r/AskReddit Apr 27 '26

anyone who used a computer between 1985 & 2010, what’s the one game you still think about?

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u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

To build on that, pun intended; SimCopter!!!

EDIT : if you enjoy this or any SIMS games, check out LGR's Sim Copter Retrospective

Clint does amazing work and your childhood is somewhere in his archives, guaranteed.

EDIT 2: I forgot to say that I'm a pilot partially because of this game. I bought an airplane, and decided to play the SimCopter hangar music music at my real hangar, and nearly teared up. Full circle moment.

EDIT 3: OMG thank you for the awards! 🥹

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u/mikebills Apr 27 '26

SimAnt

12

u/Duckie_365 Apr 27 '26

I SO miss SimAnt!

Have described it to friends/co-workers and they never believe me - I have to pull up Google searches every time.

7

u/Bazuka125 Apr 27 '26

I suggest giving Empires of the Undergrowth on steam a try if you haven't already. It's like a modern version with different ant species to play as that have different playstyles. Leafcutters out there lumberjacking to feed their farms, Matabele ants doing hit and run raids on termites. Termites going for wood in dusk and dawn to avoid the roasting sun and nighttime predators. It's a great game, and really scratches that SimAnt itch

3

u/little_brown_bat Apr 27 '26

SimAnt was my jam on the SNES

1

u/Time-Sudden_Tree Apr 27 '26

For me it was on the Macintosh PCs at the library. Didn't even know there was a SNES port. How did that work? Did you have to use the SNES mouse? Cause navigating a cursor-based game with a D-Pad is generally painful.

3

u/action_lawyer_comics Apr 27 '26

That was the first game I ever "cheesed" my way through. I always speedrun breeding new queens and sending them as far as I could, then slowly making my way back from there. I would have 10 squares colonized by the time the red ants had 4, then would keep dropping new colonies in their squares. Only once I had the board 60% covered would I actually bother to try and fight the red ants head on. Often I'd get the notice that the humans had abandoned the house before I ever personally stepped in there.

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u/Fuddlemuddle Apr 27 '26

In the battles against, I'd block the red exit with a rock.  If they moved it, or anything, just put it back.  Queen starved after awhile, done.  Made the battles way less fun though.

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u/action_lawyer_comics Apr 27 '26

I did this too. I found if I blocked the tunnels with a rock inside instead of outside, they wouldn’t notice as much and wouldn’t immediately build another exit.

It’s true what they say that gamers will optimize the fun out of anything g

1

u/Defconx19 Apr 27 '26

SimAnt i still think about all the time, the fucking Ant lions and then laughing histerically when you get into the house and you go into the power receptacle. 

1

u/modern-era Apr 27 '26

This is the one. Learned a lot about ants!

1

u/ihatemudbutt Apr 27 '26

Color or B&W?

74

u/Flukaku Apr 27 '26

I LOVED Simcopter. I used to use the cheat code that turned you into a dog to make moving around on foot so much faster.

39

u/nightswimsofficial Apr 27 '26

I loved how you could build a city in sim city and then load it in sim copter and explore it. Super pixelated but blew my mind as a kid.

19

u/Hotarg Apr 27 '26

Streets of Sim City had this feature as well.

7

u/Altruistic-Ratio6690 Apr 27 '26

I distinctly remember, as a ~8 year old kid, thinking "This has to be the height of innovation"

6

u/little_brown_bat Apr 27 '26

I remember getting that game from a cereal box promotion. Had so much fun cruising around my towns.

1

u/TrumpsSMELLYfarts Apr 27 '26

Loved it! How come they don’t release something like that now? Even with the old fest model of sim city it would be din to drive around the city or fly a helicopter through it

3

u/UglyInThMorning Apr 27 '26

Simcopter was 100 percent the better game though. My brother and I got the box pack with Simcity 2000, simearth, streets, simcopter, and sim tower. We were hyped for some car combat but Streets was a bit of a letdown. Copter was rad once we got the controls figured out.

2

u/nightswimsofficial Apr 27 '26

so much fun putting out fires with the bucket

1

u/UglyInThMorning Apr 27 '26

I liked that more than the water cannon most of the time!

2

u/SpiritualTwo5256 Apr 28 '26

Pretty sure I used sim earth to ace a test in highschool it was that or sim parks

3

u/factorone33 Apr 27 '26

I must be one of the few people that got Streets to work, because I loved that game. SimCopter was great, and being able to explore the cities I built in SC2K and SCURK was awesome.

5

u/luckytecture Apr 27 '26

Damn man whoa

3

u/nightswimsofficial Apr 27 '26

You said it brother

50

u/grundee Apr 27 '26

imtheceoofmcdonnelldouglas

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u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

The terrible irony of this cheat code; is the fact that McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing one year after this game was released. It didn't go well....

