SimCity BuildIt vs RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SimCity BuildIt
Design and build a bustling city metropolis, managing resources, citizen happiness, and urban challenges like traffic and pollution. Trade with other players, compete in city wars, and unlock unique landmarks and regional styles to create your dream city.
- Design and build city metropolis
- Manage citizen happiness and services
- Solve urban challenges like traffic
- Trade with other players
- Compete in Club Wars and contests
- Unlock landmarks and regional styles
- Build and customize train networks
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Includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items, including a random selection of virtual in-game items. Welcome, Mayor, to the city builder and simulator! Be the hero of your very own city metropolis. This is the city-building game to design and create a beautiful, bustling town or metropolis. Every decision is yours as your city simulation grows larger and more intricate. You need to make smart building choices as a city builder to keep your citizens happy and your skyline growing. Then build, trade, chat, compete, and join clubs with fellow city-building Mayors. The city game that lets you build your city, your way! BRING YOUR CITY METROPOLIS TO LIFE Build your metropolis with skyscrapers, parks, bridges, and much more! Place buildings strategically to keep your taxes flowing and your city growing. Solve real-life city-building challenges like traffic and pollution. Provide your town and city services like power plants and police departments. Strategize, build and keep traffic moving with grand avenues and streetcars in this fun city builder and simulator. PUT YOUR IMAGINATION AND CITY ON THE MAP The possibilities are endless in this town and city-building simulator! A worldwide city game, build Tokyo-, London-, or Paris-style neighborhoods, and unlock exclusive city landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty. Make building rewarding and discover new technologies with the Future Cities while getting athletic with sports stadiums to become a pro city builder. Build and decorate your town or city with rivers, lakes, forests, and expand along the beach or mountain slopes. Unlock your city-builder strategies with new geographic regions for your metropolis, such as the Sunny Isles or Frosty Fjords, each with a unique architectural style. The city-building game where there’s always something new and different to make your city simulation unique. BUILD AND BATTLE YOUR WAY TO VICTORY The city-building game that lets you defend your city metropolis against monsters or compete against other mayors in Club Wars. Plot winning city-builder strategies with your Club mates and declare war on other cities. Once the battle simulation is on, unleash crazy disasters like the Disco Twister and Plant Monster on your opponents. Earn valuable rewards to use in battle, in building or to improve your city. In addition, take on other players in the Contest of Mayors, where you can complete weekly challenges and climb the League ranks toward the top of this city game. BUILD A BETTER CITY WITH TRAINS The city-building game to improve as a city builder with unlockable and upgradeable trains. Discover new trains and train stations for your dream metropolis! Build, expand and customize your rail network to fit your unique city simulation. BUILD, CONNECT AND TEAM UP Join a Mayor’s Club to trade city supplies with other members who love and chat about city-building strategies and available resources. Collaborate with other town and city builders to help someone complete their personal vision as well as get support to complete yours. Build big, work together, lead other Mayors, and watch your city simulation come to life in this city-building game and simulator! ___ Important Consumer Information. This app: Requires a persistent Internet connection (network fees may apply). Requires acceptance of EA’s Privacy & Cookie Policy and User Agreement. Includes in-game advertising. Contains direct links to the Internet and social networking sites intended for an audience over 13. The app uses Game Center. Log out of Game Center before installation if you don’t want to share your game play with friends. User Agreement: http://terms.ea.com Privacy and Cookie Policy: http://privacy.ea.com Visit https://help.ea.com/en/ for assistance or inquiries. EA may retire online features after 30 days’ notice posted on www.ea.com/service-updates.
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic
Build and manage your dream theme park with this classic simulation game. Design incredible roller coasters, create diverse rides, and manage finances and staff to keep guests happy and the park profitable. Enjoy hundreds of content options and challenging scenarios.
