6:36 Bottom left corner, Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker. I'll never forget that game. My brother lost a lead of 60 points to lose by one point to Jimmy. He ripped the cartridge out, spat into it then threw it into the fire, all within the space of 3 seconds. A memory seared into my brain.
Funny how a game where you tried to squeak as much money out of digital guest's hands was turned into a mobile game that tired to squeeze the player out of all the irl money it could.
Particularly when the EA CEO John Riccitiello in 2008 had publicly apologised for what the company had done to Bullfrog Productions and that he had heart to bring back the former studio's IP in the near future - to much public support and acclaim. In the end they abused the Theme Park brand and took a lot of screen swiping zombos, ahem I mean, people, for a ride, before as always pulling the plug when the takings started drying up. Ooorrr noooooo! You're out of money! Quick take out a loan!
I remember I had Sim Theme Park for the PSX. It was one of my favourite games on the system. The best thing about these games is that, no matter how outdated the graphics are, it almost doesn't affect how well they age. I also remember having Sim Theme Hospital for the PSX, and I remember that game was a little bit more complicated but I still loved it nonetheless!
Great episode and topic! Theme Park '94 has a special place in my heart since playing it on my Mom's Mac Quadra 950 for hours on end; I still can't get the puking sound effect out of my head to this day.
Love these games. I grew up in the US with Sim Theme Park (TPW) and Sim Coaster (TPI) as a kid and I honestly didn't even know the original existed until a couple of years ago. The crappy thing was that I couldn't get anyone into these games as a kid. I constantly questioned why I liked them so much. Like maybe there was something wrong with me. But now I see nothing but love for these games all over the internet. And, after seeing the end of your video with your family, there's no question why I liked them so much. These games are simply pure joy in all of the best ways possible. The 2 weeks it took me to figure out how to run them on my Windows 10 PC was definitely worth it!
I was always impressed with the quality of your videos and how often you upload. Now that I see you got a little one, I'm even more impressed you get all this done so quickly. Great work!
Yay! I made it to the end of the video. I'm not sure my Patreon payment even went through yet, but cool! I'm definitely supporting the hell out of you, Slope. All of my favorite TH-cam Channels never get enough exposure. I love to know that I help support the little guys with the BEST channels.
+DownrightSuperb yes a vsry last min pledge. That only took a slight re edit to.get u in :) a huge thanks for your support mate. Feel free to jump into the discord chat
I poured so many days into Sim Theme Park (Theme Park World). I greatly preferred it to the competition because it was more creative and looked better than Rollercoaster tycoon to me, plus it was way easier for me to understand. I hope that Two Point Studios will revisit theme park like they did hospital
Great video! The original Theme Park, in large part, contributed to my best friend and I finding a love for Simulation/Strategy/Management games at that time. Hours upon hours were spent, the two of us with a Genesis and games like Theme Park, Aerobiz, Dune II, and Gemfire. One of the few things we unanimously agree on is that Theme Park is our favorite of the amusement park sims with the original Rollercoaster Tycoon coming up in a close second place.
Excellent work! Theme Park was the first computer game I bought. This game is so much fun. I remember thinking that the game is so in depth and that you can click onto a random customer and see their name and how they are feeling. That really amazed me. This video is great Daniel. I really like how you ended it also. That was a nice way to end it, and seeing the park while t credits are still going. Just excellent.
Nice job! My first Park sim was Roller Coaster Tycoon... where a Game Stop employee was like "Im gonna give you the expansion pack too... since its supposed not to be on sale anyhow. Have fun!"
I've been on the coaster shown @1:45. It was at Astroworld where it was then called Ultra Twister. Great ride, it was one of the only coasters to ever make me feel nauseated after. It always had a relatively short line, which meant you could ride it multiple times during a day at the park.
Going to Orlando in August. See your video, remember wet and wild fondly, go to look if it's still cool. Closed end of December 2016.... Damn your videos keep kicking me right in the feels!
When I was a kid, I stayed the night at a friend's that had Theme Park on the Genesis. I literally stayed up all night playing Theme Park. Ah nostalgia.
Enjoyed that, Dan. Love the original Theme Park, I must've spent countless hours playing it. But, as my cameo so rightly stated, not as good as Syndicate. Hahaha.
After seeing the review of the SNES version in TOTAL!, I waited ages for that game to come out in shops, when one day my Dad came home with it. I loved that game so much, especially all the ridiculous micro management (ice in drinks, more salt on fries?) The first two Rollercoaster Tycoon games sort of scratched the itch of needing a theme park game as good as...Theme Park, but nothing compared to my experience of the SNES port :) I used to setup my parks as a complete one-way system, like a crazy IKEA store of theme park delights! Thorough, interesting and entertaining as always! Great stuff :)
Quality vid as usual mate! I've always been more of a RCT-guy myself (still play the first two games quite frequently after all these years,) but those games most certainly wouldn't excist without Theme Park, so I can't help but respect the hell out of the game. Can't wait for next week's episode though! Unlike Theme Park that has had it's idea copied, and arguably improved on quite a bit over the years, Theme Hospital stands totally unique, or at least unmatched to this day, and remains my favorite Bullfrog title. :P
What a lovely way to end the video, it gave me quite a smile. I really enjoy the videos you make and you seem like a good dude. I wish you all the success in the world. Much love from Canada.
Brilliant video mate, love the footage at the end too! Too much or not enough of my life was spent waiting for the release and playing the original Theme Park game. Thank you for making this. Subbed!
