SimCity™ 2000 Special Edition

Look, you probably already know SimCity 2000 or 3000 by this point. Depending on personal preference, they both remain arguably the peak of the casual city-building genre even to today. I just want to address the pros and cons of the GOG release with additional clarity. There are a good handful of different releases of SC2K. - OG DOS release - Special Edition DOS release, including the Urban Renewal Kit for creating scenarios or retexturing buildings (this is the version GOG is selling) - OG Windows 3.1 release - Special Edition Windows (3.1/9x) release - Network Edition (Win9x) with (alleged) online multiplayer functionality It is, of course, unfortunate that GOG has opted to exclusively release this one specific version. It's lower-fi than the better-known Windows release. The interface is static. The music is a fair bit different because it's not being played via canned midi files in the old Windows soundfont. Network Edition remains doomed to be memory holed forever. That said, this is a perfectly serviceable release. I wouldn't call it *significantly* worse than its Windows counterpart, and I know exactly why the DOS version was chosen for digital distribution: plug-and-playability. DOSBox is simple to set up and commercially distribute because it's an opensource project using a facsimile of DOS that doesn't run afoul of any licensing issues. Meanwhile there's no conceivable way of patching up the old Windows release of SC2K to run natively on a modern OS, and while it does work if you get an old Windows install up and running in DOSBox or another compatible VM, that's still a copyrighted Windows install that can't be distributed. It could have been a reasonable compromise to provide the installers for the Windows editions as part of the provided Extras and clarify that no support will be offered for them, but sadly that's not how things panned out and it's up to you to source them if you're interested. Still, even if you're offended at the inferior edition being sold here, there is one reason I'd argue it's worth the purchase on sale: the manual. Something that IS provided in the Extras is a meticulously reconstructed low-footprint digital edition of the original, now extremely hard-to-find 130+ page manual with all its uniquely off-kilter verbiage that explains in at-times excruciating detail how the game works and how to play. It's not a 1:1, but about 96% faithful to the original and makes for a fascinating and greatly helpful read if you're less familiar with how to play or want to delve into some of the more granular or opaque mechanics. Yes, in summation I am saying this edition of the game is worth buying at sale price for the manual alone. To be fair it's easily one of the best manuals ever made.

This is the only simulator I've ever enjoyed playing. I've sat for days/weeks working on building sprawling metropolises and loved every minute of it. This game is a must buy as soon as my budget allows it.

While the audio and graphics are rather dated, SimCity 2000 is addictive as it was decades ago.

Despite its flaws, it's still easily the best of the series, and still a game I enjoyed playing until I couldn't get it running on the new OSes. Everything that made the original good is multiplied here, without adding too much crap from the later games. It's manageable. It's digestible. It's uncomplicated. And it's got a lot going for it. I haven't played the newest one (the one where they left off the number), and though Sim City 4 came close to recreating the magic, even it and all its expansions didn't beat this one.

I remember getting this game for Christmas sometime I think 12 years ago and spending endless hours of playing it. I might still have the original CD somewhere but I do not know for sure. A great game that I have a lot of good memories from and a part from the nostalgic aspects I still find it great fun to try build better and better cities