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Did The Simpsons: Hit and Run hold up?! Ft. SuperShadow271
128 Plays8 months ago
In this episode, Satsunami is joined by friend of thew channel SuperShadow271 to discuss the iconic Simpsons game The Simpsons: Hit and Run. But where does this game rank amongst the others? Has it aged poorly in the modern gaming landscape? And is there anything donuts CAN'T do?! Let's find out!
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Review it Yourself
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Transcript
Introduction of Guest and Topic
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Chatsunami. My name's Chatsunami, and joining me for this driving adventure in Springfield is none other than the one and only Super Shadow 271. Shadow, welcome back. Thank you so much. I am so happy to be back so quickly.
00:00:36
Speaker
Yeah, I was joking to you about this before we started recording, but your Twitch chat will be going absolutely mental when they realise you've come back for not one, not two, but three episodes. Yeah, it's a new record. Oh, absolutely.
00:00:51
Speaker
next time you get a free coffee. So I'll need to get you back on. Oh yeah. Yeah, I'll get my punch card redeemed. So how are you doing tonight? I'm doing really well. How are you doing? Not too bad. I am actually really excited to finally be able to talk to someone about this game because I have to say my very good friend and co-host Andrew and I did a absolute...
Simpsons Month and Game Introduction
00:01:12
Speaker
It was so fun to do. We did a Simpsons month and oh, I actually can't remember the month I think.
00:01:18
Speaker
it was August. Shame on you not remembering the month. I know. It was smart, OK? It was smart. All I remember was the weather was lousy and indeed I didn't touch Wally, but that's a story for another day. Yes. But all the Simpsons fans who got that, please explain to the non-Simpsons fans what I mean. Yeah, that'll sound very, very different out of context. But yeah, when we did the Simpsons Month, we talked about a wide range of topics we talked about
00:01:47
Speaker
The Rise of the Simpsons, The Fall of the Simpsons. We even did a retrospective on groundskeeper Willie. That was not in the bingo card, but it was a lot of fun to do. But one of the ones that I really wanted to do, and I never really got the chance because my friends hadn't really played it for years, was the game that came out in 2003. And it was the 20th anniversary last year, which made me feel absolutely old.
00:02:15
Speaker
20 years? I'm so old! Can you believe that though? I genuinely remember getting this game when it came out. I remember playing it, I remember being so excited to run home and pop it into the GameCube and now where has the time gone shadow?
00:02:30
Speaker
I feel the wrinkles forming already. I'm aging so quickly. How does it feel to be closer to the age of Homer than the age of Bart? It's very, very strange. Yeah, one of my friends told me that a couple of years ago and immediately I was just like, nah, I don't like that.
00:02:48
Speaker
I was actually going to mention how, I mean, I assume we'll get into it more later on, but how funny it is that a lot of the earlier Simpsons games were art focused and how far away that seems now. Yeah, because before we jump into it and we talk about the absolute, I want to say pinnacle, but bear with us because we've all got into the good, the bad and the down right. I don't want to say ugly, but
00:03:12
Speaker
We'll get there. But yeah, today we are indeed going to be talking about 2003's Simpsons Hit and
Evolution of Simpsons Games
00:03:19
Speaker
Run. Again, if you're old for saying 2003's Simpsons Hit and Run, which was developed by Radical Interactive, it was published by Vivendi, and it absolutely took the game in scene by storm. But
00:03:32
Speaker
is something that you mentioned right there, which is fascinating because you're right, I think it was the SNES that had all of the Bart-centric games, so like Bart versus aliens, I think. Yeah, I think it was Space Mutants. Space Mutants, oh, kept on it. Boy, I hope someone got fired for that, London.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah, right. The funny thing about all the Simpsons games before Hit and Run 2 is they did actually come out for a pretty wide variety of consoles, but it's just funny to see the evolution of the concept of The Simpsons being represented in video games because it's like almost entirely Bart and then there's like one crusty game and a couple itchy and scratchy games, you know, and then after like Simpsons Hit and Run, it kind of just became The Simpsons.
00:04:15
Speaker
you know. Yeah because the only other one I can think of that was relatively Simpson centric and try saying that three times without whistling was the Simpsons arcade game. Now I actually remember this game, this is how old I am, I remember going to, and I can't remember the place exactly, but it was one of these caravan parks for holiday when I was really young and one of the places that they
00:04:41
Speaker
had in there was this massive building where they had an arcade in and all of these different attractions for kids. And one of them was the Simpsons arcade game and I always remember finding it quite weird because the premise of that was that Smithers, and again it's a really weird premise, Smithers tries to steal a diamond but he ends up stealing Maggie because she takes the diamond and the whole point in the game is you're supposed to go and
00:05:06
Speaker
and everything, but you could kind of tell that they weren't really trying to pay homage to the series, if that makes sense. It's more as if they just had a beat-'em-up game, but they put a Simpsons quote of paint on it. That's basically what I
00:05:21
Speaker
would have said is especially at the time too because I believe it came out in 91 or so so the template at the time would
Simpsons Road Rage and Legal Issues
00:05:28
Speaker
make sense to just be like hey just slap a skin of something recognizable on an existing well-liked gameplay style and then just slap that in arcades and I mean people do like the Simpsons arcade game so it's not that it was bad it was just more a visual thing than anything else really because I mean after that and
00:05:47
Speaker
I'm trying to remember the timeline here, but after that you had games like Simpson's Skateboarding, Simpson's Wrestling, which I don't know if they predate or they came after Simpson's Hit and Run. I'm pretty sure they did. I know Simpson's Wrestling predated Hit and Run because that came out for the PlayStation 1, but for Skateboarding I know that came out for the PS2 and I know that was really critically banned by both fans and journalists. So was Wrestling.
