Unused Sprites

Explore fascinating unused sprites from the SimCity NES prototype, including the Botanical Garden, Baseball Stadium, Speedway, and Mayor's House upgrades. Learn what almost made it into the game!

Hey there! So, you're curious about some of the cool stuff that almost made it into the original SimCity for the NES? It turns out the developers had a few extra sprites tucked away that never quite made it into the final game. What's really neat is that some of these weren't even in the computer or SNES versions, meaning they're totally unique to this prototype!

Let's dive into what they found:

• Botanical Garden: This was probably intended as a special gift, maybe awarded when your city hit a certain year or size. It could have also been a secondary option if you placed a lot of Parks.
• Baseball Stadium: This one's a surprise! It's not only in the code but animated and different from the SNES version. It makes you wonder if stadiums were meant to be placed randomly like in the SNES game, or if you'd get to choose them like Parks or Ports. I like to imagine the crowd animation is everyone doing the wave!
• Mayor's House Upgrades: Even though they weren't fully implemented, the NES prototype planned upgrades for the Mayor's House, similar to the SNES version. There were even specific upgrades planned for when your city reached CAPITAL status.
• Speedway: This is perhaps the most intriguing unused sprite. The NES prototype featured an animated racetrack! It's a strong possibility this was going to be a third option when selecting a 'Stadium' for your city. It's a real shame it didn't make it into the SNES version.
• UFO: We're listing the UFO animation here for now. It's still unconfirmed if all scenarios can be beaten, which might mean Las Vegas isn't actually in the game. If that's the case, this sprite could be completely unused. Pretty impressive animation for an 8-bit game!