the SimCity 2000 instruction manual. The manual at one point says that you have the option of turning disasters off..."if you're a wimp". | |
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Never Recycle a Building | |
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Never Recycle a Building: SimCity 2000 takes this trope at full speed. The moment tenants move out of a building, it is instantaneously transformed into a dirty, run-down ghetto shack, regardless of what it was before. As does 3000, but the abandoned building varies depending on the zone and density type (e.g., a light residential building will turn into the aformentioned ghetto shack, and a light commercial building will turn into a run-down shop). 4 averts this by overlaying a dilapidated texture on abandoned buildings. Also, a building can be re-occupied by lower income tenants. Also averted in SimCity 2013. Like in 4, a dilapidated texture is overlaid on abandoned buildings. In addition, homeless people will squat in abandoned buildings. | |
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The Computer Is a Lying Bastard | |
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The 2013 edition of SimCity has a requirement that you must always have a connection to EA servers in order to play it, even in single-player. However, as with many always-online games (and worse than most in this case), most of the servers were severely overworked, making the game borderline unplayable. There's a few big in-game bugs as well. Build two sewage treatment plants, and the game won't know how to balance the load between them, nor will it give you the ability to do so yourself, resulting in backed-up pipes and angry citizens simply because one plant gets most of the sewage. Aside from those mentioned above and those mentioned in The Computer Is a Lying Bastard, the game engine also contains some nasty bugs that produces a Luck-Based Mission: the Fireworks Fun quest, due to a bug that causes all utility vehicles like fire engines, police cars and even garbage trucks and buses, to cluster together as a group instead of working independently. | |
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Breaking the Fourth Wall | |
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The manual for Sim City 2000 also mentions that, yes, the developers know that cities existed before electricity, but the sims themselves are electronic beings and therefore they require that electricity to live. | |
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Vice City | |
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Vice City: If you choose to legalise gambling and build only a select few police stations or not any at all, your city will be this. In 3000, this also applies if you don't have any jails constructed (which were first introduced in this game). Even with several police stations built, with no jails, your city's LE will be forced to let criminals go and continue their cycle of crime as they please. | |
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Obstructive Bureaucrat | |
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Obstructive Bureaucrat: Several advisers, the transport minister from 2000 and the financial adviser from 3000, are a lot more demanding than most of the others. One petitioner is even portrayed as "never having met a city decision she liked" and does she ever live up to that moniker. Several of the other petitioners; environmentalists, low income earners, and those demanding lower taxes among them, are more unreasonable than others. One actual obstructive bureaucrat is particularly nit picky, but does not complain as much as some of the others and occasionally rewards you for your efforts with a city hall, courthouse and army barracks. | |
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Loading Screen | |
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Loading Screen: SimCity 4 features goofy loading status messages, such as "Deciding what message to display next", "Deunionizing bulldozers", "Retrieving from back store", and the ubiquitous "Reticulating splines". Streets has a variation of the ubiquitous Indian head test pattern, with the head in the centre in place of the middle circle and wearing a '70s Porn Stache, which only appears after the opening scene and before the game loads. The 1964 Thunderbird appears, perpetually driving through a tunnel when the player chooses a mission. | |
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Crapsack World | |
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Crapsack World: It can be built, if you really want to... | |
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Adaptation Expansion | |
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Adaptation Expansion: The Super Nintendo version of the game introduced the rewards system. Also, introduced the only recognized mascot of the series, Dr. Wright. Think of him as precursor to the education, transit, and health czars in subsequent games. | |
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Permanent Elected Official | |
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Permanent Elected Official: You, of course, Mayor Defacto. Subverted in 2000, 3000, and 4: The game ends when you get kicked out of the office, which happens if you run into the red and refuse to do anything about it (say, take out a loan, repeal money-losing ordinances or build income-generating buildings) for a certain period of time. | |
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Kill Sat | |
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Kill Sat: One of the disasters in 2000 is a microwave satellite missing the power plant it's supposed to beam energy to, and instead blasting your city. | |
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Easter Egg | |
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One that overlaps with Easter Egg: In 2000, you could shoot down the traffic copter with the Center tool. | |
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Down on the Farm | |
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Down on the Farm: Under specific conditions, it's possible to get farms in your Light Industrial zones instead of the usual factories. It's much harder to get and keep them than in SimCity 4, though, because you might get farms and dirty industry mixed together in the same zone, which typically drives the farmers out due to pollution. | |
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Bland-Name Product | |
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Bland-Name Product: Some of the larger buildings in SimCity 3000 and later are modelled after real world buildings, but named differently. For instance, 450 Sutter appears as "Vu Financial" and the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Building (also known as 150 New Montgomery Street) is "The Galvin Corp". Some may even recognise Battersea Power Station as the form of the Coal Power Plants. | |
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Massive Multiplayer Crossover | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_2c385759 | comment |
Massive Multiplayer Crossover: If you consider what some of these mods contain, you can find some cities with Princess Peach's Castle, Pokémon Stadiums, have metal gears as a disaster. Also should be noted that in the Super Nintendo version of the game, Dr. Wright would be chased by Bowser, which would indicate that Bowser was attacking your city. Also, you could build a Mario statue in your city after obtaining a population of 500,000 people. | |
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Logic Bomb | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31083edb | comment |
Logic Bomb: Most games have an example or two where the simulation suggests two seemingly contradictory things at once. In the 2013 game, for example, residents will claim "where's the shopping?" while the commercial building next door will lament "no shoppers", even if the two are the same wealth level. Even worse, the game will have residents declare that they couldn't find any job and become homelessnote which is especially bad since it results in a spike in the amount of criminals in your city and by extension causes crime waves., even if your details screen shows that there are a more jobs than residents for each wealth level. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31083edb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31083edb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31083edb | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31f9cec9 | type |
Critical Staffing Shortage | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31f9cec9 | comment |
Critical Staffing Shortage: Implied when you set the budget for services really really low. The Fire Marshal outright states your city needs more firefighters. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31f9cec9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31f9cec9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_31f9cec9 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3273ebb9 | type |
Cut-and-Paste Environments | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3273ebb9 | comment |
Cut and Paste Environments: Advanced to a large scale standard! | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3273ebb9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3273ebb9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3273ebb9 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_33ca811a | type |
Game-Breaking Bug | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_33ca811a | comment |
The SNES version has a near Game-Breaking Bug where upon loading any saved city, the electricity will start off as non-existent for 5 seconds before restoring itself. This can have a severe effect on certain blocks, easily dropping a C-3 High building down to a C-1 Low for example or dropping a growing R-2 High to low density housing. Of course as a cartridge game with a very niche following, this bug was never fixed. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_33ca811a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_33ca811a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_33ca811a | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3556ccfc | type |
Command & Conquer Economy | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3556ccfc | comment |
Command & Conquer Economy: averted; you place infrastructure, but the Sims will build structures themselves in properly zoned land. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3556ccfc | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3556ccfc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3556ccfc | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_393ec3f9 | type |
Zeerust | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_393ec3f9 | comment |
Zeerust: The original SimCity feels especially dated now that the year 2010 has come and gone and there was no nuclear meltdown in Boston (if you discount the one in Fukushima, Japan in 2011). | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_393ec3f9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_393ec3f9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_393ec3f9 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3aa2ac42 | type |
G-Rated Drug | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3aa2ac42 | comment |
G-Rated Drug: Averted in an independent mission in Streets, which has you track down and stop what is explicitly a heroin shipment. And in an E-rated game! | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3aa2ac42 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3aa2ac42 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3aa2ac42 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3ac2a3e3 | type |
Deadly Gas | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3ac2a3e3 | comment |
