Games of the 8-, 16- & 32-bit era
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Populous

TitlePopulous
First release1989
DeveloperBullfrog Productions
PublisherElectronic Arts
PlatformsAmiga, Atari ST, DOS, Game Boy, Master System, Mega Drive / Genesis, NEC PC-98, PC (Windows), PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16, SNES / Super Famicom, Sharp X68000
Genresgod game, real-time strategy
Also known asPopulous-Populous-The-Promised-Lands · Populous - The Promised Lands · Populous 1
Players1 player
Co-opNo
ESRB ratingE10+ Everyone 10+
Releases
Amiga: 1989-01-01 (PAL)
Atari ST: 1989-06-05 (PAL)
DOS: 1989-06-05
Mega Drive / Genesis: 1990-12-01 (PAL), 1991-08-08
Master System: 1991-03-01
PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16: 1991-04-05
SNES / Super Famicom: 1991-09-30
Game Boy: 1993-01-01
Wikidata IDQ1239244

Scattered worlds serve as the battlefield where you command natural forces like earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes. By managing followers to raise crops and build towns, you increase your divine power to smite evil opponents. This strategy simulation requires balancing land manipulation and population growth to expand your influence across the universe.

Description: REG-Vault, CC BY-SA 4.0 Facts from Wikidata (CC0), gaps filled from REG-Vault and TheGamesDB. Only retro platforms tracked by this site are listed; the year is the earliest release date recorded on Wikidata.
Sources
Wikidata (Q1239244) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0
REG-Vault (gb/populous) · last updated 2026-10-29 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0
REG-Vault (snes/populous) · last updated 2026-10-27 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0
TheGamesDB (39477) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
TheGamesDB (78406) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
TheGamesDB (2552) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
TheGamesDB (4561,34463) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
TheGamesDB (34655) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
TheGamesDB (3236) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
TheGamesDB (2968) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
TheGamesDB (24113) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only
Image credits
Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (12): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Electronic Arts · internal use only. REG-Vault page
Box art (1): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded, PAL release) · © Electronic Arts · internal use only. TheGamesDB page
Box art, Screenshots, Logos (5): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded) · © Electronic Arts · internal use only. TheGamesDB page
Screenshots (3): Source: libretro-thumbnails (upstream libretro-thumbnails (art by developers/publishers; see repo README)) · © Electronic Arts · internal use only.
Sprites
No sprite sheets yet. Find sprites on The Spriters Resource ↗ /
Videos
Populous (Amiga 500) Gameplay Non Commentary
Play&Record · Amiga version · longplay · 29:15auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:search, checked 2026-10-25 18:43 UTC
AMIGA : Populous - with Commentary !!
njenkin - Retro Gaming · Amiga version · longplay · 34:38auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:search, checked 2026-10-25 18:42 UTC
"Auto-matched" videos were found automatically (title + platform match via the YouTube Data API) and may occasionally be wrong. Videos are hosted by YouTube (embedded via youtube-nocookie.com; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play) and belong to their channels.
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