"YAY!" 🤣 Me my bro and sis played these games to death, such a shame Theme Aquarium wasn't released on PAL also 😥 P.S. Constructor 1997 and Neighbours From Hell 2003 were amazing sims also, 17:27 ❤
I don't know... I never played these games again, but i have the fondest of memories from playing Sim Theme Park as a kid. I'm a 96 kid so i was really young when i played them. The 3D aspect of Sim Theme Park was amazing and needing to complete the objects and being able to ride the rides blew my mind again and again, but i remember hating the original Theme Park, which i played probably after the sequel. I actually remember how big a disappointment was booting it up for the first time. It wasn't just ugly and unappealing, but i remember struggling to find the fun. I vividly remember the rides used to break too fast and turning a profit was impossible for my around 6 year old ass. Well, my criticism has no foundation whatsoever, but it was fun remembering such old memories. Once i found out about RCT i never looked back to this day, it's still one of my favorite series and i love the newer Frontier games.
Man, The original Theme Park game was one of my favourite games. I was like you. Just didn't get the business side of it and just kept building my dream parks wondering why I rarely got off the UK stage. Owned 3 copies of it now on various formats. it's a classic. If you like games like this Jurassic park operation genesis on PS2 is pretty decent. It's a tad clunky in places but it's literally Theme Park World with dinosaurs. This episode was some good stuff sir. I need to learn how to do all them transitions wipes you do with tings like the boxart and logos like you do. Gives the videos a good always moving feel so it never feels like we're just watching a bunch of gameplay footage for too long.
I went the route of Chaotix. ...probably why I do a show about apologizing for games. Well. Certainly going to check out Theme Park now. Awesome video as always.
got this game on Sega saturn when I was younger and like yourself couldn't put it down. loved it and play it to this day. I was very excited when theme park world came out on ps2. think I played it once and went straight back to the original.
I LOVED Theme Park! Likewise, I had it on the Megadrive first but I also got it on the PlayStation a few years later (in fact I’ve still got it now all these years later) and, unsurprisingly, it was even better on the PlayStation. It even helped my career choices later in life as I worked at Alton Towers from 2001 to 2009. However, I thought Theme Park World and Theme Park Inc were a massive let down. I have never played Planet Coaster or Roller Coaster Tycoon but I have played Thrillville and Thrillville Off The Rails and both of them were quite good fun, but for me Theme Park on the PlayStation will always be king. Great video by the way, thanks for making it 😊
Loved Theme Park, so happy you've covered it! That intro was amazing back in the day (Bullfrog did another great intro for Syndicate too!), had this for Amiga & then PC, must've spent ages building various parks! Never bothered with the sequels but until I watched this I'd forgotten that I'd bought it on iOS & had about £10 worth of purchases when the game crashed and lost all record of my park. Emailed/tweeted EA but was a lost cause and I just deleted the game and never went back!
The 2nd and 3rd games were my first, and i adored them as a child. I also played RTC games. I'm guessing with little reason other than which one I was in the mood for. Great games all around!
I remember playing Theme Park World and building a weird roller coaster. I'd somehow built it so that after the initial slow ascent the coaster would zoom around the tracks at about 200mph and then slam to a halt at the end. If I altered anything - height; angle; shape...anything - the coaster would pootle along at about 30mph and be boring. It was really bizaare but the people loved it, despite hurling every time they got off it.
Original got me hooked but I loved Theme Park World, it was pretty ground breaking at the time being able to jump in and explore your park on foot and ride the rides. Sadly I didn't ever play or even know of Inc.
Don't watch too much of your stuff as I'm more of a pickups kind of viewer! But because I love Theme Park, thought I'd check it out. You made a great video here Dan. Will look out for future content!!!! Good stuff
The number of Complete History videos you've done that end with essentially "And now there's a mobile version." kinda makes me want to look into what the best instances of this are. Surely there are some mobile games of beloved franchises that rose above expectations.
Someone: Does anyone else hear that? *Guru Larry clacking beer bottles together in the distance* Guru Larry: Peter, Peter, Peter where's my acorn tree?
This was one of my favorite games as a kid. Remembered buying the ps2 themepark world was just not the same. Keep up the good work love seeing the history side of the game and the company that made it.
i remember my best friend had theme park world and he loved it. we never played the first theme park so we didn't have a comparision. when i got my hands on rollercoaster tycoon i was hooked and never thought back to theme park world.
Hahaha the best part is seeing you woth your family after watch so many of your documentaries. You must do a lot of work and research for each one of these videos. Thanks.
Nice use of footage from the recent trip to Disneyland Paris. Hope actually no need to hope I'm sure you had an awesome time in DLP. Great video used to play Theme Park loads on the PC back in the day. Need to start playing it again soon.
It was SIm Coaster over here in Australia, never heard of Theme Park Manager. It was still Theme Park World however. So I didn't even know Sim Coaster was a sequel until I played it and saw that it used the same assets as Theme Park World.
Wow I just got back from DisneyLand Paris too! I wonder if we crossed paths ! Loved this little jaunt down memory lane, so many happy memories ripping off kids in parks ! I don't know if the Sinister Tedddy Bear was a myth or not though!
I never actually played the original theme park, theme park world was my first taste when I was young and I was hooked. I loved its cheesy style and everything about it.
Great review. I played theme park, but didn't find as fun as the Populous 3 game (the soundtrack at the beginning brought some good memories). Would you ever do a complete history on that?