Deadly Gas: In SimCity 2000, volcanoes and chemical tanks that were destroyed by fire unleashed a big cloud of noxious smoke onto your city, which caused any building it touched to immediately abandon. The debug menu even had a disaster, called Toxic Spill, that spawned a whole bunch of them at once. SimCity 3000 Unlimited upped the ante by introducing the Toxic Cloud disaster, which dumped acid rain so potent that it dissolved any building under it. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3ac2a3e3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3ac2a3e3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3ac2a3e3 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3bbf3fef | type |
Recurring Riff | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3bbf3fef | comment |
In SimCity 2013, one can hear DAH dun duh-duh-duhhh duhn dun-duuunnnn in many of the songs in the soundtrack, essentially making it this game's theme. It's even the doorbell chime for the Mayor's Mansion. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3bbf3fef | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3bbf3fef | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3bbf3fef | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f45f1e6 | type |
Adaptational Heroism | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f45f1e6 | comment |
Adaptational Heroism: OmegaCo is often portrayed as a Toxic, Inc. whose product, Omega, is not only polluting, but also addictive. However, in Buildit, their buildings don't pollute (even if Omega residential buildings have higher service demands than others) and they're portrayed in a more positive light. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f45f1e6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f45f1e6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f45f1e6 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f7a958b | type |
Secret Test of Character | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f7a958b | comment |
Secret Test of Character: Typing "call cousin vinnie" in the cheat console will trigger an event where a shady woman called Vinnie will offer you a large sum of money acquired through dubiously legal means. If you accept, you will simply get $100,000 with no strings attached. If you refuse, she will ask you to type "zyxwvu" on the cheat console to get the SimCity Castle on your reward buildings, which will crank up its surrounding land value to Astronomical and put your local approval rating all the way to maximum. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f7a958b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f7a958b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3f7a958b | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe13b23 | type |
Bootstrapped Theme | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe13b23 | comment |
Bootstrapped Theme: Actually, there is no theme to represent SimCity as a whole, but, each game seems to get its own little theme via one of the pieces in the game: SimCity 2000 has its own theme, which can be heard hidden (via an ice cream truck or building sound effect) in all other titles. In the special edition, the theme plays in the "About" screen. SimCity 3000 and its expansion Unlimited have a leitmotif (appropriately titled "Sim City Theme" on the soundtrack) which filters into many of the other tracks in the game. "Street Sweeper" is used as background music during the opening cutscene of SimCity 4 Deluxe, which leads some to believe that it is this to that game. In SimCity 2013, one can hear DAH dun duh-duh-duhhh duhn dun-duuunnnn in many of the songs in the soundtrack, essentially making it this game's theme. It's even the doorbell chime for the Mayor's Mansion. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe13b23 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe13b23 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe13b23 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe2b13f | type |
Ungrateful Bastard | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe2b13f | comment |
Ungrateful Bastard: In 3000, due to an unexplained bug, when your city's population reaches above 250,000, your citizens will constantly complain about the taxes being too high, even if you set the rates to exactly zero percent! This makes it seem like your citizens are an in-universe version of an Unpleasable Fanbase. Justifiable (to a degree) in 3000 because well planned large cities with high land values can have large positive cashflows (a tax rate complaint trigger) even with across the board 1% tax rates. The zero percent tax rate complaining, however, is a bug. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe2b13f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe2b13f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_3fe2b13f | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_407d3e6d | type |
Morton's Fork | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_407d3e6d | comment |
Morton's Fork: One of the random events you could experience in SimIsland, you would receive an SOS from a passing tanker requesting immediate help. It was carrying a cargo of toxic waste, which proved too much for the ship's hull to handle. You are given the choice of either unloading the toxic waste for storage onto your island (which you could never get rid of) in order to allow the tanker to repair its hull, or turn them away and have them risking a major ecological disaster at sea. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_407d3e6d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_407d3e6d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_407d3e6d | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40bb59d0 | type |
Blatant Lies | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40bb59d0 | comment |
"Launch" Arcologies, invented in 2150, were nicknamed for their resemblance to modern orbital launchers. The resemblance is not entirely coincidental, as sophisticated methods of biological support were necessary to oxygenate and feed the thousands of inhabitants. While never tested, the manufacturers claim the occupants could stay self-contained for up to two decades. The sides of the arcology are equipped with vernier jets to stabilize the structure during storms and earthquakes. A small nuclear facility independently powers the building; spare energy is stored by electrolyzing water into two tanks for oxygen and hydrogen. The "Launch Arco" holds 65,000 inhabitants, but are also the most expensive to build. Build 450 of these in your city and the Exodus will occur. All of the launch arcos will explode, demolishing themselves while a message appears on your screen: "Your launch arcos have departed into space to find new worlds. You have been compensated for the construction." Note: building 450 of them will take up roughly 90% of your entire city's area, meaning you will need to destroy most of what you've already built just to accommodate them. This is, however, considered the unofficial "Win Condition" in a technically unwinnable, unending game. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40bb59d0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40bb59d0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40bb59d0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40cbee83 | type |
Wretched Hive | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40cbee83 | comment |
Wretched Hive: If you legalize gambling and don't put around any police stations, your town will be on its way to becoming like this. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40cbee83 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40cbee83 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_40cbee83 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4156b553 | type |
Copy Protection | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4156b553 | comment |
Copy Protection: SimCity came with a folded dark red sheet of paper with dozens of city names and "code blocks" printed in slightly darker red that was impossible to duplicate with contemporary facsimile machines. You have to enter the city name corresponding to the blocks, otherwise the game would wreck your city with disasters. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4156b553 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4156b553 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4156b553 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_41d0e801 | type |
Endless Game | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_41d0e801 | comment |
Endless Game: There is no way to "win" Simcity. The game will simply keep going on until the player decides to stop playing. The closest thing to a victory condition is building a city that achieves megalopolis status, which happens when the population hits 500,000. Though you get an additional congratulatory message if you go beyond that to reach 600,000. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_41d0e801 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_41d0e801 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_41d0e801 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_42d9daf9 | type |
No Fair Cheating | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_42d9daf9 | comment |
No Fair Cheating: Some early SimCity editions on the PC have a cheat code that grants the player money ... at the cost of possibly triggering a major earthquake. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_42d9daf9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_42d9daf9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_42d9daf9 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4582ef5b | type |
Ultimate Authority Mayor | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4582ef5b | comment |
Ultimate Authority Mayor: You play as one. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4582ef5b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4582ef5b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4582ef5b | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_45bf382b | type |
Game Mod | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_45bf382b | comment |
A raft of Game Mods for SimCity 4 will also change the vegetation and terrain textures. One adds snow at high altitudes, one that adds mountain forest trees, one that replaces the passenger trains with France's SNCF Corail trains, one simulates the landscapes of northern Mexico — forest in the mountains, desert in the valleys — and one that, quoth the mod's own description, "turns the water from light Caribbean blue to dark rest-of-the-world blue". | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_45bf382b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_45bf382b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_45bf382b | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4987746e | type |
Ridiculously Fast Construction | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4987746e | comment |
Ridiculously Fast Construction: Everything is instantly built except for the Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Structures. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4987746e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4987746e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4987746e | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_49d59be9 | type |
Scenery Porn | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_49d59be9 | comment |
Scenery Porn: In every game except, possibly, the first, this has been a major emphasis (though secondary to the applicability of the simulation itself), to a degree determined by the technology available to the average consumer at the time. Broken as the base may be on Societies or SimCity 2013, nobody can deny that they have the capability to make absolutely beautiful cities. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_49d59be9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_49d59be9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_49d59be9 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4a3e547f | type |
Leaning on the Fourth Wall | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4a3e547f | comment |