00:06:17
Speaker
Oh god, yeah, don't get me started. I genuinely, between fighting Mr. Burns and fighting Bumblebee Man, I still get PTSD. I just flying fish coming into the ring as he beats me down. Oh, that was horrific. But anyway, that's not all of this episode's about my untold trauma as of now. But you're completely right, because the only other relatively popular game that came out in 2001, if you want if you're old, so 23 years ago,
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, I know. Can you believe it? I just can't comprehend. But yeah, that game was indeed Simpsons Road Rage, which surprisingly was very popular, and it was popular for a reason. It was popular because it was essentially a crazy taxi clone. Correct me if I'm wrong, but was it developed by Radical Interactive as well?
00:07:08
Speaker
Yeah, it was. Because I know there was something I read about that, that they had a five game contract or something. Oh really? With Vivendi, yeah. And that was one of the games, so was Simpsons Hit and Run. And I think now that they don't have the rights to it, they can't legally, as far as I know, as of this episode, they can't legally create a sequel
Simpsons Games in Modern Times
00:07:31
Speaker
to the game.
00:07:31
Speaker
which does suck but it's going to be interesting to see if they actually do anything with it except for the tapped out game and everything which that's a whole other topic in itself. Yeah, my understanding was that the rights to make Simpsons video games was licensed I think to EA.
00:07:49
Speaker
And it's not that they can't make a sequel, or at least maybe they can't call it hit and run 2, but they could theoretically make a sequel. It's just, I don't think any of the bean counters at EA are looking at a potential sequel and going, this is definitely something we need to do. I think everyone's a little hesitant to make another Grand Theft Auto knockoff.
00:08:09
Speaker
think it's quite surprising though that after all this time, I mean we are sitting here in 2024 about to talk about a game that came out in 2003 when the last Simpsons game that came out was in, I want to say 2010, 2011 maybe?
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, somewhere around there. Give or take definitely the 2010s with the Simpsons game. And after that, there wasn't really any prominent Simpsons game as far as I remember. And that's going beyond things like the Simpsons tapped out game or the cameo that they had in Lego Dimensions. Oh, yes.
00:08:48
Speaker
Yeah beyond those there's not really been a prominent Simpsons game since but it is absolutely wild to think that after all this time people were still modding this game, they're still trying to bring it back. It's gotten to the point that I think
00:09:04
Speaker
that the PC version is considered as abandonware now, which for anyone who doesn't know is the concept to describe a piece of software that, as the name suggests, has been abandoned. It's not being updated, it's not being ported, there's no way to get it onto their system.
00:09:22
Speaker
systems. So Simpsons hit and run, at least on the PC, this doesn't apply to the console versions, but it's essentially abandonware now, which is absolutely crazy to think that for something like that, that would usually be the death sentence for a game like this, but people are still persevering, they're still loading it, they're still recreating things, and it's
Simpsons Hit and Run's Unique Standing
00:09:44
Speaker
wild. It's just absolutely wild to think how much of an impression this game has made.
00:09:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's made an absolutely huge impression. One thing that I wanted to touch on is that it made such an impact, but I think part of what makes the game so important is other than the Simpsons arcade game, which I mean came out long enough ago that people had kind of forgotten.
00:10:04
Speaker
is that The Simpsons never really had a standout game. I'm sure some of the games that they released were liked by people, but there was no one game you could really point to and be like, you gotta play that Simpsons video game. It was just generic tie-in stuff.
00:10:20
Speaker
And I feel like Hit and Run, I mean, Road Rage got part of the way there, but I feel like Hit and Run was the first one, at least in a long time, that was like, you gotta play this game, you know? Oh no, absolutely. Because I actually remember when I was reading about this, that Road Rage got so bad in terms of being a
00:10:39
Speaker
I want to say a homage, but let's face it, it was probably more likely a knockoff of Crazy Taxi that Sega actually sued EA, Radical and Vivendi because it was so similar. And from what I also read, the fact that this was supposed to be a sequel to Road Rage, and of course they changed it in development and they called it, to themselves, apparently they called it Grand Theft Auto as an OTTO, which I thought, okay, that's pretty funny.