Always great to see love for this game but some other points of fact in the history The Japanese Shin Theme Park on Saturn and Playstation are two different games. The Saturn was a Japanese modified port while the Playstation version was a complete remake from scratch and did offer something new. The game world had a night/day timeline and the rides/attractions had lighting effects. The standard port of Theme Park on Playstation 1 allowed you to walk around your park on ground level, however the 3D rendering was very crude and glitchy/laggy. The PC version had been intended for patching with many of the later implemented features / changes seen in the later ports brought back to the original experience. However due to an issue of distribution at the time (there was no internet as such!) and the team eventually moving on to other projects, the PC game was never patched beyond basic stability through revisions upon the boxed retail releases. It remains the classic version but suffers from game breaking bugs, the game speed nightmare and a repetitive gameplay as terrain and assets never change throughout the world of parks as you progress. With such success, Bullfrog that Peter Molyneux had sold to EA in 1995 were pressured for a sequel and it was a game that the ever growing development team members yearned to work on. It wasn't thus long before development of Theme Park 2 began but quickly was pushed into 3D environment as to outdo the approaching competition from Hasbro and Chris Sawyer with Rollercoaster Tycoon. Peter Molyneux had left the company in 1997 and had no input to Theme Park 2, ultimately titled Theme Park World (US - Sim Theme Park). Jeff Gamon was the producer and much of the original Theme Park development team weren't involved. The game had online support which had intended to be part of a later expansion and worldwide community. With success again for Bullfrog and EA, the game was quickly ported to the Playstation 1 with menu, control and UI changes. The last project Bullfrog ever worked on was the PS2 port/remake of the game. This duplicated a couple of the existing world themes bringing the total playable to 8 (a poor inclination of the originally intended 4 new worlds plan), as well as replacing the 2D sprites with 3D models. Some features cut from the original PC release were reactivated such as the staff going on strike (very glitchy and poorly executed - perhaps the real reason it had been cut though they said in 1999 it was cut for game difficulty). This port was titled Theme Park Rollercoaster in the US. Theme Park Inc. (AUS/GER - Theme Park Manager & US - SimCoaster) was actually developed by Climax Studios using Bullfrog's engine and tools on behalf of Bullfrog, which by that time had effectively been broken up by EA. Bullfrog's original intension had been to add 4 additional 'worlds' to Theme Park World (US - Sim Theme Park) as a paid downloadable addon available from themeparkworld.com. There was also then plans to release a ride designer application and eventually an SDK of Bullfrog's tools to allow customisation for advanced players. However this never came to fruition and it appears EA likely demanded a new game as a more profitable project. Thus the 4 additional worlds were developed into an addon-like new game redesigned in reaction to the desired missing business features and lack of goal progression. However this gameplay also then alienated the sandbox community as additional areas and rides only came if you achieved certain goals in a linear story mode. A separate ride designer app was in fact released with the game as per the original intension for Theme Park World, however only for rollercoasters. Theme Park was the first game from Bullfrog in their planned 'Designer Series'. Other 'Theme' games on the drawing board or in early development were cancelled. 'Theme Airport', and 'Theme Resort' are just a couple of these known developments. 'Theme Hospital' was another that looked at one point to also get the chop, but was turned around and became again a huge unexpected success. However again largely without Peter Molyneux. The true developer of the questionable Theme Aquarium is debated with controversy but is believed to have been thrown together by unknowns in Japan and marketed under the Bullfrog name for EA to capitalise.
Great video as always! Loved the first game, I had the PS1 version which I actually got on accident, when buying a PS1 copy of Wipeout 2097 from a charity shop and finding someone had put both Wipeout and Theme Park in the same box for some reason. On the request side, I would love to see a Complete History series on Twisted Metal, one of Sony's longest running franchises from the earliest PS1 days right up to the PS3, and a series full of ups and downs, as well as pretty much inventing the 3d Car Combat game that would be copied in games like Vigilante 8 and Cel Damage.
The only game in the series I played was ThemePark World, and I remember it being a pretty business-y game. If you didn't run the park ruthlessly, you'd be up to your shoulders in debt and loans in no time. I remember arranging the layout in a way specifically designed to drain every last dollar from people. I spent a lot of time tediously managing shop prices and ingredients, and I actually had to hold off on buying a lot of attractions in favor of building a more substantial money cushion. Maybe the original was simply far more extreme, but money was always on my mind when I played the sequel and I had to close down parks I felt were too big to fail tons of times. The game did get more difficult the higher tier the park you were running though. The first park was basically child's play to acclimate the player to the mechanics. Did you only play a few parks in? It doesn't really matter if you did though. Like I said, never played the first, so maybe I just have no idea how serious the business aspect can get.
I've always wanted to revisit Theme Park Inc, but I've not been able to get it to work on Windows 10. Heh, if you managed, can you give a brief run-down how? Either way, great video on a iconic franchise. Tho that feels odd to say when the original is the best, IMO. :)
Actually, it IS possible to make it a bit more focused on the park building in the original game, you can change the game mode to "Sandbox" which eliminates the need for research, and you get new stuff at the end of each year, also you can adjust the difficulty of both the guests and opponents, and eliminate the opponents altogether if you just want to have fun. On the flip side, you can actually amp the difficulty up MORE by setting the mode to "Full", where on top of research, you also have to manually manage stock of most of your food shops, as well as worry about the stock market, which if you're not careful, the opposing owners can basically buy your park out from under you by purchasing most or all of the available stocks. A few more pointers, that blue bar in the top, you can click it and it'll bring up an ingame menu with a lot of options, one being the option to make the game a higher resolution, which lets you see more of the actual park and majorly upgrades the visuals in general, kind of looks like Rollercoaster Tycoon on the higher resolutions speaking of which, the option to change game speed too which is an important one. You can also right click the bottom buttons to bring up quick menus for that category, the paths options you can only access through that menu, from there is where you get signposts and one way paths, in case you were ever wondering when the Advisor nags you about the signposts, lol.