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The newspaper in SimCity 2000 may warn about "prolonged contact with any kind of simulated city." Better stop playing SimCity now. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4a3e547f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4a3e547f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4a3e547f | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f4372e9 | type |
Early-Installment Weirdness | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f4372e9 | comment |
Early-Installment Weirdness: The first game is this in all sorts of ways if you come to it from one of the later installments: The view is entirely top-down, not isometric or 3D; The view's not zoomable at all; Zones are a fixed size: 3x3; There are no different zone densities; low/high density is all decided by the game; There's only one type of road - no highways; There's no water system; There's no underground view or construction whatsoever: no water pipes, no subways, nothing; The land is entirely flat; There's no education systems, health systems (schools and hospitals can be built by the game on zoned land) or garbage systems; There are very few sounds and no music at all. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f4372e9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f4372e9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f4372e9 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f63b1ea | type |
Hollywood Provincialism | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f63b1ea | comment |
Hollywood Provincialism: Probably most blatantly in SimCity 4. The landscapes resemble southern California, right down to the brown, muddy rocks. The water is a tropical light blue. City streets and roads can be lined with palm trees, bus stops resemble the RTA and BART systems, all highways are three-lane concrete affairs. On the other hand, Maxis did send some members of the team to Europe to study the contemporary architecture of England, France, and Germany for the European building set in Rush Hour. To a lesser extent, the European and Asian building sets from the SimCity 3000 expansion are also aversions. A raft of Game Mods for SimCity 4 will also change the vegetation and terrain textures. One adds snow at high altitudes, one that adds mountain forest trees, one that replaces the passenger trains with France's SNCF Corail trains, one simulates the landscapes of northern Mexico — forest in the mountains, desert in the valleys — and one that, quoth the mod's own description, "turns the water from light Caribbean blue to dark rest-of-the-world blue". Maxis has blantatly admited that 2013 features landscaping from the California region. Also, a lot of the buildings, especially for the low and mid-wealth sims, very much resemble buildings from the So-Cal area, including fast food restaurants with giant objects (like a donut or a hamburger) for signs and rather modern adobe strip-malls. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f63b1ea | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f63b1ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_4f63b1ea | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_56515a39 | type |
Artistic License – History | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_56515a39 | comment |
Artistic License – History: The Newspaper can mention things which are anachronistic to the time period your city is currently in. For instance, the news will sometimes mention communist takeovers (In Zaire) or tank columns being destroyed by rebels in a war... In 1903. Sometimes, you will have snippets which describe programmers and computers, completely oblivious to the time period your city is in. Sometimes, a picture of 2 Vietnam-War era soldiers or a bunch of 80s protestors is shown in the newspapers- again, completely oblivious to the time period. Somewhat averted with period-accurate utilities only being available within their specific time period (i.e, oil power plants are only available after the 1930s, while airports are available after the 1950s). Despite this, there are no graphics changes to represent cars or different building styles, and newspapers can say completely anachronistic things which do not match the time period of the city you're currently in. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_56515a39 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_56515a39 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_56515a39 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ac86e7b | type |
Advanced Tech 2000 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ac86e7b | comment |
Advanced Tech 2000: SimCity 2000, and SimCity 3000. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ac86e7b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ac86e7b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ac86e7b | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ff56a1f | type |
Long List | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ff56a1f | comment |
On a more subtle level, leaving Sims impoverished without basic municipal services, sending residents on long commutes through woefully under-capacity streets, giving tax incentives to heavy polluters... you get the idea. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ff56a1f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ff56a1f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_5ff56a1f | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_60fa92ac | type |
Names to Run Away from Really Fast | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_60fa92ac | comment |
Invented in 2100 is the Darco — slang for "De-Urbanized Arcological Construct". Originally designed by the twisted genius of Dante McCallavre, the artist/architect proclaimed it a reactionary response to the rigid, archetypal arcologies of his day. No one really knows what this means, and many engineers are frankly baffled at how the thing stays standing. Inside, the ill-lit corridors twist into odd, meandering corkscrews that mysteriously turn back on themselves. Non-Euclidean would be the best way to describe it. There are rumors that a strange sub-species of man inhabits the air ducts. The Darco can attract up to 45,000 brave souls. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_60fa92ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_60fa92ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_60fa92ac | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_62259825 | type |
Nintendo Hard | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_62259825 | comment |
Nintendo Hard: The first game, and SimCity 4 features the hardest money-management metagame ever. The Rush Hour / Deluxe Edition of SimCity 4 adds difficulty settings, and even the easiest difficulty setting is still pretty hard. Forget the fact that you start off with 500,000 Simoleons on this setting; if you don't spend them wisely and generate revenue within a couple of years, you will be bankrupt. On the other hand, the difficulty of maintaining a thriving city in SimCity 4 is what compels people to keep playing it. Those who play a sufficiently large number of hours may see everything differently, and maybe even have increased respect for every government in Real Life. And if you can't generate enough revenue to offset the capital that's constantly spent, you'll be stuck constantly performing missions around town. This also applies if you choose to keep disasters enabled, since enabling them while running at cheetah speed in 2000 will cause a simple fire to wipe out the city before you can react. At least some of the money-management difficulties can be solved by applying the lessons in a tutorial in SC4 appropriately named "Making Money Tutorial". Traffic takes the center stage in 2013. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_62259825 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_62259825 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_62259825 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_634d7074 | type |
Work Info Title | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_634d7074 | comment |
Work Info Title: The "Sim" in the titles lets you know it's a series of Simulation Games. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_634d7074 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_634d7074 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_634d7074 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_64f0c18c | type |
Critical Existence Failure | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_64f0c18c | comment |
Critical Existence Failure: In at least 2000, a newspaper article quotes a scientist who cites a law of physics stating that all forms of power generation will instantaneously collapse exactly fifty years after they're built. This happens to be true for every power plant except hydroelectric and wind. Make sure you budget for replacement power plants. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_64f0c18c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_64f0c18c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_64f0c18c | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_652c32fa | type |
Super-Deformed | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_652c32fa | comment |
Super-Deformed: Dr. Wright is a very Japanese touch to an otherwise-Western game. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_652c32fa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_652c32fa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_652c32fa | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_67fedd35 | type |
Bizarrchitecture | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_67fedd35 | comment |
Bizarrchitecture: The "Darco" arcology in 2000 is said to be designed around what is best described as non-Euclidian. There's also rumors that a sub-species of human crawls around in the depths within. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_67fedd35 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_67fedd35 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_67fedd35 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_681077c5 | type |
Wide-Open Sandbox | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_681077c5 | comment |
Wide-Open Sandbox: One of the first games in this genre. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_681077c5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_681077c5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_681077c5 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6a6c7ce6 | type |
Unending End Card | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6a6c7ce6 | comment |
Unending End Card: There is an option to "quit the game", which would lead to a "see you later" card accepting no input from the controller. Well, it SEEMS like it isn't accepting input, anyway - you can put in a code to reach the debug menu from this screen. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6a6c7ce6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6a6c7ce6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6a6c7ce6 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6b35bdff | type |
Serious Business | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6b35bdff | comment |
Serious Business: Players have spent years at a time trying to recreate real cities, most commonly New York, and in SimCity 4, embarking on enormous region-wide building projects. Some of these are so intricate that players alter the game's programming specifically for them; all while writing elaborate backstories and plots for their worlds. Several fansites hold competitions for the best of these. Also, architecture students often use SimCity 3000 and 4 to test the theories they have learned in urban planning class. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6b35bdff | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6b35bdff | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6b35bdff | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6e7e9709 | type |
Cosmetic Award | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6e7e9709 | comment |
