Despite my best efforts to keep track with the majority of what’s being released for what system, the fact that Theme Park was getting the DS treatment completely slipped my radar until I happened upon it in my local video game store not too long ago. It triggered one of those long, thought-provoking pauses during which I could be found staring into space remembering faded gaming memories and looking generally rather gormless into the bargain. Theme Park, eh? How many of us wasted stupid amounts of time on the PC original back in the days when there was a happy little frog on the box rather than the EA logo?

Quite a few, I’d wager. For its time, Theme Park was an outstanding piece of entertainment, offering players a whole new slant on the sandbox gaming genre. As a young scamp I ploughed serious time into making some pretty epic parks, discovering along the way the guilty pleasures such as letting folks onto your rollercoaster knowing full well that it was only half complete, or the cynical business tactic of pouring tons of salt on your fries and placing a convenient soft drink store right next door to mop up thirsty customers.

You know what the best thing about Theme Park DS is? It’s that it is pretty much exactly the same. From the shiny red bouncy castles that used to explode every other minute to the stupid chaps wandering around in shark costumes, everything is pretty much pixel-for-pixel a DS version of the PC original title. Added in are a couple of different assistants to help you with business decisions and a multiplayer mode which allows you to wander around a friend’s park via the Wi-Fi function, but everything else is as it was back in 1993.

For those not familiar with the comings and goings of the game, let me take a few paragraphs to give you the gist. As you hopefully managed to deduce from the title, the game puts you in control of your own Theme Park and lets you pretty much build and run it as you wish. Initially you are given a couple of hundred thousand dollars and a completely empty plot of land that will eventually end up turning into your wondrous world of amusement. By selecting from an initially modest offering of rides, shops and general flora and fauna you are given a small base on which to build a huge empire.

Using the DS stylus, you are allowed to place pathways and drag and drop pretty much everything you want into any space you like. See that large open space right in front of people as they walk into the park? A bouncy castle might look rather spiffing there, don’t you think? Maybe have a small path next to it leading to a duck shooting game, and also an ice-cream store? The possibilities are endless. The trick is to initially begin with a small, manageable park and grow outwards like a blossoming tree, but in practice it becomes clear that this is trickier than you would initially believe.

For every ride you place, you will need sufficient engineers to repairs them when they break. How quickly they break depends on how reliable they are and what speed you run them at, so chucking your rollercoaster on full whack in order to pack in those extra few dollars is not always a great idea. Similarly, you’ll need plenty of groundskeepers to wander around cleaning up rubbish and vomit so people don’t get upset at the condition of the park. It’s all a big balancing act, and at some points taking a bit of a risk with a new ride or ticket pricing will allow you some long term gains for short term losses.

Depending on which difficulty level you are on, a number of supplementary options are available so you can micromanage your park to your heart’s content. There’s the option to invest a monthly amount of money into developing your existing rides and staff, giving you more efficiency. There are also options to dabble in share prices and stock, or even negotiating with staff and stock partners to get new deals. Beneath the cutesy, colourful sprites beats a surprisingly detailed business heart.

Which is the reason why you’ll keep investing time in the game. There’s layer upon layer of detail to uncover as you unlock new, better rides, shops and pieces of land around the globe for additional parks. It’s as addictive now as it ever was, and the DS suits it perfectly. With everything available at a simple swish of the stylus you’re left to being able to digest the game properly without having to wrestle with the controls.

You could level at Theme Park DS that, in keeping it pretty much similar to the original it has retained most of the original’s faults. Visitors often get stuck in the stupidest locations, and often you’ll find public opinion swaying drastically for no apparent good reason. Sometimes your handymen and mechanics will completely ignore cleaning and repair duties and sit around eating picnics on the grass, which in a way I can sympathise with as I often find myself munching some food or something when I really should be working instead.

Those points are fair enough, but they still miss the main point that Theme Park DS is a great game. It looks slightly dated but it’s colourful and packed full of character, whilst the game itself is addictive and detailed, allowing for practically endless opportunities and clever manipulation of the public to extract cash from them. It’s a very welcome return for one of my most cherished franchises, and this time it can be enjoyed by a whole new bunch of people. For once, my rose-tinted memories have remained intact.