My 90's and Early 2000's Experience: SimCity (1991, SNES)

 Hey everyone, Happy Friday! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. It's a beautiful day here and it's much better than it was last week when it was super hot or rainy out. Today I'm trying out a new discussion series called "My 90's and Early 2000's Experience" where I talk about all of the books, movies, TV shows, comics, toys, food (the little I remember eating that had cool packaging, i.e. Oreo Cookies), music, and video games/video game consoles. These aren't reviews. I won't necessarily be watching or reading or playing anything to talk about them. Especially if it's something I've watched or read recently or have already reviewed here on the blog. So put on your favourite 90's CD (I'm listening to Big Shiny Tunes 4) and plug in your Super Nintendo and let's talk about SimCity for the SNES.

I sank so many hours into this game it's not even funny. Because I wasn't as good at games like Super Mario World, Super Star Wars, Super Mario All-Stars, or Star Trek: The Next Generation - Future's Past, or Wing Commander, I enjoyed playing SimCity because all I had to do is build a city, decide it's fate and watch the in game seasons and years go by. I didn't have to fight monsters, though you could make Bowser go on a rampage if you select it from the disasters menu, or enemy starships or anything. And, like I said, I spent hours on this game.

I also spent hours watching my mom and siblings play it as well. There was just something about watching them making different decisions than the ones I'd make that captivated me. In fact, the game in general just captivated me. I think the music by Soyo Oka was a huge part of it. It changed as your village became a town, the town became a city, the city became a capital, the capital became a metropolis, and the metropolis became a megalopolis. Even the opening title music was soothing.

Even though I found him annoying when I played SimCity when I was a kid, I appreciated Dr. Wright, the in game advisor, who would direct you to problems in your city, or pop in to congratulate you on a job well done if everything was running smoothly, more when I played it as an adult. He did have really good advice for players. Not just in the game itself, but in the game's player's manual that always came with these older games. Not every game was featured in Nintendo Power, and the internet didn't exist back then, so you couldn't look tips up on google or whatever search engine you prefer to use. Of course with the type of game that SimCity is, the only tips you really need are in the player's manual.

I'm going to do a post on video game player's manuals at some point, but the one for SimCity was the best one that I had for an SNES game. Like I said, I'll talk about it more when I do that post on video game player's manuals.

I remember a number of times as a teenager and an adult where I'd just be in my bedroom or later, my sitting room, at our old house in Greely, and I'd spend the entire afternoon doing nothing but play SimCity while listening to music on my stereo or on my MP3 Player or iPod when I had those devices as an adult. As a teenager this was on a weekend or in the summertime when I couldn't go outside because of the temperature or because it was raining. As an adult, this would be on a day off from college, or after I'd left college. Of course, being a single player game, you really couldn't play the game with anyone else. At least not in the traditional way you'd think of when playing a multiplayer game. You could play with your friends or family members and make decisions together about the building of your city. And, you can pass the SNES controller to the other people in your group, but that's pretty much it. Which is actually what my siblings and I did with all of our SNES games, including SimCity, since we only ever had the one controller (the one the console came with).

Alright my friends, that's it for today. Like I said at the beginning of this post, this was the original intention of this blog when I first started it back in 2021, but it became something else entirely. It became what my old blogs were. I'm also going to be incorporating my series on YTV into this new series too, since the bulk of my time watching YTV WAS in the 90's and early 2000's. This series will also include posts about shows, movies, and books that came out in earlier decades, but I watched and read in the 90's and early 2000's. So join me as I talk about the things that made me who I am today. The things that entertained and kept me occupied during uncertain times. Take care my friends!