Update: The Sims has some even stranger handheld games - probably the weirdest games in the series, and that's saying something. Here's my video looking at The Sims 2's _three different games_ released by the same studio in 2005 for the GBA, DS, and PSP! ua-cam.com/video/bbRJv50EThQ/v-deo.html Original comment: Simscribe. This comment took forty minutes to write, thank you.
It surprises me how many people didnt actually like Castaway, i LOVED the game as a kid/teen and still sometimes go back to revisit it now. I guess different people like different things! I certainly did love it though
Was and is by far my favorite Sims game, I like all the RPG mechanics and secrets unlocking plumbob island was so cool. Adventures was kind of fun but man I really wish Castaways got a reboot or homage.
My brother and i LOOOVED Castaways 2!! All the tiny and huge secrets of the island, the constant grind for materials, befriending chimps!! We were obsessed with it and played it constantly
Holy shit, I used to play The Sims 2 on PS2 with my cousin a lot, the soundtrack is engraved on my brain to this day, that Simlish Paramore song is unforgetable.
Bustin' Out had a whole subarc in one of its job paths where you become a hitman who kills your boss to become the king of crime, while stating you love watching people burn to death and I just think that's lovely.
Wasn't there a crime tier that was an arsonist? Iirc the description read something along the line that you cried tears of joy and people mistook it as sadism or something. Been a while xD
Omg I totally remember those career descriptions. 😆 I remember in one file I went through all 10 levels of each career path to get allllll those little fountain gnomes.
Aw man, I adored Urbz. The heavily stylised characters and set designs, the soundtrack (And not just the Black Eyed Peas either), and totally different vibe made this lowkey one of my favourite console Sims games. I know it's not that great when you break it down to the nitty gritty, and I totally get why people would like the other ones more, but Urbz will always have a special place in my heart.
Urbz was a great VIDEOGAME, But EA considers it a flop cuz it wasnt a great sims game💯. Urbz will always be 100% my all time favorite, and ive never met a single person who didnt absolutely love it. But as for being a sims game it was admittedly bad due to having such a limited ammount of customization. With most sims games u can spend hundreds of hours just on trinkets and stuff u buy (like all the alien appliances in sims 2) but after maybe the first 3 hours of playing through and unlocking everything in urbz u often get bored with darius penthouse after unlocking the sky golf, then u go back to the rage cages and chop shop and then u spend the of your time making sushi and gaming in little tokyo, (all things i loved and did for THOUSDANDS of hours) but still very limited in terms of sims material. Great game bad sims game😎❤️
Same man. It actually breaks my heart learning that EA considered it a flop. But also learning that sims 2 was basically a reskin of Urbz 2, now it all makes perfect sense to me why 2 was such a GOATED game. Ill always have urbz as my number 1 though
@@ItsHappyHourArchived Seriously though! The music was all a CERTIFIED BOP, even the awkward black eyed peas simlish stuff, and all of the areas and clothes were just BLEEDING different styles. My favorite thing to do in that game was mix up the clothes and hairstyles I could buy in there. Loved mixing goth clothes and makeup with stuff from Neon east. ❤️ It had such personality, and now it's like this crazy time capsule of things that were popular then. I love it so much.
castaway was extremely intriguing to me i've wished for a new one since then, cause yeah we got tons of survival games, but none with that charm, that mainly are cool to play not beacause you have to fight and on the side you have to fulfill your needs, but beacause the surviving part was the core experience, the most dangerous enemy was starving, or having to sleep under the rain that's a lot of nostalgia talking, i know
If you think about it thats the ultimate survival game. You literally have to eat, sleep, bathe, go to the bathroom on an ISLAND with only drift wood, some rocks, and fish. Such a fun game!
I'll be totally honest, I just figured that it was a pared back version of the PS2 game! I believe the rest of the PSP ones tend to fall in line, so this is good to know
This was the golden era of the Sims franchise. The Sims 2 on PC was amazing, the spin offs and console ports were fun, weird and they had a clear identify. So much charisma and love put into these games! Especially the GBA versions of The Sims Bustin Out, The Urbz and The Sims 2. They're literally just strange adventure games, and I ate them up.
Urbz in a weird way was wayyy ahead of its time, with all the diffrent things u could do in each diffrent city map. Game was sooo insanely replayable that i must have flipped it a good 2 dozen times. And sims 2 storymode was just straight up great. Ill never forget those times staying up all night with my cousin trying to beat everything. ALSO WHO COULD EVER FORGET ABOUT THE MUSICAL MASTERPIECE THAT IS “LATE AGAIN!!!!”
I used to do something like that when I was a kid had just gotten a new video game I loved. Wake up extra early just to get some play time in. I wish video games still amused me today at 29/30 yrs old like they did as a child. I'll still hop on my Xbox from time to time but I can't get immersed into the game anymore.
Actually based, I loved my happy little camp and just doing stuff every day in the game. If I could just get a slightly remastered version that fixed the stuttering and engine issues, I'd be so happy
I actually really enjoyed Castaways and I've been itching to play it again. If I recall I played it on the Wii, so I imagine that holds up even better hahaha
Bustin' Out was my favorite of the lot. I wish EA made more story driven Sims games, or even included the feature in the PC releases. These games are criminally underrated. Thank you for covering them!
@@coatimundi69 Bustin' Out is objectively the best. The game had great personality, kickass music, and the premade lots in the story mode were some of the most creative I've seen in the franchise considering its limitations. I also really loved the lighting, as well as the pool water effects. It looked crisp and as close to real life as you can get.
The only thing I didn't like about the game was the object limiter. That thing was the bane of my existence. I know it was needed because of hardware limitations, but it was not fun to deal with. A home will be at full capacity by the time only half of the home is furnished. It was even worse in the console version of The Sims 3, which made no sense to me because the PS3 was such a different beast. It could play Uncharted 2 at 60 fps no problem but it can't handle some extra clutter in The Sims? Like are you for real?
