This game became something of a family obsession, because it was one that my younger brothers and parents alike could appreciate, and there were so many different maps and the like to play around with.

That, and lovely music and graphics that really stood out on the Super Nintendo as colourful and pleasant.

Nintendo introduced a host character, who offered the game a lot of personality, unique disasters (a Bowser attack!) and all kinds of nice bonus buildings to unlock along the way. If not the first, and it was a masterstroke on Nintendo’s part to pick up a relatively dry simulator (the original Sim City), and then apply a very Nintendo coat of paint to it. This was one of the very first dedicated simulators I played. So with that in mind, I thought I’d take a quick look at some of the best classic simulators – these are very much the games that got me into the genre, and I’ll always have the time for them, if they should ever be released in a format that I can play. How a theme park needs to balance out the experiences that it offers. How transport networks might affect how a city develops. Obviously they’re greatly simplified takes on the complexities of whatever real world thing they’re simulating (because the real-world things are generally incredibly complex), but the modelling is enlightening how city planning strategies can affect the lives of people that live in an area. A good simulator is an exercise in subtle tweaking in order to create substantial improvements.Īnd I’ve always found simulators to be incredibly educational, and that in itself has given these games value to me. There’s something that I’ve found endlessly fascinating about building up something, from an empty patch of land to a thriving city or business, and as nerdy as this will sound, but I love the amount of data that these games create and allow you to track. One of my favourite genres, for basically as long as I’ve been playing video games, has been the simulator.

Best simulation games