my copy of this game was one of those Amiga games with a sponsor pushover had quavers, superfrog had lucozade and zool had chupa chups and in this case theme park had Midland Bank
This is an awesome channel, I can't believe I've never seen it before. I was watching your earthworm Jim history and was thinking please do theme park and then you mentioned it. I was on this video like a tramp on chips. I use a theme park megadrive money code for my passwords online, they were randomly generated and if I ever wanna play again I'll have an easy 20million to mess with :P
Oh Theme Park World. I love that game and think it still holds up, but I will never forgett how it once told me that I should die and I am dead serious.
This was great, sometimes feels like I am only person who likes Theme Park/Hospital games. I am trying to get an XP system together to play TPW again. I also have Sim Theme Park but never played it, think I will now. Good work.
I first played this game on the 3DO and liked it a lot, to me it was kind of confusing though but fun as hell at the same time. I have the Saturn version of it now a days.
Now i'm just picturing Peter there going "No mama, i promise I can put the computer back together with more features than before; it'll even change depending on how we use it mama" *Two days later and it's just a smoking heap on the curb, the first of the promises broken.
I shouldn't judge really, sounds a lot like me to my mama growing about the VCR, a CD Player, and almost anything else I could get a screwdriver in; I did fix the crap out that CD player though lol. It did blow my mind a little while ago when I learnt from Larry that he was responsible for the Theme games; I enriched a lot of hours of my life learning how to over-charge confections at a theme park and how to explode heads at a hospital, so I'm pretty darn excited for the next here too. Cheers mate.
DI, my earliest trips to Florida (from New Jersey, not too far compared to you) inspired me to get roller coaster tycoon and I absolutely loved that game. So I know where your coming from. I'm 30 so I got into RCT later on but it was well worth the wait. It also inspired me to get Lego Island which was basically the first Lego game for PC and was awesome as well. Only problem was the game had this glitch in it where there was a screwed up line of pixels that were blurred and screwed up and after about a month I got used to paying with that shitty glitch because I wasn't savvy enough to fix it. Uninstalled it and everything but it didn't work
I always found Theme Park way too hard...but like many, going back as an adult made me wish there was a game that had all those complex business decisions along with the fun Theme Park management aspect. Maybe some day!
A friend and I once figured out that if you just made one giant line for a single ride in the middle of the park, everyone would always be "happy as can be". We surmised that it was because they were always moving in line which, of course, makes them happy. Hilarious stupidity...
6:36 Bottom left corner, Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker. I'll never forget that game. My brother lost a lead of 60 points to lose by one point to Jimmy. He ripped the cartridge out, spat into it then threw it into the fire, all within the space of 3 seconds. A memory seared into my brain.
I loved that game too, I loved how if you just left it alone the balls would come to life and pull faces at you and the trick shots were great fun too
Funny how a game where you tried to squeak as much money out of digital guest's hands was turned into a mobile game that tired to squeeze the player out of all the irl money it could.
Particularly when the EA CEO John Riccitiello in 2008 had publicly apologised for what the company had done to Bullfrog Productions and that he had heart to bring back the former studio's IP in the near future - to much public support and acclaim.
In the end they abused the Theme Park brand and took a lot of screen swiping zombos, ahem I mean, people, for a ride, before as always pulling the plug when the takings started drying up. Ooorrr noooooo! You're out of money! Quick take out a loan!
99,9% they they needed money for development\investigation of bigger sequel for the consoles.
Lol what horrid irony.
Check the rest of the complete history series here... goo.gl/JjBIHi
I remember I had Sim Theme Park for the PSX. It was one of my favourite games on the system.
The best thing about these games is that, no matter how outdated the graphics are, it almost doesn't affect how well they age.
I also remember having Sim Theme Hospital for the PSX, and I remember that game was a little bit more complicated but I still loved it nonetheless!
I actually just re-bought Theme Hospital on the PlayStation from eBay 😂
That was a really nice way to end the Video. 😊👍
+NickProductions20 cheers mate :)
Thanks to you im re-installing Theme Park World after years. Idk how you only have 38k subs... Awesome videos Daniel, dont stop.
Great episode and topic! Theme Park '94 has a special place in my heart since playing it on my Mom's Mac Quadra 950 for hours on end; I still can't get the puking sound effect out of my head to this day.
holy crap that intro for the first game brought back a whole truckload of memories alone!
+Nickcronomicon hahaha same here. So happy when i rewatched it
oh wow Bullfrog's Theme Park. This really takes it back and I played that game so much!
+Eastside Show SCP you n me both :D
between Theme Park, Theme Hospital, and Syndicate, Syndicate plus, and Syndicate Wars
I had Theme Park on the Panasonic 3DO as a kid. Spent so many hours...
Really enjoyed this retrospective. Thanks!
Love these games. I grew up in the US with Sim Theme Park (TPW) and Sim Coaster (TPI) as a kid and I honestly didn't even know the original existed until a couple of years ago. The crappy thing was that I couldn't get anyone into these games as a kid. I constantly questioned why I liked them so much. Like maybe there was something wrong with me. But now I see nothing but love for these games all over the internet. And, after seeing the end of your video with your family, there's no question why I liked them so much. These games are simply pure joy in all of the best ways possible. The 2 weeks it took me to figure out how to run them on my Windows 10 PC was definitely worth it!