@@phen0m207 you really feel the personality just in the character creator, where the burglar comes in. & i didnt like the clutter limiter it as a practical thing but i loved it as a person who routinely tortured their sims 💀 everything burnt down and killed my guys
Urbz was my and my sister’s favorite. We would play it together and thought it was the coolest to be playing the same game but doing completely opposite things
I have very vivid memories of waking up an hour earlier than usual before school to play The Urbz in 2006. We had an Eye Toy so all the billboards were me in my pink hearts dressing gown 😂
I’ve replayed MySims Agents a few times. I adore it. I bought the DS version a couple months ago but I’m stuck on a mini game right before the game gets good.
Sims 2 DS feels like a complete fever dream. The secret Rat themed superhero, mobsters making you pee if you try to rob them, aliens you have to spray with waterguns... all while making sure your brochure stand is stocked and dust is swept up lol
I had the castaways game for DS as a kid. Can’t say I was really a fan tho. 😅 but the past few years I’ve found myself wishing I never gave it away cause I wanna try it again as an adult
Urbz: Sims in the City was one of the most aggressively 2000s games ever made. It PERFRCTLY captures the superficial, shallowness of media in the Bush Years. You know EXACTLY what kind of world the US looked like when you look back at that game.
I’d say “US pop culture”, because holy shit that’s basically what I remember in my junior/high school years. The real world was influenced by it, but a bit more toned down.
@@TheSultan1470 he's right, it's an accidental time capsule of how escapist and shallow entertainment got in that era. It's actually a really cool observation.
Regarding your idea of a Sims Survivor game with the Sims arguing and voting each other out, I recall a "game mode" I played once on The Sims 3 where you start with a ton of money and get a large mansion with like 8 bedrooms. You make 7 random characters, then one "host" character, and at the end of each week, you look at all of the Sims' relationships and opinions of each other. Whoever is disliked the most gets "voted out," and leaves the family. You can only control the Host character. I don't remember all of the rules sadly, but it was a super interesting idea!
I do remember seeing a Let’s Play years ago that had the same idea, but in true Sims fashion, they had the twist that when someone was “voted out”, they were fed to a cowplant, and their life essence went to the most popular member.
Fun fact.. I was a child when I played TS2 game and so this is how I learned of Paramore. I grew up around hip hop so I was never exposed to that kind of music. When I became a teenager and I heard the song on the radio I was so confused and excited. I didn't realize it was a real song haha
I was obsessed with the Sims ps2 and Bustin Out when I was around 10ish, I remember being scared and confused when I played sims 2 on pc for the first time and there was no story mode lol
Bustin Out is easily my favorite Sims game, mostly because of the atmosphere that no other Sims game have since surpassed. The music, the visual style, furniture design...
You should give the DS Sims 2 ports a try. Youre a hotel owner in Strange town in 2, and the story of that game gets insane. In Pets you're a vet. The DS version of Castaway is sort of the same as the rest, but there are other pre made sims that are quest givers and a lot of the food collection stuff have been turned into mini games. I always loved it
Fun Fact: The Urbz and Sims 2 on PS2 recognized if you had a HDD in the PS2 and could install the games to it to speed up the game's loading time and helps with all that hitching the games had. It really made a difference!
I love the Urbz because it’s the first sims game I played, and the fashion. I feel like it’s the first game where the npcs had the same fashion style that I wanted, and would later have. Though, I 100% understand why The Urbz isn’t for everyone.
I actually died and came back as a zombie at Mom's House in The Sims. When you're a zombie, your hygiene is always low, so I was subject to endless pop-up textboxes from Mom complaining about how much I reeked. It's hilarious how they make her an utter sweetheart in Bustin' Out.
The idea that in the Urbz, you become “the coolest person in the city” by just superficially adopting whatever appearance and persona the various cliques want to see you reflect back at them is like… both very accurate to urban clubs (the groups that hangout kind, not the dancing and booze kind) as well as a hell of a social critique.
@@TheSultan1470you really hate the idea that the Urbz had any kind of social critique to offer, I swear you've undercut every comment I've clicked replies on to see if someone mentioned that the original Urbz design was supposed to be more satirical.
Interestingly, if you earn enough rep, it's possible to get characters you interact with to autonomously change their style to match yours, including the Black Eyed Peas.
I had a weird story with the Sims myself. I was introduced to the series with Urbz at my cousins house when he was playing his copy, I hudred percented that game and continued to try Bustin' Out next and loved it. After that, I tried to go back and play one, only to discover it had an actual end-state aka, you could win. When I found Sims 2 I found my favorite game of all time, and when I went to play castaways, I actually enjoyed the crap out of it. To this day I, in the back of my mind, want to try and make a sims-like game that actually captures the console-era of these beautiful time sinks.
@@SoulforSale You can play it on an emulator if you want, pcsx2 for computer, and Aethersx2 for Android ;) I play it on Android in 1440p with a ps4 controller, amazing game 🤩
I miss these kind of Sims games. The wacky, pop-culture, teen-rated vibes are what made me fall in love with the franchise, especially Sims 2 and Bustin’ Out. Very good memories! The handhelds were AMAZING and I spent so much of my childhood playing them.
The Urbz on GameCube and Sims 2 on PlayStation 2 were a big part of my childhood. I have almost all characters from both games and their soundtracks in The Sims 4 on PC.
The Sims 2, Sims 2 Pets and Sims 2 Castaways were all so much fun to me. Especially Castaways cause it was such a new spin on the console version of Sims and the monkeys were great.
I loved these ports, I grew with them Sims 2, Sims 2 Pets, The Sims Bustin' Out, Sims 2 Castaways, The Urbz, and I even try to go back to these games through emulators, so many good memories and it felt more fulfilling than new games that have no specific objectives
I was honestly really hoping you'd talk about the PSP Sims 2 game. I went back to it recently after remembering it when I was a kid. It was a very cool, interesting and unique Sims experience that I would honestly highly recommend anyone a fan of the series to experience for themselves.
i’ve been playing the sims for 21 years now, i got the sims bustin out on ps2 when i was 4 years old and it made me fall in love with the series and just gaming in general. i love this franchise because even all this time later, i’m still learning new things about it. it’s so rich with lore and history.
The urbz both on ps2/GameCube and also the DS/GBA game was a massive part of my childhood Also love how there were differences between the DS version and the GBA version
I'd definitely love to see a video on the handheld versions. Based on the stuff you seemed to enjoy here I think you'd quite like them. Especially Sims 2 and Bustin out for GBA, Urbz for DS and Sims 2 for DS and PSP (two entirely different games). Also there was a Sims 3 for DS but that was basically the PC version, or at least very close considering the hardware limitations.
