It is not all that common that I get to discuss an actual Nintendo developed prototype discovery so this one is very interesting to me. Couple that with the fact that I was a huge fan of the Super NES version of SimCity and this news gets even more fun for me. I remember idly piddling away hour upon hour of my youth playing the SNES game as I counted down the days to having to go back to school. Later in my teenage years, I would revisit SimCity on the SNES as I was attempting to recapture happier days gone by as I counted down the days till I left for Marine Boot. As you can see, SimCity is a fond memory for me. I remember my friends telling me at school that there was a version coming to the Nintendo Entertainment System, which we all know never materialized. SimCity on the NES just seemed like it would have been so cool.
The short of it is, you can grab a copy of the archived ROM file for SimCity on the NES and enjoy it, to an extent, right now. I say an extent because there are a few things broken in the version that is available thanks to The Video Game History Foundation.
A few things not implemented correctly include the UFO level not having a UFO appear, though it is noted as being included in the ROM file and lack of boats when building a sea port among other things. For a full run down of missing things, further details on the history, and finally some interesting trivia tidbits, take the jump to The Video Game History Foundation website.
Now that we finally have a working prototype of SimCity for the NES, many collectors can mark this one off their list of gaming unicorns. What other games do you remember seeing promoted in magazines but they never saw release?
Source: The Video Game History Foundation via Kotaku.
Special thanks to Mitchell Lucas Minix for the tip.
Enjoy some SimCity thanks to eBay.
Originally published on Retro Gaming Magazine