Aren't the modern day theme park simulation games great? You can create your own theme park right down to the finest detail and even give your rides innuendo based names. It's probably difficult for some younger members to imagine how restrictive these games were before RCT appeared, raised the bar and set the high standard that we enjoy today.
In my mid-teens, I spent many hours playing Theme Park on the SNES. Compared to modern day RCT games, as you might expect, it's an incredibly crude, infantile version of RCT. However, the simplicity of it's involving gameplay was so endearing, to me, at the time, it was the best computer game ever.
Yesterday evening, I set up my SNES and after blowing on the cartridge connectors and in the cartridge slot a few times, I managed to get the game working.
The objective of the game is to successfully build and sell a theme park at 24 different locations in the world. The cheapest place (therefore the starting location) is the UK - it's free! The ultimate goal is to build a park in California.
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Each location has the same sized building area with a flat terrain. You can't alter the land apart from building on it. the terrain changes depending on the location. For example, in Europe the terrain is grassy...
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...in Antarctica, it's snowy...
.jpg)
...and in Africa, it's rocky desert.
.jpg)
The different land types have no effect on what you can build, it's simply a different colour to aesthetically suit the geographical area.
Microsoft Windows had that ****ing annoying "I see you're writing a letter" Clippy assistant, Theme Park has it's own irritating assistant who pops up with nuggets of information such as "Your entrance fee is too low." He also informs you of any developments in the game. His headgear changes with the location; A baseball cap for America and a top hat for England. Yes, that's right, because us Brits all wear top hats, don't we Mary Poppins?
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I don't think he has a name, but "**** off you ****" is what I tend to call him.
Unlike the modern day complex menus and keyboard/mouse combinations, the entire theme park is created with a simple graphical menu.
.jpg)
There's an option to view your park's stats, take out a loan and set your ticket price. For the purpose of this article, I used a money cheat, hence my astronomical wealth in the forthcoming image. When you begin the game you only have a limited amount of attractions and shops, so you have to allocate a research budget to develop new attractions and shops.
.jpg)
Your little friend **** off you **** pleasantly informs you when a new attraction or shop is available to buy.
Lets have a look at the rides. The bulk of them are off-the-shelf models based on popular theme park attractions. Each one has a price tag and preset, unchangeable reliability and excitement levels.
.jpg)
Each ride shares the same footprint and the entrance location. The exit location and length/layout of the queue line is at your discretion.
.jpg)
You can change a couple of aspects of the ride such the capacity, speed and duration.
.jpg)
The rides available to build at each location varies, but here's a run down of the popular ones.
.jpg)
1) Ghost Train. 2) Maze. 3) Spooky House. 4) Star Wheel. 5) Teacups. 6) Bouncy Castle. 7) Creation. 8) Observatory. 9) Exploration. 10) Octopus Ride. 11) Band Stand. 12) Tree House. 13) Magic Carpet. 14) Water Flume. 15) Rocket Ride. 16) Simulator.
My personal favourite is the Dolphin Show because you can see the dolphins performing in the water.
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There are four track rides that you can customise. Firstly, there's "tubing" which is a rapids style ride.
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Once you've created the track and placed the station, you can watch the riders enjoy your custom creation.
.jpg)
Some guest may prefer tarmac to water, so you can build your own race course. You have to be careful with the speed on this one as the punters seem to have trouble negotiating corners!
.jpg)
You can create your own monorail. Wooo!
.jpg)
A monorail on it's own is a bit bland, so there's an option to customise the area with trees, fences and shrubs. The available scenery is quite limited at the beginning of the game, but as the research money starts paying dividends, more extravagant decorations become available. The fountain is the ultimate piece of scenery! Ideal if you want to create your own Blackpool Pleasure Beach! Unfortunately, the added scenery has no effect on the punters, it's only there for the game player's entertainment and park value. Where the game is limited for pixel space, it's often impossible to place the scenery where you'd want it to go "in real life."
.jpg)
Doesn't this monorail look gorgeous now?
.jpg)
And yes, there's a rollercoaster! There is no painstaking tweaking trying to push an extra 0.1g from a helix, or slightly lowering the height so the train completes a circuit...plug-and-play all-the-way!