00:11:09
Speaker
is good but yeah it's just it's absolutely crazy to think that despite all of that and the fact that you're completely right there were hundreds of tie-in games at the time and that is something that I think that younger listeners tuning in just now probably won't understand is the fact that there were so many tie-in games for films for tv series and things like that and I'm going to be honest the majority of them were not great
00:11:36
Speaker
There might be some that ran against the Mill but for the majority of them usually their cover art was really lazy, their gameplay was very basic as well. There wasn't a lot going on there but despite the fact that this came out during the time where Grand Theft Auto 3
00:11:54
Speaker
was probably the trendsetter at the time for what players expected. They wanted an open world sandbox game, they wanted the driving from certain games. To think that they managed to pull it off is absolutely crazy, but see without any further ado, were we just hoping to our Canyon-era drive to the Quicamort and well, let's find out how
00:12:17
Speaker
this game is held up after 21 years. Yes. And of course we will be right back after Shadow and I stop crying because we are getting old 21 years. Yeah, after I take all of my de-aging cream treatments and stuff. And we'll be right back after these messages. Welcome to Shatsunami, a variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime and journal interests.
00:12:45
Speaker
Previously on Chatsunami, we've analysed what makes a good horror game, conducted a retrospective on Pierce Brosnan's runs James Bond, and listened to us take deep dives into both the Sonic and Halo franchises. Also, if you're an anime fan, then don't forget to check us out on our sub-series, Chatsunani, where we dive into the world of anime. So far, we've reviewed things like Death Note, Princess Mononoke, and the hit Beyblade series. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out on Spotify, iTunes, and all big podcast apps. As always, stay safe,
00:13:15
Speaker
Stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated. Hi, I'm SuperShadow271. You can find me over on Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and even Discord. I play and talk about a huge variety of games, so there's bound to be something you're interested in, especially if you're a Sonic fan. My content tries to be chill with some insightful commentary on games, so if you're interested, please check
Nostalgia and Game Experiences
00:13:37
Speaker
me out. Thank you so much for listening, and let's get back to Chatsunami. In a quiet suburb,
00:13:44
Speaker
A diabolical plot is unfolding, and only one man can stop it.
00:13:51
Speaker
Oh, do I have to? The whole town's gone nuts. Security cameras, mysterious vans, crop circles. Take the wheel. I'm not a terribly mobile person. And take to the streets. Just paint. Everything's just paint. To solve a mystery. This conspiracy goes all the way to the top. Play as your favorite Simpsons character. And over 40 of Springfield's finest vehicles. Eat Canyon Arrow.
00:14:40
Speaker
So essentially, if you go into Amazon and you order the anti-agent crea- oh sorry, we're back on.
00:14:47
Speaker
No, I need to know. Message me later on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My people will contact your people. What will be fine? Good, good, yes. Sorry, that makes it sound as if I've got D.H. in people. Just in standby. The red panel, all your shaking his head in the corner going, what are you on about? What are you talking about?
00:15:05
Speaker
So, going back to what we're talking about there, the year is 2003. I actually, I'm curious to hear how you came across Simpsons Hittin' Run before we dive into your thoughts on this, because have I ever told you how I came across Simpsons Hittin' Run?
00:15:21
Speaker
No, I don't think you've ever told me. So there was a shop, technically they're still around but they're not as prominent, I suppose as they used to be in the UK called HMV. Have you ever heard of them? Oh, I think I've heard of them. Yeah, I mean they are popular but they're kind of there.
00:15:36
Speaker
just now. I don't know if they make a comeback and they want to sponsor the show, you know where to find me. I remember years and years ago there was an HMV that had a massive gaming section back when they used to sell games more prominently but they had a massive gaming section at the back of one of their shops and I remember at the very back they had I think it was like the Xbox or the PlayStation. It must have been the PlayStation but they had the PlayStation set up in the corner and they had a copy of Simpsons hit and run and
00:16:05
Speaker
the time I had no idea that a new Simpsons game was coming out and I was like oh look it's Homer, Barr etc and they popped you into like the first level of the game and I remember playing it and just enjoying it so so much. That's another relic isn't it? Because nowadays you can just download a demo onto your
00:16:25
Speaker
and you never have to go outside. But I remember playing it for so long, getting to the, I think I got to the power plant and I was running from the police and I remember I got out the car and I'm like, ah, they can't get me in here. Only to get absolutely bodied by a police car.
00:16:41
Speaker
And I got the unwanted status and I turned round and there was this huge line of people behind me just waiting to play the game. I must have asked for it for Christmas or my birthday, but I absolutely loved it. When I got it, I played it. I loved it because I'm a massive Simpsons fan. I'm curious to hear what your starting point was for this game.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, well, believe it or not, I'm actually a decently large Simpsons fan myself. I had a nightly ritual with my family, which was to watch America's funniest home videos. And then after that ended, we'd switch over to The Simpsons. And then after that would be bedtime. So I actually kind of grew up with a lot of Simpsons episodes and my parents clearly enjoyed it.
