SimCity retrospective: Civic responsibilities | Super NES Works #004

We resume a retrospective journey through the Super NES's 1991 U.S. lineup with this wonderful adaptation of the Maxis PC classic SimCity. Developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, SimCity showed off a different side of the Super NES.
Also in this episode: An explanation of the change in name from Mode Seven to Super NES Works.

[@DarkHeroAkutare]

The soundtrack of this game is criminally overlooked. Some of the tracks are up there with stuff like EarthBound. Soyo Oka was a master with this sound chip, and I wish she had worked on more SNES games.

[@pj2yyy2]

This might be the best soundtrack on the SNES, Soyo Oka is simply one of the greatest VG composers of all time.

[@DrewberTravels]

The Sim City SNES music is pure art.

[@deadmetalbr]

Ah, so theeeeere's the rationale behind the rebranding. Makes sense, but Good Nintentions and Mode Seven were great names.

[@lltbg]

Top 5 game of all time for me. The soothing, nostalgic atmosphere of this game will never be topped. It was classic when I first played it 25 years and it remains the same today. This game is special.

[@sbi168]

That music just sent memories rushing back. Loved that game so much. So many hours sunk into it.

[@Andypandy2010]

It was a glorious moment when I figured out how to avoid traffic problems: don't build roads! Just build railroads. Your people are satisfied and you get ZERO traffic complaints.

[@AntiVillain26845]

The Railroads are love; the Railroads are life. XD

[@sean.durham999]

Yeah that strategy was mentioned in the Super NES Player's Guide. Along with the million dollar code. Both of which are essentiall to getting one million population and your city declared a Megalopolis.

[@russianbot8576]

fuck yes trains!!!

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

Yeah, the game's balance wasn't perfect, but what would you expect from a genre-defining experimental classic?

[@candykatkittylichiousisthebomb]

real american city planners should take notes

[@papagodzilla5465]

your video channel is criminally underviewed. cant get enough of your games analysis

[@Zedrocksaa]

Samuel Laroche thanks man i worked hard on all these

[@lordmanimani-]

My favorite piece of trivia about SimCity is that Will Wright was distrustful of nuclear energy, so they went out of their way to jack up the risk of meltdown scenarios and that became grandfathered into the franchise and genre. Granted this is a series where not-Godzilla, Bowser, and invading aliens are also a plausible theat, but it was a deliberate design decision to integrate anti-nuclear propaganda.

[@SlammedZero]

Wow! That music kicked me right in the nostalgia. I always loved the SimCity Nintendo version. They added some fun little touches to the game. Again, wow, just hearing that music took me back.

[@tidq]

This video and the soundtrack gave me a huge dose of nostalgia. I don’t know why my parents decided to buy me SimCity, because I never asked for or showed interest in a game like this, but I’m glad they did. It opened my mind to the kinds of concepts that can be fun video games.

[@RabbitEarsCh]

Very nice touch picking 573 and KONAMI as the city name. I love both the foreshadowing, and Konami's own commitment to their goro awase representation of their own name, all the way down to their internal APIs all being hosted on 573.jp, and various songs involving the number in their music games.

[@DonnieDistortion]

IMHO, the most relaxing video game soundtrack of all time.

[@sean.durham999]

That scene at the end with the sleeping Moon blowing air up that stars ass. Lmfao! Goodnight Moon. 😎

[@Brick_Eater_]

All 0 people who cared about the name change: Why did you change the series name? Jeremy: *_To answer that, we'll need to talk about parallel universes_*

[@josheldridge8546]

Nintendo misaligned QPUs with the NES version and that's why it never got released.

[@PsychicKid]

The music of this game slams into me ultra hard like a nostalgia truck-kun. The title screen, the menu music, village, town, and metropolis are all amazing songs that carry a lot of emotional weight for me. Even the title screen music alone is enough to make me tear up. I just found your channel today, and I feel like I'll be diving into more of your videos during downtime at work.

[@Frisko555]

Head Canon: This game is about Mayor Pauline running New Donk City.

[@darthbaker182]

30+ years later and this is still on my “desert island” list.

[@solofox9426]

I loved this game as a kid. In fact I have fond memories of all four mentioned launch titles back in 93 (edit I guess it was 91, so many years ago) at that first year on the Snes release.

[@RunningRiot1999]

Agree with name change. I have so many playlists saved from your channel and I would always get confused. Perfect change!

