History VideoGame / SimCity

* QuicksandBox: There are manuals and tutorials, but getting a city off the ground is no cakewalk.
* UltimateAuthorityMayor: You ''play'' as one.

* UngratefulBastard: In 3000, 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 UnpleasableFanbase.

*** Actually, if you play the console versions of the game (particularly the SNES version), you will hear the theme. And the theme ships as a bonus hidden track on ''[=SimCity=] 3000''. On the other hand, [[PortingDisaster don't touch the console versions of VideoGame/SimCity 2000. Ever]].

* EasterEgg: You can build the game studio's headquarters, the California Plaza, in your cities. Let's not forget to mention all the hidden Maxis logos and game references. Also, all the games from ''3000'' and onwards have ''2000'''s theme hidden somewhere.
*** On ''3000'', you have to manually edit a configuration file to unlock the ''2000'' theme. In ''4'', it's the ice cream truck jingle.
** In 2000 itself, we have Nessie and Maxis man.

* Another game has been announced for release in 2013, simply titled ''[[RecycledTitle VideoGame/SimCity]]''. This installment is being designed by Maxis, who has indicated that this game will be more of a direct sequel to ''[=SimCity=] 4'' than ''Societies'' was. It is also set to introduce online multiplayer to the series proper, a game mode that has not been explored since the long-forgotten ''[=SimCity=] 2000 Network Edition.''

Eventually, ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' proved to be so successful, it managed to spawn 5 sequels over 18 years:
* ''[=VideoGame/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, game scenarios, and a separate building editor, the SCURK ([=VideoGame/SimCity=] Urban Renewal Kit). Interestingly UK PC Gamer magazine still ranks this as the best [=VideoGame/SimCity=] despite its age.
* ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 3000'' (1999) was mostly a graphical and feature update. Originally it was going to be in full 3D, but this was abandoned. 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.) 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 [[VideoGameRemake remade]] as ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] DS''.
* ''[=VideoGame/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. So far, due to its many, many hidden depths, this game is considered the best of the series.
* ''[=VideoGame/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 [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Stalinist capital]], with [[SinisterSurveillance security cameras]], [[IndustrialGhetto slum housing for the poor]], posh buildings for your leaders, and SecretPolice, 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 [[ItsEasySoItSucks disappointingly easy]] and shallow, and the 3D engine was prone to grinding even hulking great [=PCs=] to a halt at higher zoom levels.
* Another game has been announced for release in 2013, simply titled ''[[RecycledTitle VideoGame/SimCity]]''. This installment is being designed by Maxis, who has indicated that this game will be more of a direct sequel to ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' than ''Societies'' was. It is also set to introduce online multiplayer to the series proper, a game mode that has not been explored since the long-forgotten ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 2000 Network Edition.''
* ''[=VideoGame/SimCity Social=]'' is [[http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/18027/report-VideoGame/SimCity-social-hitting-facebook an upcoming Facebook game]] that will take the concept of both the 2013 remake and ''The Sims Social'' and combining them.

Unlike ''TheSims'', ''[=VideoGame/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 EndlessGame either; you can tell if you're doing better or worse, but [[WideOpenSandbox you can keep doing it as long as you want, resources permitting]]. It should be noted, however, that certain versions of the game does have a ''Game Over'' scenario. For example, certain ports of VideoGame/SimCity 2000 and 3000 will end with you getting kicked out of office if your city's treasury enters the red for a certain period of time.

The series also spawned a number of spin-offs ''other than'' TheSims, some of which are listed below. Most of them tend to be "''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' [[XMeetsY meets such-and-such]]."

* ''[=SimFarm=]'': ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' meets a farm. Grow crops, raise livestock and influence the fate of the local town.
* ''[=SimEarth=]'': ''[=VideoGame/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 civilisation along the way. The "largest scale" Sim game, ''{{Spore}}'' excluded. Notable for coming with a {{Doorstopper}} of an instruction manual.
* ''[=SimLife=]'': ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' meets evolution. Similar to ''[=SimEarth=]'', but focused in more on life and evolution.
* ''SimAnt'': ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' meets an ant colony. Win the battle of the back lawn against both the red ants and the humans.
* ''SimTower'': ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' meets a skyscraper -- similar to the "regular" games, but on a smaller scale.
* ''[=SimIsle=]'': ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' meets the rainforest. Balance the demands of industry, ecology and tourism on a series of tropical islands.
* ''[=SimTown=]'': A "kids' version" of ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' with bigger graphics, a smaller town, and more focus on individual citizens.
* ''[=SimPark=]'': ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' meets a nature reserve. In North America. Doubles as an enviromental educational tool and a way to hear people constantly whining about there not being enough cars. Like ''SimTown'' its mostly geared towards children.
* ''[=SimSafari=]'': ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' meets a safari park. Like Sim Park, but in Africa.
* ''Streets of [=VideoGame/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 ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 2000'' maps into it, and it was a rather remarkable forebearer of much later open-ended games like ''GrandTheftAuto'' (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 ObviousBeta 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 ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 2000'' maps as playable settings.