Castaway was super interesting and had some silly characters in the journals/stories that you find that were fun to follow between the islands and complete their challenges. The items and recipes you could find were fun and neat. The buildings were different and really cool to me from a design standpoint from standard Sims games. Due to the console limitations however, it can be hard to fill the largest templates you're given since the memory can't handle all of the pieces too well. Overall it is a fun experience getting to unlock all of the materials in clothing and building, as well as finding the hidden grottoes with special items within them. My biggest gripe was really that overall, the game is quite small and easy to speed through.
I was absolutely obsessed with Sims 2 on console. My friends and I would go to each others houses after school and just play Sims 2 for hours. It was so much fun, seeing the intro at the beginning of the video made me so happy.
Aw I can’t believe Sims 2 for Nintendo DS isn’t in this list. That was such a wild freaking game. I hope you cover more versions in the future, would love to see it!
I miss these story modes especially the first game. I hated Mom and failed a lot on the first part when I was a kid. But if you just study cooking right away, you aren't entirely screwed. I also found out that if you use the Aroma machine one of the settings gives fun while your sims are sleeping, it really really helps!
8:00 Yeah, the so-called "stable" version of PCSX2 is way outdated, while the nightly builds not only have a nice new interface that makes it much easier to use, but also has significantly better compatibility across the board, so it's totally worth sticking with the nightly builds for now. 👍
I worked on The Sims 2 Console, Castaway, and all the Sims 2 / 3 Pets console games, including Pets 2 for PSP and Pets 3 for 3DS. I prototyped direct control for TS2C and the crafting UI for Castaway. This is a fun history to re-explore through new eyes. LMK if you have any unanswered questions.
Hey! Just as a heads up, Castaway was based on Castaway Stories, also a standalone PC game :) Not an expansion! But it did use the very same engine as TS2!
I'd say my favorite Sims game of all time has got to be Urbz for the GBA. You mainly control one Sim through a genuinely funny story and extremely memorable characters. Yeah, the annoyance of constantly having to stop activities to fulfill Sim needs was constant, but the game had a lot more to keep me coming back. Lots of customization, funny dialogue, a pretty long story mode, and a light, but fun rpg system. i still boot it up to this day and replay the story form time to time.
Urbz, Castaway and Bustin' Out were my childhood 😭😭 I didn't have a pc for so long that I didn't get to play the pc sims games until much much later. I would honestly love to see remakes of these games...
This cracks me up, the part with staying at your moms house, and how terrible the mom is cause I used to get literally stuck on that level for days. I’m testing a 20 year old memory but I swear I moved the tv and stereo outside so my mom stops waking me up, and built a wall around the bed or something. But if I did that I know it took me several REAL WORLD days to come up with that plan. I swear I even replaced the TV but the game still wants the original one fixed. I’m so glad I watched this video to know it wasn’t just me being bad at games as a kid cause I never understood why I couldn’t balance life. It’s also ironic to me how Urbz is considered “the worst” now because when I was a kid and the kids at school played these games they’d say it’s the best. I think they just liked the “ghetto lifestyle”, and like me with the “regular” Sims, we all probably had no clue how bad things were we just liked playing virtual dollhouse.
Indeed, what I like from the later sixth gen ports of the sims series (2 onwards) is that you can assume direct control on your sim with the analog stick. Truly revolutionary, no more point and clicking to make your sim do things.
Bustin Out was sooo good man. I remember how on two separate occasions I softlocked my story mode sim into an endless death cycle with badly timed saves
Any of the Sims Bustin' Out and 2 games on consoles were absolutely amazing. I loved my GBA, DS, and PS2 Sims games so so much! I even purchased the old consoles and these games again so I could play them in adulthood.
I love the Urbz. My dad, brother and I used to play it all the time when I was growing up. We had such a good time playing it. Its also the only sims game my dad would play as he thought the others were boring and pointless. I still have it somewhere buried in a box at the back of a closet.
If anyone was ever wondering how to beat the tutorial more quickly and how to deal with the insane mother you have. Just call her out to the backyard. Build a small room where you can lock her in until you get things in order. Just remember not to leave her there for long. I can't remember if she can die or not but just to be safe let her out once in a while. :)
Man the nostalgia from these games. Bit sad you didn't cover the psp version of the sims 2 though, it's wildly different from what I remember, it had this whole supernatural weird story, I think there was a murder mystery element? Strange game
The "less stable"/nightly/development version of ALL emulators is always the best choice. A lot of the stable/release versions of emulators are years out of date.
The Sims 2 on PS2 is lowkey one of the best ways to play Sims they need to do a retake of the gamestyle nowadays with modern qualities of life etc would be rawwww
This was a fun vid to explore, I knew about some of the other versions here, but I was always curious about trying them out or having the ideas brought up in them reused in future titles. Granted the only one I ever played was Sims 2 on PS2 and even then I tended to play a "cheat" version and never did the story mode. Also never played the multiplayer games because I didn't have anyone to play with growing up. Plus I'm kind of fascinated by Sims lore, one game that I always have a fun time playing and wish they continued with was "MySims Agents". It's the closest to a single player Sims game the series has ever really been, it still has Sims aspects like the build aspect but it's a LOT more simple, mostly down to who you put on a floor that you hired in your agency building, what objects are in the room (they effect the stats of what type of interest they specialize in), and what the wallpapers are, otherwise it's a detective game. I recommend it, it's a fun chill time.
I loved the story mode of all these games, except the Urbz, but only because I could never get past the first part. I was terrible at the button-pressing games for whatever reason. I still think Sims Castaway is one of the most fun games I've ever played. I couldn't rush through it and was forced to take my time and enjoy it. I also remember when Sims 2 on Xbox came out. I was so excited for aliens, and I enjoyed the progression of the story. I vaguely remember a Western setting with ghosts and I loved getting to put random ingredients together to see what weird food came out.
