LGR - SimCity 2000 30 Years Later
Added 2023-11-15 21:02:31 +0000 UTCFINALLY! It's time for the SimCity 2000 30th Anniversary on LGR. A video that I've been planning for years in one way or another, although the most active work began last spring. Gathering up boxes and releases, diving into books and archives, and generally revisiting the game and my own childhood experiences. It's been a silly amount of fun for me going back to this one, especially after so many years playing more modern simulation titles.
Hope y'all enjoy this retrospective! SC2K is such an important game, not only to me but to the entire city building strategy game genre, and it's wild that we've reached its thirtieth birthday here in 2023. And I just know that in the blink of an eye we'll be celebrating the same milestone for 3000, ugh. Time is absurd.
Lemme know any thoughts or feedback and have yourself a good one!
Comments
Makes a massive difference indeed, it's why I've covered so darned many sound cards and audio devices from back then! Each one is its own delightfully unique thing :)
LGR
2023-11-22 00:55:24 +0000 UTCThank you! I don’t always opt to include that in my videos but it was such a key part of the story in my case. So I’m glad it was appreciated.
LGR
2023-11-21 15:54:32 +0000 UTCI absolutely loved the introduction talking about your past combined with the video that enhances the storytelling.
Uncleawesome
2023-11-20 18:38:49 +0000 UTCMy dude, hope you can find it! That's the kind of earworm that'll bother you till you scratch it. Have you seen this on archive.org? https://archive.org/details/SimEverything Every tune from every sim game, duplicates for different sound cards. Hope it helps!
Greg Allen
2023-11-18 17:13:18 +0000 UTCWatching until the very end, this game reminded me that the type of sound card you had also back in the day made a difference... FM Synthesis sucked (IMHO) especially when compared to wavetable; because on wave, the music was amazing.
Daniel Cayea
2023-11-17 20:11:42 +0000 UTCThe brown chair makes it's latest cameo in an LGR video.
Blah Humbug
2023-11-17 15:45:49 +0000 UTCParental power game i suppose, would never pull that if i had kids.
BastetFurry
2023-11-17 07:51:42 +0000 UTCGreat video. I remember my cousin's dad having it on PocketPC and being blown away.
Alek
2023-11-17 04:29:41 +0000 UTCRailroad Tycoon 2? Personally, I would love if Clint did a video on it, especially if he brings up the weird ports of it (Linux and Dreamcast). There's no other game with the complexity but simplicity of it.
Rick Green
2023-11-17 02:19:58 +0000 UTCWhere's Luke to defend himself? Maybe once the video goes live he'll explain himself.
Rick Green
2023-11-17 02:14:58 +0000 UTCMy story is the same as Clint’s but shifted by a generation, I got SC3K special edition or whatever it was called for Christmas. Probably spent equal time between that and SC4 (if I could ever get it to run…), both so awesome.
Aidan Munro
2023-11-16 20:37:59 +0000 UTCRealized I made a mistake in my initial comment. The screensaver uses the scurk tile set format not the city format. My memories had gotten cloudy in the two decades it's been since I used the screensaver last. 😅
Knifethrower
2023-11-16 19:19:48 +0000 UTCWhat a great video, love the retrospective! Watching this made me realize I have no recollection of how my family got our copy of SimCity 2000 special edition, I don't recall asking for it. Did copies of SC2000 eventually just materialize in all PC owning households in the late '90s? Only feedback I have is possibly adding a short bit about the official Maxis SC2000 screensaver since it did read the same city format and was made by them and maybe showing off the 3D visualizer in the section where you talk about unofficial add-ons?
Knifethrower
2023-11-16 18:38:17 +0000 UTCAh dude, great to see some SC2K love: My favorite game of all time. It’s mind-blowing to see how much a game can impact so many people. I’m working on a video on this subject also, of course. But that cake decor. That is something for the ages. #jealousy
Deckard Games
2023-11-16 18:34:23 +0000 UTCOK, you can't just say your brother ate sticks of butter without elaborating. We need more details!
