SimEarth
SimEarth: The Living Planet is a life simulation game, the second designed by Will Wright, published in 1990 by Maxis. In SimEarth, the player controls the development of a planet. English scientist James Lovelock served as an advisor and his Gaia hypothesis of planet evolution was incorporated into the game. Versions were made for the Macintosh, Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega CD, and TurboGrafx-16. It was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console. In 1996, several of Maxis' simulation games were re-released under the Maxis Collector Series with greater compatibility with Windows 95 and differing box art, including the addition of Classics beneath the title. SimEarth was re-released in 1997 under the Classics label.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1990
- Developer
- Maxis
- Platforms
- 2 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 1 January 1990 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Maxis |
| Publisher | Fujisankei Communications International, Maxis |
| Platforms | Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Wii |
| Genres | Simulation |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q1511144, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is SimEarth? How long to beat it
Total play time for SimEarth is about 7.7 hours to do everything, and around 7.7 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 7.7h | 4 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where SimEarth sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where SimEarth lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 44ahead of 4% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 42ahead of 82% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about SimEarth
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where SimEarth appears
The ranked lists and finder pages SimEarth qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about SimEarth
What platforms is SimEarth on?
SimEarth is available on Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Wii. It first released in 1990.
Who made SimEarth?
SimEarth was developed by Maxis and published by Fujisankei Communications International, Maxis.
How long does it take to beat SimEarth?
about 7.7 hours for the main story, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.