What is the amazing truth behind the Bungeling Empire, Sim City, Bomberman, and Choplifter? You’ll be surprised! No, really! It’s pretty surprising! But you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out. Hint: they’re all connected by HudsonSoft, makers of the TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, countless awesome 8-bit peripherals, and home of the honeybee — may they rest in peace. Vinnk and Sean reminisce about the company that they thought they knew, but clearly didn’t, and now will miss more than they thought possible.

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SimCity 2000 is the most well known entry in Maxis’ SimCity franchise. It expanded upon the original game greatly, adding new types of facilities. Would-be mayors can add everything from zoos, to prisons, to high schools. The game also added an underground plumbing system, a more complex tax system, and since the map was isometric (as opposed to top-down), there was also land elevation. You can play through several scenarios, many of which based off of real-world situations such as the economic depression in 1970s Flint Michigan. Even today, with more advanced city simulators being released, SimCity remains the gold standard in city building. If you have yet to play this classic, Gog.com has it on sale for $5.99.

Spore was perhaps Will Wright and Maxis’ most ambitious game to date. Although it wasn’t perfect, it’s level of customization is rivaled only by Maxis’ other big franchise, The Sims. While it may have caught some heat with the whole creationism vs evolution debates, a key part of its gameplay is how things evolve over time. Like Enix’s EVO from nearly 2 decades prior, Spore’s big hook is that it makes a controversial subject such as evolution a fun part of the gameplay.
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