History YMMV / ZooTycoon

* UnconventionalLearningExperience: Similar to how the ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' series can help some people to learn more about history and mythology, the "Zoo Tycoon" series can help some people learn more about zoology and paleontology. Even if there are some cases of ArtisticLicense appearing in the series and moments where the [[GameplayAndStorySegregation ingame zoopedia presents accurate information for animals, but gameplay ignores that and forces you to do something else instead which clases with the above said]] (e.g. tigers living in groups akin to lions).
* ValuesDissonance: A recent case covered under HarsherInHindsight; the ability to do animal shows such as the Marine ones in particular falls under this as the public has become far more skeptical of them following revelations of poor conditions for performing animals such as with [=SeaWorld=].

* TheyChangedItSoItSucks: Some fans are unhappy that the sequel game outright removed many animals (''Allosaurus'', ''Apatosaurus'', baboons, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and ''Plesiosaurus'', woolly mammoths, etc.) and Easter eggs (i.e. mermaids, unicorns, and the gold brick path).

* ValuesDissonance: A recent case covered under HarsherInHindsight; the ability to do animal shows such as the Marine ones in particular falls under this as the public has become far more skeptical of them following revelations of poor conditions for performing animals such as with [=SeaWorld=].

*** One such level, "Endangered Species", also requires the player to adopt and breed three different endangered species, each of which has to be unlocked through research. The expansion packs add FakeDifficulty to the scenario by making a necessary item, the cat climbing tree for the black panther, one of the last toys to be unlocked through research, when it was available from the start in the original game. Once the player completes the other objectives, the level turns into a LuckBasedMission as the player waits to see whether each of the species will produce offspring by the time limit.

** The dodos from ''Extinct Animals'', which not only are excessive [[ExplosiveBreeder Explosive Breeders]], but also constantly make lots of annoying sounds. A good deal of the dinosaurs are hated as well, mostly because of their rather cartoony-looking models, strange animations and often being weaker than a real dino would have been.

** The dodos from ''Extinct Animals'', which not only are excessive [[ExplosiveBreeder Explosive Breeders]], but also constantly make lots of annoying sounds. A good deal of the dinosaurs are hated as well, mostly because of their rather cartoony-looking models, strange animations and often being weaker than a real dino would have been. The ''Protarchaeopteryx'' is quite hated due it bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the real genus, a consequence of reusing a secretarybird model rather than making a new one from scratch.

** Not being able to turn the message box off. This is most noticeable if you play the game in a manner (presumably) not intended like many players sometimes do, such as putting 100 tigers in a far too small enclosure or trying to make your own Africa by putting tons of free-ranging animals everywhere; you can make the message box freak out. It beeps continuously with new messages (such as "Giraffe 28 is not in a enclosure", "Tiger 89 is unhappy", etc) and there is no obvious way to turn it off. If you mute the sound you can't hear the roars of all those tigers, and other nice game sounds...

** For scenarios, animals such as lions, bengal tigers, and saltwater crocodiles are often used because of their affordability, high popularity with guests, and how easy it is to construct an exhibit with high suitability for them.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Regardless of how beautiful or detailed a pre-made map may be, expect one of the first actions when loading up a scenario to be bulldozing everything except for the initial path.

** Compost buildings in the first game, which generate the profit each time a piece of animal poop is cleaned, with no upkeep cost. The building doesn't need to accessed by either staff or guests, so it can be placed in the far corner of the zoo so that its foul stench can't bother guests. As a result, [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome most players incorporate this into their zoos]], as there is no reason ''not'' to build one (besides a SelfImposedChallenge).

* CreepyCute: The killer penguins from ''Zoo Tycoon 2''. They may have razor-sharp teeth, GlowingEyesOfDoom, and an appetite for anything that breathes, but they're still [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins.]]

