It's Christmas Day 2005 and I'm huffing and puffing down the mic of my new Nintendo DS. I'd been begging for this particular gift for months, both because I yearned to play Nintendogs with my cousin, and because I clearly craved putting my 10-year-old asthmatic lungs through the ringer in The Sims 2's vacuum cleaning minigame. Blowing dust bunnies away while tidying my hotel is not something I'd ever done in the PC version of EA's beloved life sim, which I was fully committed to as a lifestyle choice at that tender age. Soon, though, it became the focus of my daily routine. Flash forward to present day, I still get just as big of a kick out of it, because the mechanic is just as unique, interactive, and charming as ever.
The Sims has a near constant presence throughout my life. I've talked in the past about how well The Sims Medieval holds up to this day, and reflected on the benefits and drawbacks of the mainline series' generational format – including how it complicates the future of The Sims 4 as a legacy product. But with 2008's MySims soon to be landing on Nintendo Switch, I decided to revisit two iconic Sims 2 handheld reimaginings that I feel deserve to be brought to the modern console next. Sorry in advance to any PSP truthers out there, but the GBA and DS versions are the ones I'm championing today.
Yee ba hey
I traded in my pearlescent pink DS classic for a swanky Guitar Hero DS Lite back in 2008, and it still lives in my bedside drawer. Sure, the screen calibration is far less reliable, and my keen little jaws have done a number on its stylus in the years since, but I can't bring myself to scrap the neat little handheld for two reasons: Sims 2 DS and Sims 2 GBA.
Having ready access to both versions via the same little machine has its advantages, even if I only pop in to experience them once or twice a year. It's a reminder of the weird and wonderful Sims spin-offs that have captured my imagination and affection in equal measures over the years, not to mention the welcome distractions they proved during long plane journeys or when my siblings jostled me off our shared PC as a kid.
The irony is that my little sister is the one who had a Game Boy Advance at the time, and despite how much I loved my DS version of The Sims 2, we both found ourselves arguing over the little rectangle cartridge. Eventually my mother gave in and bought me my own (perks of being a middle child), meaning we could do a little back and forth trading to give us both a taste of each. Years later it's still hard to pick favorites, but if I had to choose: Sims 2 DS has the best mechanics, story, and mission progression, but Sims 2 GBA is a clear winner for novel concept and worldbuilding.
Having ready access to both versions via the same little machine has its advantages, even if I only pop in to experience them once or twice a year.
Set in the arid dustbowl of Strangetown, The Sims 2 on Nintendo DS forces players to take up the mantle of hotel owner extraordinaire, building it up from a ramshackle ruin to a five-star establishment with themed suites, a casino, and multiple bars and lounges. Oh, and did I mention a top secret lair belonging to a dormant superhero? Constructing all of this requires plenty of Simoleons, earned from hotel guests paying for their stays in full upon a pleasant visit. The likelihood of happy customers increases with the cleanliness, quality, and environment of the guest rooms and facilities available, so it's a matter of completing side jobs on top of the main quests to build up those coffers. The time-honored money-making tradition of creating and selling paintings is still a staple here, with paintings either sold at the art gallery or used to decorate rooms and suites for a little aesthetic boost.
It's a hotel hustle I would love to see on modern platforms. Condensing the two-screen experience to just the one would probably take a little tinkering, but if MySims can make the jump to the Switch, I don't see why Sims 2 couldn't follow suit. The main snag is that Nintendo's latest does not sport the built-in mic of its double-screened predecessor, putting my dreams of playing the vacuum minigame on the backburner. However, the Switch's touch screen is its saving grace. It's a much wider used mechanism in the game that can be given greater focus in a port. Tapping dust bunnies is just as effective and blowing on them, after all, and making a masterpiece worthy of gallery perfection – a single dot on an otherwise blank canvas, of course – could be as fulfilling on the Switch as it was the DS. Plus, who doesn't want to do shady missions for high-baller penthouse guests, even if it means offering gourds to a strange old statue and bringing a mummy back to life? Ah, nostalgia.
Lights! Camera! Glarch!
Sims 2 DS has the best mechanics, story, and mission progression, but Sims 2 GBA is a clear winner for novel concept and worldbuilding.
And then we have the ugly duckling of the Sims 2 handheld spin-offs: the Game Boy Advance version. Framed as a reality show, the player must complete a series of mission-based episodes to create drama among the people of Strangetown. Think The Truman Show, only you are the only one who knows that you're in a TV show.
Meddling in the lives of unaware citizens turns out to be a blast, moral quandaries aside, and you even get a sweet, customizable motorbike to jet around the town on. Episodes cover a variety of topics, from a cola craze to missing Sims, and no one is none the wiser that your character is in on producer Daddy Bigbucks' nefarious schemes. As a kid, I loved how both the DS and GBA Sims 2 games share a similar cast of characters, from Al Capone-like Frankie Fusilli to Kayleigh Wintercrest and the devious likes of intruder alien Emperor Xizzle. There's an implied shared aspect connecting the two games that makes them feel linked somehow, and maybe that's why they both occupy a similar space in my nostalgic memory.
Nintendo Switch has seen a number of old-school games being ported across, but until Sims 2 on DS and GBA makes the jump, it will always feel incomplete to me. It's a shame that younger gamers might not get to experience the zany magic of The Sims' most off-kilter handheld experiences purely because the hardware is scarcer by the year, so if MySims does well, I'm hoping Nintendo is willing to dig deeper into the annals of Sims games past to deliver some true gems worth uncovering.
Check out the best Sims 2 cheats (aside from the hallowed motherlode) that can be total gamechangers.
