Anyone remember all the 'Tycoon' games in the first half of the 2000s? I've played many of them! I was obsessed with the business mechanic in the games and building things that were my own.

Zoo Tycoon

http://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/en/scrn/17000/17138/zoo-tycoon-5.jpg
https://ladygeekgirl.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/zoo-tycoon-dinosaur-digs.jpg

This game got me very obsessed with animals. It's basically about running your own zoo. You adopt animals, make exhibits for them, and make sure the exhibits are to their habitat e.g. tigers like to live in tropical weather with water. You hire zookeepers to clean and feed the animals, hire tour guides to guide people through the zoo, and you also plop down things like restaurants and gift shops to generate more cash. You adjust difficulty by limiting your budget or making guests very grumpy, or making it more likely that an animal might escape from its cage.  :D

The expansion packs Marine Mania and Dinosaur Digs added the ability to to adopt aquatic animals and dinosaurs/pre-historic animals respectively, and even some fictional creatures like the Loch Ness Monster and unicorns.

Sim City 4

https://rhornbek.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/simcity-4.jpg

This game dominated my early teenage years. The game is extremely complex and has a lot of micromanagement, and was critically panned for it, but that's exactly what I love about it! You're basically creating a city. You build power plants, you build roads, you build houses, you build jobs for the people in those houses to work in, build schools, build hospitals, build water towers, build parks, take out loans etc. and progressively expand your city outwards like this while trying to keep the budget balanced. You also have to deal with the concept of 'demand'. No one will want to move into your city if there aren't any jobs, and company's won't want to move into your city if there's no talent or you have oppressive tax policies, which really adds to the complexity when no one wants to build anything in your city, you have to start getting creative to bring demand back! You can download mods to get things like new buildings, new cars, new parks, new monuments and really your options were limitless!

You can check out some SimCity 4 "journals" here. It's people documenting the expansion of their cities (like I said this game is extremely complex, I would work on a 'city' myself for months and months sometimes). Many of them are beautiful!

http://community.simtropolis.com/forums/forum/11-sc4-city-journals/

I'm missing a lot of very obvious ones. I'll let you guys fill them in ;)

Believe it or not, I used to play Railroad Tycoon, up to when the computer crashed and the game was not compatible.

My son played more than me, Sim City, and an amusement park game.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Fast_Food_Tycoon_2_Coverart.png

This game here was definitely the strangest Tycoon game I knew about. You'd think, based on the title, that you'd be establishing your own McDonald's or something, but the game should have obviously been called Pizza Tycoon, instead. Not only that, it feels more like you're running a mafia than an actual legitimate business, since your goal is not just to outsell your competition, but to literally destroy them, meaning you need to hire gangsters and thugs to kill the rival pizzerias' chefs and security guards, as well as plant bombs to destroy their facilities. So, if you ever wanted to play as Gus Fring, this is your simulator!

The program also has one of the scariest game over screens ever, which puts all the Rare clips to shame. I would share a YouTube video or image, but I can't find one. Basically, if you go bankrupt, you're treated to a CGI sequence in which your CEO is tossed into the bottom of the ocean, tied to a ball and chain, and coughing out bubbles ever few seconds. It's a lot like what happens in Aladdin, except there's no Genie to save you and it stays there forever. The music isn't very reassuring, either.

This game here was definitely the strangest Tycoon game I knew about. You'd think, based on the title, that you'd be establishing your own McDonald's or something, but the game should have obviously been called Pizza Tycoon, instead. Not only that, it feels more like you're running a mafia than an actual legitimate business, since your goal was not just to outsell your competition, but to literally destroy them, meaning you need to hire gangsters and thugs to kill the rival pizzerias' chefs and security guards, as well as plant bombs to destroy their facilities. So, if you ever wanted to play as Gus Fring, this is your simulator!

