SimCity DS

Cover art

SimCity DS is a city-building game for the Nintendo DS. The game is an enhanced remake of SimCity 3000, having mostly the same gameplay and graphics along with using some of the same music tracks. It was released in 2007.

Gameplay

SimCity DS takes advantage of the special features of the Nintendo DS. The top screen displays the city while the bottom screen displays maps, charts, and other such things. Certain "action events" require the player to use the stylus.

Rather than having multiple advisors, players have to choose one. The advisors include Mr. Maxis – who looks strangely like Will Wright and will later appear in SimCity Creator (DS) – Julie McSim, Ayako Tachibana, Kaishu Tachibana, Servo 3000, and a secret advisor called Alien. Players can also listen to regular citizens who will ask for an ordinance to be enacted, offer a deal, or ask for a certain building.

SimCity DS also includes landmarks. However, they must be unlocked by completing scenarios in the game or through passwords. The game includes several unique landmarks, including Bowser's Castle. As a special promotion with Wal-Mart, the password for the Jefferson Memorial was only included in games they sold. The password is THOMPSON.

Scenarios have returned but are now called Save the City. The player must help save the city from disasters or economy issues in different cities around the world. There is designated goal for each scenario to complete each goal including getting a certain population or certain amount of money at the end of a certain year. By completing each scenario the player is awarded with different landmarks with each landmark being from the region that you complete the scenario. After completing a scenario the player can also watch the credits.

Disasters also return in this version of SimCity. However, disasters become minigames. Players must blow into the DS microphone to blow out fires or use the touch screen to fire missiles at a giant ape, for example.

Another new aspect of the game is research. Players must allocate a certain amount of money toward research in order to unlock certain buildings.

The game makes use with the Nintendo DS Local Wireless by sending letters about his/hers city or share passwords to unlock landmarks. Though the local wireless feature is limited a Wi-Fi mode was going to be in the game where the player can compare other cities but it was scraped.

List of Disasters

• Fire
• Fire Storm
• Tornado
• Monster
• UFO

Trivia

• The adviser Servo 3000 is a reference to the Servos that can be found in The Sims Livin' Large and The Sims 2 Open for Business.
• When players get requests from citizens, the player can agree and sign on the bottom screen; ironically, the player can completely ignore the request after accepting with no real consequences.