SimCity (Mac OS Classic)

SimCity
Also known as: SimCity Supreme, SimCity Classic Developer: Maxis Publishers: Maxis (US), Infogrames (EU), Imagineer (JP) Platform: Mac OS Classic Released in JP: 1990 Released in US: February 2, 1989 Released in EU: 1989 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences.

The Macintosh SimCity was the first release in the Maxis Sim line. Its success proved to a skeptical industry that creative, open-ended gameplay was as legitimate a form as zero-sum competition.

Revisional Differences

The following versions are known to exist:

B&W	Color
1.0
1.1	1.1c
1.11
1.2	1.2c
1.3	1.3c
1.4	1.4c
	1.5

Godzilla vs. Notzilla

In Version 1.2, legal action by Toho Co. forced the replacement of a certain unnamed kaiju by an orange salamander with a far less intimidating battle cry. (In Version 1.5, this monster has had a growth spurt and its voice has broken.)

v1.1	v1.2	v1.5

The first two sounds are internally named "God"; the third one is "Monster".

Self-Destruct

In v1.3 and later, type NUKE to simultaneously demolish every developed tile on the map.

Football Score

Use the Query tool (hold down Q and click) on the turf of a stadium during a football game to display the score... which is always the same, but depends on which version you're playing in. Up to v1.4, it's 49er's 38 Bears 3; in v1.5, it's New Orleans 35 - SF 6. (The San Francisco 49ers were Maxis' home team.)

Assorted Fixes

• Version 1.0 had an exploit where the mayor could raise taxes to the maximum 20% each December, collect the full amount in January, and leave them at a crowd-pleasing 0% the rest of the year. As of v1.1, tax is collected at the average rate set over the past year.
• Up to v1.2, the Edit window's close box was a nonfunctional dummy that lit up when clicked but didn't close the window. As of v1.3, it prompts you to save and takes you back to the main menu.
• In v1.5, "Rio de Janerio" was finally corrected to "Rio de Janeiro" in the title bar.

Copy Protection

Versions 1.0 and 1.1 required inserting the master disk at every launch.

Versions 1.11, 1.2, and 1.3 had the player enter one of hundreds of population figures, printed on four hard-to-photocopy red sheets, into the box at right. After three wrong answers, the game would begin but the area would immediately be racked by explosions and earthquakes that never let up.

Both of the above protection schemes only applied to the black and white editions; the color equivalents were unprotected.

Versions 1.4 and 1.4c required the program to be personalized with the owner's name. Whatever you entered would be added to the credits under "Licensed To".

Version 1.5 was not protected in any way.

Version 1.5

Version 1.5, retitled SimCity Classic on its new title screen, brought the most substantial changes:

• 256-color graphics.
• Revised sound effects.
• Optional background music.
• Native PowerPC code.
• A redesigned interface with horizontal toolbars and a portable Status window.
• A button for the Query tool.
• A more compact Map window, with roaming letters to indicate Trains, Ships, Airplanes, Helicopters, Monsters, and tornaDoes.
• Importing and exporting of PC-formatted .CTY files.

v1.4	v1.5

To do: Compare all sounds.

Unused Tiles

Even though v1.5 discontinues black and white support, its PICT resources include a monochrome graphics sheet that reveals some never-used early graphics:

		A two-dimensional, front-facing house. Admiring your bustling city would have felt a lot less immersive from this perspective.
		A waving flag, whose tiles are stored next to those of the park fountain. There are notches cut out of the border for some reason, one of which flashes.
		A pair of smaller flags.
		....?
		This animated garage door doesn't match any of the buildings in the game.
		On the matching 256-color graphics sheet, all of the above tiles and some unused blank ones are replaced with this skull and crossbones.

Unused Menus

An unused Apple menu and debug menu are found only in v1.5. (Sprocket was an application framework published by MacTech magazine.)

Unused Dialogs

In v1.3 and v1.4, DLOG 4000 is a placeholder file-opening interface. The text isn't cut off; "emergency ..." is what was actually written.

In v1.5, DLOG 1299 (titled "stubbie") is this cryptic dialog.

Creator Code

The program's four-letter identifier, MCRP, is a remnant of the game's working title "Micropolis".