[@littlemissnintendofan6558]

One of my favourite games for the Snes! The joy of getting a megalopolis on map 1 and getting that Mario statue. A game where hours would fly by and you didn't even realise. It was good to work out the best way to build, and very satisfying when you reached the goal of 500.000 citizens!

[@EhrenLoudermilk]

I, for some reason, absolutely love this game

[@hansamurai]

I had this game, lent it to my cousin in probably 1998, and never saw it again.

[@pthalobideo]

I've played different versions of Sim City over the years and they're all nostalgic for me in some way, but there's something about the style and presentation of the SNES version in particular that just makes me feel things.

[@mindcrome]

It is just fun. I like the other games but this game is special and my first exposure to SimCity.

[@RobinZeg]

After watching dozens of these videos at random I accidentally find an explanation for the name change. It's like discovering the Rosetta Stone.

[@w.s.mcgallis7731]

When my friend taught me how to stack residential zones it was a game changer...

[@NJRoadfan]

One thing missing from the video..... the manual. Nintendo included a very through guide to the game in addition to a guided tutorial on building a sample city.

[@winterion]

That good night music. So peaceful. As always, good work with the video, dudeski.

[@user-a5Bw9de]

It feels like some of the features added to SNES SimCity were incorporated back to Maxis's own SimCity2000 and beyond.

[@nickquante5868]

In terms of the SNES version of Gradius III: Konami may have blown it when it came to getting the game to run at a decent framerate, but the soundtrack remains one of the best on the system.

[@darkhelmet169]

I definitely remember being disappointed as a kid that my SNES mouse didn't work with this game. I'm surprised no one has patched in mouse support yet.

[@JeremyParish]

I wonder how difficult that would be.

[@alasyon]

Would be tricky - could try mapping the mouse movement to current d-pad code but that would give unnatural single-speed mouse movement. A complete rewrite of the UI control code is possible but would take quite a bit of work to get it functioning in a playable way.

[@gabrieleriva651]

I clearly remember my cousin playing Sim City on a console with a mouse... but maybe it was Sim City 2000 on PSX.

[@KuraIthys]

That's unsurprising as this is a game from early in the SNES's life (1990/91) and the mouse wasn't available until 1993. What I find a lot more frustrating is that the SNES version of Sim City 2000, which got a 1995 release, STILL has no mouse support! I mean, what's the excuse in this case!? Granted SNES Sim City 2000 is pretty bad. (it runs way too slow. Beyond all reason. It's like somebody didn't even TRY to optimise the design for the hardware, but just wrote a very lazy, primitive shell around the PC graphics logic, with no regard to how fast that would run.) Frankly, given that I dabble in homebrew development, the poor showing of SC2000 on SNES. Given it's one of my most played PC games from when we first got a 486 that had actual decent graphics and sound capabilities, it made me annoyed enough that I almost feel like creating a pirate/homebrew port just to prove the point that it can be done a lot better than it was. (though to be quite honest, In terms of that kind of genre, I'm somewhat more inclined to create a homebrew SNES game more along the lines of Transport Tycoon, if I do anything at all.)

[@NJRoadfan]

@@KuraIthys Sim City 2000 targeted a 32-bit machine (386/486 or 68030) running at 25-33Mhz with 4MB of RAM. The SNES had a fraction of the power, so it was a miracle that it was even ported at all. Even this rendition of Sim City was impressive given the RAM limits of the SNES vs. the contemporary XT class PC it ran on.

[@JoPeTuYaTroJoueY]

great to hear all these insider stories ! love this format / series ;) ++ from France !

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

I played quite a lot of this back in the day. As with all my other SNES games, I still have my original cart. Should hook my SNES up again one day.

[@fngsrck]

I love this soundtrack.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

Remember those old Nintendo Power challenges where all you needed to submit as proof was a photo? One was how quickly you could create a megalopolis without using the million dollar code and I'm still suspicious of some of the people who claimed to do it in a single year.