* ''[=SimHealth=]'': Manage US healthcare! Based on ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 2000'', it doesn't appear to have been very good.

* AbnormalAmmo: The beams that the alien monsters from ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 2000'' used usually set your city [[DeathRay on fire]]. On some occasions, their beams [[GreenThumb planted trees]], [[KillItWithWater created surface water]] or even [[WindmillCrusader build wind turbines]], while still destroying the intervening buildings and infrastructure. Perhaps they were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who thought the Sims' environment needed some help?

* AllThereInTheManual: The manual that comes with the game is an excellent way to play ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' well, if you read it thoroughly.

* ArtificialStupidity: Drivers in ''4'' will take the shortest path, not necessarily the fastest one ([[TruthInTelevision much like real drivers]]), resulting in gridlock. The Network Addon Mod, in fact, makes a point of entirely rewriting the pathfinding algorithm to use the actually fastest path.
** Without mods, the special Sims you can place in your city will get ''lost'' trying to find their work when its ''across the freaking road!''

* BerserkButton: Do NOT cut transit funding in Sim City 2000. [[SchmuckBait You will regret this.]]

* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: One of the arcologies 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.
* BootstrappedTheme: Actually, there is no theme to represent [=VideoGame/SimCity=] as a whole, but, each game seems to get its own little theme via one of the pieces in the game:
** ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 2000'' has its own theme, which can be heard hidden (via an ice cream truck or building sound effect) in all other titles.
*** Actually, if you play the console versions of the game (particularly the SNES version), you will hear the theme. And the theme ships as a bonus hidden track on VideoGame/SimCity 3000. On the other hand, [[PortingDisaster don't touch the console versions of VideoGame/SimCity 2000. Ever]].
** ''[=VideoGame/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.
** ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4 Deluxe'' uses "Street Sweeper" as its opening theme, which leads some to believe to be the representation of the game.

* TheCameo: In the SNES ''[=VideoGame/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.
* CheatCode: Older versions of Sim City 2000 have codes that unlock all perks (including Arcologies) and give you a pile of money. There's also the classic "double fund" code where you buy two municipal bonds via "fund", then one through the city management menu, triggering a GoodBadBug where you end up with a loan with a ludicrous ''negative'' interest, meaning you get piles of money you'll probably never run out of every year.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: From ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' to ''[=VideoGame/SimCity 4=]'', the zones have always been [[green:green Residential]], [[blue:blue Commercial]] and [[gold:yellow Industrial]]. The SNES port of ''VideoGame/SimCity'' changed the colour of Residential zones to red.

* DeadlyGas: In ''[=VideoGame/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. ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 3000 Unlimited'' upped the ante by introducing the Toxic Cloud disaster, which dumped acid rain so potent that it ''[[HollywoodAcid dissolved]]'' any building under it.

* ExecutiveMeddling: According to Wright, the publisher refused to release the original ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=]'' as is, because they felt players would feel the need to have a win condition. Wright appeased them by including winnable scenarios - and of course, the scenarios were the ''least'' popular feature of the game.

* GameMod: Hundreds of thousands of them, especially for ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'', are available on tens of fansites. The game is so modifiable, the Network Addon Mod qualifies as an unofficial expansion pack!

* [[LethalJokeItem Lethal Joke Building]]: The Tourist Trap reward building from ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4''. This seemingly useless [[EverythingsBetterWithLlamas llama-shaped]] building known for its [[EverythingsBetterWithLlamas far-spitting llamas]] boosts the demand caps for low-wealth residents by a whopping 100,000, which makes it incredibly useful for building large cities. Although it has a slight [[NotInMyBackyard NIMBY]] effect on residential zones, it increases the desirability of nearby commercial zones by a significant amount. Commercial high-rises and skyscrapers seem to cluster around it as if it were a capitalist idol.
* LoadingScreen: ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' features goofy loading status messages, such as "Deciding what message to display next", "Deunionizing bulldozers", "Retrieving from back store", and the ubiquous "Reticulating splines".

* NintendoHard: The first game, and ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' features the hardest money-management metagame ever.
** The ''Rush Hour'' / ''Deluxe Edition'' of ''[=VideoGame/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 simoleans 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 ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' is what compels people to keep playing it. Those who play a sufficiently large number of hours may [[TetrisEffect see everything differently]], and maybe even have increased respect for every government in RealLife.