Cosmetic Award: The "View" gift, while not costing anything, merely allows you to see your city tilted at an angle as if on a tabletop. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6e7e9709 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6e7e9709 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_6e7e9709 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_735b4101 | type |
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_735b4101 | comment |
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: From SimCity to SimCity 4, the zones have always been green for Residential zones, blue for Commercial zones and yellow for Industrial zones. The SNES port of SimCity changed the colour of Residential zones to red. Also, 3000 had a dominant color for each zone type, density and income level. Mid-class apartments, for example, were brick red, rich houses had light green grass, heavy industry was brown, and small businesses had lots of pink esplanades. This remained to some degree on the Unlimited expansion, where the European building set, for example, had brown historic buildings as light commercial and light gray mid-class apartments. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_735b4101 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_735b4101 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_735b4101 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_740f59b4 | type |
ColorCodedForYourConvenience | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_740f59b4 | comment |
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Zoned buildings of each different wealth tier and density level in the American tileset have a different dominant color. Tall red brick high-rises means high density middle-class, pastel-colored condominiums means rich high density, light green grass means middle-class or rich low density depending on the size of the lawn, dark brown factories means high density heavy industry, and light gray factories means high density modern industry. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_740f59b4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_740f59b4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_740f59b4 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7464705c | type |
Arc Words | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7464705c | comment |
Arc Words: The DS version of Creator has "The happiness of the city is in your hands!" said at the end of each advisor meeting. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7464705c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7464705c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7464705c | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_74a7d2d | type |
Creator's Culture Carryover | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_74a7d2d | comment |
Creator's Culture Carryover: Quite a few things work the way they do in the United States and not in other countries. For instance, it is the responsibility of the city government to fund and operate the police force, whereas in many if not most countries, that's the function of a higher level of government (e.g., in France, it's the central government, while in Germany, it's the state government). Of course, the developers had to use some country as a model. The game resembles the United States in that the easiest solution to population growth is usually to expand into a previously undeveloped wilderness area. Most European cities don't have this option. The lack of mixed zoning policies has been remarked as basically being US urban planning, circa 1960. The tendency to prefer highways to commuter rail, etc. in anything but the largest cities (driven by weak commuter algorithms) is also quite American. The former may have been a product of simplified programming; the concrete-slapping that the latter can induce, however... | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_74a7d2d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_74a7d2d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_74a7d2d | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75b53c77 | type |
Arcology | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75b53c77 | comment |
Arcology: The Plymouth Arco, invented in 2000, is "Solid as a Rock", or so claims Plymouth Arcologies, Inc. It's known that they have stood through several earthquakes, notably in the NeoRepublic of Mexico and the Taiwan CoProsperity Region. Plymouth Arcologies are designed primarily to support heavy industries, as visually demonstrated by the sewage and pollution literally oozing down the grungy outer walls of its obelisk-like design. Combined with the giant television screen built at the base, this arcology and its 55,000 industrious citizens has a distinct 80s dystopian cyberpunk theme going for it. Going in the complete opposite direction from its predecessor, the Forest Arcology, invented in 2050, is a series of habitat rings built on top of each other, and is named for its attractive forest setting on the top level. Throughout the structure, citizens utilize recycling, operate ecologically sound industries, and maintain a rich verbal heritage that replaces television and radio. Unfortunately, the youth of Forest Arcos are bored silly and roam out into your city where they stare mindlessly at soap operas and sports programs displayed in the electronics department at local malls. Most of its 30,000 residents are tree-hugging hippies. Invented in 2100 is the Darco — slang for "De-Urbanized Arcological Construct". Originally designed by the twisted genius of Dante McCallavre, the artist/architect proclaimed it a reactionary response to the rigid, archetypal arcologies of his day. No one really knows what this means, and many engineers are frankly baffled at how the thing stays standing. Inside, the ill-lit corridors twist into odd, meandering corkscrews that mysteriously turn back on themselves. Non-Euclidean would be the best way to describe it. There are rumors that a strange sub-species of man inhabits the air ducts. The Darco can attract up to 45,000 brave souls. "Launch" Arcologies, invented in 2150, were nicknamed for their resemblance to modern orbital launchers. The resemblance is not entirely coincidental, as sophisticated methods of biological support were necessary to oxygenate and feed the thousands of inhabitants. While never tested, the manufacturers claim the occupants could stay self-contained for up to two decades. The sides of the arcology are equipped with vernier jets to stabilize the structure during storms and earthquakes. A small nuclear facility independently powers the building; spare energy is stored by electrolyzing water into two tanks for oxygen and hydrogen. The "Launch Arco" holds 65,000 inhabitants, but are also the most expensive to build. Build 450 of these in your city and the Exodus will occur. All of the launch arcos will explode, demolishing themselves while a message appears on your screen: "Your launch arcos have departed into space to find new worlds. You have been compensated for the construction." Note: building 450 of them will take up roughly 90% of your entire city's area, meaning you will need to destroy most of what you've already built just to accommodate them. This is, however, considered the unofficial "Win Condition" in a technically unwinnable, unending game. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75b53c77 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75b53c77 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75b53c77 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75eb8771 | type |
Mad Libs Dialogue | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75eb8771 | comment |
Mad Libs Dialogue: The source of the Word-Salad Humor and Writers Cannot Do Math tropes mentioned below. Because the game is creating news stories by randomly picking pre-generated sentences, filling in the blanks with random data, and then stringing them together. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75eb8771 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75eb8771 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_75eb8771 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_762d730c | type |
Level Editor | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_762d730c | comment |
Level Editor: An interesting example in regards to SimCopter and Streets of SimCity, which load SimCity 2000 levels, thus making SC2000 a level editor for them. As for SimCity 2000 itself, there was a program called SimCity Urban Renewal Kit (or simply called "SCURK") which was either sold as a stand-alone product or included with certain "special editions" of SimCity 2000 and Streets of SimCity. The Urban Renewal Kit allowed you to place buildings, roads, water, trees, and so on anywhere you like regardless of whether it would make the city functional or not (for SimCopter and Streets of SimCity levels or to even make a city you could print out as a physical picture). It also included a pixel editor for objects so you could change the appearance of buildings, which could be imported into SimCity 2000 as building sets. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_762d730c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_762d730c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_762d730c | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77550b4f | type |
Theme-and-Variations Soundtrack | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77550b4f | comment |
Theme-and-Variations Soundtrack: The SNES, 3000, and 2013 games all employ this musical trope. The SNES version features a heavily modified version of the melody for each stage of the city, 3000 has a recurring riff throughout the tracks, and 2013 (and its expansion pack) use the main theme and its variations to create the soundtrack. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77550b4f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77550b4f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77550b4f | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77aae115 | type |
Hated by All | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77aae115 | comment |
Hated by All: Downplayed and Played for Laughs with the Tax Advisor (from the Budget screen). Anytime you ask him for advice, his dialogue will be accompanied by the sound of a crowd booing (and he's apparently the only advisor who gets this treatment). And it doesn't matter what he says, as they will still boo him even if he advises you to lower taxes. Then again, it's kind of justified since he is trying to influence your decisions that could affect the financial well-being of your citizens. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77aae115 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77aae115 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_77aae115 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7976e429 | type |
2-D Space | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7976e429 | comment |
2-D Space: Most titles don't allow for overpasses or underpasses. Have a street crossing another street? A railroad crossing a street? You're going to be impeding traffic with a stoplight or a railroad crossing. The exceptions are 4 and 2013. In 4, avenues could have just one intersection for a street, road, or avenue. In 2013 between both mods and update 7, players could raise and lower the roads to create underpasses and overpasses to avoid having intersections. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7976e429 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7976e429 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7976e429 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7b71edf4 | type |
Going Critical | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7b71edf4 | comment |