00:17:21
Speaker
So I don't specifically remember when I picked up the game, but since I got it on the GameCube, it probably was one of those purchases that my parents looked at and said, oh, Simpsons. OK, sure. My kid likes Simpsons. Here, have this. And I played it. And I remember thinking like, I haven't really played a whole lot of games like that because I didn't have a PlayStation. I had never played Grand Theft Auto. So it was kind of the first game of its type that I had really experienced. And I remember being very enveloped by it. Yeah.
00:17:50
Speaker
If it's any consolation that I also have it for the GameCube, my parents were very strict on the types of games I could play. They didn't mind if I was 15 years old and a game was rated 15. Obviously the floodgates opened soon when I turned 15 years old and I was like, I'm getting halo, I'm getting college tea.
00:18:11
Speaker
I went on a massive FPS binge that year. But yeah, I was not allowed to play Grand Theft Auto.
Platform Versions and Comparisons
00:18:19
Speaker
I had friends who had it who had parents that were a bit more lenient, but in my house, no, I was not allowed. So I'm completely with you there. I suppose the only open world example that I could think of other than that was maybe Sonic Adventure.
00:18:34
Speaker
But let's face it, you couldn't steal cars on that. So yeah, I wanted something to sit and run. That is really cool, though, to hear. Yeah, my parents weren't necessarily strict with video games. I mean, I grew up on a copy of Mortal Kombat 3 for the Sega Genesis because my parents had no idea what Mortal Kombat was. I think they just saw Simpsons and knew roughly what to expect from Simpsons. So they were OK with me having it. And I enjoyed it a lot.
00:18:59
Speaker
makes me feel old because I remember the last time my parents freaked out about me watching a game was one of my brothers had Duke Nukem 64. Oh yeah. And if you remember the graphics for that. I do. Not very good in the modern age but I remember I sat in with my brother and then my mum came in and she absolutely freaked out. She was like
00:19:19
Speaker
What are you doing showing your younger brother this absolutely mature bloody game? As I'm bloody on the screen not pursuing that. Makes me laugh thinking back on it because of how different it is nowadays. I have to admit the Simpsons hit and run definitely toned it down.
00:19:36
Speaker
absolutely significantly because you don't get people getting dragged out of cars they have a transition which i think is quite nice unless it's your own car yeah i was about to say there are plenty of cars that you have to walk all the way around to get into your car my cheat for that usually is just to stand on top of the car and then yes yeah
00:19:56
Speaker
That's exactly what you do. You jump on top of it and then you just do the quick fade out and fade in. God, honestly, we could see for those old call-up services where it's like, do you want to beat Simpson's hit and run? Call Chatsunami at 1-2-3 in Avgen. Yeah, a hint line. That's another thing that's gone now. I mean, for obvious reasons, the internet exists. But, oh god, what is this game doing to us? This episode has aged me 10 years already.
00:20:25
Speaker
Do you remember that scene from The Simpsons where it's Mo Man and he's like, my name is Hans Mo Man, I'm 37 years old.
00:20:35
Speaker
He's just shriveled up. Oh, yeah, that's how I feel right now. I'm like, oh, yeah, because it was such and I want to emphasize this. It was such a different game and landscape at the time. If you didn't know how to do something, you just had to work it out or technically you could jump onto the Internet. But I mean, I don't know how common dial up Internet was in 2003. Guess it was around, but not as prominently.
Graphics and Visual Comparisons
00:21:02
Speaker
yeah it really wasn't very prominent yeah so you had to rely on as you said the guides whether that be through phone or whether you bought them out a game shop itself or you just played through the game and hoped for the best and that's probably the best you could do wasn't it yeah
00:21:18
Speaker
pretty much. This is something that I was talking to you about before we came on as well. But one of the things that I was really shocked at was when I played this game when I was younger, I remember absolutely loving it for reasons that we'll get into. But I remember loving it. I remember 100%ing in the game because it was so good. It kept bringing you back in for more. And then I heard that you could get like a hidden itchy and scratchy cartoon. So I collected all the cards.
00:21:48
Speaker
Oh, that's such a funny cartoon. But yeah, it was those things that made you want to push on and complete the game 100%. But then I went back to it a couple of years ago to play it for Twitch, and I can't remember why it was. I think it was either because I got 300 followers, I got some milestone
00:22:07
Speaker
I loved it growing up and I've got to say it definitely has warped my perception of it. Did you feel the same way when your rose tinted glasses firmly on before you went by? Oh, yeah. So I only just recently replayed it. Started a couple of weeks ago, finished yesterday. And I got to say there was a lot more about the game that I was nostalgia blind to than I ever remembered. Definitely, for one thing, the graphics. I remembered it being pretty good looking.