.jpg)
Only one type of coaster is available - steel sit-down - with three elements to play with; a loop, a dip and a hill. Physics are thrown out of the window!
.jpg)
The speed of the coaster/race track/tubing can be set by the player...
.jpg)
...which can have devastating consequences on the riders! Accidents can occur if the setting are outrageously fast. As it's a Nintendo console game, nobody dies but a few tears are shed.
.jpg)
The punters will flock to your park if you can create a good one. Aside from building new rides for them, you've also got to keep them happy. One thing I did notice is that in the European, American and Oceanic regions, the guests look like this...
.jpg)
...and in the African and Asian regions, like this.
.jpg)
Just like modern theme park simulation games, the guests will inform you of their feelings with a thought bubble. Obviously this guest is an enthusiast who has just experienced a short cycled on a flat ride...
.jpg)
These people must have had such a great yet tiring day, they want to go home! :wink:
.jpg)
To keep guests in good spirits, any reputable theme park will provide refreshments and entertainment. A few shops should fleece an few extra pence for the coffers! In this image, I built a balloon shop at the exit of a popular ride. If people are happy and thrilled, they are more likely to spend. It's the economy, stupid. The placement of shops is crucial for success in this game.
.jpg)
Similar to the ride tweaking, it's possible to set the cost and selling price of the goods.
.jpg)
Shops are important but the bigger profit margins are made from food and drink sales.
.jpg)
There are other things you can do to make money. By adding lots of salt to the fries, it will make the guests thirsty. Place a drink shop next to the salty fries stall and you'll make a double sale. If you increase the sugar content of the ice cream, guests will remain at the park for a longer period...although that does increase the chance of them being sick!
We've all been hassled by a gaming stall attendant at a theme park and in this 1996 game, the same happens here. As you would expect at a real life pikey fairground, the probably of winning can be altered to maximise the profit.
.jpg)
Here's a quick overview of the shops and stalls available to build in Theme Park.
.jpg)
1) Ice cream. 2) Fries. 3) Burgers. 4) Saloon. 5) Duck shoot. 6) Teddy bear shop. 7) Balloons. 8) Coffee. 9) Gift shop. 10) Arcade. 11) Coconut shy. 12) Racing. 13) Water splash. 14) Circus.
One person alone can't run a theme park so you can hire and fire staff. All staff are paid the same rate and have the same abilities. The bigger the park, the more staff required, therefore you'll have a bigger wage bill. If the park is in disrepair, people won't visit.
.jpg)
A mechanic is essential. A ride can only operate for so long until it requires repair. Smoke coming from a ride isn't a good sign...it could blow at any second! No park manager wants that on their conscience!
.jpg)
A mechanic will quickly repair the ride, which involves a temporary closure. The entire queue line is evacuated when a ride is in for repair.
.jpg)
Litter becomes a problem with fastfood sales. Bins cannot be purchased, so a handyman can be employed to keep your park spic and span.
.jpg)
A handyman will also mow the grass. Keeping up appearances will increase the parks value.
.jpg)
In order to cheer up the unhappy guests, it's a good idea to employ some entertainers. They juggle and pull funny faces to pacify the guests. The mechanics and handymen have the same appearance regardless of location, however, the entertainers differ. In grassy terrains, the entertainers are dressed as white-skinned clowns. In snowy areas, they are dressed as snowmen. In Africa and Asia, they are dressed as black-skinned clowns. I bet such stereotyping wouldn't be allowed in an innocent computer game nowadays!
.jpg)
At the end of each calendar year, the park is is ranked in several charts. Some of the competitors names are eyebrow raising!
.jpg)
As the aim of the game is to build a successful park in all of the 24 locations, the charts are relatively pointless, but the higher the ranking, the bigger return on the investment.
.jpg)
At the end of each year, there is an opportunity to sell the park at auction.
.jpg)
After an exciting auction, with "ooh" and "d'oh" sound effects, the park is sold to the highest bidder.
.jpg)
One location down, 23 to go!
