SimCity was originally released in Japan in April 1991, the first console game in the SimCity series, and one of the launch titles for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System in North America when the console was released there in August the same year. It was developed by Nintendo EAD under license from Maxis and published by Nintendo.

The gameplay is similar to the PC version except now there are more buildings and scenarios. The style of the buildings also resemble those in Japan rather than those of North America in the PC version. Another new feature is the new adviser named Dr. Wright, who is a parody of Will Wright, creator of the SimCity series.

He usually reports the population growth of the city and disasters that happen. Also, there are Nintendo related easter eggs in the game such as Bowser attack (who replaces the Godzilla disaster in the computer versions) on the player's city and the unlockable Mario statue.