* RealIsBrown: ''[=VideoGame/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.

* RunningGag: "Reticulating splines" has appeared as a loading screen line in every game since ''[=VideoGame/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, ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' even parodies it, with the status "Gesticulating Mimes".

** Llama-related gags abound in both ''The Sims'' and VideoGame/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.
* SeriousBusiness: Players have spent years at a time trying to recreate real cities, [[BigApplesauce most commonly New York]], and in ''[=VideoGame/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 ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 3000'' and ''4'' to test the theories they have learned in urban planning class.
* ShapedLikeItself: The [[ObstructiveBureaucracy Bureau of Bureaucracy]] building in ''Sim City 4''. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment It's the bureau that handles bureaucracy]].

** In ''[=VideoGame/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 VideoGame/SimCity 4 is called [[CommandAndConquer Kane Tiberium]]. Go figure.
* SoCalization: Probably most blatantly in ''[=VideoGame/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 ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 3000'' expansion are also aversions.
** A raft of {{Game Mod}}s for ''[=VideoGame/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".
* StopHelpingMe: Right after you load up a city in Easy mode, your city planner in ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4 Rush Hour'', Neil Fairbanks, tends to pile [[CaptainObvious obvious advice (i.e. create new zones to expand your city)]] on you in the form of [[GoddamnedBats multiple pop-up windows appearing in sequence]]:

* VideogameCrueltyPotential: The very existence of the "disasters" menu -- ''[=VideoGame/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.
** In ''[=SimCopter=]'', unlocking 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 ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4: Rush Hour'' also had a drivable attack helicopter, in addition to a tank, a jet fighter, and a UFO.

*** In discussing [=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4 the producers said they took out the plane crash [[TooSoon because of September 11]].
** Demolishing a crowded bridge in ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' will cause all the vehicles on it to drop into the water below.

* YouBastard: Done subtly in ''[=VideoGame/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 ''[=VideoGame/SimCity=] 4'' is called ''Dead Forest Paper Company''...

** In VideoGame/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.

Eventually, ''[=SimCity=]'' proved to be so successful, it managed to spawn 5 sequels over 18 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, game scenarios, 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.
* ''[=SimCity=] 3000'' (1999) was mostly a graphical and feature update. Originally it was going to be in full 3D, but this was abandoned. 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.) 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 [[VideoGameRemake remade]] as ''[=SimCity=] DS''.
* ''[=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. So far, due to its many, many hidden depths, 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 [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Stalinist capital]], with [[SinisterSurveillance security cameras]], [[IndustrialGhetto slum housing for the poor]], posh buildings for your leaders, and SecretPolice, 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 [[ItsEasySoItSucks disappointingly easy]] and shallow, and the 3D engine was prone to grinding even hulking great [=PCs=] to a halt at higher zoom levels.
* Another game has been announced for release in 2013, simply titled ''[[RecycledTitle SimCity]]''. This installment is being designed by Maxis, who has indicated that this game will be more of a direct sequel to ''[=SimCity=] 4'' than ''Societies'' was. It is also set to introduce online multiplayer to the series proper, a game mode that has not been explored since the long-forgotten ''[=SimCity=] 2000 Network Edition.''
* ''[=SimCity Social=]'' is [[http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/18027/report-simcity-social-hitting-facebook an upcoming Facebook game]] that will take the concept of both the 2013 remake and ''The Sims Social'' and combining them.

Unlike ''TheSims'', ''[=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 EndlessGame either; you can tell if you're doing better or worse, but [[WideOpenSandbox you can keep doing it as long as you want, resources permitting]]. It should be noted, however, that certain versions of the game does have a ''Game Over'' scenario. For example, certain ports of SimCity 2000 and 3000 will end with you getting kicked out of office if your city's treasury enters the red for a certain period of time.

The series also spawned a number of spin-offs ''other than'' TheSims, some of which are listed below. Most of them tend to be "''[=SimCity=]'' [[XMeetsY 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 civilisation along the way. The "largest scale" Sim game, ''{{Spore}}'' excluded. 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.
* ''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, and more focus on individual citizens.
* ''[=SimPark=]'': ''[=SimCity=]'' meets a nature reserve. In North America. Doubles as an enviromental educational tool and a way to hear people constantly whining about there not being enough cars. Like ''SimTown'' its mostly geared towards children.
* ''[=SimSafari=]'': ''[=SimCity=]'' meets a safari park. Like Sim Park, but in Africa.
* ''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 ''GrandTheftAuto'' (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 ObviousBeta 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.