Finding the Apache allowed you to shoot missiles at buildings and cars, destroying them, and mow down civilians with the machine gun. The "U-Drive-It" feature of SimCity 4: Rush Hour also had a drivable attack helicopter, in addition to a tank, a jet fighter, and a UFO. Additionally, you could use the Apache's rockets to cause a nuclear meltdown, by blowing up a city's nuclear power plant (if one was built). The resulting explosion would level most of the city, destroy your helicopter and start numerous medievac and fire missions. (If you didn't want to lose the Apache, it was best to let the fires burn their way up the silos and switch over to a cheaper helicopter. You lose whichever one you flew last.) | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7b71edf4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7b71edf4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7b71edf4 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ccd3698 | type |
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ccd3698 | comment |
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A traditional Disaster, whether it be Godzilla, Bowser, Aliens, a giant special effects robot, Servo or an Epic creature from Spore. The Random disaster feature in SimCity Creator for the Wii could summon some of the series' staples such as Humongous Mecha and UFOs, but it can also summon some pretty bizarre ones too, such as giant hammers and Giant Hands of Doom that pound your city, controllable giant Spike Balls of Doom and drills, and even a stampede of giant llamas. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ccd3698 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ccd3698 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ccd3698 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ed25068 | type |
Video Game Caring Potential | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ed25068 | comment |
Videogame Caring Potential: To a detrimental extent, in many ways. Focus too much on giving your citizens an idyllic existence with parks and marinas and police officers on every corner, and you'll run into the red. Truth in Television to some extent: There's a reason that programs like that tend to get cut when the budget gets tight. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ed25068 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ed25068 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_7ed25068 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_80df060c | type |
Mascot Mook | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_80df060c | comment |
Mascot Mook: The Monster in this game shows up pretty much all over the place, from the main menu to the GBA port's help screens. It's so iconic, it's impossible to think about SimCity 2000 without thinking about the Monster. Which is funny, since the Monster rarely shows up in-game, unless you deliberately activate it with the Disasters menu. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_80df060c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_80df060c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_80df060c | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_830f2f0e | type |
Police State | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_830f2f0e | comment |
Police State: In 2000, 3000, and 4, if you put too much funding on your city's law enforcement, your Sims will complain about oppression and will suffer a lower standard of living due to your police going to great lengths to ensure that no crime in your city goes unpunished. In 2000, the police station's stats will actually show that more crimes are being punished than committed! | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_830f2f0e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_830f2f0e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_830f2f0e | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8409a385 | type |
Exactly What It Says on the Tin | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8409a385 | comment |
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: If you zoom in and look closely at the signs and billboards on buildings, you'll find their descriptions to be extremely concise. For example, low-tech industrial buildings will have signs and billboards that label them as "Standard Factory", "Dirty Factory", "Mill" or even "Low-Tech Industrial" and "Low-Tech Factory". | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8409a385 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8409a385 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8409a385 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_875615dd | type |
Truth in Television | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_875615dd | comment |
Truth in Television: 3000 has what's known as a industrial pollutant impact fee, or carbon tax, which fills the city's coffers at the price of commerce and industry suffering. This has become a rather contentious issue in Australia and other countries where such a tax is causing businesses to close down. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_875615dd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_875615dd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_875615dd | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_87629455 | type |
No Communities Were Harmed | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_87629455 | comment |
No Communities Were Harmed: Averted, many sample cities and challenge scenarios are recreations of real cities. Tokyo, Los Angeles and various big cities from around the world are the usual suspects. There was also a really fascinating one in 2000 where you took over Flint, MI in the 1970s, just before shit hit the fan. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_87629455 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_87629455 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_87629455 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8774fb47 | type |
Eldritch Abomination | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8774fb47 | comment |
Eldritch Abomination: The Monster in 2000. It's unclear whether it's a robot, a Living Ship, or even if it's actually from outer space and not just a movie prop gone berserk. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8774fb47 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8774fb47 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8774fb47 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8a295a46 | type |
Cool Car | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8a295a46 | comment |
Cool Car: Streets features (as playable vehicles) a 1969 Chevy Camaro, Ferrari 250 GT, the original 1966 Ford GT40, plus a 1973 GMC C-Series van and Volkswagen Beetle. Non-playable vehicles include a 1964 Ford Thunderbird and a Mercury Cougar. Players can weaponise them; see Weaponised Car below. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8a295a46 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8a295a46 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8a295a46 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c3dc1b5 | type |
Video Game Time | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c3dc1b5 | comment |
Video Game Time: The day-to-day business of citizens could be seen but it happened on a different time scale to the rest of the game so that day-to-day business was happening on a week-to-week time. In Sim City 4, they made the My Sim feature explicitly work on a different time scale. Lampshaded in SimCity 3000 when one unpauses a game a while after pausing it and making tweaks. The ticker will display a hilarious message about the sims wondering if time stopped and about things that weren't there before the game was paused. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c3dc1b5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c3dc1b5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c3dc1b5 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c55e307 | type |
Ultimate Job Security | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c55e307 | comment |
Ultimate Job Security: Outside of the scenarios, the only way to get fired is to run your city too far in the red. On the other hand, you can't fire any of your advisors. You may wish you could if the Environmental Advisor in 4 obtains a Court Order to shut down a water tower or pump because the water quality is bad (forcing you to buy an expensive Water Treatment Plant or demolish the old pump and put a new one elsewhere). | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c55e307 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c55e307 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8c55e307 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8d6d9535 | type |
Artistic License – Medicine | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8d6d9535 | comment |
Artistic License – Medicine: The newspaper in SimCity 2000 prints random nonsense, such as bogus medical advice for earwax build-uppus, hypertension, llama pox, or pimples. The newspaper may also warn about "prolonged contact with any kind of simulated city." | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8d6d9535 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8d6d9535 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8d6d9535 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8f7b77d3 | type |
Cargo Ship | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8f7b77d3 | comment |
Cargo Ship: The newspaper in SimCity 2000 discusses this In-Universe (and Played for Laughs), under the headline "Man Loves Computer". A man in a Love Triangle spends more time with his computer (who has a female name) than with his wife. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8f7b77d3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8f7b77d3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_8f7b77d3 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_90c018ac | type |
Justified Trope | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_90c018ac | comment |
If you've used Google Street View to look at the center of any small town in the US (or the brown-brick skyscrapers of many midsize cities), you'll know that this is largely justified. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_90c018ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_90c018ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_90c018ac | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_95a2cbd4 | type |
Exposition Fairy | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_95a2cbd4 | comment |
Exposition Fairy: Dr. Wright. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_95a2cbd4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_95a2cbd4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_95a2cbd4 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_97c6b148 | type |
Allegedly Free Game | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_97c6b148 | comment |
Allegedly Free Game: SimCity Social and SimCity BuildIt, being reliant on microtransactions but are free to install and play. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_97c6b148 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_97c6b148 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_97c6b148 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9aaf8eca | type |
Crippling Overspecialization | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9aaf8eca | comment |
Crippling Overspecialization: Anything involving nuclear power is bound to result in catastrophe... In 2013, any of the fossil fuel specializations can ultimately set you up for trouble if you do not prepare for the raw resources to run out in the city. Luckily, the global market tends to be fairly kind with the price of coal, ore, and oil at the moment. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9aaf8eca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9aaf8eca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9aaf8eca | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9bb14eb1 | type |
Word-Salad Humor | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9bb14eb1 | comment |