** In tandem with surprisingly recent ValuesDissonance, animal-based shows, particularly orca shows. In more recent years, and especially after the release of ''Film/{{Blackfish}}'', the public is much more skeptical about the treatment of animals that are featured in shows. Ride/SeaWorld, the subject of the aforementioned documentary, has halted its famed orca shows altogether and pledged to keep no more orcas than the ones they already own.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Zoo Tycoon'' was the game that defined the zoo sim, spawned imitators, and while still fondly remembered, it has aged over time and has now been surpassed in most ways by the more modern ''VideoGame/PlanetZoo.'' ''Zoo Tycoon's'' biggest strength is its sandbox mode, which allows players to creativity design their own zoo. ''VideoGame/PlanetZoo'' built itself apron a similar focus on creativity, and [[TechnologyMarchesOn technological advancements]] allowed them to push it further than Zoo Tycoon could at the time, such as by allowing players to place objects literally anywhere they desire, even intersecting other objects (thus giving players a theoretically near endless ability to make custom objects to work with), and adopting a building system for architecture similar to ''VideoGame/TheSims,'' allowing the player more creative freedom than the ''Zoo Tycoon'' series could ever dream of offering. ''Zoo Tycoon'''s surviving strengths are mostly minor things, like that the guests, while having ArtificialStupidity, at least don't have the dislike of staff buildings that they do in ''Planet Zoo'', and that while guests [[CrowdPanic panic and run]] from animals in both games, only in ''Zoo Tycoon'' do animals actively chase and attack guests in return (albeit only [[MenAreTheExpendableGender males]]). Mythical animals and other EasterEggs are also something not found often in ''Planet Zoo,'' nor ocean life with [=SeaWorld=] like shows. ''Zoo Tycoon'' also has dinosaurs, something else that ''Planet Zoo'' lacks (although ''VideoGame/JurassicWorldEvolution,'' and ''VideoGame/PrehistoricKingdom'' exist to fill this modern dinosaur zoo void). But none of this is enough for ''Zoo Tycoon'' to compete with any of these games for most players. Those who do still play Zoo Tycoon often do for nostalgia and/or for its greater simplicity compared to Planet Zoo, and some do find the graphics still charming in a retro sort of way.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Zoo Tycoon'' was the game that defined the zoo sim, spawned imitators, and while still fondly remembered, it's showing its age, and has now been surpassed in almost every single way by ''VideoGame/PlanetZoo.'' ''Zoo Tycoon's'' biggest strength is its sandbox mode, which allows players to creativity design their own zoo. ''VideoGame/PlanetZoo'' took this aspect, modernized it, allowed players to place objects literally anywhere they desire, even intersecting other objects. This gave players a larger selection of objects to work with, and adopting a building system for architecture similar to ''VideoGame/TheSims,'' allowing the player plenty more creative freedom than the ''Zoo Tycoon'' series could ever dream of offering. ''Zoo Tycoon'''s surviving strengths are that the guests, while having ArtificialStupidity, at least don't have the dislike of staff buildings that they do in ''Planet Zoo'', and that while guests [[CrowdPanic panic and run]] from animals in both games, only in ''Zoo Tycoon'' do animals actively chase and attack guests in return (albeit only [[MenAreTheExpendableGender males]]). Mythical animals and other EasterEggs are also something not found in ''Planet Zoo,'' nor ocean life with [=SeaWorld=] like shows. ''Zoo Tycoon'' also has dinosaurs, something else that ''Planet Zoo'' lacks (although ''VideoGame/JurassicWorldEvolution,'' and ''VideoGame/PrehistoricKingdom'' exist to fill this modern dinosaur zoo void). But none of this is enough for ''Zoo Tycoon'' to compete with any of these games for most players not looking for nostalgia.

** The adoption system in Challenge Mode in Zoo Tycoon 2.

* BrokenBase: The 2013 reboot. Some fans hate the fact it is on the Xbox as opposed to the PC, others are just happy to have a new ''Zoo Tycoon'' at all. Further broken by the fact that the new game has 101 animals on the Xbox One and a comparatively paltry 65 on the Xbox 360. Xbox One exclusives include [[SeldomSeenSpecies fossa]], both of the available species of mongooses, and ''every single antelope'' except for one, which is a DLC. (Notably, the game doesn't include any species of ''zebra'', a standard zoo animal. Future DLC, most likely.)

* ReplacementScrappy: To fans that wanted to buy this game off Steam but couldn't, SpiritualSuccessor ''Zoo Park'', which could be found on Steam, is this.

** In the first game, Inner City Zoo and Revitalize Burkitsville Zoo are significantly less challenging than Saving the Great Cats and Endangered Species Zoo, despite all being classified as "Intermediate" difficulty. While the latter two are brutal enough to be ThatOneLevel, the former have lower goals to make to compensate for their handicaps: a skilled player could easily build six exhibits in Inner City Zoo and still have plenty of room left over, while the decrepit exhibits of Burkitsville Zoo aren't all that difficult to renovate.

** In the tutorial for the first game, you're eventually given the objective to [[ViolationOfCommonSense delete a section of the lion exhibit]] with the game telling you [[BlatantLies they are quite tame.]] After doing so and watching the lions attack the guests the game essentially tells you "Never listen to us". This leads to an epic BrickJoke for the Dino Digs expansion. After your first dinosaur, an ''Allosaurus'', a notorious giant carnivore of the Jurassic mind you, hatches and you start furnishing its exhibit, the game tells you to delete a section of the fence once more, claiming the ''Allo'' must be happy enough not to attack guests. After the ''Allo'' breaks out and (possibly) starts eating guests, the game says [[DeadpanSnarker "There you go listening to us again..."]]