00:22:36
Speaker
you know like it's a decent representation of The Simpsons but nowadays it looks so plasticy and weird and especially the cutscenes. Oh they are horrible. Yeah weirdly fuzzy and soft and like it's just so weird. I mean what I found weird about them as well was it wasn't even any better in the show but there was a treehouse of horror episodes where Omar goes into the 3D realm
00:22:59
Speaker
his own house and it's a very similar model to what they use in Simpsons hit and run. I think it's probably better in the show, but oh god, you're completely right. It's just, I feel as if they use the same models from Road Rage, I want to say, and upscale them. But again, upscaling didn't do them any favours.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah, because something I have to admit that I did love about The Simpsons game that came out many years later was the fact that they committed to more of a cartoony style. The cel-shading. The fact that they had those cel-shaded textures on them rather than whatever the hell they were coming to in the 2000s. I don't know, because it's so jarring watching it. And that's the thing, I don't ever remember. I remember some bits looking really good, but I never remember thinking, wow, this is the future.
Simpsons References and Authenticity
00:23:51
Speaker
2003! Yeah, I always remember being like, this isn't as good as I think, but you look past it because you're a Simpsons fan, you're a kid, you think, you know what, it's the Simpsons, I'm gonna love this, but oh my god, I think the worst bit of that though, and I don't know if you've noticed this as well, is the background characters. Oh yeah, the background characters are very
00:24:14
Speaker
I mean props to them for actually including background characters but oh my god they genuinely look as if they've just been rushed out and I get that's probably for maybe resources or to fill up the city but not draw too much attention into it but it's just as bizarre. It's bizarre when you get a close look up at them and they genuinely look worse somehow than Homer and George and such.
00:24:40
Speaker
Well, what's funny for me is if you had asked me when I was playing it as a kid, I probably would have said, oh, it feels like I'm actually in Springfield. This feels so close to the show. And now that I look back on it with modern eyes, I look at it and I go, this looks so gross. And, you know, I'm not generally one to care about graphics, but it is something where I feel like if you're adapting a TV show with such a strong art style, it's hard to not notice these things because I think
00:25:08
Speaker
one of the things that does detract from it is, and again this is something that I would say is one of the highlights of the game, is just the amount of references. Yes, definitely. Oh my god, from I think it's from season one up to I want to say 12 or 13 is roughly the early teens and I am sounding like such a Simpsons nerd with this label.
00:25:31
Speaker
the Chinese. But it must have been about season 12, I'm very sure, round about that time, because the reason I say that is how they had references for things like the Tamako plan. They've got all the references in the Quikimart, like Larry the Looter, Jasper in the freezer. They've got the silent alarm mixed up as well.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yes, yes. They've got the Don't Eat Beef, Eat Veal hosted things. Oh my God, honestly, we could have a whole episode just listing off every single, every single Easter day because you've got the tire fire as well. It's just, it's chock full. And that's one of the things I absolutely adore about this game. I think the studio who made it clearly had a passion for the show.
00:26:16
Speaker
That is I think what separates it from a lot of other previous Simpsons attempts is that it didn't so much feel like they were putting Simpsons things into an existing
Gameplay Mechanics and Challenges
00:26:25
Speaker
thing. It felt like they were actually trying to essentially recreate the Simpsons world. I remember it feeling
00:26:49
Speaker
is because for some reason they use the artwork from the show rather than the 3D models, and it feels so jarring. I don't know how they would have translated it, but it's kind of weird having all these 2D models and thinking, oh yeah, The Simpsons looks a lot better in the show than it does in this game, even though every level is just chock full of references. There's something they didn't even need to include, like the Jebediah Springfield one week
00:26:58
Speaker
feeling so authentic for lack of a better term.
00:27:19
Speaker
literally kick off his head, which was an episode. I think that was in season one, that episode. Apologies, I watched that a lot of Simpsons for Simpsons. I've seen a lot of Simpsons myself, but I never really paid attention to the seasons and episodes. I just remember events happening.
00:27:37
Speaker
I would definitely say that is one of the highlights that there is such a care and just absolute passion for the IP of it. See if I could say the game had the love for the IP and amazing gameplay and everything. Then this episode would be over now, you know, we would be saying 10 out of 10, go play it, get a copy, go jack up the prices.
00:28:02
Speaker
But I'm gonna be honest and this is probably where unfortunately we're gonna have to take off the boxing gloves here and just start wailing on this game. What are your opinions first of all about the gameplay going back to the game?
00:28:17
Speaker
Yeah, there are definitely a lot of gameplay things that don't sit as well with me today as they did when I was younger. You move so slowly when you're not in a car. It's incredible. I don't remember moving so slowly. The double jump was really wonky. I don't know how to exactly describe it, but
00:28:35
Speaker
I remember the timing for doing the stomp attack was always very finicky for me when I was replaying it. The levels also, they were open world in a sense, but it never felt like you could build up a good speed, you know? It always felt like there was something getting in the way. Yeah, now that's an entirely fair point, because there's a lot of turns, a lot of corners, and I've gotta be honest, good anterizmo, this game ain't a burnout, this game ain't.
00:29:03
Speaker
Any other driving game? No. It's not the worst I've played I have to say because I have played Grand Theft Auto 4 and now I have very wonky terms of driving but I would say it almost reminds me of an Ubisoft game.
