As a foundational Main Game in the Strategy/Simulator genre, first released in 1993, players manage and build a city from the ground up by zoning areas, establishing infrastructure like roads and utilities, and constructing essential services such as power plants and hospitals. Distinctive features include the ability to manage underground layers for subways and utilities, and deep customization options allowing players to design their own building graphics sets. The core loop centers on balancing municipal finances against citizen needs across various pre-set scenarios.
Infrastructure management extends beyond the surface. Players have the unique ability to explore and develop the underground layer, allowing for the strategic placement of utilities and subways without compromising the aesthetic layout of the city above.
Power generation is a critical component, requiring the construction of power plants to meet the city's energy demands. Managing these power sources efficiently is key to avoiding blackouts that can cripple development.
The game also provides a selection of bonus cities and scenarios, offering specific challenges or starting conditions for players who wish to test their management skills against predefined objectives, rather than starting with a blank slate.
The game has seen wide distribution across numerous platforms since its initial release, including DOS, PC (Microsoft Windows), Sega Saturn, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, Amiga, Mac, and various iterations of the Nintendo console family (SNES/Super Famicom).
The content of this game is suitable for all persons.

SimCity 64 is a city-building video game released only in Japan for the Nintendo 64DD, sequel to the SNES version of SimCity. It was the last SimCity game to feature the mayor assistant Mr. Wright.

A Japan-only release of SimCity 2000 for the Nintendo 64 on January 30, 1998, produced and published by Imagineer Co., Ltd. It featured some additional features, mainly mini-games, a dating game, TV to replace the newspaper, horse races and monster breeding, among others, all of them in 3D. A few new "natural" disasters were also included, most of them being giant monster attacks (players were able to use their monster to fight against them).

SimCity 2000 Urban Renewal Kit was a comprehensive city customization addon that gave players complete control over both city layout and building design, allowing them to manually place individual structures and create custom graphics sets using specialized drawing tools that maintained SimCity 2000's perspective and supported color-cycling animations. The kit included over 100 futuristic buildings for post-2000 cities, the ability to print out your cities, and the ability to mix and match custom graphics sets. The created cities maintained compatibility with SimCopter and Streets of SimCity as well.

Scenarios Volume 1: Great Disasters is an expansion pack for SimCity 2000. This particular addition adds a total of 10 harrowing scenarios which range from a fictitious UFO attack in Atlanta, Georgia – in Dec. 2050 no less – to the very real great Mississippi floods of 1993 (the Davenport flood in this particular instance). Play SimCity 2000 Scenarios Volume 1: Great Disasters online! This expansion was bundled with SimCity 2000 Bonus Cities and Scenarios and the SimCity 2000 Urban Renewal Kit for Maxis’ 1995 release of a special CD-ROM edition of SimCity 2000.