Also, in the jungle expasion in Sims 4, you see the area with the broken airplane. I'm not assuming they're the same area, but rather a callback to the sims 2 cataway
I actually Love Urbz. It is very very different than the others. I like it because it is so different. You can go to different neighborhoods and try to get in tough with those people. Also there's 3 buildings you can decorate and I do spend the time to do so and set them up well to where it is a break from the game play and get the stats back to full. So yeah Urbs is great just a different way of playing.
Even today, Bustin' Out is the best Sims game by so ridiculously far, it's actually mind boggling that it came out before even Sims 2, and the way you could link the (not nearly as good, but still really unique) GBA version to the GC one to unlock some bonus goodies was really neat. Since yer energy, social and hygiene never drop during the tutorial (unless you mess up and sleep, talk to someone and/or wash), whenever I start a new playthrough I usually spend a few hours maxing all of my skills in Mom's house before moving on.. just never ever touch her jukebox or she'll start bothering you nonstop Man, I wish they'd make another actually good Sims game again, with a story mode and unlockable goodies and everything
So far you didn't touch the most important thing about these games that made them fun. MULTIPLAYER!!!! me and my sisters and cousins spent hours playing these games together. 39:24
I love survival games, so Sims Castaway was AMAZING to me as a kid. Even now I would say it's one of my favorite games of all time. The story is super easy and fast, but I loved building the big houses and cooking all the different recipes and just making my sims enjoy the island life.
I grew up playing the Sims 2 on PlayStation 2 first, then Bustin’ Out. Never completed either because I was like 5 lol, but I remember only going to one of my cousins’ house to play the Sims 2 on their PC then crying to come home when I had to go to bed. Good times
I played a little of TS Castaway on PS2 when i was a kid, but I stopped playing because of the game's own slow pace when I discovered that I had to abandon my well-planned base on the beach and make a new one further down the island to avoid wasting time running in all over the place
Yo, I still have my Castaway game for the PS2. I still crack it out like twice a year. It honest to God is still as fun to me today as it was all those years ago ♡
I absolutely loved the analog control. I feel the consoles should always stick to a story version of the sims and new gameplay elements like direct control
I loved Bustin Out. Especially the part about unlocking ekstra stuff. It gave a reason to keep playing. Like when you play Tekken to unlock all the characters.
Update: The Sims has some even stranger handheld games - probably the weirdest games in the series, and that's saying something. Here's my video looking at The Sims 2's _three different games_ released by the same studio in 2005 for the GBA, DS, and PSP! ua-cam.com/video/bbRJv50EThQ/v-deo.html
Original comment:
Simscribe. This comment took forty minutes to write, thank you.
Thank you Golden Bolt, very cool!
This is great. Thank you
Every good UA-cam comment does
Simscribe, toom me 8 seconds, world record holder baby.
Time well spent.
It surprises me how many people didnt actually like Castaway, i LOVED the game as a kid/teen and still sometimes go back to revisit it now. I guess different people like different things! I certainly did love it though
Was and is by far my favorite Sims game, I like all the RPG mechanics and secrets unlocking plumbob island was so cool. Adventures was kind of fun but man I really wish Castaways got a reboot or homage.
SAME I Loved Castaway. It was fun being able to survive, forage, and find new inventions.
Castaway was my absolute favorite. I would kill to play it again
it's the only game i 100% finished as a kid
My brother and i LOOOVED Castaways 2!! All the tiny and huge secrets of the island, the constant grind for materials, befriending chimps!! We were obsessed with it and played it constantly
Holy shit, I used to play The Sims 2 on PS2 with my cousin a lot, the soundtrack is engraved on my brain to this day, that Simlish Paramore song is unforgetable.
yesss omg
Literally my first introduction to Paramore and Trivium. 😆🤘
Pressure by Paramore in Simlish. I still love that song so much til this day
Same but mine was my cousin! Her and I would play for hours!
they're my introduction to paramore~
Bustin' Out had a whole subarc in one of its job paths where you become a hitman who kills your boss to become the king of crime, while stating you love watching people burn to death and I just think that's lovely.
I’ve never gotten that far and now I want to play again 😅
Wasn't there a crime tier that was an arsonist? Iirc the description read something along the line that you cried tears of joy and people mistook it as sadism or something. Been a while xD
Omg I totally remember those career descriptions. 😆 I remember in one file I went through all 10 levels of each career path to get allllll those little fountain gnomes.
I was so slow as I kid I never got past the part where you move into the barn😭
YESSS!!
Aw man, I adored Urbz. The heavily stylised characters and set designs, the soundtrack (And not just the Black Eyed Peas either), and totally different vibe made this lowkey one of my favourite console Sims games. I know it's not that great when you break it down to the nitty gritty, and I totally get why people would like the other ones more, but Urbz will always have a special place in my heart.
Urbz was a great VIDEOGAME, But EA considers it a flop cuz it wasnt a great sims game💯. Urbz will always be 100% my all time favorite, and ive never met a single person who didnt absolutely love it. But as for being a sims game it was admittedly bad due to having such a limited ammount of customization. With most sims games u can spend hundreds of hours just on trinkets and stuff u buy (like all the alien appliances in sims 2) but after maybe the first 3 hours of playing through and unlocking everything in urbz u often get bored with darius penthouse after unlocking the sky golf, then u go back to the rage cages and chop shop and then u spend the of your time making sushi and gaming in little tokyo, (all things i loved and did for THOUSDANDS of hours) but still very limited in terms of sims material. Great game bad sims game😎❤️
LETS get retaded in here let's get retaded in here
I was gonna say! It wasn't THAT bad!
Urbz was my favorite
has the best interations and style
I've played through The Urbz a disturbing amount of times
Same
Theme song burned in to my brain
Same man. It actually breaks my heart learning that EA considered it a flop. But also learning that sims 2 was basically a reskin of Urbz 2, now it all makes perfect sense to me why 2 was such a GOATED game. Ill always have urbz as my number 1 though
@@ItsHappyHourArchived Seriously though!
The music was all a CERTIFIED BOP, even the awkward black eyed peas simlish stuff, and all of the areas and clothes were just BLEEDING different styles.
My favorite thing to do in that game was mix up the clothes and hairstyles I could buy in there. Loved mixing goth clothes and makeup with stuff from Neon east. ❤️
It had such personality, and now it's like this crazy time capsule of things that were popular then. I love it so much.