00:29:35
Speaker
pretty good in the way it handles, but it's kinda like the way theirs operate as you know you're in a box model almost and it's really clunky to turn and make those sharp turns especially when you're chasing after someone. I have to admit I got really frustrated when I replayed it because there were so many missions where it was like you had to collect things but you missed it so you had to do a three point turn and by that point the guy was already away and
00:29:42
Speaker
actually kind of agree with you on that. It does feel a lot like a Ubisoft game.
00:30:04
Speaker
It was just an absolute nightmare. And that is another thing I want to bring up. The fact that the gameplay loops aren't as endearing in old age, obviously, because it's more or less the same missions. And I get why they're doing it. There has to be a limited amount of
00:30:20
Speaker
it is mainly you're either racing a car, you're destroying a car, or you're banging into the back of a car just so that you can collect whatever falls out of it. And that's one that frustrated me because the game is never consistent when you hit it, whether or not it's going to generate a box or whatever you need to collect. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it makes baby Jesus cry.
00:30:44
Speaker
Well, what I found particularly, I don't know if I'd say frustrating, it was a strange equalizer that cars traffic would spawn in as it should in a Grand Theft Auto game. And the way they designed it, the AI would constantly be hitting traffic. So a lot of the missions for me were actually really easy because inevitably the car would run into a car head on and they would just get stuck and I just drive back and forth into it. So it strangely made things
00:31:11
Speaker
easier but it is also difficult when you're just freely trying to drive or race and cars will spawn in at what feel like exactly the right point to really knock you around. I have to admit that's one of the things that really annoyed me going back to the game because I don't know if you got this issue but sometimes I would be driving in traffic just normally and then all of a sudden I
00:31:34
Speaker
car would make a short turn into my lane or if they were trying to avoid me, they purposely tried to hit me. It was really weird. And again, I don't know if that was a commentary on driving an America or what that was like. What is going on here? It was really bizarre because of all the driving games I played, whether that's Grand Theft Auto, police attacks or whatever,
00:31:56
Speaker
never really experienced that too much. So to purposely get hit by the AI, I think it's just probably the way it's been programmed, but it was just it was really weird. Yeah, no, I've noticed because a lot of times I tried to just drive down the very middle so that way I could avoid a car if it spawns in. But I noticed a lot of cars would try and merge once I got within a certain distance. And I feel like that was very much intentional, like they wanted to get
00:32:23
Speaker
cars in your face to prevent you from reaching your goal and that was irritating. I have to admit I wouldn't have minded that as much if the crash physics weren't so damn realistic because it's like when you hit a car you stop dead so all of your momentum just disappears.
00:32:42
Speaker
See, if you're racing or you're chasing someone, forget it, you might as well restart now because you are dead in the water and you can try to pick up speed. But a lot of the early cars are extremely slow and it's so frustrating to try and pick
Driving Mechanics and Coin System
00:32:57
Speaker
up momentum. But even if you find a fast car, because in the early levels, you can get faster cars. In the Homer's level, on the very first level, you get the rocket car. Oh, I love that rocket car. See, I love
00:33:10
Speaker
it as well, but it is so squishy. As soon as you pop into anything, it just instantly explodes. And for anybody wondering where that car came from, I believe it was Chester Ray Lamplix, the creator of Itchy and Scratchy. Oh my god, I'm such a sinner.
00:33:30
Speaker
I'm sure that's where it comes from, because I thought it was the honor over initially, but that's Bart's car, seeing the very first one with the, well, technically it's Martin's car. Okay, I'll stop.
00:33:42
Speaker
But yeah, I have to admit, the variety of cars, despite Harping on the driving gameplay there, it's not great, but I do appreciate the diversity in the cars you actually get to drive. Yeah, definitely. It's nice that they gave each car different stats, and they're visually different, and they all have kind of their own style, so it's definitely engaging enough to keep going. And it gives you that sense of replayability as well, because I was surprised that they will come on to the story soon, don't worry about it.
00:34:12
Speaker
I was really surprised that was just the fact that you could go back to other levels after you completed the game. And that meant as well that you could easily call up cars that you've collected throughout the game and you could just use the Canyon Aero in the first level instead of using the sedan. You could pretty much roll around in the honor roller. There was so much versatility there. I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan about the way you had to collect
00:34:41
Speaker
coins for it. Yeah the coins are a real flowbreaker. Yeah because don't get me wrong sometimes it was really easy to get coins but then other times that is a perfect way to describe it a flowbreaker because it was you would be just lying through the game and then there'd be a level where it was like oh if you've been enjoying buying all the other cars and buying the other outfits well you need this one specific car or this one specific outfit otherwise you're not allowed to go further.
00:35:10
Speaker
was so frustrating. You had to get Lisa's cool outfit, but at one point you had to get Marge's cop outfit and another. It was really annoying, but you're completely right. It just killed the pacing of the game at times. And if you didn't have enough coins and you've already collected the boxes, then you're like, oh great, never have to kick down the lampposts and things or have to run over things like trees. Or do one of the extra race challenges.