Vaggumon
2023-11-16 17:44:05 +0000 UTCSimCity 2000 was the first game I ever bought with my own money. It just looked so freaking amazing, but i had no idea what it really was since I never really played SimCity 1... but god damn did I sink so much of my youth into that game, building big cities, playing with SCURK and horribly painting buildings with my terrible lack of artistic ability, further made worse by the mouse. So many late nights lost to this game, and its descendants, both direct and inspired. SC2K and Alpha Centauri are probably the reason why I am a PC gamer today.
Honorary Octopus
2023-11-16 15:41:15 +0000 UTCWow, I grew up playing SimCity 2000 religiously but never in my life ever saw or even heard about Maxis Man! it's amazing all these years later learning something new about a game I love!
Terry Lee
2023-11-16 14:12:31 +0000 UTCWhat's the deal with that Christmas present trick? My sister and I had it pulled on us once. After the present opening we were asked whether we had received everything we wanted, to which the correct answer (I assume) was yes (while probably looking down at our shoes). Before being given the main presents. Is it a test? Or some kind of manipulation. I don't know but I'm still a little resentful about being put in that embarrassing / disappointing situation. Around 2000 my partner was pretty into SC2000 (on a G3 iMac). He's an architect so I guess it's right up his street, so to speak. It never really appealed to me. I was playing Road Rash on my Amiga at that point. You've kindled a new curiosity, although as a country mouse and a bit misanthropic, it's probably not my thing. Or maybe disasters will do it for me! Thanks as always. Love what you do.
Shiela Dixon
2023-11-16 12:51:29 +0000 UTCSC2k was one of the pack-in games when I got a Sound Blaster discovery pack, I think everything else basically got tossed aside. (the fx2000 joystick and rebel assault were terrible!) It will be forever in my heart the best game of my childhood :D The version from GOG is still on my desktop just a click away as well. I think the music and sounds are burned into my brain forever, just a part of the wiring now.
Blair Harrison
2023-11-16 10:05:13 +0000 UTCOMG, this is very much my bag and exactly what I needed this morning!
ctrl.alt.rees
2023-11-16 09:50:38 +0000 UTCI can still hear the SC2K menu playing in my head. I still can't find the right soundcard from the first few times I played it. For all I know, my brain has transformed the music into something that never existed. Nevertheless, the hunt continues. Keep up the good work sir!
50_SHADES_OF_BEIGE
2023-11-16 05:32:07 +0000 UTCHonestly if I had to recommend just one title to start with, it would be SC3K. It’s so close to a perfectly balanced game.
LGR
2023-11-16 01:15:18 +0000 UTCAhhh, I remember screwing around with my cousin's copy of this as a kid, mostly just running disasters around in existing cities and empty terrain, because I had no idea how to make the game work, and he didn't have the time/patience to teach me, or the manual around, apparently. It got its hooks in me well enough though that later down the line, I got myself a copy of 3000, which ended up my personal city sim fixation.
Valora Inverse
2023-11-16 00:51:27 +0000 UTCYeeeaaah I took that out after I read that it was probably less salacious than that. At least on PC. It simply responds to certain strings of 4-character terms, like you can just type in “torg” or “ardo” and get the same cash cheat. The “porntips” variant took off online though.
LGR
2023-11-16 00:00:39 +0000 UTCCan't believe you didn't mention the greatest cheat code of all time, P__NTIPSGUZZARDO (leaving out the 'OR' above so as not to get caught in any content filters...) If memory serves, this was only available on the Mac version and typing the same into the Windows version simply got you a recording of a guy saying "Can't get enough!" after the first four letters...
John Salt
2023-11-15 23:52:39 +0000 UTCActual tape, using the subject of last week’s video :)
LGR
2023-11-15 23:15:45 +0000 UTCI’ve been looking for years, it’s so frustrating that I can’t find it! Really hope to be able to share it someday dang it
LGR
2023-11-15 23:15:17 +0000 UTCHeh, it’s a key chapter no doubt
LGR
2023-11-15 23:14:53 +0000 UTCWright was certainly one of the first designer I knew by name, right alongside Cliff Bleszinski and Sid Meier. Idolized those folks as a kid!