* ''[=SimHealth=]'': Manage US healthcare! Based on ''[=SimCity=] 2000'', it doesn't appear to have been very good.

* AbnormalAmmo: The beams that the alien monsters from ''[=SimCity=] 2000'' used usually set your city [[DeathRay on fire]]. On some occasions, their beams [[GreenThumb planted trees]], [[KillItWithWater created surface water]] or even [[WindmillCrusader build wind turbines]], while still destroying the intervening buildings and infrastructure. Perhaps they were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who thought the Sims' environment needed some help?

* AllThereInTheManual: The manual that comes with the game is an excellent way to play ''[=SimCity=] 4'' well, if you read it thoroughly.

* BootstrappedTheme: 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.
*** Actually, if you play the console versions of the game (particularly the SNES version), you will hear the theme. And the theme ships as a bonus hidden track on SimCity 3000. On the other hand, [[PortingDisaster don't touch the console versions of SimCity 2000. Ever]].
** ''[=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.
** ''[=SimCity=] 4 Deluxe'' uses "Street Sweeper" as its opening theme, which leads some to believe to be the representation of the game.

* TheCameo: 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.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: From ''[=SimCity=]'' to ''[=SimCity 4=]'', the zones have always been [[green:green Residential]], [[blue:blue Commercial]] and [[gold:yellow Industrial]]. The SNES port of ''SimCity'' changed the colour of Residential zones to red.

** People demand Fire Departments even when disasters are disabled. No point in building them unless [[HarderThanHard 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 VideogameCrueltyPotential, but some disasters would still happen on their own.
** 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 powerplants that [[SelfDestructMechanism self destruct]] every 50 years.
* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive 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 [[{{Handwave}} handwaves]] this but suggesting they may have an agenda (which only results in paranoia over whether their advice is trustworthy even ''within'' their area of interest).

* CutSong: Apparently in the Rush Hour expansion pack, there were supposed to be 12 additional songs, but some 4 or 5 were removed in the final product.

* DeadlyGas: 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 ''[[HollywoodAcid dissolved]]'' any building under it.

* ExecutiveMeddling: According to Wright, the publisher refused to release the original ''[=SimCity=]'' as is, because they felt players would feel the need to have a win condition. Wright appeased them by including winnable scenarios - and of course, the scenarios were the ''least'' popular feature of the game.

* FlyingSaucer: Alien invasions, although the SimCity 2000 alien was a ball with four legs. You can fly one in SimCity 4 with the Rush Hour expansion.
* GameBreakingBug: The modding community of ''Simcity 4'' had to fix a raft of bugs that were never patched and severely harm large cities, including an over-simplified pathing system that grants the ability for commuters to get stuck constantly moving in circles between connected cities without ever getting a job anywhere or drive halfway across the map to get across the road, the Opera House having a limit of 1,200 R$$$ Sims after which it knackers the entire city's education rating, most industry-high tech buildings not actually employing any R$$$ Sims due to a math error...
** ''Simcity 4'' also has a rather well known bug in which the game will crash if you use the scroll wheel to zoom and you push the scroll wheel too much.
* GameMod: Hundreds of thousands of them, especially for ''[=SimCity=] 4'', are available on tens of fansites. The game is so modifiable, the Network Addon Mod qualifies as an unofficial expansion pack!

* [[LethalJokeItem Lethal Joke Building]]: The Tourist Trap reward building from ''[=SimCity=] 4''. This seemingly useless [[EverythingsBetterWithLlamas llama-shaped]] building known for its [[EverythingsBetterWithLlamas far-spitting llamas]] boosts the demand caps for low-wealth residents by a whopping 100,000, which makes it incredibly useful for building large cities. Although it has a slight [[NotInMyBackyard NIMBY]] effect on residential zones, it increases the desirability of nearby commercial zones by a significant amount. Commercial high-rises and skyscrapers seem to cluster around it as if it were a capitalist idol.
* LoadingScreen: ''[=SimCity=] 4'' features goofy loading status messages, such as "Deciding what message to display next", "Deunionizing bulldozers", "Retrieving from back store", and the ubiquous "Reticulating splines".

* NeverRecycleABuilding: ''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.
* NintendoHard: 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 simoleans 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 [[TetrisEffect see everything differently]], and maybe even have increased respect for every government in RealLife.

* NoFairCheating: 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.

* RealIsBrown: ''[=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.

* RunningGag: "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".

** 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.
* SeriousBusiness: Players have spent years at a time trying to recreate real cities, [[BigApplesauce 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.