00:35:36
Speaker
actually, I'm quite curious to hear your thoughts on this. Did you fill up the hit run meter really fast? Yeah, that is actually something I was going to mention too. The hit and run meter fills up a lot faster than I remember. Yeah, same here. So for anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about there, if you hit too many objects or if you hit too many lampposts or trees, any breakable things for the most part. Or people. And people. Yep, I was getting to that.
00:36:03
Speaker
then for some reason they would have a very similar to what GTA had with their five-star wanted system. Then the police would come and track you down and if they caught you then they would take money off you which again was very frustrating because you're trying to get money but you can't get money because the police are taking money off of you. Oh it's just so frustrating.
00:36:24
Speaker
Yeah, it's frustrating because it feeds into this loop where it's like you're breaking stuff to get money once you've exhausted the Buzzcolo boxes. There isn't really a great way to make money outside of breaking stuff, so it seems like the game punishes you for doing what you need to do. After Matt, have you heard the story of what Matt Groening did when he first played the game?
00:36:45
Speaker
No, I don't remember this. So, apparently, and I don't know how true this is, but I have heard it from a lot of sources, so I just want to believe. See, for once, I just want to believe it's true. But apparently, when they were introducing the mechanics of the game, there's a mechanic where you pick people. But, of course, a lot of people describe this as a kid's version of GTA, so there's no blood in people who fall over. It's very comical. They're flailing their arms.
00:37:11
Speaker
it's not anything overly violent. But again, that's another thing that gets you hit and run later up. And I remember someone saying that they were very nervous about putting it in because they were worried about what Matt Groening would have thought about it. And they were like, whatever you do, don't go around kicking people, or especially go around kicking Marge. So the first thing Matt Groening did was kick Marge to the clicking mark.
00:37:35
Speaker
Which I think is absolutely insane, but what I was also thinking was there is no way he had the hit and run meter on the bar. He must have turned that off because there's no way he could have got to the clicking bar without trucking on that. Barge, I thought that was pretty funny. Yeah, that is really funny. As annoying as it was, they at least did it, I don't know if I'd say they did it well, but they did it in a way where you would get busted and then you'd essentially just respawn exactly in the same spot.
00:38:04
Speaker
So it's not like you were punished too harshly, not like you got taken to like a jail location and have to go back. I still don't like it, but true. There are worse ways to have done it. Oh, yeah. And I mean, there does have to be some consequence in the world for the Grand Theft Auto games. There's got to be some consequence for you doing things. So I understand it mechanically. It just feels like there was probably better ways it could have been
Game Structure and Character Focus
00:38:28
Speaker
done to. I mean, especially for I don't want to see a kids game, but let's face it, it was
00:38:33
Speaker
probably getting more marketed towards the younger Simpsons fans. Yeah. Myself included. Yeah actually moving on to, it might be right to say this part of the game is divisive but will we talk about the story of the game? Yeah. So especially at this period I think The Simpsons was probably going through a bit of a rut with this show itself and for anybody who wants a whole month of Simpsons gone down to hear our thoughts on that definitely go check out our Simpsons Month episodes but yeah
00:39:02
Speaker
there was definitely a decline in quality and I wouldn't say that this game was affected by that but The Simpsons was always considered to have a really high standard of writing but ironically enough when it came to the games as we were talking about in the intro the fact is that they just slapped a Simpsons skin on a lot of games and were just like yeah
00:39:25
Speaker
We'll just call it The Simpsons Beat'em Up or The Simpsons XYZ. That'll be fine. The Simpsons Crazy Taxi, as it were. But when it came to this, they actually did put in a little bit of effort, I have to say, because they brought back the original voice cast. They had a proper team to write for it. And it's absolutely amazing. The one thing that I do find a little bit weird is, as I said before, the game is split into, I want to say, six levels, as it
00:39:54
Speaker
or is it seven? Yeah, I think it's like seven. You end up going to the particular areas in Springfield, you know, you go to the suburbs and you go downtown, then you go to the port. I want to say downtown. Yeah, the docks. Yeah, with the casino and whenever they release the hot pants with the
00:40:12
Speaker
like, yes, Yara the Hot Prince. You know, they're all cool areas, but then it's kind of disappointing that although they do change a couple of things around, it is disappointing that you realize it is the same three areas, but you're mainly focused on five particular characters. So you play as mainly the Simpsons family, you play as Homer, Bart, Marge, and Lisa, but then the fifth character for some reason is Apu. That felt a little out of place. It feels
00:40:40
Speaker
really, really weird. And I know obviously there's controversy about his recent portrayals and everything, but I just don't get that. I really don't get of all the characters they could have brought in because obviously they're not going to bring in Maggie because she's too young. I mean, she's old enough to shoot Mr. Burns spoilers.
00:40:56
Speaker
Yes. You know, she's not old enough to drive a car or commit Grand Theft Auto, hopefully. So here's a question for you though. Who would you have instead of a two? If they didn't choose him, who would you choose to replace him? You know, that's a good question. I would have to think about it. My initial gut reaction was Principal Skinner, but I don't know how well that would really work.