Word-Salad Humor: The newspaper stories in 2000 can delve into this as a result of being semi-randomly generated. Remember when that star lacrosse player suffered a twisted kidney and a fractured uvula, or that scare about bogus handbags being sold as a snake oil cure for textured pimples? | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9bb14eb1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9bb14eb1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9bb14eb1 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9f6fb586 | type |
Leitmotif | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9f6fb586 | comment |
Leitmotif: Each city size has its own background music. Additionally, the music varies slightly with the season, being more mellow in winter, for example. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9f6fb586 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9f6fb586 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_9f6fb586 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a567f7f2 | type |
I Want My Jet Pack | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a567f7f2 | comment |
I Want My Jetpack: The old SimCity 2000 manual tells players not to "come to us in 2050 and complain that we don't have fusion power yet." | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a567f7f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a567f7f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a567f7f2 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a8559a9f | type |
RealLife | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a8559a9f | comment |
The Rush Hour / Deluxe Edition of SimCity 4 adds difficulty settings, and even the easiest difficulty setting is still pretty hard. Forget the fact that you start off with 500,000 Simoleons on this setting; if you don't spend them wisely and generate revenue within a couple of years, you will be bankrupt. On the other hand, the difficulty of maintaining a thriving city in SimCity 4 is what compels people to keep playing it. Those who play a sufficiently large number of hours may see everything differently, and maybe even have increased respect for every government in Real Life. And if you can't generate enough revenue to offset the capital that's constantly spent, you'll be stuck constantly performing missions around town. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a8559a9f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a8559a9f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_a8559a9f | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_aa8db5e2 | type |
Mega City | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_aa8db5e2 | comment |
Mega City / Skyscraper City: You can make one if you so wish. By putting in high-density in both Residential and Commercial zones, your city will easily turn into a metropolis with those towering buildings, not to mention raking in the revenues quite effectively that you'll be staying in the black. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_aa8db5e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_aa8db5e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_aa8db5e2 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_acf4e51b | type |
Cheat Code | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_acf4e51b | comment |
Cheat Code: SimCity 3000 displays a cheat code entry menu when you hit [Ctrl][Alt][Shift][C]. The codes can usually be found online. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_acf4e51b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_acf4e51b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_acf4e51b | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b23e7ba9 | type |
Real Is Brown | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b23e7ba9 | comment |
Real Is Brown: SimCity 4 did this with all the buildings in attempt to make them look more subtle. Probably one of the earlier uses of the trope as well. If you've used Google Street View to look at the center of any small town in the US (or the brown-brick skyscrapers of many midsize cities), you'll know that this is largely justified. Averted or played straight according to player preference in the 2013 release, as it gives players the option of applying various graphic filters to their view which changes color contrast ratios. Some give the city a more subdued color look, others give it a more bright and vibrant look. Despite having no mechanical effect, they can drastically alter the "mood" a city projects. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b23e7ba9 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b23e7ba9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b23e7ba9 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b30db865 | type |
Space Compression | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b30db865 | comment |
Space Compression: Even taking into account the high densities of the metropolis, many cities and buildings seem too small to contain the population they supposedly contain. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b30db865 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b30db865 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b30db865 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b486877f | type |
Squick | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b486877f | comment |
The Plymouth Arco, invented in 2000, is "Solid as a Rock", or so claims Plymouth Arcologies, Inc. It's known that they have stood through several earthquakes, notably in the NeoRepublic of Mexico and the Taiwan CoProsperity Region. Plymouth Arcologies are designed primarily to support heavy industries, as visually demonstrated by the sewage and pollution literally oozing down the grungy outer walls of its obelisk-like design. Combined with the giant television screen built at the base, this arcology and its 55,000 industrious citizens has a distinct 80s dystopian cyberpunk theme going for it. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b486877f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b486877f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b486877f | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b58b4e3c | type |
Too Dumb to Live | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b58b4e3c | comment |
In 2000, if you zone a high-rise in the way of an airport's runway, airplanes will crash into it. Repeatedly. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b58b4e3c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b58b4e3c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_b58b4e3c | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bc74ef27 | type |
Berserk Button | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bc74ef27 | comment |
Berserk Button: Do NOT cut transit funding in SimCity 2000. You will regret this. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bc74ef27 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bc74ef27 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bc74ef27 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf1b02b | type |
Fictional Currency | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf1b02b | comment |
Fictional Currency: Starting with SimCity 3000, the unit of currency is officially called the simoleon for SimCity 4 and SimCity 2013. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf1b02b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf1b02b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf1b02b | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf5b6abf | type |
Cyber Cyclops | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf5b6abf | comment |
Cyber Cyclops: The Monster is one of the flying alien laser-shooting variety. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf5b6abf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf5b6abf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_bf5b6abf | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c20e0251 | type |
Jump Scare | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c20e0251 | comment |
Jumpscare: The Plane Crash disaster, which is a loud "WHOOSH!" (the jet engine) followed by a "BOOM!" (the crash itself). It can be quite startling if you're minding your own business and it occurs without manually triggering it from the Disaster Menu. And once you do build an Airport the planes will crash randomly, sooner or later, especially since there's no way to control the airplane or helicopter's movements to make them stop occasionally running into each other. The "Disaster" music theme can be quite startling since it begins with loud emergency vehicle sirens. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c20e0251 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c20e0251 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c20e0251 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2393191 | type |
Show Within a Show | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2393191 | comment |
Show Within a Show: A game within a game. The newspaper in SimCity 2000 reports that school students may play mayor in a city simulation game. Some students go to the school nurse, afraid that they might live in a simulation. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2393191 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2393191 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2393191 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c25c7890 | type |
Fun with Acronyms | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c25c7890 | comment |
As for SimCity 2000 itself, there was a program called SimCity Urban Renewal Kit (or simply called "SCURK") which was either sold as a stand-alone product or included with certain "special editions" of SimCity 2000 and Streets of SimCity. The Urban Renewal Kit allowed you to place buildings, roads, water, trees, and so on anywhere you like regardless of whether it would make the city functional or not (for SimCopter and Streets of SimCity levels or to even make a city you could print out as a physical picture). It also included a pixel editor for objects so you could change the appearance of buildings, which could be imported into SimCity 2000 as building sets. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c25c7890 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c25c7890 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c25c7890 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2d978fe | type |
Car Fu | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2d978fe | comment |
Car Fu: SimCopter let you win a criminal-catching mission by crushing the suspect to death by landing on him. Required very precise flying skills to do it without taking damage, but a definite guilty pleasure. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2d978fe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2d978fe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c2d978fe | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c30f7c4a | type |
Vehicular Combat | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c30f7c4a | comment |
Vehicular Combat: Streets is built on this trope. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c30f7c4a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c30f7c4a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c30f7c4a | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c513249 | type |
Harder Than Hard | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c513249 | comment |
People demand Fire Departments even when disasters are disabled. No point in building them unless Disasters are on (and in SimCity, set them to ~1% funding until needed). SC4 replaced turning disasters on or off with most disasters only being there for Videogame Cruelty Potential, but some disasters would still happen on their own — fires, for example, start pretty much only in places without adequate fire coverage, implying that the fires you see as disasters are actually fires that got out of control and require your intervention. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c513249 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c513249 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c513249 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c59cfa2e | type |
Felony Misdemeanor | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c59cfa2e | comment |
