The Tower : Bonus Edition

The Tower: Bonus Edition for PlayStation is a Japanese building-management simulation released by OpenBook in Japan on November 1, 1996. It is the PlayStation version of the tower-management game known in Japan as The Tower, rather than the overseas PC release titled SimTower: The Vertical Empire. The player is the owner of a growing high-rise, responsible for turning a modest one-star building into an acclaimed vertical city and ultimately earning the title of “The Tower.”

Construction takes place in a side-on cross-section of the building. Players add floors and choose the uses that will fill them, from offices and shops to apartments, hotel rooms, restaurants, and leisure facilities. Each addition affects both income and the people using the building, so expansion is not simply a matter of building upward. A profitable floor still needs to fit into a tower that residents, workers, guests, and visitors can move through comfortably.

Transport is the central management problem. Elevators connect the tower’s many levels, and their placement, reach, and traffic load shape how smoothly the building operates. Stairs and escalators supplement the network, but a poorly planned route can leave tenants waiting or unable to reach the services they need. As the population rises, the player must balance space for new tenants with the circulation systems and support facilities that keep the tower functioning.

Progress is measured through the building’s star grade. A one-star start offers a limited range of construction choices, while population growth and successful operation open further possibilities. The long-term aim goes beyond adding floors: the building must develop the scale, activity, and quality expected of a top-rated tower. Incidents and visitors can also demand attention, making day-to-day observation part of the management routine instead of a purely abstract accounting exercise.

This PlayStation release is specifically the Bonus Edition, a fuller console edition following the 1996 Saturn version. It includes five maps: commercial, business, international-airport, and resort settings, plus a hidden Statue of Liberty map. The PlayStation version also adds ways to inspect activity closely: a magnifying-glass view lets players look inside parts of the building, while a 3D CG feature allows a walk-through of its interior. These additions make The Tower: Bonus Edition PS1 a distinct Japanese console entry in Yoot Saito’s tower-simulation series, not merely a differently named copy of the original computer game.