I have to admit that I do not enjoy playing modern day simulation games. When I play a computer game, I only want to pass a hour or so in the most thoughtless yet satisfying manner and Theme Park feeds that desire perfectly. I have no doubt that Theme Park introduced a craving for more advanced theme park simulation games, but sometimes satisfaction can be in simplicity.
Theme Park was released in 1994. The SNES version in 1996. It has since been re-released on several platform. The game is produced by Bullfrog Productions.
In my mid-teens, I spent many hours playing Theme Park on the SNES. Compared to modern day RCT games, as you might expect, it's an incredibly crude, infantile version of RCT. However, the simplicity of it's involving gameplay was so endearing, to me, at the time, it was the best computer game ever.
Yesterday evening, I set up my SNES and after blowing on the cartridge connectors and in the cartridge slot a few times, I managed to get the game working.
The objective of the game is to successfully build and sell a theme park at 24 different locations in the world. The cheapest place (therefore the starting location) is the UK - it's free! The ultimate goal is to build a park in California.
Each location has the same sized building area with a flat terrain. You can't alter the land apart from building on it. the terrain changes depending on the location. For example, in Europe the terrain is grassy...
...in Antarctica, it's snowy...
...and in Africa, it's rocky desert.
The different land types have no effect on what you can build, it's simply a different colour to aesthetically suit the geographical area.
Microsoft Windows had that ****ing annoying "I see you're writing a letter" Clippy assistant, Theme Park has it's own irritating assistant who pops up with nuggets of information such as "Your entrance fee is too low." He also informs you of any developments in the game. His headgear changes with the location; A baseball cap for America and a top hat for England. Yes, that's right, because us Brits all wear top hats, don't we Mary Poppins?
I don't think he has a name, but "**** off you ****" is what I tend to call him.
Unlike the modern day complex menus and keyboard/mouse combinations, the entire theme park is created with a simple graphical menu.
There's an option to view your park's stats, take out a loan and set your ticket price. For the purpose of this article, I used a money cheat, hence my astronomical wealth in the forthcoming image. When you begin the game you only have a limited amount of attractions and shops, so you have to allocate a research budget to develop new attractions and shops.
Your little friend **** off you **** pleasantly informs you when a new attraction or shop is available to buy.
Lets have a look at the rides. The bulk of them are off-the-shelf models based on popular theme park attractions. Each one has a price tag and preset, unchangeable reliability and excitement levels.
Each ride shares the same footprint and the entrance location. The exit location and length/layout of the queue line is at your discretion.
You can change a couple of aspects of the ride such the capacity, speed and duration.
The rides available to build at each location varies, but here's a run down of the popular ones.
1) Ghost Train. 2) Maze. 3) Spooky House. 4) Star Wheel. 5) Teacups. 6) Bouncy Castle. 7) Creation. 8) Observatory. 9) Exploration. 10) Octopus Ride. 11) Band Stand. 12) Tree House. 13) Magic Carpet. 14) Water Flume. 15) Rocket Ride. 16) Simulator.
My personal favourite is the Dolphin Show because you can see the dolphins performing in the water.
There are four track rides that you can customise. Firstly, there's "tubing" which is a rapids style ride.
Once you've created the track and placed the station, you can watch the riders enjoy your custom creation.
Some guest may prefer tarmac to water, so you can build your own race course. You have to be careful with the speed on this one as the punters seem to have trouble negotiating corners!
You can create your own monorail. Wooo!
A monorail on it's own is a bit bland, so there's an option to customise the area with trees, fences and shrubs. The available scenery is quite limited at the beginning of the game, but as the research money starts paying dividends, more extravagant decorations become available. The fountain is the ultimate piece of scenery! Ideal if you want to create your own Blackpool Pleasure Beach! Unfortunately, the added scenery has no effect on the punters, it's only there for the game player's entertainment and park value. Where the game is limited for pixel space, it's often impossible to place the scenery where you'd want it to go "in real life."
Doesn't this monorail look gorgeous now?
And yes, there's a rollercoaster! There is no painstaking tweaking trying to push an extra 0.1g from a helix, or slightly lowering the height so the train completes a circuit...plug-and-play all-the-way!