Urbz on ds and gba was top tier
castaway was extremely intriguing to me
i've wished for a new one since then, cause yeah we got tons of survival games, but none with that charm, that mainly are cool to play not beacause you have to fight and on the side you have to fulfill your needs, but beacause the surviving part was the core experience, the most dangerous enemy was starving, or having to sleep under the rain
that's a lot of nostalgia talking, i know
If you think about it thats the ultimate survival game. You literally have to eat, sleep, bathe, go to the bathroom on an ISLAND with only drift wood, some rocks, and fish. Such a fun game!
I finally played it this month. Definitely a unique experience and I loved the cut scenes.
I was OBSESSED with that game and I've been looking for my copy with no luck for years now.
I spend way to much time playing that game. Lol one of the coolest Sims games ever. The exploration was honestly really good
I really feel like castaway was not given the credit it deserves in this video
The Urbz will forever have a special place in my heart; my brother and I played it growing up and had a blast with it!
It was a huge part of my childhood!
@@MaeyiQuinn mine too
Urbz with the black eyed peas was absolutely great
Same I wish I still had my copy for ps2
Urbz was my favorite title as a kid and I will forever love it
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the Sims 2 PSP story mode. That story goes places.
Praise the cow
Absolutely love that game really hope golden bolt comes back around to talk about that one
I'll be totally honest, I just figured that it was a pared back version of the PS2 game! I believe the rest of the PSP ones tend to fall in line, so this is good to know
@@TheGoldenBolt would love to see that game covered, really liked playing that as a kid
I hope you end up covering it too! It was such a strange game.
This was the golden era of the Sims franchise. The Sims 2 on PC was amazing, the spin offs and console ports were fun, weird and they had a clear identify. So much charisma and love put into these games! Especially the GBA versions of The Sims Bustin Out, The Urbz and The Sims 2. They're literally just strange adventure games, and I ate them up.
Urbz in a weird way was wayyy ahead of its time, with all the diffrent things u could do in each diffrent city map. Game was sooo insanely replayable that i must have flipped it a good 2 dozen times. And sims 2 storymode was just straight up great. Ill never forget those times staying up all night with my cousin trying to beat everything. ALSO WHO COULD EVER FORGET ABOUT THE MUSICAL MASTERPIECE THAT IS “LATE AGAIN!!!!”
I used to wake up at 5am to play The Sims 2 castaway on my Wii before school. I loooooved that game, great times!
I used to do something like that when I was a kid had just gotten a new video game I loved. Wake up extra early just to get some play time in.
I wish video games still amused me today at 29/30 yrs old like they did as a child. I'll still hop on my Xbox from time to time but I can't get immersed into the game anymore.
Actually based, I loved my happy little camp and just doing stuff every day in the game. If I could just get a slightly remastered version that fixed the stuttering and engine issues, I'd be so happy
The Sims 2 and The Urbz for PS2 were ridiculously good. Glorious soundtrack also.
im just starting the video now but wasnt it the Urbz that had black eyed peas as the basis for the soundtrack? haha what a time to be alive, iconic
@@galaxsija4591 yes!! it was like a weird sims/black eyed peas crossover game. so bizarre but i ate it up as a kid
I played both games so much growing up! The Sims 2 PS2 is where I was first introduced Paramore.
Get those nostalgia goggles off.
@@olivercharles2930 Shit tastes and skill issue.
I actually really enjoyed Castaways and I've been itching to play it again. If I recall I played it on the Wii, so I imagine that holds up even better hahaha
Yes! I played it on PS2 and Wii. I loved this game but I am also very fond of survival type games so 🤷🏾♀️ makes sense to me lol
I struggled with this one so much idk why..
Bustin' Out was my favorite of the lot. I wish EA made more story driven Sims games, or even included the feature in the PC releases. These games are criminally underrated. Thank you for covering them!
so glad to see a fellow Bustin' Out loyalist here... sooo many urbz enjoyers but not enough of us
@@coatimundi69 Bustin' Out is objectively the best. The game had great personality, kickass music, and the premade lots in the story mode were some of the most creative I've seen in the franchise considering its limitations. I also really loved the lighting, as well as the pool water effects. It looked crisp and as close to real life as you can get.
The only thing I didn't like about the game was the object limiter. That thing was the bane of my existence. I know it was needed because of hardware limitations, but it was not fun to deal with. A home will be at full capacity by the time only half of the home is furnished. It was even worse in the console version of The Sims 3, which made no sense to me because the PS3 was such a different beast. It could play Uncharted 2 at 60 fps no problem but it can't handle some extra clutter in The Sims? Like are you for real?
@@phen0m207 you really feel the personality just in the character creator, where the burglar comes in. & i didnt like the clutter limiter it as a practical thing but i loved it as a person who routinely tortured their sims 💀 everything burnt down and killed my guys
Bustin out is my all time favourite followed by sims 2 pc, there is a charm to it I can't get from the others and the music is top tier
Urbz was my and my sister’s favorite. We would play it together and thought it was the coolest to be playing the same game but doing completely opposite things
This is my exact kink for UA-cam videos.
It's Mr Sonic Apologiser! x3
I have very vivid memories of waking up an hour earlier than usual before school to play The Urbz in 2006. We had an Eye Toy so all the billboards were me in my pink hearts dressing gown 😂
Ever experienced the MySims games? My memory of them being that they looked like what you would get if the Sims and animal crossing had a baby.
I loved the Wii version!! Living architect dreams I didn't even know I had.
@@jensendsflowers millennials and zoomers only get that experience in fiction and dreams.
My Sims Kingdom on Wii to this day is one of my favourite games ever!
omg the like secret agent one 😮💨
I’ve replayed MySims Agents a few times. I adore it. I bought the DS version a couple months ago but I’m stuck on a mini game right before the game gets good.
