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The Simpsons Arcade Game The Simpsons series. Arcade, PS3, X360. Leaderboard Guides Discord Streams Resources Forum Statistics Sub-games. Moderated by: Maquinaazul30 Maquinaazul30, LRock617 LRock617. View rules Submit run. Advertisement (Log in to hide). The long-awaited home console port of the classic Simpsons arcade game is finally here! Join three of your friends as you chase down Smithers and Mr. Burns on the epic quest to save Maggie. Battle your way through 8 classic Springfield locations in this hilarious blast from the past!

The Simpsons is an arcadebeat 'em updeveloped and published by Konami released in 1991. It was the first video game based on the Simpson's franchise to be released in North America. The game allows up to four players to control members of the Simpson family, as they fight various enemies in order to rescue the kidnapped Maggie.^[1] The game was ported to the Commodore 64 and MS-DOS soon after its launch in the arcades, and was released as The Simpsons Arcade Game on those platforms. It was also released under that title on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in February 2012, however it has since been removed from both services.^[2][3]

Plot[edit]

The Simpsons are walking in the street when Smithers, who stole a diamond from a Jewel Shop for Mr. Burns, accidentally bumps into Homer. This sends the diamond flying and landing in Maggie's mouth. Smithers kidnaps Maggie and runs off with the diamond in her mouth, prompting the Simpsons to pursue him and attempt to rescue Maggie. On the way, they encounter goons hired by Mr. Burns to stop the family from getting Maggie back and are forced to fight them.After defeating several goons including a wrestler, they chase Smithers into Krustyland, where they are attacked by Clowns and rabbits (from Matt Groening's original cartoon Life in Hell). They corner Smithers on a Krusty balloon but the balloon pops, sending the family and Smithers falling down to Springfield Cemetery. the Zombies, are awakened by Mr. Burns, rise from their graves and attack the Simpsons family, but the family fights them off. The Simpsons family then follows Smithers into Moe's Tavern, where they encounter several mobsters and a Drunk which they are forced to fight.The Simpsons later follow Smithers to the Springfield Butte. Smithers is fleeing from a bear and carries Maggie towards a river, and the Simpsons follow his trail, battling woodsmen and apes on the way. The bear that was chasing Smithers tries to kill the Simpsons, but the family defeats the bear. Smithers escapes by helicopter and the Simpsons family are sent down a large waterfall and are knocked out. In their coma, the Simpsons envision themselves in the clouds and in their minds they battle a gigantic bowling ball. After waking up, they see the helicopter landing on top of the Channel 6 studio. They get in the studio and see Scott Christian doing a news report on Maggie's kidnapping. They have a brief battle with a Japanese Kabuki Warrior before hopping on a helicopter to the Springfield Power Plant, where Smithers has taken Maggie.

At the Power Plant, the Simpsons family confronts Smithers, who battles them with bombs. When Smithers is defeated, Mr. Burns breaks through the wall inside a large machine which attacks with Bombs, Lasers, Missiles, and Pincers, and starts a climactic battle against the Simpsons. After a long fight, Burns is defeated, and the Simpsons rescue Maggie, who places her pacifier into Mr. Burns' mouth. They celebrate along with Grampa, Patty and Selma (and many other characters in the Japanese version). In the end, Homer throws the diamond away and Maggie puts her pacifier back into her mouth.

Gameplay[edit]

The Simpsons is a side-scrolling beat 'em up that any player can join in any time, which only most cabinets go up to 2 players while some go up to 4 players. Each player taking roles as a member of the Simpsons family: Marge, who swings her vacuum cleaner; Homer, who punches and kicks; Bart, who wields his skateboard; and Lisa, who attacks with a jump rope. Along with the standard array of jumping and attacking, two players can team up to form a joint attack, which differs depending on which characters are used. For example, Homer can lift Bart up to use him as a melee weapon, whilst teaming him up with Marge puts them into a powerful cartwheel attack. Players can also pick up food items to restore health, as well as objects they can throw at enemies and items that temporarily power up their attacks. Players are given a small number of lives, which are lost if the player's life bar runs out. If the player runs out of life with no lives remaining (represented by a Bart-like devil appearing before them), the player has 20 seconds to add credits or the game ends. At certain points in the game, players compete against each other in button-bashing minigames to earn additional points (computer controlled characters replace characters not being played by real people).^[1]