I was always impressed with the quality of your videos and how often you upload. Now that I see you got a little one, I'm even more impressed you get all this done so quickly. Great work!
Yay! I made it to the end of the video. I'm not sure my Patreon payment even went through yet, but cool! I'm definitely supporting the hell out of you, Slope. All of my favorite TH-cam Channels never get enough exposure. I love to know that I help support the little guys with the BEST channels.
+DownrightSuperb yes a vsry last min pledge. That only took a slight re edit to.get u in :) a huge thanks for your support mate. Feel free to jump into the discord chat
I poured so many days into Sim Theme Park (Theme Park World). I greatly preferred it to the competition because it was more creative and looked better than Rollercoaster tycoon to me, plus it was way easier for me to understand.
I hope that Two Point Studios will revisit theme park like they did hospital
theme park deserves a 2018 version.
+1 if you're agree ^^
I’m curious how it would look now
Great video! The original Theme Park, in large part, contributed to my best friend and I finding a love for Simulation/Strategy/Management games at that time. Hours upon hours were spent, the two of us with a Genesis and games like Theme Park, Aerobiz, Dune II, and Gemfire. One of the few things we unanimously agree on is that Theme Park is our favorite of the amusement park sims with the original Rollercoaster Tycoon coming up in a close second place.
That Syndicate video needs to happen.....
hear hear !
+Michael White in time :)
YES please for the sake of cyborgs do it!
Nagashima Spaland AND Luna Park Melbourne footage in one fabulous package :) Great vid! :)
This one's a winner, man. All your vids got tons of love in 'em but this one really shines that way.
Excellent work! Theme Park was the first computer game I bought. This game is so much fun. I remember thinking that the game is so in depth and that you can click onto a random customer and see their name and how they are feeling. That really amazed me. This video is great Daniel. I really like how you ended it also. That was a nice way to end it, and seeing the park while t credits are still going. Just excellent.
Nice job!
My first Park sim was Roller Coaster Tycoon... where a Game Stop employee was like "Im gonna give you the expansion pack too... since its supposed not to be on sale anyhow. Have fun!"
+LastSider thats cool. I like it when things like that happen
I've been on the coaster shown @1:45. It was at Astroworld where it was then called Ultra Twister. Great ride, it was one of the only coasters to ever make me feel nauseated after. It always had a relatively short line, which meant you could ride it multiple times during a day at the park.
Going to Orlando in August. See your video, remember wet and wild fondly, go to look if it's still cool.
Closed end of December 2016....
Damn your videos keep kicking me right in the feels!
When I was a kid, I stayed the night at a friend's that had Theme Park on the Genesis. I literally stayed up all night playing Theme Park. Ah nostalgia.
Enjoyed that, Dan. Love the original Theme Park, I must've spent countless hours playing it. But, as my cameo so rightly stated, not as good as Syndicate. Hahaha.
+onaretrotip hahaha i actually think theme park is better ;)
How dare you! O_o
After seeing the review of the SNES version in TOTAL!, I waited ages for that game to come out in shops, when one day my Dad came home with it. I loved that game so much, especially all the ridiculous micro management (ice in drinks, more salt on fries?)
The first two Rollercoaster Tycoon games sort of scratched the itch of needing a theme park game as good as...Theme Park, but nothing compared to my experience of the SNES port :)
I used to setup my parks as a complete one-way system, like a crazy IKEA store of theme park delights!
Thorough, interesting and entertaining as always! Great stuff :)
Quality vid as usual mate! I've always been more of a RCT-guy myself (still play the first two games quite frequently after all these years,) but those games most certainly wouldn't excist without Theme Park, so I can't help but respect the hell out of the game. Can't wait for next week's episode though! Unlike Theme Park that has had it's idea copied, and arguably improved on quite a bit over the years, Theme Hospital stands totally unique, or at least unmatched to this day, and remains my favorite Bullfrog title. :P
What a lovely way to end the video, it gave me quite a smile. I really enjoy the videos you make and you seem like a good dude. I wish you all the success in the world. Much love from Canada.
+Mathew Rapini ahhhhhhh thanks bud. :D
I'm really hoping that Sim theme park/world, and Inc hits Gog, or Steam, as i've been wanting to play these game again.
+Glenni yeah that would had my job a whole lot easier
Request it on their site.
you can get it on psn for $5,99
Brilliant video mate, love the footage at the end too! Too much or not enough of my life was spent waiting for the release and playing the original Theme Park game. Thank you for making this. Subbed!
+Theme Park World Tour thanks so much mate :) welcome to the game room
theme park world was the one I had :D haven't played the others. loved that you could ride the rides!!
These complete histories are brilliant. Please keep them going
"YAY!" 🤣 Me my bro and sis played these games to death, such a shame Theme Aquarium wasn't released on PAL also 😥 P.S. Constructor 1997
and Neighbours From Hell 2003 were amazing sims also, 17:27 ❤
You made the right choice there.
+Ice Climber hahaha. Yep!!! Ur telling me :D
I don't know... I never played these games again, but i have the fondest of memories from playing Sim Theme Park as a kid. I'm a 96 kid so i was really young when i played them. The 3D aspect of Sim Theme Park was amazing and needing to complete the objects and being able to ride the rides blew my mind again and again, but i remember hating the original Theme Park, which i played probably after the sequel.
I actually remember how big a disappointment was booting it up for the first time. It wasn't just ugly and unappealing, but i remember struggling to find the fun. I vividly remember the rides used to break too fast and turning a profit was impossible for my around 6 year old ass. Well, my criticism has no foundation whatsoever, but it was fun remembering such old memories. Once i found out about RCT i never looked back to this day, it's still one of my favorite series and i love the newer Frontier games.
