Utopia - The Creation of a Nation hits different when it boots instantly in your browser. Released in 1991 on the Super Nintendo, this retro classic from Gremlin Interactive is ready the second you press start — no downloads, no setup.
It was later released for the Super NES in 1993, by Jaleco in the USA. Utopia: The Creation of a Nation is a strategy video game developed by Celestial Software and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1991 for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS.
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| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| D-Pad Up | ↑ | D-Pad up |
| D-Pad Down | ↓ | D-Pad down |
| D-Pad Left | ← | D-Pad left |
| D-Pad Right | → | D-Pad right |
| B (bottom) | X | Bottom face |
| A (right) | Z | Right face |
| Y (left) | S | Left face |
| X (top) | A | Top face |
| L | Q | Left shoulder |
| R | E | Right shoulder |
| Start | Enter | Start |
| Select | V | Select |
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The Story Behind Utopia - The Creation of a Nation
A fully functional map screen was prioritized as the first part of Utopia to be programmed, and Ing states that "we created some temporary graphics for the buildings and then I worked on all the routines necessary to scroll around the world and select those buildings". You can't go completely overboard because the more intelligence you put in, the slower the gameplay. A map editor was designed for Utopia during development to 'simplify' map design, and Ing expresses that "basically, all it is is a modified version of the game itself with the gameplay taken out and all the facilities to help us construct the scenario maps".
According to Ing, Utopia was conceived around the idea of how Sim City could be improved upon. Ing expresses that the transition from 2D to 3D midway through development was a complication, stating that "there were a lot of problems when we switched to 2D to 3D. Each alien race has differing AI routines, but the level of detail put into their development was limited by memory restrictions, with Ing expressing that "it's a trade-off really.
How Utopia - The Creation of a Nation Plays
The player never actually gets to see the alien city, as it is located outside the playable map, but must instead rely on espionage to find out what the aliens and their city look like. The objective of the game is to colonize the new planet, manage the colony and raise the quality of life for the citizen in order to reach utopia. There is no option to form alliances, which means that the player's population must come into conflict with the aliens.
Initially the player has a few colonists with a lot to do. Certain buildings require personnel (hospitals, labs, mines, factories, shipyards ...) and therefore the player has to engage in population management. The player must also micromanage features such as tax rate, birth rate and trade.
Why Players Still Load It Up
This release made use of the Super NES Mouse peripheral. K240 was in turn succeeded by Fragile Allegiance, further refining the idea of colonizing an asteroid belt. The One gave the Amiga version of Utopia an overall score of 93%, calling it "a cross between Sim City and Populous - and a rival to both", furthermore stating that Utopia "incorporates so much more than [SimCity]" and that "each game provides a totally new challenge within the first few minutes".
Utopia was succeeded by K240, which carried the colonization idea over to an asteroid belt. The scenarios are named according to the alien races in the Amiga version and according to the planets in the SNES port: A data disk called Utopia: The New Worlds was later released by Gremlin. The One praises Utopia's difficulty and creativity, expressing that those who achieve a 'quality of life' rating of 100% should "consider a career in public office", and calls the game's alien antagonists "the spark of genius that sets this game apart from other software".
Utopia - The Creation of a Nation — Frequently Asked Questions
What console was Utopia - The Creation of a Nation released on?
Gremlin Interactive shipped Utopia - The Creation of a Nation for the Super Nintendo back in 1991, and this page runs that release.
Can I save my progress in Utopia - The Creation of a Nation?
Yes. Create a free account and the player unlocks save states — snapshot your progress at any moment and resume later on any device.
How many players does Utopia - The Creation of a Nation support?
This browser version of Utopia - The Creation of a Nation handles 1 player(s).
Can I play Utopia - The Creation of a Nation online for free?
Yes — Utopia - The Creation of a Nation runs directly in your browser on this page. There is nothing to download or install; the game boots in the player above.