You gotta do the DS ports! The Sims 2 on DS has an even weirder story mode!!
the hotel near the alien desert! I was so confused by it not being like sims 3 on the pc (which was my first intro to sims)
I loved the vet idea from the sims 2 pets on ds lol
Yeah, the ds ones were interesting. I had pets and castaways
Sims 2 DS feels like a complete fever dream. The secret Rat themed superhero, mobsters making you pee if you try to rob them, aliens you have to spray with waterguns... all while making sure your brochure stand is stocked and dust is swept up lol
I had the castaways game for DS as a kid. Can’t say I was really a fan tho. 😅 but the past few years I’ve found myself wishing I never gave it away cause I wanna try it again as an adult
Urbz: Sims in the City was one of the most aggressively 2000s games ever made. It PERFRCTLY captures the superficial, shallowness of media in the Bush Years. You know EXACTLY what kind of world the US looked like when you look back at that game.
Alright, if you say so, social expert
I’d say “US pop culture”, because holy shit that’s basically what I remember in my junior/high school years. The real world was influenced by it, but a bit more toned down.
@@TheSultan1470 They did say so
@@TheSultan1470 he's right, it's an accidental time capsule of how escapist and shallow entertainment got in that era. It's actually a really cool observation.
@@failedstateupdate As opposed to today?
i loved the urbz sims in the city. childhood classic
Regarding your idea of a Sims Survivor game with the Sims arguing and voting each other out, I recall a "game mode" I played once on The Sims 3 where you start with a ton of money and get a large mansion with like 8 bedrooms. You make 7 random characters, then one "host" character, and at the end of each week, you look at all of the Sims' relationships and opinions of each other. Whoever is disliked the most gets "voted out," and leaves the family. You can only control the Host character. I don't remember all of the rules sadly, but it was a super interesting idea!
I do remember seeing a Let’s Play years ago that had the same idea, but in true Sims fashion, they had the twist that when someone was “voted out”, they were fed to a cowplant, and their life essence went to the most popular member.
We played that in Sims 2. I'm sure there's a picture story of mine on that out there on the 'net somewhere....
@@Bethgael If you ever find it I'd love a link!
@@nordinreecendo512 I'll make a note. It'll be some defunct forum somewhere.
Fun fact.. I was a child when I played TS2 game and so this is how I learned of Paramore. I grew up around hip hop so I was never exposed to that kind of music. When I became a teenager and I heard the song on the radio I was so confused and excited. I didn't realize it was a real song haha
I was obsessed with the Sims ps2 and Bustin Out when I was around 10ish, I remember being scared and confused when I played sims 2 on pc for the first time and there was no story mode lol
even now i want a story mode on current Sims games, i just love having goals to hit that im not making myself lol
@@soul_vicex the story modes is what made console versions superior to me 💯
@@soul_vicex Btw, you can have a story mode with a mod if you want :)
@@soul_vicex same
Bustin Out is easily my favorite Sims game, mostly because of the atmosphere that no other Sims game have since surpassed. The music, the visual style, furniture design...
You should give the DS Sims 2 ports a try. Youre a hotel owner in Strange town in 2, and the story of that game gets insane. In Pets you're a vet. The DS version of Castaway is sort of the same as the rest, but there are other pre made sims that are quest givers and a lot of the food collection stuff have been turned into mini games. I always loved it
Then he have to do Urbz and Sims Bustin Out on DS too
I'm glad I'm not the only one that misses the direct control. I haven't played since because the other games don't have it. Great video as always!
There are mods that add it for Sims 4
@@GrammerPancreas and one for sims 3 too
Fun Fact: The Urbz and Sims 2 on PS2 recognized if you had a HDD in the PS2 and could install the games to it to speed up the game's loading time and helps with all that hitching the games had. It really made a difference!
that sounds like some next-level shiiii, i thought that only few final fantasy games did use HDD in ps2?
I love the Urbz because it’s the first sims game I played, and the fashion. I feel like it’s the first game where the npcs had the same fashion style that I wanted, and would later have. Though, I 100% understand why The Urbz isn’t for everyone.
I actually died and came back as a zombie at Mom's House in The Sims. When you're a zombie, your hygiene is always low, so I was subject to endless pop-up textboxes from Mom complaining about how much I reeked. It's hilarious how they make her an utter sweetheart in Bustin' Out.
Fr I hated Sims 1 mom she was a cunt
The idea that in the Urbz, you become “the coolest person in the city” by just superficially adopting whatever appearance and persona the various cliques want to see you reflect back at them is like… both very accurate to urban clubs (the groups that hangout kind, not the dancing and booze kind) as well as a hell of a social critique.
Ok
@@TheSultan1470lemme guess, you’re a minority edge lord and you have a horrible relationship with your mother?
@@TheSultan1470you really hate the idea that the Urbz had any kind of social critique to offer, I swear you've undercut every comment I've clicked replies on to see if someone mentioned that the original Urbz design was supposed to be more satirical.
@@failedstateupdate Ehh sort of, I don't really remember. Late nights on UA-cam, gotta love it!
Interestingly, if you earn enough rep, it's possible to get characters you interact with to autonomously change their style to match yours, including the Black Eyed Peas.
I had a weird story with the Sims myself. I was introduced to the series with Urbz at my cousins house when he was playing his copy, I hudred percented that game and continued to try Bustin' Out next and loved it. After that, I tried to go back and play one, only to discover it had an actual end-state aka, you could win. When I found Sims 2 I found my favorite game of all time, and when I went to play castaways, I actually enjoyed the crap out of it. To this day I, in the back of my mind, want to try and make a sims-like game that actually captures the console-era of these beautiful time sinks.
Bustin' Out was my absolute jam. It's the main reason I still have a PS2.
The Sims 2 Castaway is still one of my all time favourites!
Now I have to check eBay
@@SoulforSale You can play it on an emulator if you want, pcsx2 for computer, and Aethersx2 for Android ;) I play it on Android in 1440p with a ps4 controller, amazing game 🤩
Same I love that game I'm mad my game froze in the Middle
I freaking love the Sims PS2 games. They're such a fever dream. Bustin' Out and The Urbz I probably have a good hundred hours in.
I miss these kind of Sims games. The wacky, pop-culture, teen-rated vibes are what made me fall in love with the franchise, especially Sims 2 and Bustin’ Out. Very good memories! The handhelds were AMAZING and I spent so much of my childhood playing them.
Never in my life did I think I'd see a video essay on Bustin Out, let alone Castaways
The Urbz on GameCube and Sims 2 on PlayStation 2 were a big part of my childhood. I have almost all characters from both games and their soundtracks in The Sims 4 on PC.