The program also has one of the scariest game over screens ever, which puts all the Rare clips to shame. I would share a YouTube video or image, but I can't find one. Basically, if you go bankrupt, you're treated to a CGI sequence in which your CEO is tossed into the bottom of the ocean, tied to a ball and chain, and coughing out bubbles ever few seconds. It's a lot like what happens in Aladdin, except there's no Genie to save you and it stays there forever. The music isn't very reassuring, either.


What the hell? Bomb restaurants? I need to play this game!  :o It looks like it's free online.

Believe it or not, I used to play Railroad Tycoon, up to when the computer crashed and the game was not compatible.

My son played more than me, Sim City, and an amusement park game.


I wish I got a chance to play that. I played Railroad Tycoon 3 instead, the one that's 3D. It wasn't very good.

And that amusement park game is most likely Rollercoaster Tycoon. That game was the greatest of them all! Well, I still have a sweet spot for SimCity, but Rollercoaster is much better objectively.

I cannot play video games, arcade games, or app games related to food. I'm sorry, but I have to eat food when I see it, I'm not going to play a game that has make-believe food on there and I get too hungry all of the sudden. Only watching Food Network satisfies my hunger since I know those are real good foods and dishes that require advanced skilled chiefs.

This is possibly one of the greatest video games ever created:

http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/6/1/7/20617_front.jpg

Loved SimCity 4.  It's unfortunate there wasn't been a true sequel in the years since.

SimCity Societies and SimCity 5 both focused too much on social aspects of the game at the expense of the city building experience.  Cities XL had too many technical issues.  Cities/Skylines has great bones, but its lacking in diversity of content and the expansions so far have all been gimmicks such as adding weather and day/night cycles rather than content such as a greater variety of buildings (they all look the same) and more control over density of development and architecture.  I really think the market is there for another real SimCity game.  Imagine what they could do today by taking SimCity 4 and bringing it into the modern era.

I cannot play video games, arcade games, or app games related to food. I'm sorry, but I have to eat food when I see it, I'm not going to play a game that has make-believe food on there and I get too hungry all of the sudden. Only watching Food Network satisfies my hunger since I know those are real good foods and dishes that require advanced skilled chiefs.


Lol I see what you mean. I always have to have a snack food beside me when reading any of George R. R. Martin's book. He can be describing eating cat eyeballs and it will still sound delicious.


Loved SimCity 4.  It's unfortunate there wasn't been a true sequel in the years since.

SimCity Societies and SimCity 5 both focused too much on social aspects of the game at the expense of the city building experience.  Cities XL had too many technical issues.  Cities/Skylines has great bones, but its lacking in diversity of content and the expansions so far have all been gimmicks such as adding weather and day/night cycles rather than content such as a greater variety of buildings (they all look the same) and more control over density of development and architecture.  I really think the market is there for another real SimCity game.  Imagine what they could do today by taking SimCity 4 and bringing it into the modern era.


I knew SimCity Societies was a joke the moment it was announced because it wasn't developed by Maxis, but I was still hoping it would be decent in an arcade-y kind of way. It disappointed on that front too. SimCity 5, while also being an always-online game, also focused on other mundane things like where the wind blows and where the oil is underground. There was also no terraforming and there were no off-site mods/buildings which really furthered the blow, especially since, as you mentioned, the buildings were already lacking in diversity. 

What I noticed is that when a lot of simulation games go from 2D grids to 3D, there is a reduction in complexity. It had happened with Rollercoaster Tycoon, it happened with Railroad Tycoon, it happened with Zoo Tycoon as well. The only exception I can think of is the Sims. It's something I'll watch out for if there ever is a SimCity sequel. However, this is EA we are talking about and it's 2016, if there is any true SimCity 4 sequel it will most likely still be monetized to hell and back. I might just be willing to drop big money for a truly decent game though.  ;D

Cities XL, while it was no SimCity 4, was still a very enjoyable game. I liked the class system mechanic, and the ability to drive/walk around town and take beautiful shots of your city was really fun. It was also very easy to create beautiful cities from what I remember, unlike in SimCity 4 where it took quite the effort for it to not look like an urban jungle.