Sandbox-esque life simulation video games have been around for decades. From Spore to Minecraft to The Sims, there is a game that could be appealing towards anyone of any age. Some of the earliest simulation games were released during the advent of the home computer. In 1990, a developer named Will Wright released a game that was compatible with the Commodore Amiga, the IBM PC, and the original Apple Macintosh. SimEarth: The Living Planet was a tactic life simulator in which the player adjusted the elements of a planet’s environment, manipulating its atmosphere and temperature, as well as the topographic features and sustainable life forms that would be able to exist. While the game itself can be considered innovative, the lasting legacy of simplistic video game designs is not a stranger to the vaporwave scene. In 2015, a producer under the moniker「ｎｅｗｔｙｐｅ」releasedＳＩＭ ＥＡＲＴＨ™ ｕｌｔｒａ気候 (which will be referred to simply as SimEarth Ultra in this piece), an album that explores the technology of tracking weather patterns and storm bodies.

Below is the original album art as released by 「ｎｅｗｔｙｐｅ」, as well as the Fantasy Deluxe cassette J-Card.

SimEarth Ultra took Bandcamp by storm in the second and third quarters of 2016 when United States-based label Fantasy Deluxe released a cassette pressing on March 24, 2016. Due to the highly overwhelming popularity of this physical release, three editions were made in total until it was announced that as of now, there are no more plans to re-release any more presses of the physical.

Utilizing the stylistic norms of what makes vaporwave, 「ｎｅｗｔｙｐｅ」took it upon themselves to create a soundtrack very similar to the early days of The Weather Channel’s muzak. These lo-fi tracks drone and meld into each other to create a warm enclosure-like aura around the listener. SimEarth Ultra is the compositional equivalent of drifting on wispy cirrus clouds.