[@fallofsaigon]

Thanks for such amazing content Jeremy! Your shows absolutely make my day! Thank you! :)

[@anime4everjapan848]

fallofsaigon omg your avatar from tataunko vs capcom I miss this game-,-)

[@fallofsaigon]

I wish they would port it over to the current generation! :)

[@KuraIthys]

I remember renting this version and having a lot of fun with it (later I rented Sim-Earth, which is a lot more confusing) Come to think of it, I never put two and two together, but when we got a 486 PC in 1993 (we'd had a PC before, but it was 286 with a monochrome screen), the first game I really wanted (and soon got - though the PC came with about a dozen games included) was Sim City 2000... So I guess perhaps this game had more influence on me than I thought, because I REALLY wanted SC2000 when we got a PC. Speaking of SC2000, I have a Super Famicom copy of that these days, mostly for the fun of it. Predictably, it's not a very good version of the game, but what saddens me about it is that it's a lot worse than it needed to be. The game takes about 3 seconds to update the display every time you try and scroll the map. I think this is because of the method used to draw the game, but I can't be sure. In any event I'm reasonably confident with some better thought out design tweaks the whole thing could have run much, MUCH more smoothly than it does. A second flaw, which I consider even more egregious, even though it's technically minor... Is that Sim City 2000 on SNES has NO support for the SNES mouse. Seriously!? OK, so the original shown here, was a very early title, and the mouse actually only became available in 1993. Fair enough. Can't support what doesn't exist. But Sim City 2000 was a 1995 release, and the game (As demonstrated by the PC version) is very much a concept optimised for use with a mouse, so to not offer that as a control option when one is available for the system is almost inexcusable... Just goes to show that just because a port happens doesn't mean anyone thought it through, or bothered to put in the effort... SC2000 for SNES is a poor showing indeed.

[@TimReviewsEveryNAWiiGame]

Really nostalgic game for me as someone that grew up with the Wii VC version (someone is gonna feel old reading this and for that, I apologize).

[@russianbot8576]

3 years too late but i sought this one out to see how this game holds up because i need a breather from zelda after link to the past, and this seems like the ticket.

[@PersianImm0rtal]

This is an awesome SNES series!

[@MrToothrot]

One of my first SNES games, good times. Glad to have SNES Works (Mode 7) back in rotation here on the channel, keep up the good work Parish.

[@CLeeNorth]

THANK YOU FOR FINALLY EXPLAINING THE NAME CHANGE :D

[@woprdroid]

Only boxed copy SNES game that I own. Easily on of my favorites of all time. Ever since this classic and best version came out I have been chasing it in every Sim style game to come out, but nothing comes close to the easy of play and laid back style of this game. The music is some of the best too! Great video.

[@drewmaster10]

Dr. Wright: "Hit them with the Wii Mote."

[@kylemundy8871]

I always wanted to play this with the power glove..... and feel like a god

[@adamking6645]

Another great video, though I'm also dissapointed that you couldn't work the cool Mode Seven intro in. One thing you forgot to mention was that Nintendo originally planned to release SimCity on the original NES. A preview of the game with screenshots was written in the November 1990 issue of Nintendo Power (#18) and footage was briefly shown on an episode of Video Power which said it was scheduled for May of 1991. I'm guessing Nintendo decided their upcoming 16-bit console would be a better fit for SimCity and moved it over to the SNES. Certainly a wise move in retrospect.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

The NES version has actually been turned into a fully-fledged game by some fans, based on some prototype that's been kicking around for a while as a R.O.M file.

[@MissAshley42]

This game's soundtrack is *_so_* much better than it needed to be.

[@DrewberTravels]

It should be held in higher regard than it is. I think it stands alone in quality in terms of video game music. I can't think of any other music that is so simple and good.

[@MaidenHell1977]

amazing video. I still have my cartridge.

[@RealTimePogo]

I had simcity, loved that game

[@anime4everjapan848]

This game continued in Japan only was in Nintendo 64!! Nobody thought about it (;;)

[@2001mark]

Still my fav edition even if simplified. Nice payoffs playing without cheats... I've only ever gotten to about 400,000ppl, running out of space. Hack added to my SNES Classic... perfect combo with podcast bingeing. Now I play until year 2000 & start over.

[@anthus9786]

Didn't realize they had football stadiums, air ports, or paved roads with cars in 1900 xD I love this game though. Even when I was a small child, I'd play this for hours. Not saying I was any good, but it was fun.

[@roveebee4804]

that nostalgic intro tho

[@Larry]

Shame Nintendo never had a hand in making SimCity 2000 for the SNES, the one that did come out was so slow it was borderline unplayable.

[@SEGAClownboss]

Were there any other times since then Nintendo's internal teams would work on someone else's game?

[@ChrisGorski]

My only real criticism - you can't select the music. I much prefer the village and town themes to later themes such as metropolis.