** 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 [[CommandAndConquer Kane Tiberium]]. Go figure.
* SoCalization: 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 Mod}}s 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".
* StopHelpingMe: Right after you load up a city in Easy mode, your city planner in ''[=SimCity=] 4 Rush Hour'', Neil Fairbanks, tends to pile [[CaptainObvious obvious advice (i.e. create new zones to expand your city)]] on you in the form of [[GoddamnedBats multiple pop-up windows appearing in sequence]]:

* VideogameCrueltyPotential: 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.
** In ''[=SimCopter=]'', unlocking 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.

*** In discussing [=SimCity=] 4 the producers said they took out the plane crash [[TooSoon because of September 11]].
** Demolishing a crowded bridge in ''[=SimCity=] 4'' will cause all the vehicles on it to drop into the water below.

** In ''2000'', if you zone a high-rise in the way of an airport's runway, airplanes will crash into it. [[TooDumbToLive Repeatedly]].

** 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.

** Or if you cut back on transportation funding in SimCity 2000. See MemeticMutation above.

* YouBastard: 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''...

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: ''SimCity 2000's'' water supply.
** 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.
* YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever: in ''Simcity 4'', nuke plants explode with a [[TheDeadliestMushroom mushroom cloud]] and leave behind a glowing crater, contrasting earlier editions that merely rendered the surrounding area uninhabitable. This may be the case, given that the effect [[TheCoconutEffect is expected.]]

* TerrainSculpting: 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. 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 [[VideogameCrueltyPotential dropping meteors or summoning volcanos]].
* UltimateJobSecurity: You can't fire any of your advisors. This could be a problem 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).

** 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...

*** So what? [[FantasticAesop You're God,]] [[BrokenAesop you can always make more!]]

** 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.

** People demand Fire Departments even when disasters are disabled. No point in building them unless [[HarderThanHard Disasters are on]] (and in ''Simcity'', set them to ~1% funding until needed)

* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive 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 [[{{Handwave}} handwaves]] this but suggesting they may have an agenda.

** There was also a really fascinating one in ''2000'' where you took over Flint, MI in the 1970s, just before [[ItGotWorse shit hit the fan]].

* ShapedLikeItself: The [[ObstructiveBureaucracy Bureau of Bureaucracy]] building in ''Sim City 4''. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment is the bureau that handles bureaucracy]].

* ''[=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.

* ''[=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.

* UltimateJobSecurity: You can't fire any of your advisors. This leads for a problem where the Environmental Advisor in SimCity 4 will get pissy and 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), which is not only a dismissable offense but also possibly a criminal one.
** That is if she didn't have a Court Order.

* PinataEnemy: Plopping a military base at the edge of your city makes it easy to get money in SimCity 4 with the Rush Hour expansion. Simply keep redoing the "drive the tank to the edge of the map" mission for 70,000 simoleons a pop.

* YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever: in ''Simcity 4'', nuke plants explode with a [[TheDeadliestMushroom mushroom cloud]] and glowing crater.
** Earlier editions just invisibly rendered the surrounding area uninhabitable. The more cartoony effect is probably there because [[TheCoconutEffect it's expected.]]

* YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever: in ''Simcity 4'', nuke plants explode with a [[TheDeadliestMushroom mushroom cloud]] and glowing crater.

** TruthinTelevision to some extent: There's a reason that programs like that tend to get cut when the budget gets tight.

* Another game has been announced for release in 2013, simply titled [[RecycledTitle SimCity]]. This installment is being designed by Maxis, who has indicated that this game will be more of a direct sequel to ''[=SimCity=] 4'' than ''Societies'' was. It is also set to introduce online multiplayer to the series proper, a game mode that has not been explored since the long-forgotten ''[=SimCity=] 2000 Network Edition.''

* ''[=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 indepth 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. So far, due to its many, many hidden depths, 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 [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Stalinist capital]], with [[SinisterSurveillance security cameras]], [[IndustrialGhetto slum housing for the poor]], posh buildings for your leaders, and SecretPolice, 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 [[ItsEasySoItSucks disappointingly easy]] [[invoked]] and shallow, and the 3D engine was prone to grinding even hulking great [=PCs=] to a halt at higher zoom levels.
* Another game has been announced for release in 2013, simply titled [[RecycledTitle Sim City]]. This installment is being designed by Maxis, who has indicated that this game will be more of a direct sequel to Sim City 4 than Societies was. It is also set to introduce online multiplayer to the series proper, which hasn't been explored since the long-forgotten ''Sim City 2000 Network Edition.''

* '' Another game has been announced for release in 2013, simply titled [[recycledtitle Sim City]]. This installment is being designed by Maxis, who has indicated that this game will be more of a direct sequel to Sim City 4 than Societies was.