Felony Misdemeanor: You can get fired in a non-scenario situation, not by giving your city the highest tax rate in the world, not by letting crime take over your city, not by letting pollution create a hole in the ozone layer right over your city, not even by demolishing the entire city yourself, but by failing to make your loan payment at the end of a year. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c59cfa2e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c59cfa2e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c59cfa2e | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c69ae9b2 | type |
Self-Destruct Mechanism | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c69ae9b2 | comment |
The treasury specialist in SimCity 2000 recommends floating a bond to take advantage of low interest rates - ignoring the fact that it's sometimes hard to get a stable enough cash flow to maintain power plants that self destruct every 50 years. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c69ae9b2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c69ae9b2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c69ae9b2 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c6ae3121 | type |
Modern Stasis | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c6ae3121 | comment |
Modern Stasis: Your city could be in the year 2300, and yet architecture, fashions, trends, and industry are pretty much the same (yes, even the high-tech industry doesn't get any higher or more improved). Sim City 2000 introduces some futuristic power stations and the giant "arcology" apartment buildings, but their presence doesn't seem to have any effect on the rest of the city. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c6ae3121 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c6ae3121 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c6ae3121 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c75df49a | comment |
Shout-Out: The very existence of the California Plaza as a landmark; some of the buildings in the game are named after Maxis staff. In SimCity 2000, one of the buildings was styled after the historic Orinda Theatre in Maxis's then-hometown. One of the buildings that may appear in a Hi-Tech industrial zone in SimCity 4 is called Kane Tiberium. Go figure. In SimCity 2000 many neighbouring city names are references to Red Dwarf and Blake's 7 In SimCity 3000, one of the types of residential buildings is named "Sheeza Brick House" in reference to the song "Brick House" by The Commodores. One of the disasters in the 2013 game is an Epic Creature from Spore. You can build Bowser's Castle in SimCity DS. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c75df49a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c75df49a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c75df49a | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c9597a03 | type |
Self-Deprecation | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c9597a03 | comment |
The newspaper may also warn about "prolonged contact with any kind of simulated city." | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c9597a03 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c9597a03 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_c9597a03 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cbe687ab | type |
Corrupt Corporate Executive | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cbe687ab | comment |
Corrupt Civil Executive: Your advisors in SimCity 3000 tend to give advice based or factors in their area of interest without any regard for the big picture, meaning they occasionally suggest somethat that's good for, say, public transport but would cripple the city as a whole. The manual handwaves this by suggesting they may have an agenda (which only results in paranoia over whether their advice is trustworthy even within their area of interest). | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cbe687ab | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cbe687ab | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cbe687ab | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cffd35ee | type |
Crop Circles | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cffd35ee | comment |
Crop Circles: The Flying Saucer in 3000 will sometimes create crop circles in wheat fields. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cffd35ee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cffd35ee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_cffd35ee | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d2cba32d | type |
Game Maker | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d2cba32d | comment |
Game Maker: Will Wright conceived it as a scenario editor for his WWII game Raid on Bungeling Bay and programmed it as such for the Commodore 64 in 1985, before expanding it to a full-fledged application. Several developers turned "the toy game" down because it wasn't "arcadey" enough. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d2cba32d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d2cba32d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d2cba32d | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d397657d | type |
Hoist by His Own Petard | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d397657d | comment |
Hoist by His Own Petard: Rioters can be snuffed out by fires that they started themselves. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d397657d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d397657d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d397657d | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d39e327f | type |
What the Hell, Hero? | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d39e327f | comment |
What the Hell, Hero?: Your advisors will call you out if you're not too nice or competent. Or if you cut back on transportation funding in SimCity 2000. Chucking a few too many meteors in SimCity 4 will sometimes cause a ticker message that says "Mayor *insert name here* a little too trigger happy..." | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d39e327f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d39e327f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d39e327f | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d49f90ea | type |
Western Terrorists | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d49f90ea | comment |
Western Terrorists: Group 9, the antagonists of "Gallahad's Watch" in Streets. Little is known about them, however "Only one man stands in their way, and they're about to piss him off." | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d49f90ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d49f90ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d49f90ea | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d948b07 | type |
Terrain Sculpting | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d948b07 | comment |
Terrain Sculpting: The games allow the player to modify the terrain as befits the needs of a growing city. However, doing so as a mayor is expensive (unless you cheat). Fortunately, each game since 2000 has had a mode wherein a player could sculpt the terrain for free before founding a city there (and in 4, there are more ways to do so pre-founding as well). The controls have become increasingly precise and lifelike, and support for terrain imports became available, so as to recreate real-world locations. In 4, you can also make craters before or during city play by dropping meteors or summoning volcanos. 3000, 4, and Societies all allow the importation of height maps for a city (or whole region in the case of 4), meaning if you can somehow convert a Topographic map to a height map, you can basically recreate any real life location. 4 even offered a service that would allow users to use USGS data to create regions modeled after any part of the US. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d948b07 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d948b07 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_d948b07 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_da1c8191 | type |
Writers Cannot Do Math | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_da1c8191 | comment |
Writers Cannot Do Math: The newspaper in SimCity 2000 cannot do math. Journalists just insert random numbers in their stories. So the "fifth" microwave accident in history can happen after the "ninth" one. Or this: "The victory all but assures August River a berth in the playoffs for the seventh time in 28 years and would only be trip number 3 in the history of the franchise." | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_da1c8191 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_da1c8191 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_da1c8191 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_dee6ef31 | type |
Enemy Summoner | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_dee6ef31 | comment |
2000 has the Riots disaster, which can be more accurately described as Torches and Protest Signs. The angry mob will light buildings on fire and rally other Sims to form more angry mobs. If left unchecked, they can potentially raze an entire city to the ground. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_dee6ef31 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_dee6ef31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_dee6ef31 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_df7b1b60 | type |
Not in My Backyard! | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_df7b1b60 | comment |
Not in My Backyard!: In 3000, 4, and 2013, how zones are developed and how desirable they are is a considerable gameplay factor: while uneducated plebes and the low-level businesses and factories they work for can pop up anywhere, middle and upper-class citizens and businesses will only want to set up house and shop in unpolluted areas close to their workplace/employees/customers and places with good schools, hospitals and other city-provided services. Places like landfills and power stations will drive away all but the most destitute of sims, while parks, plazas, landmarks and reward objects will attract the wealthy. Finally, any irradiated area is a universal no-no—even the poorest Sims won't bother settling down in such areas. One Sim's NIMBY may be another Sim's treasure. For example: farms hate heavy road traffic while commercial buildings absolutely love it since it brings more customers to them. Certain structures such as heavy industry, prisons, toxic waste facilities and casinos will result in the petitioners screaming at you. Industry and prisons are a necessity if you want your city to grow, but structures such as megaplex malls and army bases have negative effects as a cost for funding to the city and increase to certain zones, so it's up to the mayor to balance the risk/reward, or not use these bonuses if the city can thrive without them. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_df7b1b60 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_df7b1b60 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_df7b1b60 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e529d5c3 | type |
Torches and Pitchforks | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e529d5c3 | comment |
Torches and Pitchforks: 2000 has the Riots disaster, which can be more accurately described as Torches and Protest Signs. The angry mob will light buildings on fire and rally other Sims to form more angry mobs. If left unchecked, they can potentially raze an entire city to the ground. 3000's rioters traded the torches for some sort of improvised explosive. They can hurl them several blocks away, starting fires over a large area, but unlike their predecessors they can't create additional mobs. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e529d5c3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e529d5c3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e529d5c3 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e8bb3043 | type |
Kill It with Water | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e8bb3043 | comment |