The Sims 2, Sims 2 Pets and Sims 2 Castaways were all so much fun to me. Especially Castaways cause it was such a new spin on the console version of Sims and the monkeys were great.
Bustin' Out was the first Sims game my sister and I played and I have fond memories from it
I loved these ports, I grew with them Sims 2, Sims 2 Pets, The Sims Bustin' Out, Sims 2 Castaways, The Urbz, and I even try to go back to these games through emulators, so many good memories and it felt more fulfilling than new games that have no specific objectives
I was honestly really hoping you'd talk about the PSP Sims 2 game. I went back to it recently after remembering it when I was a kid. It was a very cool, interesting and unique Sims experience that I would honestly highly recommend anyone a fan of the series to experience for themselves.
Bustin' Out, Castaway and The Sims 2 on PSP were my absolute favourite games in the 00's. I still play Bustin' Out to this day.
I can't believe Urbz was considered a flop, I've played it the most and I was put on the Black Eyed Peas music, it literally worked on me.
i’ve been playing the sims for 21 years now, i got the sims bustin out on ps2 when i was 4 years old and it made me fall in love with the series and just gaming in general. i love this franchise because even all this time later, i’m still learning new things about it. it’s so rich with lore and history.
The urbz both on ps2/GameCube and also the DS/GBA game was a massive part of my childhood
Also love how there were differences between the DS version and the GBA version
I'd definitely love to see a video on the handheld versions. Based on the stuff you seemed to enjoy here I think you'd quite like them. Especially Sims 2 and Bustin out for GBA, Urbz for DS and Sims 2 for DS and PSP (two entirely different games). Also there was a Sims 3 for DS but that was basically the PC version, or at least very close considering the hardware limitations.
Castaway was super interesting and had some silly characters in the journals/stories that you find that were fun to follow between the islands and complete their challenges. The items and recipes you could find were fun and neat. The buildings were different and really cool to me from a design standpoint from standard Sims games. Due to the console limitations however, it can be hard to fill the largest templates you're given since the memory can't handle all of the pieces too well. Overall it is a fun experience getting to unlock all of the materials in clothing and building, as well as finding the hidden grottoes with special items within them. My biggest gripe was really that overall, the game is quite small and easy to speed through.
I was absolutely obsessed with Sims 2 on console. My friends and I would go to each others houses after school and just play Sims 2 for hours. It was so much fun, seeing the intro at the beginning of the video made me so happy.
Aw I can’t believe Sims 2 for Nintendo DS isn’t in this list. That was such a wild freaking game. I hope you cover more versions in the future, would love to see it!
I miss these story modes especially the first game. I hated Mom and failed a lot on the first part when I was a kid. But if you just study cooking right away, you aren't entirely screwed. I also found out that if you use the Aroma machine one of the settings gives fun while your sims are sleeping, it really really helps!
ive been obsessed with the sims 3 wii release, it had a sort of choose your own adventure style multiplayer option and i loved it so much growing up
8:00 Yeah, the so-called "stable" version of PCSX2 is way outdated, while the nightly builds not only have a nice new interface that makes it much easier to use, but also has significantly better compatibility across the board, so it's totally worth sticking with the nightly builds for now. 👍
I worked on The Sims 2 Console, Castaway, and all the Sims 2 / 3 Pets console games, including Pets 2 for PSP and Pets 3 for 3DS. I prototyped direct control for TS2C and the crafting UI for Castaway. This is a fun history to re-explore through new eyes. LMK if you have any unanswered questions.
Hey! Just as a heads up, Castaway was based on Castaway Stories, also a standalone PC game :) Not an expansion! But it did use the very same engine as TS2!
I'd say my favorite Sims game of all time has got to be Urbz for the GBA. You mainly control one Sim through a genuinely funny story and extremely memorable characters. Yeah, the annoyance of constantly having to stop activities to fulfill Sim needs was constant, but the game had a lot more to keep me coming back. Lots of customization, funny dialogue, a pretty long story mode, and a light, but fun rpg system.
i still boot it up to this day and replay the story form time to time.
Seeing all the Yakuza/Like a Dragon references in this video is making me wish that there’s gonna be a video about it soon 👀
I still have Sims 2 and Urbz on PS2. The nostalgia I have for these right now.
Urbz, Castaway and Bustin' Out were my childhood 😭😭 I didn't have a pc for so long that I didn't get to play the pc sims games until much much later. I would honestly love to see remakes of these games...
Of the console games, Bustin' Out was my favorite, but the unique style of the Urbz is still engaging and unforgettable.
I played Sims 2 on PS2 so much with my sister back then, miss those times
The Urbz was the best game in my childhood, my older sister and i played it on our PS2 it was amazing
This cracks me up, the part with staying at your moms house, and how terrible the mom is cause I used to get literally stuck on that level for days. I’m testing a 20 year old memory but I swear I moved the tv and stereo outside so my mom stops waking me up, and built a wall around the bed or something. But if I did that I know it took me several REAL WORLD days to come up with that plan. I swear I even replaced the TV but the game still wants the original one fixed. I’m so glad I watched this video to know it wasn’t just me being bad at games as a kid cause I never understood why I couldn’t balance life.
It’s also ironic to me how Urbz is considered “the worst” now because when I was a kid and the kids at school played these games they’d say it’s the best. I think they just liked the “ghetto lifestyle”, and like me with the “regular” Sims, we all probably had no clue how bad things were we just liked playing virtual dollhouse.
Indeed, what I like from the later sixth gen ports of the sims series (2 onwards) is that you can assume direct control on your sim with the analog stick. Truly revolutionary, no more point and clicking to make your sim do things.
Bustin Out was sooo good man. I remember how on two separate occasions I softlocked my story mode sim into an endless death cycle with badly timed saves
Any of the Sims Bustin' Out and 2 games on consoles were absolutely amazing.
I loved my GBA, DS, and PS2 Sims games so so much! I even purchased the old consoles and these games again so I could play them in adulthood.
I loved the portable version of the Urbz. I must've spend hundreds of hours of my childhood replaying it over and over
Bustin Out was my first Sims game ever. Fantastic game!