The Japanese version of the game includes many differences from the North American release.^[4][1][5] These changes include throwable small scale nuclear bombs that clear all on-screen enemies. A life bar that, unlike in the North American version, can accumulate three levels by eating food beyond the first full level. The player's life is turned into bonus points after they complete a level and is restored when the next level begins. In this version there are hidden items (food and weapons) which appear when the player hits specific points of the screen. Also, in the Japanese version the score system is different: each enemy character defeated gives the player a certain number of points, while at the North American version the player only earns a single point by defeating them. This is similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game score system.

Legacy[edit]

Soon after its release in the arcades, the game received ports to Commodore 64 and MS-DOS computers developed by Novotrade. A listing on the Australian Classification Board website, posted on November 9, 2011, hinted at a port of the game being developed by Backbone Entertainment for multiple platforms.^[6] In January 2012, a high-definition port of The Simpsons Arcade Game was announced for PlayStation Network for release in February, with a release on Xbox Live Arcade also revealed.^[7] The port features online multiplayer, the ability to unlock the rare Japanese 4-player version of the game, and promotional content from the game's arcade launch.^[7] The game was initially made available exclusively to PlayStation Plus users at no charge.^[8] In December 2013, the game was removed from the PlayStation Network store, although at the time it was still available through the Xbox Live Marketplace; no reason for the removal was given by either Sony or Konami.^[9]

A completely different title inspired by the arcade game, The Simpsons Arcade, was released by Electronic Arts for iOS on December 19, 2009. Unlike the arcade game, the title is a single player game where players control Homer, assisted by the other family members via power-ups. The plot is also slightly altered, as it revolves around a thumb drive containing plans for Burns' 'Project: Operation Mission' hidden inside a donut that Homer attempted to eat after bumping into Smithers, who had been tasked with securing the plans. With Burns' associates retrieving the donut and taking turns keeping it safe while Homer remains ignorant of the drive inside, his objective is simply to take back the donut.^[10]

Reception[edit]

ScrewAttack placed the Arcade version of the game as the #1 best cartoon-based game of all time.^[13] The PC/MS-DOS version of the game was reviewed in 1992 in Dragon #180 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in 'The Role of Computers' column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.^[14]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcHopper, Steven (2012-02-03). 'The Simpsons Arcade Review'. IGN. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
2. ^'X-Men and The Simpsons Arcade Game disappear from PSN, still on XBLA'. Polygon. 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
3. ^'The Simpsons Arcade takes us back to the bowling alley (review)'. VentureBeat. 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
4. ^'Hardcore Gaming 101: Konami Beat-em-ups'. hardcoregaming101.net. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
5. ^'The Simpsons (Arcade) - The Cutting Room Floor'. tcrf.net. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
6. ^Sterling, Jim. 'The Simpsons Arcade likely coming to consoles'. Destructoid.
7. ^ ^abMakuch, Eddie (February 1, 2012). 'Simspons Arcade Game hits XBL Friday'. GameSpot.com. CNet. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
8. ^Makuch, Eddie (January 31, 2012). 'Simpsons Arcade Game arriving next week for PlayStation Plus subscribers'. GameSpot.com. CNet. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
9. ^Tracey Lien (December 20, 2013). 'X-Men and The Simpsons Arcade Game Disappear From PSN, Still On XBLA'. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
10. ^'The Simpsons Arcade on the App Store on iTunes'. Itunes.Apple.com. 21 December 2009. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
11. ^Weiss, Brett Alan. 'The Simpsons -Review'. Allgame. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
12. ^McShea, Tom. 'The Simpsons Arcade Game Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved Nov 16, 2017.
13. ^'Top 10 Cartoon Games'. GameTrailers. ScrewAttack's Top 10. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
14. ^Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (April 1992). 'The Role of Computers'. Dragon (180): 57–61.

External links[edit]

• The Simpsons at MobyGames
• Simpsons, The at the Killer List of Videogames