Top 10 Tycoon Based Video Games

Initially released in 1997, "Game Dev Story" was given a re-imagining for the smartphone generation and re-released for the iOS and Android operating systems. In this game, players take control of their own development company that they're tasked with expanding into a Nintendo-esque powerhouse. Following a timeline that parallels the real video game industry, this tycoon title is loaded with historical allusions and witty references that are sure to put a smile on the faces of hardcore gaming enthusiasts. We would've given this spot to the newer "Game Dev Tycoon", but this one’s still better.

Set in the Caribbean during the Cold War, the "Tropico" series puts players in the role of El Presidente, aka chief ruler of a banana-republic-esque island where everything built, destroyed, and regulated is your handiwork. A CMS at heart, these games are often comically referred to as dictatorship simulators for their strikingly familiar designs to political figures and factions that are maybe too on the nose with their real-life counterparts. Nevertheless, the "Tropico" series has been praised for its creative and real-time strategic aspects, bearing a total of five official games each with their own innovative features and expansion packs.

Rome wasn't built in one day, and players of these games will attest to that fact. Similarly to other city-building titles "Caesar" gives players absolute power as the chief builder and overseer of one of Rome's ancient provinces. However, unlike other games in the sub-genre, "Caesar" also puts players in charge of several non-city planning aspects meant to add additional financial and strategic burdens in-game, including defense budgeting and diplomacy. While we applaud "Imperium Romanum" for their efforts, our standing ovation goes to Sierra Entertainment for their extensively researched illustrations of Roman architecture and culture, resulting in a more vivid and historically accurate gaming experience.

With the straightforward goal of creating a profitable zoo, the tycooning for these games comes in the form of players building exhibits appropriate to specific animals, keeping them tamed and happy, and maintaining visitor satisfaction. With both principal games spawning an above average number of expansion packs, "ZooTycoon" has allowed players to see, secure, and train the whole nine yards of the food chain. Everything from endangered creatures, to marine mammals, and even...dinosaurs? If it walks, or, has walked the Earth at some point, "Zoo Tycoon" has beautifully digitized them for gamers to make like John Hammond with.

Okay, for those of you who have seen the sister video for this list and are thinking, "wait what?", allow us to explain and demonstrate. As you see here, this game isn't just about making movie magic, it's also about expanding and managing the film studio that they're produced in. With that said, the studio supervision side of "The Movies" is just what you'd expect if you were managing a real back lot, this means overseeing the construction of sets, sound-stages, practical buildings, and offices. Likewise, you're also in charge of the hiring of in-studio staff members like screenwriters, designers, stuntmen......you get the picture.

We know what some of you guys might be thinking: "Hey! Isn't this game basically SimCity?", well...kind-of and no. While certainly inspired by the Maxis franchise, by that we mean the flak its 2013 reboot received, "Cities: Skyline" certainly offers enough visual and gameplay differentiation, that labeling it a copycat can be unfair. Designed by the developers of, "Cities In Motion", this game aims is to pressure players with a hyper-realistic in-game experience. This means throwing real-life snafus that you'd expect from running a real city, from heavy traffic, to crime control, to...(gasp), okay it's SimCity minus the disasters and pop-up book graphics.

A top-down 2D CMS, this game tasks players with managing various aspects of a prison. As its name suggests, this means doing everything from building cells, blocks, and other facilities you'd expect to find if you were in the joint. However, the grind doesn't stop with designing, as you're also put in charge of hiring staff, determining inmate schedules, and assuring the overall quality of the prison through minimizing prison escape odds and potential riots. We tip our hats to "Prison Tycoon" for originating this concept, however we're ruling in favor of "Prison Architect" for re-imagining it with a less-is-more approach for the smartphone generation.

Though the premise sounds a bit simple on a superficial level, the actual gameplay and objectives of this game puts your mind in strategic-thinking mode just as well as any other game on this list. Putting aside the obvious building of tracks and stations, the "Railroad Tycoon Games" also has players scheduling train departures to maximize profitability, scanning for safe and usable routes, and completing construction contracts with time constraints. With four games under this series' belt, including a collaboration with Sid Meier of "Civilization" fame, "Railroad Tycoon" is far from a laughable concept and is appreciated by aspiring transport magnates and strategy aficionados everywhere.

Conceived by programmer Chris Sawyer, "RollerCoaster Tycoon" was every theme park enthusiast's ultimate escape without having to leave home, giving them the chance to engineer their own original amusement parks, rides, and of course, roller-coasters. Of course when you’re done being a business mogul you can also created the world’s most enjoyable death trap. Reaching record-breaking heights in terms of sales and critical reception, the initial two titles in the series spawned numerous and popular expansion packs based on real-life parks across the globe. When the Atari-developed sequel, popularly dubbed RCT3, was released, it came with special innovations that boosted prominence and sales, including: realistic physics, pyrotechnic show designing, on-ride events, and finally allowing players to ride their creations!

Before we top off with our #1 pick, let's have a look at a few honorable mentions:

"SimTower" (1994-2008)
"Football Manager" series (2004-)
"Theme Hospital" (1997)
"Airline Tycoon" series (1998-2011)

As the first title that began gamers' love affairs with resource-management games and of course, the Sims, this city-building series established and remains the gold standard for CMS games and their sub-genres to follow. Bearing new features and industry firsts with each succeeding title, "SimCity" placed players in the roles of mayor, financier, architect, city planner, and the list of creative-based offices goes on. Though its reboot has built a reputation for being the "Phantom Menace" of the series, there's no denying that the heights that "SimCity" has reached is higher than any other tycoon-based game in the world. Dream it, build it, own it!

Do you agree with our list? Which tycoon game has you aspiring to be the ultimate business magnate? For more big-shot Top 10’s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com!