SimCity 2000 from Maxis way back in 1993, when that 2000 moniker sounded very futuristic!

To be fair it did feel like a massive leap forward over the original, introducing high resolution SVGA graphics, deformable terrain, water systems management and quite a few more power generation options.

Like many of my childhood gaming memories, I first encountered this round a friends house who had a Dad that owned a PC and enjoyed playing games. Since then I’ve bought my own copy from GOG.com and other sources, but I’d never owned a physical copy.

I happened to stumble across a few versions available on eBay in either floppy disk or CD versions which both seem reasonably priced. However I wasn’t buying a copy for me, but my eldest son who enjoys playing city builder games.

He’s going to be 14 years old this year, so I thought this would be a nice memento for him to remember the times we’ve played SimCity 2000 together and enjoyed listening to the music through my Roland SC-55.

The physical box I bought was in very good condition. However it did have some sticker residue left on the box and generally felt a little grubby. So I reached for my trusty bottle of isopropanol alcohol and some paper towel to give the whole box a gentle rub down,

Yuck, that’s years worth of handling and human grime finding a new home on my paper towel.

Much better, looks almost as good as new. Ready to be wrapped up as a birthday present.