- Combine best features from RCT 1 & 2
- Design and build roller coasters
- Create diverse rides and attractions
- Manage park finances and staff
- Customize park scenery and landscaping
- Progress through classic park scenarios
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RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic is a new RCT experience, combining the best features from two of the most successful and beloved RCT games in the series’ history – RollerCoaster Tycoon® and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2. Create and run amazing parks complete with the most outrageous rides imaginable. RCT Classic includes a mixture of authentic playability, depth of gameplay and unique graphical style of Chris Sawyer’s original best-selling RollerCoaster Tycoon® PC Games, now enhanced for handheld devices. Packed with content, players can enjoy designing and building roller coasters and rides, landscaping parks and managing the staff and finances to keep their guests happy and the money flowing in. Can you become the next RollerCoaster Tycoon? PLEASE NOTE: Additional content for RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic is available via In-App Purchase, specifically the three expansion packs: Wacky Worlds, Time Twister and Toolkit. The expansion packs are the ONLY content that require an In-App Purchase and In-App Purchases are not used anywhere else in the game. Key Features: •The Original RollerCoaster Sim: Experience all the fun from the original RollerCoaster Tycoon® and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2 games, with a new app that combines the best elements of both classic titles. •Coaster Construction: Create incredible roller coasters – Quickly build a pre-made design or use the intuitive piece-by-piece building tools to design and theme your own unique rides. •Park Designer: Keep your guests happy by building gentle or wild rides, food and drink stalls, water rides, and even transport rides to take them around the park; Customize your park by building scenery, fine-tuning the landscape, and routing the footpaths. •Park Management: Run your park’s marketing and finances to make a profit while attracting more guests; Organize your staff to keep the park running well and looking its best. •Exciting Environments: Build the ultimate theme park in a variety of challenging environments, from the tranquility of Forest Frontiers to the bustling commerce of Megaworld Park. •Park Scenarios: Progress through 95 classic park scenarios from RollerCoaster Tycoon® and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2. • Authentic Gameplay: Classic-style characterful isometric graphics and original amusement park music and sound effects. • Packed with Content: Includes hundreds of types of roller coasters and rides, and dozens of different shops, stalls, and facilities. Additional Content Available with In-App Purchases: 1)Wacky Worlds Expansion Pack: Find your passport and pack your bags! Wacky Worlds takes players on the ultimate trip around the globe in 17 new park scenarios! Includes exotic rides, profitable concessions and the most famous landmarks known to man including the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Statue of Liberty, Great Wall of China and more! Each location is packed with opportunities for success, fun and unique challenges. 2)Time Twister Expansion Pack: Travel through time with 14 new park scenarios based on historical and fantasy time-themes and build a park that is truly a blast from the past (or future if you like). Play in a Prehistoric amusement park decorated with huge animated T-Rex’s and coasters such as the Raptor Ride, or choose from Mythological times, the Dark Ages, the Rock & Roll crazed ‘50s, the Future or the Roaring Twenties. 3)Toolkit: Park Scenario Editor: Design and build your own amazing parks – Make them as easy or as challenging as you want, using your choice of scenery and rides! Includes a number of Six Flags parks to get you started. Ride Designer: Build, test, fine-tune and theme your own awesome roller coaster designs in the Ride Designer before saving them for use while playing! Import and Export: Share your saved parks, park scenarios and ride designs with friends, and try out their creations too! (Includes the ability to import most saved parks and scenarios created with the original RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 PC game).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SimCity BuildIt at Free against RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic's $5.99. SimCity BuildIt also leads on ratings volume (88K vs 3.3K). RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (66% vs 50%). On rating, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
SimCity BuildIt is free to download; RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic costs $5.99 up front. SimCity BuildIt sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.1 for SimCity BuildIt against 4.2 for RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SimCity BuildIt has 88K ratings behind it against 3.3K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of SimCity BuildIt's written reviews are positive against 66% of RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic's.
SimCity BuildIt ships an update every 3 weeks, RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.
| Parameter | SimCity BuildIt | RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $5.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (88K ratings) | 4.2 (3.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 49.7% of reviews | 66.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 88K — better | 3.3K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #64 | #29 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 13 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 350 MB | 374 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | EA Swiss Sarl | Atari |
Customer experience
SimCity BuildIt
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic
User reviews
SimCity BuildIt
From 88K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🌟 Great game
- 🌇 Beautiful graphics
- 🕹️ Enjoyable gameplay
- 🤝 Supportive club community
- 🕰️ Relaxing and not too demanding
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive in-app purchases
- 🕰️ Slow progression without paying
- 🔍 Difficult to find needed items
- 🤖 Aggressive monetization tactics
- 🤯 Frustrating club war mechanics
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic
From 3.3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Faithful to the original PC game
- 👍 Intuitive touch controls
- 💡 Includes both RCT1 and RCT2 content
- 🎢 Brings back childhood memories
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 🔍 Small UI elements on smaller screens
- 💰 Expensive in-app purchases for additional content
- 🚫 Unable to set park admission fees
Bugs and requests
SimCity BuildIt
Reported bugs
4 issues- Cars phasing through trains
- Inconsistent traffic patterns
- Disappearing delivery trucks
- Frequent crashes and connection issues
Requested features
5 requests- Add city layout editor
- Allow raising/lowering train tracks
- Improve free-to-play experience
- Introduce search function for trade depot
- Add option to disable construction bubbles
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inability to delete or modify certain ride elements
- Mechanic staff getting stuck or not functioning properly
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps
Requested features
4 requests- Sandbox mode with unlimited customization
- Ability to sync progress across devices
- Improved graphics and visual fidelity
- Support for more languages
In-app purchases
SimCity BuildIt
- Small Daily SimCash$0.99
- Pocketful of SimCash 3$1.99
- Premium Vu Pass Level I$2.99
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- Pocketful of SimCash$4.99
- Premium Vu Pass Level II$5.99
- Premium Mayor's Pass +$8.99
- Little Stack of SimCash$9.99
- Nice Pile of SimCash$19.99
- Briefcase of SimCash$34.99
- Big Sack of SimCash$49.99
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic
- Expansion Pack - Wacky Worlds$1.99
- Expansion Pack - Time Twister$1.99
- Toolkit: Edit, Design and Share$5.99
Questions
Is SimCity BuildIt free?
Is RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic free?
Which has better reviews, SimCity BuildIt or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic?
Do SimCity BuildIt or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic have ads?
Which is updated more often, SimCity BuildIt or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic?
Which is more popular, SimCity BuildIt or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic?
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