According to IGN.com, SimCity for the Nintendo DS “plays like a metropolis, looks like the ghetto.” SimCity DS received a decent rating of seven out of ten for being “a solid recreation of the city builder, with all the management tools and addictive gameplay necessary to make a bustling metropolis.” However, the game was criticized for having bland graphics and frustrating touch screen controls along with far too many minigames and horrible character design. Overall, SimCity DS was an ambitious effort but would have been better suited as a SimTown sequel.

IGN also has some SimCity DS screenshots and videos.