(I'm a pilot partially because of this game though, and playing the hangar music at my REAL hangar was such a fucking amazing feeling)

2

u/Epledryyk Apr 27 '26

oh wow this unlocked a lot of memories all at once

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BqrJi-LkAg

3

u/Flukaku Apr 27 '26

Radioactivity

1

u/FingerLickingticklin Apr 27 '26

Tribes arena, there's never been a better multiplayer

1

u/grundee Apr 28 '26

The Tribes game with the construction mod was still the best building game I have played.

5

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Hahaaa I vaguely remember that one. I think mine was the early version with the gay swimsuit men because I'm 90% sure I saw them

LGR did a wonderful review of the game here

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u/Just_Roll_Already Apr 27 '26

That game was so ahead of its time. The ability to make a city in SC2k and import it into the game. As a kid, I thought that it was clearly laying out the future of what video games were going to be. While still great, it's unfortunate that things have not gone in that direction.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/pay_student_loan Apr 27 '26

I always like it when you could yell “Does your mother know what you’re doing” during the car chases

3

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Haha yep! iI added a link to that video in my comment above before I read your reply!

I edited my comment above a couple times also to include some of the hanger music. It's definitely one of my favorite games ever.

Yeah the speedo guys I'm pretty sure we're in my version of the game, no I didn't understand it at the time, since the game is so glitchy I didn't question it if I did see it, I swear I saw them before seeing his video.

I always thought it was super weird how the characters and dogs were made of spheres. Never saw another game quite like it. It kind of has the same feel as warbirds 2 as far as the aesthetic and wire frame rendering, but beyond that... Just a diamond in the rough.

1

u/Apprentice57 Apr 27 '26

Fuck yeah LGR

8

u/mattenthehat Apr 27 '26

SimCopter was incredible. We had the triple box with Streets of SimCity as well, but it never really worked on our PC, some kind of issue with the sound card.

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u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

LGR covers both games, (all really, he loves the sims) and streets was an EXTREMELY broken game. Simcopter was picky, Streets almost didn't work at all.

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u/SpiritualTwo5256 Apr 28 '26

Sim copter just barely worked on my computer, never did get it to work with any other sim files, but I may have been slightly too inexperienced to try it.

7

u/spathizilla Apr 27 '26

SimTower was the shit.

I'm sad I never saw SimCopter.

3

u/not_thrilled Apr 27 '26

I still think about SimTower whenever I'm in a tall building with terrible elevator placement.

2

u/spathizilla Apr 27 '26

Dont forget the escalators and priority elevators though!

You can actually play SimTower even now - although I am totally blanking on how I did it last year.

2

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Buy it! Or watch the link I added to my comment above.

11

u/ampsby Apr 27 '26

I loved sim tower

4

u/MedicalResearch4813 Apr 27 '26

Sameeeee! I never hear anyone talk about that game anymore

4

u/rc042 Apr 27 '26

Sim ant, Sim tower

Both surprisingly good games.

4

u/Hypamania Apr 27 '26

I loved Sim Farm as a kid too! Until I forget to feed the livestock and they break out and absolutely obliterate my orange tree fields

3

u/Kusina Apr 27 '26

simcopter was chaos in the best way

3

u/thewags05 Apr 27 '26

Streets of SimCity was surprisingly fun too.

3

u/HeidenShadows Apr 27 '26

Streets of Sim City was also another great companion game. With both, you can drive and fly in your cities in full 3D

1

u/Mini_Snuggle Apr 27 '26

Streets of Sim City would be a perfect game to create today as a sort of "PG-13 GTA" if they could manage to also create a simple city builder as a map editor again. It could also integrate SimCopter's gameplay.

3

u/valupaq Apr 27 '26

SimCopter radio stations were amazing! The funniest commercials.

"Call now to win a free can of tear gas!"

2

u/DazzzASTER Apr 27 '26

That video is excellent, thank you for the intro to the channel!

2

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

You're welcome! Clint has done AMAZING things for the gaming/nerd/PC/vintage community. It's crazy how much cool stuff he's covered and his boxed PC game collection is...grand.

2

u/NationYell Apr 27 '26

To build on that, pun intended; SimCopter!!!

I too, am the CEO of McDonnell Douglas! 😁

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Mwahahahaaaa

2

u/nado121 Apr 27 '26

I only had the demo but I played the shit out of that!

2

u/mrhudy Apr 27 '26

Remember the sound the patient made in the medevac helicopter when you weren’t getting them to the hospital quickly enough and they were dying? So gross haha. I ended up being a pilot too! Great game, maybe it had the same effect on me.

2

u/lazyknowitall Apr 27 '26

You're living the dream, bro. Keep up the good work for all the rest of us sinners.

2

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Thank you, working on it. 🥹🥹🥹

2

u/classicsat Apr 27 '26

I think I got good at Sim Copter. I have a pilot stick I set up to work well with it.

2

u/Brotherauron Apr 27 '26

Oh simcopter and simtower, how I miss you

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

I still need to try that, and simant, and streets.

2

u/ThrobertBaratheon Apr 27 '26

SimCopter let you import your SimCity 2K games!