Only one type of coaster is available - steel sit-down - with three elements to play with; a loop, a dip and a hill. Physics are thrown out of the window!
The speed of the coaster/race track/tubing can be set by the player...
...which can have devastating consequences on the riders! Accidents can occur if the setting are outrageously fast. As it's a Nintendo console game, nobody dies but a few tears are shed.
The punters will flock to your park if you can create a good one. Aside from building new rides for them, you've also got to keep them happy. One thing I did notice is that in the European, American and Oceanic regions, the guests look like this...
...and in the African and Asian regions, like this.
Just like modern theme park simulation games, the guests will inform you of their feelings with a thought bubble. Obviously this guest is an enthusiast who has just experienced a short cycled on a flat ride...
These people must have had such a great yet tiring day, they want to go home! :wink:
To keep guests in good spirits, any reputable theme park will provide refreshments and entertainment. A few shops should fleece an few extra pence for the coffers! In this image, I built a balloon shop at the exit of a popular ride. If people are happy and thrilled, they are more likely to spend. It's the economy, stupid. The placement of shops is crucial for success in this game.
Similar to the ride tweaking, it's possible to set the cost and selling price of the goods.
Shops are important but the bigger profit margins are made from food and drink sales.
There are other things you can do to make money. By adding lots of salt to the fries, it will make the guests thirsty. Place a drink shop next to the salty fries stall and you'll make a double sale. If you increase the sugar content of the ice cream, guests will remain at the park for a longer period...although that does increase the chance of them being sick!
We've all been hassled by a gaming stall attendant at a theme park and in this 1996 game, the same happens here. As you would expect at a real life pikey fairground, the probably of winning can be altered to maximise the profit.
Here's a quick overview of the shops and stalls available to build in Theme Park.
1) Ice cream. 2) Fries. 3) Burgers. 4) Saloon. 5) Duck shoot. 6) Teddy bear shop. 7) Balloons. 8) Coffee. 9) Gift shop. 10) Arcade. 11) Coconut shy. 12) Racing. 13) Water splash. 14) Circus.
One person alone can't run a theme park so you can hire and fire staff. All staff are paid the same rate and have the same abilities. The bigger the park, the more staff required, therefore you'll have a bigger wage bill. If the park is in disrepair, people won't visit.
A mechanic is essential. A ride can only operate for so long until it requires repair. Smoke coming from a ride isn't a good sign...it could blow at any second! No park manager wants that on their conscience!
A mechanic will quickly repair the ride, which involves a temporary closure. The entire queue line is evacuated when a ride is in for repair.
Litter becomes a problem with fastfood sales. Bins cannot be purchased, so a handyman can be employed to keep your park spic and span.
A handyman will also mow the grass. Keeping up appearances will increase the parks value.
In order to cheer up the unhappy guests, it's a good idea to employ some entertainers. They juggle and pull funny faces to pacify the guests. The mechanics and handymen have the same appearance regardless of location, however, the entertainers differ. In grassy terrains, the entertainers are dressed as white-skinned clowns. In snowy areas, they are dressed as snowmen. In Africa and Asia, they are dressed as black-skinned clowns. I bet such stereotyping wouldn't be allowed in an innocent computer game nowadays!
At the end of each calendar year, the park is is ranked in several charts. Some of the competitors names are eyebrow raising!
As the aim of the game is to build a successful park in all of the 24 locations, the charts are relatively pointless, but the higher the ranking, the bigger return on the investment.
At the end of each year, there is an opportunity to sell the park at auction.
After an exciting auction, with "ooh" and "d'oh" sound effects, the park is sold to the highest bidder.
One location down, 23 to go!
I have to admit that I do not enjoy playing modern day simulation games. When I play a computer game, I only want to pass a hour or so in the most thoughtless yet satisfying manner and Theme Park feeds that desire perfectly. I have no doubt that Theme Park introduced a craving for more advanced theme park simulation games, but sometimes satisfaction can be in simplicity.
Theme Park was released in 1994. The SNES version in 1996. It has since been re-released on several platform. The game is produced by Bullfrog Productions.