In 2000, you can get rid of rioters by lowering the terrain that they're standing on until it becomes water. That's right, you can drown your own malcontent citizens. Drowning people that couse too much trouble? Where have we heard that one before? And start fires if "disasters" are switched on. Another amusing one in 2000 is to build anything other than low-density residential next to an airport runway. Naturally, daily 911 disasters with massive fires will occur if "disasters" are switched on. If they are off, the planes merely explode. You can also blow up oil tankers by raising the land under them so they are lifted out of the water, and destroy trains by destroying the train tracks they are stuck on. In discussing SimCity 4 the producers said they took out the plane crash because of September 11. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e8bb3043 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e8bb3043 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e8bb3043 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e9d0e7ce | type |
Useless Item | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e9d0e7ce | comment |
Useless Item: Hospitals will randomly occupy a newly developing residental zone, but they will have no benefit on your city, taking away valuable space until bulldozed. Schools would occupy the same niche, but by getting three, six, and nine of them at once, you get the gift of libraries which help develop your other residential zones. Once you got the libraries, though, the schools were fair game to demolish. However, the instruction manual warns you that if you bulldoze too many schools and hospitals a disaster might be triggered. | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e9d0e7ce | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e9d0e7ce | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_e9d0e7ce | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_ecb70eb4 | type |
Video Game Cruelty Potential | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_ecb70eb4 | comment |
Videogame Cruelty Potential: The very existence of the "disasters" menu — SimCity 4 even gives players the power to control where disasters hit, and turned off most disasters appearing randomly, meaning the only reason for disasters is this. SimCopter has a LOT of potential: Finding the Apache allowed you to shoot missiles at buildings and cars, destroying them, and mow down civilians with the machine gun. The "U-Drive-It" feature of SimCity 4: Rush Hour also had a drivable attack helicopter, in addition to a tank, a jet fighter, and a UFO. Additionally, you could use the Apache's rockets to cause a nuclear meltdown, by blowing up a city's nuclear power plant (if one was built). The resulting explosion would level most of the city, destroy your helicopter and start numerous medievac and fire missions. (If you didn't want to lose the Apache, it was best to let the fires burn their way up the silos and switch over to a cheaper helicopter. You lose whichever one you flew last.) There were also UFOs flying around the sky from time to time. Shoot them down with a few missiles. There were no serious repercussions for doing so (except sometimes they'd cause a fire when they crashed.) You could drag and drop passengers from their seats to forcibly debark them. Their expression if you do so while flying was priceless. On a more subtle level, leaving Sims impoverished without basic municipal services, sending residents on long commutes through woefully under-capacity streets, giving tax incentives to heavy polluters... you get the idea. One that overlaps with Easter Egg: In 2000, you could shoot down the traffic copter with the Center tool. In 2000, you can get rid of rioters by lowering the terrain that they're standing on until it becomes water. That's right, you can drown your own malcontent citizens. Drowning people that couse too much trouble? Where have we heard that one before? And start fires if "disasters" are switched on. Another amusing one in 2000 is to build anything other than low-density residential next to an airport runway. Naturally, daily 911 disasters with massive fires will occur if "disasters" are switched on. If they are off, the planes merely explode. You can also blow up oil tankers by raising the land under them so they are lifted out of the water, and destroy trains by destroying the train tracks they are stuck on. In discussing SimCity 4 the producers said they took out the plane crash because of September 11. Demolishing a crowded bridge in SimCity 4 will cause all the vehicles on it to drop into the water below. One player spent 5 years designing and building the perfect city that would push the population to the max at the same time allowing the city to exist in a perfect state for over 50,000 in-game years. The price of this is a totalitarian police state where Sims live unhealthy, regimented lives under the constant watchful eye of the police and the average life expectancy is 50. In 2000, if you zone a high-rise in the way of an airport's runway, airplanes will crash into it. Repeatedly. In "SimCity Social," this is in fact encouraged, as certain rewards are only available if you pull pranks on your friends' cities. A mild example, though, as most acts of trickery are fairly benign, but a few of them involve sprinkling laxatives into the flour at the bakery (which is actually more dangerous than it looks in cartoons) and throwing gas on the flames of a burning building. In SimCity 2013, hackers can now take advantage of the "always online" requirement to wreak havoc in the cloud-saved cities of other players (It does not save them though). Whether if this continues will depends on the fallout from the game's launch. And don't bring this up in EA's forums. They are banning people about this. No, not banning people for actually wreaking the havoc - banning people for pointing out that there's a flaw in their "always online" requirement. In Streets, you can destroy any vehicle, including civilians, rival couriers and police. | |
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SimCity (Video Game) / int_f0e85546 | type |
Unbuilt Trope | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_f0e85546 | comment |
Unbuilt Trope: SimCity is arguably the Trope Codifier for Construction and Management Games. However, much of the lasting appeal of the classic game, as well as the sequels, is the disaster scenarios, and the ability to deliberately destroy a thriving city with disasters. This is, literally and figuratively, a Genre Deconstruction made by the first widespread game of the genre. | |
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Ambidextrous Sprite | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_f5a22215 | comment |
Ambidextrous Sprite: In SimCity 2000, most of the buildings are obviously asymmetrical but appear exactly the same when viewed from the north or south. When viewed from the east or west, the sprites are simply mirrored. | |
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You Bastard! | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_f642b1f9 | comment |
You Bastard!: Done subtly in SimCity 3000. When the commercial zones reach Astronomical land value, the Fountain of 9 to 5 and TGIF Hang Spot show up. Also, one of the large factories in SimCity 4 is called Dead Forest Paper Company... | |
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Science Is Bad | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_f68664dc | comment |
Going in the complete opposite direction from its predecessor, the Forest Arcology, invented in 2050, is a series of habitat rings built on top of each other, and is named for its attractive forest setting on the top level. Throughout the structure, citizens utilize recycling, operate ecologically sound industries, and maintain a rich verbal heritage that replaces television and radio. Unfortunately, the youth of Forest Arcos are bored silly and roam out into your city where they stare mindlessly at soap operas and sports programs displayed in the electronics department at local malls. Most of its 30,000 residents are tree-hugging hippies. | |
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Running Gag | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_f9f2c33 | comment |
Running Gag: "Reticulating splines" has appeared as a loading screen line in every game since SimCity 2000. Also, a lot of things seem to be centered around broccoli and llamas for some reason. The "Reticulating Splines" status is so pervasive, SimCity 4 even parodies it, with the status "Gesticulating Mimes". Reticulating Splines is a legitimate process (it means "forming a grid from lines defined by formulae") which likely would have been necessary for SimCity 2000 at the time it was made, since it used a grid-based landscape with height appearing isometrically. In 3000, the news ticker often makes references to an apparent kitty kibble shortage. Said kibble manufacturers deny everything, but the kitties are increasingly unhappy as you play. Llama-related gags abound in both The Sims and SimCity 3000. In the original The Sims Exchange days, one user ran with this and regaled readers with the tales of Llama Man, a "The Tick"-like comic book superhero. Newspaper articles in 2000 have a running gag of declaring things to be bald. After a chemical cloud disaster, the headline in the paper is "Bald Pollution", and several people involved in the newspaper stories are noted as being bald. Sometimes, bizarre headlines such as "Bald Radio Found" crop up as well. | |
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Video Game Cruelty Punishment | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_fcd993bd | comment |
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: One of the rumors about SimCity SNES is that bulldozing too many Hospitals/Schools will provoke a disaster. In "Gallahad's Watch" in Streets, if you kill an innocent by destroying their vehicle, the mission ends immediately and displays a message explaining that you are not above the law. | |
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You Require More Vespene Gas | |
SimCity (Video Game) / int_fd2086a9 | comment |
You Require More Vespene Gas: SimCity 2000's water supply. The manual mentions this is deliberate, because Maxis' headquarters are in Southern California, and as such, have its constant thirst. In SimCity 4, electricity takes the center stage. You can still have limited development without water, but an area without electricity will not even develop. This is the case in the rest of the series as well. The manual for Sim City 2000 also mentions that, yes, the developers know that cities existed before electricity, but the sims themselves are electronic beings and therefore they require that electricity to live. The requirement of Water and Electricity are both initially optional as of SimCity 2013, however people will complain and then abandon their home if they're not given both after they move in. This system is necessary because power plants in this game cannot function without workers, nor water pumps in turn without power. In SC2013, water once again is limited, though it can be replenished. Other resources exist such as coal and oil, which are, as in real life, nonrenewable. However most people don't notice they are non renewable because people fill the map and get bored long before running our or ore/oil/coal. Even if they do run out, players can simply research more advanced energy production or import more resources at a trade depot (albeit at a higher cost). The SNES version has a near Game-Breaking Bug where upon loading any saved city, the electricity will start off as non-existent for 5 seconds before restoring itself. This can have a severe effect on certain blocks, easily dropping a C-3 High building down to a C-1 Low for example or dropping a growing R-2 High to low density housing. Of course as a cartridge game with a very niche following, this bug was never fixed. | |
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