I just got this game again on the ps1 after a couple of decades not playing it since I was a kid. I love it!
I hear you hiding in there, Bubbleworks music!
+Mike Jeavons very well spotted mike lol
THEIR!!!!
Man, The original Theme Park game was one of my favourite games. I was like you. Just didn't get the business side of it and just kept building my dream parks wondering why I rarely got off the UK stage. Owned 3 copies of it now on various formats. it's a classic.
If you like games like this Jurassic park operation genesis on PS2 is pretty decent. It's a tad clunky in places but it's literally Theme Park World with dinosaurs.
This episode was some good stuff sir. I need to learn how to do all them transitions wipes you do with tings like the boxart and logos like you do. Gives the videos a good always moving feel so it never feels like we're just watching a bunch of gameplay footage for too long.
I went the route of Chaotix.
...probably why I do a show about apologizing for games.
Well. Certainly going to check out Theme Park now. Awesome video as always.
+Game Apologist hahaha very good spin
Chaotix was a good game.
got this game on Sega saturn when I was younger and like yourself couldn't put it down. loved it and play it to this day. I was very excited when theme park world came out on ps2. think I played it once and went straight back to the original.
I LOVED Theme Park! Likewise, I had it on the Megadrive first but I also got it on the PlayStation a few years later (in fact I’ve still got it now all these years later) and, unsurprisingly, it was even better on the PlayStation. It even helped my career choices later in life as I worked at Alton Towers from 2001 to 2009. However, I thought Theme Park World and Theme Park Inc were a massive let down. I have never played Planet Coaster or Roller Coaster Tycoon but I have played Thrillville and Thrillville Off The Rails and both of them were quite good fun, but for me Theme Park on the PlayStation will always be king.
Great video by the way, thanks for making it 😊
Loved Theme Park, so happy you've covered it! That intro was amazing back in the day (Bullfrog did another great intro for Syndicate too!), had this for Amiga & then PC, must've spent ages building various parks! Never bothered with the sequels but until I watched this I'd forgotten that I'd bought it on iOS & had about £10 worth of purchases when the game crashed and lost all record of my park. Emailed/tweeted EA but was a lost cause and I just deleted the game and never went back!
The 2nd and 3rd games were my first, and i adored them as a child. I also played RTC games. I'm guessing with little reason other than which one I was in the mood for. Great games all around!
I couldn't get enough as a youngster
I remember playing Theme Park World and building a weird roller coaster. I'd somehow built it so that after the initial slow ascent the coaster would zoom around the tracks at about 200mph and then slam to a halt at the end. If I altered anything - height; angle; shape...anything - the coaster would pootle along at about 30mph and be boring.
It was really bizaare but the people loved it, despite hurling every time they got off it.
I love Theme Hospital!!! Need a remake!! But Theme Park is awesome too!
Original got me hooked but I loved Theme Park World, it was pretty ground breaking at the time being able to jump in and explore your park on foot and ride the rides. Sadly I didn't ever play or even know of Inc.
Great video and glad you had fun talking about it as well as taking the family to one.
Thanks for the video. One of my favorite games of all time!
The only Theme Park game I played was World and I'm revisiting it now and enjoying it so much! Bullfrog did some awesome stuff.
Oh me of little faith. was looking out for this, after Slopes mentioned on the LP TP stream it was dropping. and here it is!!! thankS Slopes
Don't watch too much of your stuff as I'm more of a pickups kind of viewer! But because I love Theme Park, thought I'd check it out. You made a great video here Dan. Will look out for future content!!!! Good stuff
The number of Complete History videos you've done that end with essentially "And now there's a mobile version." kinda makes me want to look into what the best instances of this are. Surely there are some mobile games of beloved franchises that rose above expectations.
+Strain42 thays a great idea for a top 10
8:26 Oh God! Professor Layton what did they do to you?
+Llama God hahaha very well spotted
Another great video. And hopefully, with that last bit of footage, a tax deductible vacation as well!
Someone: Does anyone else hear that?
*Guru Larry clacking beer bottles together in the distance*
Guru Larry: Peter, Peter, Peter where's my acorn tree?
Goddamn that photo at 11.26 :D :D :D :D Amazing video again man! I want that picture, framed x
+SmileyDaveUK hahaha my stag doo was pretty full on
This was one of my favorite games as a kid. Remembered buying the ps2 themepark world was just not the same. Keep up the good work love seeing the history side of the game and the company that made it.
i remember my best friend had theme park world and he loved it. we never played the first theme park so we didn't have a comparision. when i got my hands on rollercoaster tycoon i was hooked and never thought back to theme park world.
Hahaha the best part is seeing you woth your family after watch so many of your documentaries. You must do a lot of work and research for each one of these videos. Thanks.
Nice use of footage from the recent trip to Disneyland Paris. Hope actually no need to hope I'm sure you had an awesome time in DLP. Great video used to play Theme Park loads on the PC back in the day. Need to start playing it again soon.
+Retro Zone it was such a last minute idea to record at DLP :) seriously live that place
I know a couple ultimate secret glitches you can do in this game, / build strategies.
It was SIm Coaster over here in Australia, never heard of Theme Park Manager. It was still Theme Park World however. So I didn't even know Sim Coaster was a sequel until I played it and saw that it used the same assets as Theme Park World.