[@sean.durham999]

My favorite is the capital theme, with metropolis in second. I don't care for the megalopolis theme.

[@StuffedVulture]

Metropolis was my least favorite theme, which is unfortunate since it is by far the song you hear the most. Getting a city from 100k to 500k population is like 90%+ of the game time.

[@SumeaBizarro]

"573" Nice. At least until we started to hate them for many good reasons.

[@Catwalk1982]

Excelent Videos😍😍😍

[@jasonblalock4429]

Relatedly, one day I'd love to hear the story of how KOEI ended up porting Civilization to SNES.

[@JeremyParish]

Doesn't look like they did... they only published it, which makes sense when their entire bread-and-butter was simulation/strategy games. Asmik Ace ported it, which was also in their wheelhouse-they did lots of conversion work.

[@AndrewJohnstonerulez]

the best game on SNES as far as I my now advanced age is concerned

[@megamanfan3]

I think EA had Nintendo remove that game from the Wii Shop Channel for some reason.

[@anime4everjapan848]

Kenneth Rogers copy right :"(

[@lfroncek]

RIP cool mode-7 intro...

[@JeremyParish]

A necessary casualty, I'm afraid.

[@soggz9190]

Noticed this games draw in those that did not like nes games AND those that did.

[@Anonymimus]

But whyyy isn't this game on the SNES Classic Edition! D: :(

[@Anonymimus]

@Even1o2 Presumably :/ Maxis belongs to EA now and EA is just a bunch of stupid people that ask for way too much money for not a lot of work...

[@jamesmoss3424]

Simcity it's a classic game. 😀👍🎮

[@wiggy8912]

Probably my favorite video game soundtrack ever.

[@MaxW-er1hm]

Well, "Works" works. God I love Sim city. Played thousands of hours. And then "3000" . But meh to "2000" didn't care for it. I REALLY wish OG had been released on nes or fami tho. Came real close to happening, as I understand...

[@ladambell]

Re: Gradius III-Konami "totally blows it"? I always found G3 supremely enjoyable, difficulty notwithstanding.

[@JeremyParish]

It's a good game, but the port has a lot of technical issues. It was one of the major reasons people thought the Super NES was incapable of competing with the Genesis for action games.

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

I always liked Super R-Type more, and especially R-Type III. That game is still one of my favorite shooters.

[@DarthEnderX]

Why isn't this going to be in the SNES Classic!?!?

[@DarthEnderX]

11:18 Unh! The feels!

[@archagoras]

I feel ya

[@megamanfan3]

I blame EA.

[@yellowblanka6058]

licensing.

[@beipiaosaurus]

It's entertaining watching these first games I played myself versus all of the old NES games I never tried. There I'm like "looks fun", but here it's all "NO! You should never put that there, and that's a horrible design choice!"

[@Justin-rv7oy]

SimCity 3000, best soundtrack ever.

[@JuanMartinez-hz4jj]

Will you ever do a series where you cover the gba and GBC library?

[@JeremyParish]

GBA is unlikely. Game Boy Color Works is in development for some point in the future, though.

[@gbaweekly]

Pity, GBA had some amazing, amazing games (same with NDS)

[@JeremyParish]

I loved the GBA, but the games were a lot more time-intensive than Game Boy releases and there was a LOT more garbage due to the higher volume of releases. It would be a difficult series to undertake, but godspeed to anyone with the courage to give it a shot!

[@Siraj75]

What's in a name???

[@gbaweekly]

Any particular reasons the video is only 30 fps? Not that it matters much for strategies, but I can't imagine having one on an action game. :\

[@MrJWTH]

gbaweekly Maybe it's been updated but the video is in 720P 60FPS.

[@JeremyParish]

It's a 720p/60fps video. Check your settings.

[@gbaweekly]

Bug in Vivaldi, I guess, Chrome does show 60 fps, thank you and carry on :)

[@zeromancer-x]

RIP Maxis, another casualty of EA... -.-

[@thej3799]

They managed to get SimCity 2000 working on the SNES, which is technically impressive, bur the control scheme isn't very good, but the worst thing is the music. it's as bad as the music in this SimCity is good.

[@montreauxs]

SNES9x.

[@uljk5699]

When it comes to early SNES port of non-Japanese devs' game Winner: SimCity Losers: Populous, Drakkhen It's a shame for losers, honestly. They could've leaded non-Japanese games into Japanese market, if they were not so obscure.