* TheScrappy: There are a few animals which are rather strongly disliked by the fanbase. Most creatures from the first game and its expansion packs stand out particularly, given their obnoxiously nitpicky requirements about their exhibits. Emperor Penguins and ''Caudipteryx'' require LOTS of rocks, for example, and flamingos have a ridiculously short lifespan despite living over fifty years in real life.
** Dinosaurs in the first game have a bad habit of reducing plants in their exhibit to rubble for no apparent reason...whcih also lowers the rating of the exhibit as "X does not like the Rubble" begins to count agains the overall exhibit along with needing more plants which causes the situation to drastically intensify and perpetuate even if the player tries to solve it.

** Gray wolves, male meerkats and polar bears have a strange, yet annoying habit of killing and eating themselves at random, for completely unknown reasons, much to the dismay of multiple players

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Zoo Tycoon'' was the game that defined the zoo sim, spawned imitators, and while still fondly remembered, it's showing its age, and has now been surpassed in almost every single way by ''VideoGame/PlanetZoo.'' ''Zoo Tycoon's'' biggest strength is its sandbox mode, which allows players to creativity design their own zoo. ''VideoGame/PlanetZoo'' took this aspect, modernized it, allowed players to place objects literally anywhere they desire, even intersecting other objects. This gave players a larger selection of objects to work with, and adopting a building system for architecture similar to ''VideoGame/TheSims,'' allowing the player plenty more creative freedom than the ''Zoo Tycoon'' series could ever dream of offering. ''Zoo Tycoon'''s surviving strengths are that the guests, while having ArtificialStupidity, at least don't have the dislike of staff buildings that they do in ''Planet Zoo'', and that while guests [[CrowdPanic panic and run]] from animals in both games, only in ''Zoo Tycoon'' do animals actively chase and attack guests in return (albeit only [[MenAreTheExpendableGender males]]). Mythical animals and other EasterEggs are also something not found in ''Planet Zoo,'' nor ocean life with [=SeaWorld=] like shows. ''Zoo Tycoon'' also has dinosaurs, something else that ''Planet Zoo'' lacks (although ''VideoGame/JurassicWorldEvolution,'' and ''VideoGame/PrehistoricKingdom'' exist to fill this modern dinosaur zoo void). But, none of this is enough for ''Zoo Tycoon'' to compete with any of these games for most players not looking for nostalgia.

** In the first game, the strict exhibit requirements very often make it difficult, if not impossible to keep certain species together and have both be happy, even ones that are often kept together in real zoos and live in the same habitat in the wild. It also prevents you from getting too creative with your exhibits, because each species wants a certain amount of dirt, water, grass, trees, etc, and whines if you go so much as one tile more or less. WordOfGod confirms that the latter was the reason exhibit requirements were removed from the sequel. Thankfully, there are fan-made mods that was made to fix this, allowing the player to be more creative with exhibit building.

** In ''Zoo Tycoon 2,'' you can't overlap the plants very well. This sounds like it would be a minor thing, but it significantly hinders decorating the zoo for many players. A mod was made to fix this issue.

*** Any scenario that requires you to achieve an average guest happiness rating of 93 due to the sheer ArtificialStupidity. You can have a whole row of restaurants and food courts available yet guests with critical level needs will blow right past them. And as they do so, their happiness will drop.
*** One such level, "Endangered Species", also requires the player to adopt and breed three different endangered species, each of which has to be unlocked through research. The expansion packs add FakeDifficulty to the scenario by making a necessary item, the cat climbing tree for the black panther, one of the last toys to be unlocked through research, when it was available from the start in the original game. Once the player completes the other objectives, the level turns into a LuckBasedMission as the player waits to see whether each of the species will produce offspring by the time limit.

** "Carnivorous Kalidahs" from the 2013 reboot (and 2017 re-update). You need to adopt ''five'' different baby endangered species. You only start out with around $25000 yet each baby animal will cost you at least $10000, making it easy to run out of money fast. Entire guides have sprung up on internet forums for this one scenario.

* TheyChangedItSoItSucks: Some fans are unhappy that the sequel game outright removed many animals (Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, baboons, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and Plesiosaurus, woolly mammoths, Yetis, etc.) and Easter eggs (i.e. mermaids, unicorns, and the gold brick path).
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The Nile crocodile with ''Marine Mania'' or ''Extinct Animals'' installed, due to the fact both expansions give us the whale shark and ''Deinosuchus'' who can grow to immense sizes with age. Who would've killed to see the idea of having effectively a fictional rendition of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_(crocodile) Gustave]] present in one's zoo? [[SubvertedTrope Thankfully some mods exist which can allow this to happen.]]
* ValuesDissonance: A recent case covered under HarsherInHindsight, the ability to do animal shows such as the Marine ones in particular falls under this as the public has become far more skeptical of them following revelations of poor conditions for performing animals such as with [=SeaWorld=].