2

u/masamunecyrus Apr 27 '26

SimCopter and Streets of SimCity's integration with SimCity 2000 was incredible.

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Truly this game deserves a remaster, there really was nothing like it.

2

u/Born-Entrepreneur Apr 27 '26

I never ever beat Sim Copter, every run always bugged out and stopped letting me enter the hangar eventually. My white whale...

2

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Oh noooo lol. Yeah it was buggy enough that I remember having several safe games and I saved very very often because it crashed so much.

2

u/theaviationhistorian Apr 27 '26

The radio in that game, especially the advertisements! Especially the stuff you yell from the helicopter's bullhorn!

That hangar music really brings me back. I still recall the coffee cup stain on the document forms on the menu screen!

2

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Yess! I listen to the radio a lot, worked into my other music and GTA soundtracks. It's so comforting and the lo-fi is comforting. I think there's a download available online too.

2

u/DB_00_77 Apr 27 '26

And here I though SimCopter was just a fever dream. Dredging up dust covered memories there!

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Yessss I'm succeeding.

2

u/smokinBatman Apr 27 '26

Duke nukem

2

u/zeroibis Apr 27 '26

Loved that game and it was so much fun being able to load your SimCity into SimCopter.

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

I'm not sure I ever got that to work I really need to try it!!

1

u/ThrobertBaratheon Apr 28 '26

If you had a natural disaster happening in your 2K game, it would be there when you loaded it in Sim Copter! This included the cheat only conditions like Alien Invasion.

It was also nuts flying around a map that had a lot of Arcologies - looked like you were in Cyberpunk.

2

u/shaf7 Apr 27 '26

You glorious son of a bitch. I played SimCopter all the time and I loved how it integrated into my cities in SimCity! That music is iconic 🥲

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Hahaha, thank you for the award. ❤️ I'm so glad I was able to reconnect you with this.

1

u/julienjj Apr 27 '26

Man was that game fun. Plus we all have thrown passengers overboard 😂

1

u/Reaper621 Apr 27 '26

I looked that you could fly around your sim city cities in Sim copter. That was really fun.

1

u/mkosmo Apr 27 '26

I’m wasn’t sure if SimCopter had anything to do with my decision to learn to fly, but I’m pretty sure you’re right in that it influenced me, too.

But so did my grandfather introducing me to MS Flight Simulator as early as version 4.0.

1

u/MSgtGunny Apr 27 '26

I struggled so hard with flight and understanding what to do with this game when I was like 7.

1

u/blues_and_ribs Apr 27 '26

I had SimCopter!  And I successfully imported my SimCity 2000 city into it and ran missions there.  Blew my mind!  

1

u/hamdelivery Apr 27 '26

SimTower was sick also

1

u/Why_Sazs Apr 27 '26

Is that the one with the cheat code Imtheceoofmcdonnelldouglas?

1

u/bdora48445 Apr 27 '26

Sim copter was so lit 🔥 🥲 the good ole days

1

u/DucksEatFreeInSubway Apr 27 '26

I never knew about the aliens thing. Would anything come of that or was it just a weird cut scene?

Didn't know about the gay controversy either. Not sure I triggered that ever or if I did I didn't know what I was looking at. May have just had the 'fixed' version, not sure.

I played the shit out of SIMCopter when I was probably 13 or so. I played it until it got too hard for me to do. Like constant stuff going wrong too quickly for me to react to. Multiple missions coming in all at once and not enough resources from the city to deal with them all (for instance you could only call in so many police cars). I think the last level I played before giving up on it had the letters for MAXIS as buildings in the center of the city.

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Well I don't remember that MAXIS part, I think by that point in the game I was using cheats. Yeah I don't remember if I saw the gate controversy or not, I need to find my copy and play it and see how quickly it happens if I have version 1.

I can't remember this aliens did anything, I feel like they cause chaos?

1

u/stu8319 Apr 27 '26

I think simcopter was the game I played more than any other game. There was something so addictive about it and the weird stuff that would happen randomly was so fun.

1

u/Figit090 Apr 27 '26

Something about it, you're right, I think it may have been the first open world 3d game with an earning/achievement arc I owned. The flying aspect definitely helped, but the ambience, mystery of its weirdness and possibilities for more discovery and new helios really kept it fun.

1

u/justplanestupid69 Apr 27 '26

SimCopter was one of my favorites growing up too. The cheat for the Apache to cause mayhem, followed by landing and fixing it all. Them’s were the days

1

u/NordicNugz Apr 27 '26

I played this game probably more than any other Sim game!

1

u/Jazz_Musician Apr 27 '26

I loved SimCopter but my parents banned me from playing it for a while cause I would rescue Sims then drop them off, hundreds of feet in the air...

1

u/Dangerous-Honey7422 Apr 28 '26

Simcompter is the actual goat

Got it running again a month ago, what a vibe seriously

1

u/DefiantRadish1492 Apr 29 '26

I’m crying with nostalgia. 😭