LGR
2023-11-15 23:14:37 +0000 UTCThat vhs footage was a nice touch. Was that a filter or did you use actual tape?
Dustin Mowcomber
2023-11-15 22:43:04 +0000 UTCYes fond memories of playing SC and SC 2000 in the 90s. I can not remember if I played a variant of the game on the Amiga 2000. I still play Railroad Tycoon on the Imac when I feel like a nostalgic urge hit.
Alek Zapara
2023-11-15 22:35:25 +0000 UTCThis was great! You gotta post that halloween photo somewhere if you ever find it, heh. I had a copy of SC2K as a kid, but we must have gotten it used somewhere, because we didn't have a manual, and young me couldn't figure out how the zoning system worked. So I mostly played around with the cheat codes and disaster scenarios. Later while in my first year of college, I bought a copy on GOG and played it a ton on my brand new Eee PC between classes. So it's like a double dose of nostalgia for me!
Tim J
2023-11-15 22:09:32 +0000 UTCIs this Clint's origin story?
jcs
2023-11-15 22:09:21 +0000 UTCI remember vividly sawing my brother playing the game and telling me I was to young to understand how to play it. Just to end playing the shit out of it. Also I remember us being giant Will Wright fans. Me at least. Kinda weird knowing the name of a video game designer so well at such an young age. I must have been 6 or something. Simcity 2000 absolutely helped develope my person defining love for video games. The only love maybe as big as the other love I developed shortly after.
Ezydenias
2023-11-15 21:55:10 +0000 UTCHeck yeah, the music is still such a treat. Even all those slow-moving, moody tracks are just so darned pleasing to the ear, especially on classic sound hardware.
LGR
2023-11-15 21:47:01 +0000 UTCI last played this game just this last weekend! I absolutely loved (and love) this game, it's music giving me a huge smile whenever I hear it. Great video Clint, YOU WON'T REGRET THIS!
StevesTechShed
2023-11-15 21:42:16 +0000 UTCI'd be happy to play in-person over a LAN at a computer show or something. But jumping through all the compatibility hoops to get it going on the modern internet with direct connect servers and sharing my IP and whatnot, eh it's not something I'm really interested in.
LGR
2023-11-15 21:37:31 +0000 UTCClint, is there any interest in setting up some SimCity 2000 network edition? I’ve got it I’ve had it for a while been able to get it to work on modern Windows but nobody who wants to play.
Daniel Cayea
2023-11-15 21:24:39 +0000 UTCThanks, that’s something I plan to continue in the future where appropriate!
LGR
2023-11-15 21:23:50 +0000 UTCNo plans to right now. A few years ago I decided to roll up Tech Tales topics into larger videos that also show the hardware and software itself in action, making a more complete video instead of simply being a slide show and voiceover without any demonstration bits. The Gateway Astro, Bryce 3D, the Vendex Headstart, the i-Opener, videos like those all would’ve been Tech Tales in the past but instead became more fully fleshed out videos that also *show* the subject matter instead of just stories. That, combined with Tech Tales videos not doing as well as my others, plus so many other channels are doing similar things to what Tech Tales was but even better.
LGR
2023-11-15 21:22:09 +0000 UTCWelp, time to install Sim City 2000 on my Windows 98 PC. Amazing video, especially love the VHS footage recreating your childhood memories, that's always a nice touch!
Alyxx the Rat
2023-11-15 21:13:55 +0000 UTCI remember seeing the game for the first time on a friend's PC in 94 I think. It was such a huge leap compared to the original, on a technical, graphical and gameplay standpoints. My first attempt at a subway was a disaster, and my advisors kept telling me how poor of a job I was doing. Thanks for the video Clint! Btw, is there a chance LGT Tech Tales might return? I adored that series
Frederic St-Georges
2023-11-15 21:13:14 +0000 UTC