My Australian PAL copy is called Theme Park, weird
I just bought Planet Coaster in the Steam sales so this video is hitting all the right notes for me :) Great job as always, Dan!
+Blast Processing thanks bud. Looking forward to getting it too
used to love this game when I was a kid, I remember playing the shit out of it with my older cousin, God I miss the 90's
Wow I just got back from DisneyLand Paris too! I wonder if we crossed paths ! Loved this little jaunt down memory lane, so many happy memories ripping off kids in parks ! I don't know if the Sinister Tedddy Bear was a myth or not though!
+Julian Hill - Boxed Pixels ahhhhhb crazy. Perhaps
I love how Peter Molyneux's big jump into software development came about...from him lying about his studio's capabilities.
Could never get into sim games as a kid, I see the appeal more so now and this video as sparked my interest. Cheers great TCH
I never actually played the original theme park, theme park world was my first taste when I was young and I was hooked. I loved its cheesy style and everything about it.
Great review. I played theme park, but didn't find as fun as the Populous 3 game (the soundtrack at the beginning brought some good memories). Would you ever do a complete history on that?
What a nice episode, I'm definitely looking forward to a complete history of Roller Coaster Tycoon, it is my personal favorite theme park sim series.
+HitmonleeDeluxe its gonna happen eventually. Might leave it a while so its not to close to tjis 1 mind u
fair enough!
at 3:18 in USA it's called sim theme park on the left side of the screen and sim coaster on the right side of the screen
Always great to see love for this game but some other points of fact in the history
The Japanese Shin Theme Park on Saturn and Playstation are two different games. The Saturn was a Japanese modified port while the Playstation version was a complete remake from scratch and did offer something new. The game world had a night/day timeline and the rides/attractions had lighting effects.
The standard port of Theme Park on Playstation 1 allowed you to walk around your park on ground level, however the 3D rendering was very crude and glitchy/laggy.
The PC version had been intended for patching with many of the later implemented features / changes seen in the later ports brought back to the original experience. However due to an issue of distribution at the time (there was no internet as such!) and the team eventually moving on to other projects, the PC game was never patched beyond basic stability through revisions upon the boxed retail releases. It remains the classic version but suffers from game breaking bugs, the game speed nightmare and a repetitive gameplay as terrain and assets never change throughout the world of parks as you progress.
With such success, Bullfrog that Peter Molyneux had sold to EA in 1995 were pressured for a sequel and it was a game that the ever growing development team members yearned to work on. It wasn't thus long before development of Theme Park 2 began but quickly was pushed into 3D environment as to outdo the approaching competition from Hasbro and Chris Sawyer with Rollercoaster Tycoon. Peter Molyneux had left the company in 1997 and had no input to Theme Park 2, ultimately titled Theme Park World (US - Sim Theme Park). Jeff Gamon was the producer and much of the original Theme Park development team weren't involved. The game had online support which had intended to be part of a later expansion and worldwide community. With success again for Bullfrog and EA, the game was quickly ported to the Playstation 1 with menu, control and UI changes. The last project Bullfrog ever worked on was the PS2 port/remake of the game. This duplicated a couple of the existing world themes bringing the total playable to 8 (a poor inclination of the originally intended 4 new worlds plan), as well as replacing the 2D sprites with 3D models. Some features cut from the original PC release were reactivated such as the staff going on strike (very glitchy and poorly executed - perhaps the real reason it had been cut though they said in 1999 it was cut for game difficulty). This port was titled Theme Park Rollercoaster in the US.
Theme Park Inc. (AUS/GER - Theme Park Manager & US - SimCoaster) was actually developed by Climax Studios using Bullfrog's engine and tools on behalf of Bullfrog, which by that time had effectively been broken up by EA.
Bullfrog's original intension had been to add 4 additional 'worlds' to Theme Park World (US - Sim Theme Park) as a paid downloadable addon available from themeparkworld.com. There was also then plans to release a ride designer application and eventually an SDK of Bullfrog's tools to allow customisation for advanced players. However this never came to fruition and it appears EA likely demanded a new game as a more profitable project. Thus the 4 additional worlds were developed into an addon-like new game redesigned in reaction to the desired missing business features and lack of goal progression. However this gameplay also then alienated the sandbox community as additional areas and rides only came if you achieved certain goals in a linear story mode. A separate ride designer app was in fact released with the game as per the original intension for Theme Park World, however only for rollercoasters.
Theme Park was the first game from Bullfrog in their planned 'Designer Series'. Other 'Theme' games on the drawing board or in early development were cancelled. 'Theme Airport', and 'Theme Resort' are just a couple of these known developments. 'Theme Hospital' was another that looked at one point to also get the chop, but was turned around and became again a huge unexpected success. However again largely without Peter Molyneux. The true developer of the questionable Theme Aquarium is debated with controversy but is believed to have been thrown together by unknowns in Japan and marketed under the Bullfrog name for EA to capitalise.
Okay, that picture of him in a Mario costume running... scratch that, SKIPPING down the freeway has just got to have a story to it.
Awesome that you had the Bubbleworks music in the background :D
What a wholesome ending to the episode!
Also let's talk about something important which is, Hospital > Park
Theme park world is the one game that I truly remembered!
Another class video. Thanks Daniel.
Great video as always! Loved the first game, I had the PS1 version which I actually got on accident, when buying a PS1 copy of Wipeout 2097 from a charity shop and finding someone had put both Wipeout and Theme Park in the same box for some reason.
On the request side, I would love to see a Complete History series on Twisted Metal, one of Sony's longest running franchises from the earliest PS1 days right up to the PS3, and a series full of ups and downs, as well as pretty much inventing the 3d Car Combat game that would be copied in games like Vigilante 8 and Cel Damage.