I love the Urbz. My dad, brother and I used to play it all the time when I was growing up. We had such a good time playing it. Its also the only sims game my dad would play as he thought the others were boring and pointless. I still have it somewhere buried in a box at the back of a closet.
Also played both The Sims 2 PS2 and The Sims Bustin' Out PS2 with my brother.
If anyone was ever wondering how to beat the tutorial more quickly and how to deal with the insane mother you have. Just call her out to the backyard. Build a small room where you can lock her in until you get things in order. Just remember not to leave her there for long. I can't remember if she can die or not but just to be safe let her out once in a while. :)
Also pro tip, pause as soon as you wake up and move the tv against the wall so she can’t turn it on. Then you don’t have to fix it.
I’ve always played The Sims on PC from day one, but Bustin Out was one of my most played games on PS2 growing up.
Man the nostalgia from these games. Bit sad you didn't cover the psp version of the sims 2 though, it's wildly different from what I remember, it had this whole supernatural weird story, I think there was a murder mystery element? Strange game
The "less stable"/nightly/development version of ALL emulators is always the best choice. A lot of the stable/release versions of emulators are years out of date.
I LOVED playing Castaway. I ate through that thing so fast it was anamazing experience.
The Sims 2 on PS2 is lowkey one of the best ways to play Sims they need to do a retake of the gamestyle nowadays with modern qualities of life etc would be rawwww
Sims 2 on DS was fucking wild, it's probably why I always think you should shoot aliens with water to beat them lol
i loved the console sims castaway, my mum even got into it with me and i had to explain no other sims games are like that 😂
The Sims 2 console having Paramore's "Pressure" entirely redubbed in simlish was so goated
The Urbz was fun. I highly enjoy that game, and still do a play through every now and a again.
This was a fun vid to explore, I knew about some of the other versions here, but I was always curious about trying them out or having the ideas brought up in them reused in future titles. Granted the only one I ever played was Sims 2 on PS2 and even then I tended to play a "cheat" version and never did the story mode. Also never played the multiplayer games because I didn't have anyone to play with growing up. Plus I'm kind of fascinated by Sims lore, one game that I always have a fun time playing and wish they continued with was "MySims Agents". It's the closest to a single player Sims game the series has ever really been, it still has Sims aspects like the build aspect but it's a LOT more simple, mostly down to who you put on a floor that you hired in your agency building, what objects are in the room (they effect the stats of what type of interest they specialize in), and what the wallpapers are, otherwise it's a detective game. I recommend it, it's a fun chill time.
I played a Sims game on the DS that was so weird, it was set in like a desert town and you lived in a hotel. It was very fever dream type
Good news, I actually just covered that one in a different video not a week ago!
27:54 Whoever decided that rooftop ferret packaging should be in the game (or in anything), I hope they got the treatment they needed
What, are you a ferret
I loved the story mode of all these games, except the Urbz, but only because I could never get past the first part. I was terrible at the button-pressing games for whatever reason. I still think Sims Castaway is one of the most fun games I've ever played. I couldn't rush through it and was forced to take my time and enjoy it. I also remember when Sims 2 on Xbox came out. I was so excited for aliens, and I enjoyed the progression of the story. I vaguely remember a Western setting with ghosts and I loved getting to put random ingredients together to see what weird food came out.
Seeing that wave machine from the Sims 2 hit me like an actual tsunami
Also, in the jungle expasion in Sims 4, you see the area with the broken airplane. I'm not assuming they're the same area, but rather a callback to the sims 2 cataway
I actually Love Urbz. It is very very different than the others. I like it because it is so different. You can go to different neighborhoods and try to get in tough with those people. Also there's 3 buildings you can decorate and I do spend the time to do so and set them up well to where it is a break from the game play and get the stats back to full. So yeah Urbs is great just a different way of playing.
Even today, Bustin' Out is the best Sims game by so ridiculously far, it's actually mind boggling that it came out before even Sims 2, and the way you could link the (not nearly as good, but still really unique) GBA version to the GC one to unlock some bonus goodies was really neat. Since yer energy, social and hygiene never drop during the tutorial (unless you mess up and sleep, talk to someone and/or wash), whenever I start a new playthrough I usually spend a few hours maxing all of my skills in Mom's house before moving on.. just never ever touch her jukebox or she'll start bothering you nonstop
Man, I wish they'd make another actually good Sims game again, with a story mode and unlockable goodies and everything
So far you didn't touch the most important thing about these games that made them fun. MULTIPLAYER!!!! me and my sisters and cousins spent hours playing these games together. 39:24
I love survival games, so Sims Castaway was AMAZING to me as a kid. Even now I would say it's one of my favorite games of all time. The story is super easy and fast, but I loved building the big houses and cooking all the different recipes and just making my sims enjoy the island life.
I grew up playing the Sims 2 on PlayStation 2 first, then Bustin’ Out. Never completed either because I was like 5 lol, but I remember only going to one of my cousins’ house to play the Sims 2 on their PC then crying to come home when I had to go to bed. Good times
This video is such a pleasant surprise! Do you have any plans on covering the main games in The Sims series?
I played a little of TS Castaway on PS2 when i was a kid, but I stopped playing because of the game's own slow pace when I discovered that I had to abandon my well-planned base on the beach and make a new one further down the island to avoid wasting time running in all over the place
Yo, I still have my Castaway game for the PS2. I still crack it out like twice a year. It honest to God is still as fun to me today as it was all those years ago ♡
Same here. It's one of the comfiest games I've ever played
I absolutely loved the analog control. I feel the consoles should always stick to a story version of the sims and new gameplay elements like direct control
I had both the sims bustin out, castaway on DS and 2 on my ps2. The hours I put into those games is insane
I loved Bustin Out. Especially the part about unlocking ekstra stuff. It gave a reason to keep playing. Like when you play Tekken to unlock all the characters.
Ah man, Urbz: Sims in the City. That takes me back.
I LOVE Sims 2 Castaway, so much that i got it twice, once in 2013, and then again just a few years ago
The sims consoles game are freaking great! I had urbz and jesus it was awesome but when i played it on pc i seen the huge differences
I loved the Sims 2 Console version. Playing it together in 2 Player Story Mode was soooo much fun back then...