+GrandMasterScottay twisted metal will defo happen as I am a big fan of that franchise :D
The only game in the series I played was ThemePark World, and I remember it being a pretty business-y game. If you didn't run the park ruthlessly, you'd be up to your shoulders in debt and loans in no time. I remember arranging the layout in a way specifically designed to drain every last dollar from people. I spent a lot of time tediously managing shop prices and ingredients, and I actually had to hold off on buying a lot of attractions in favor of building a more substantial money cushion.
Maybe the original was simply far more extreme, but money was always on my mind when I played the sequel and I had to close down parks I felt were too big to fail tons of times. The game did get more difficult the higher tier the park you were running though. The first park was basically child's play to acclimate the player to the mechanics. Did you only play a few parks in? It doesn't really matter if you did though. Like I said, never played the first, so maybe I just have no idea how serious the business aspect can get.
I got goosebumps hearing the Syndicate's soundtrack.
I've always wanted to revisit Theme Park Inc, but I've not been able to get it to work on Windows 10. Heh, if you managed, can you give a brief run-down how?
Either way, great video on a iconic franchise. Tho that feels odd to say when the original is the best, IMO. :)
Virtual Machine
As soon as Peter Molyneux came on screen, I pretty much died laughing.
Theme park and roller coaster tycoon are my fav childhood games.
+Toxicpunkette soooooooooooo many hours playing them
Actually, it IS possible to make it a bit more focused on the park building in the original game, you can change the game mode to "Sandbox" which eliminates the need for research, and you get new stuff at the end of each year, also you can adjust the difficulty of both the guests and opponents, and eliminate the opponents altogether if you just want to have fun.
On the flip side, you can actually amp the difficulty up MORE by setting the mode to "Full", where on top of research, you also have to manually manage stock of most of your food shops, as well as worry about the stock market, which if you're not careful, the opposing owners can basically buy your park out from under you by purchasing most or all of the available stocks.
A few more pointers, that blue bar in the top, you can click it and it'll bring up an ingame menu with a lot of options, one being the option to make the game a higher resolution, which lets you see more of the actual park and majorly upgrades the visuals in general, kind of looks like Rollercoaster Tycoon on the higher resolutions speaking of which, the option to change game speed too which is an important one. You can also right click the bottom buttons to bring up quick menus for that category, the paths options you can only access through that menu, from there is where you get signposts and one way paths, in case you were ever wondering when the Advisor nags you about the signposts, lol.
Sweet, the new Complete History!
+EscapeRouteBritish its defo my most beloved series
my copy of this game was one of those Amiga games with a sponsor
pushover had quavers, superfrog had lucozade and zool had chupa chups and in this case theme park had Midland Bank
This is an awesome channel, I can't believe I've never seen it before. I was watching your earthworm Jim history and was thinking please do theme park and then you mentioned it. I was on this video like a tramp on chips. I use a theme park megadrive money code for my passwords online, they were randomly generated and if I ever wanna play again I'll have an easy 20million to mess with :P
It sure does bring back memories
Oh Theme Park World. I love that game and think it still holds up, but I will never forgett how it once told me that I should die and I am dead serious.
This was great, sometimes feels like I am only person who likes Theme Park/Hospital games. I am trying to get an XP system together to play TPW again. I also have Sim Theme Park but never played it, think I will now. Good work.
Great stuff, I've always been curious about this series but never tried it.
Played this game when it re-released on the DS. the memories
This was good. One small correction: "Great America" is in Santa Clara (Silicon Valley). "Magic Mountain" is the amusement park near LA
+edmackdaddy wooopsy
I first played this game on the 3DO and liked it a lot, to me it was kind of confusing though but fun as hell at the same time. I have the Saturn version of it now a days.
Now i'm just picturing Peter there going "No mama, i promise I can put the computer back together with more features than before; it'll even change depending on how we use it mama" *Two days later and it's just a smoking heap on the curb, the first of the promises broken.
+Ferintosh Farms Photography ahhhhhhhhhh the poor old molyneux reputation
I shouldn't judge really, sounds a lot like me to my mama growing about the VCR, a CD Player, and almost anything else I could get a screwdriver in; I did fix the crap out that CD player though lol. It did blow my mind a little while ago when I learnt from Larry that he was responsible for the Theme games; I enriched a lot of hours of my life learning how to over-charge confections at a theme park and how to explode heads at a hospital, so I'm pretty darn excited for the next here too. Cheers mate.
DI, my earliest trips to Florida (from New Jersey, not too far compared to you) inspired me to get roller coaster tycoon and I absolutely loved that game. So I know where your coming from. I'm 30 so I got into RCT later on but it was well worth the wait. It also inspired me to get Lego Island which was basically the first Lego game for PC and was awesome as well. Only problem was the game had this glitch in it where there was a screwed up line of pixels that were blurred and screwed up and after about a month I got used to paying with that shitty glitch because I wasn't savvy enough to fix it. Uninstalled it and everything but it didn't work
I always found Theme Park way too hard...but like many, going back as an adult made me wish there was a game that had all those complex business decisions along with the fun Theme Park management aspect. Maybe some day!
what is the name of that white roller coaster at 07:35? that looks so messed up to ride on, i wanna go on it!
A friend and I once figured out that if you just made one giant line for a single ride in the middle of the park, everyone would always be "happy as can be". We surmised that it was because they were always moving in line which, of course, makes them happy. Hilarious stupidity...