00:41:19
Speaker
It's something I'd probably have to think on. I admit, it's probably hard to come up with a fifth character, so I don't plan on criticising them just because it's a difficult task. It's just something that I feel like might have had a better solution. I mean, of all the characters, and this is something I brought up earlier when they called this game Grand Theft Auto, I'm actually surprised they never got auto on. You know what, yeah. I can't believe I didn't think of that either, yeah.
00:41:46
Speaker
auto would have made a lot of sense it's just and again like i've got nothing against the poo being in the game except some of these lines that he repeats is a little bit dodgy i'm not gonna lie yeah yeah for anyone who doesn't know please go look it up in the youtube video because throughout the game a lot of the characters will repeat certain sentences and phrases depending on what you're doing
00:42:08
Speaker
Some of them are more endearing than others. Homers are obviously quite endearing, but some of Apus and maybe Elise is, you know, like, ugh. We're saying this sentence again, and you're like, ugh.
Plot and Difficulty Discussion
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah. That was kind of par for the course for the time, though. A lot of games thought, oh, we should have our character say something when an action happens. But obviously, you can't have it generate something new every time. So you would end up hearing the same couple of voice lines again and again and again. It got really annoying really fast, I have to say.
00:42:37
Speaker
Because at least you can expect it with someone like Homer. There's nothing going on up there. The relative main character out of all of them. But yeah, it's an interesting, and this is your spoiler warning. I know we're quite far into this, but this is your official spoiler warning if you don't want to be spoiled for the story for it. But what was your reaction to the ending? Or not the ending, but the kind of reveal about what was going on in Springfield when you first played it?
00:43:02
Speaker
It's funny, when I first played the game, I remember thinking like, oh, that's a pretty cool concept. When I replayed it, though, it definitely had much less of an impact because they already hinted that aliens were the ones behind the cola since the very beginning. So you already knew it was the aliens. It's just why that you didn't know. And their explanation of it being a TV show that they're broadcasting to the universe.
00:43:27
Speaker
felt kind of just out of nowhere, like there was nothing to otherwise indicate that.
00:43:49
Speaker
you know with the ring and the big antenna coming up. They even have billboards that say it's for humans. Of course they are already trying to tell you it's the aliens. And of course Kang and Kudos are the only aliens that we know of and the Simpsons beyond. Well, Futurama, but I think it would have been too early for a crossover at that point. I have to admit, see from the first half of the game, the first half of the game at the time really gripped me.
00:44:14
Speaker
I absolutely loved this game when I was trying to find out where Bart was and then you find him and he's speaking gibberish and you have to get to the bottom of it. That was really cool and that was really interesting. But then after the reveal of it, it
00:44:32
Speaker
kind of got a bit silly and I can't believe I'm saying that about a Simpsons game where you drive around blowing up cars and things but yeah kind of got a little bit silly and I have to say see the difficulty curve after that point it just shoots up entirely.
00:44:47
Speaker
There are definitely some missions that are kind of difficult, although I find that the fact that a lot of the elements are random kind of evens out. Like I said, I got a lot of instances of cars colliding with oncoming traffic in a way that felt different. I would retry the mission and then it would play out differently and it feels like it just kind of randomly did that, you know? So it was already somewhat difficult, I would say, but the latter half of the game definitely is a lot harder.
00:45:14
Speaker
One of the things that I actually didn't realise was a feature of this game was the skip function. So you probably played this game better than I did, my truth, so you didn't see it. But if you failed a mission too many times, then the game prompted you to skip it. I genuinely had no idea that existed. Yep, that's how bad I was at the time. I mean, in my defence, I was playing it for like hours straight. Your Honour, please.
00:45:40
Speaker
Please let me back, give me the GameCube back. Yeah, apparently it did and obviously for the very final mission it didn't give you it back. I don't know how to feel about the final area as it were. One thing that I did like about it was the fact that they weaved in all of the Treehouse of Horror stuff in there. So you had Homer as a donut head thing and you had all the alternate skins. It was so well done.
00:46:05
Speaker
Yeah, can I just say also the zombie portion of the game? I love how all the cars are like traditional spooky theme vehicles and I was so disappointed even back then that they didn't let you have those outside of that mission. Yeah, the only one you can get is, well it's the ones you buy, there's the one that's, I can't even remember what it is, it's the purple one that's like a horse, like a pimped up horse as of now.
00:46:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that one, I mean, is required by the story, but I just met like the cars driving around where you could be a ghost ship and it's got someone rowing and that's just how it moves forward. That's amazing. I would have loved that in any other section.
00:46:48
Speaker
Yes. It was so creative. I'll give the game this. It did not run short of creativity. They went all in in terms of, as I said, the references, the ideas behind it. And I have to say, I know I kind of criticise the story there to say, oh, it got a bit silly in the second half, but I'll give them props for actually going all in for it. Yeah. It might be a wee bit silly, but you know what? They did a damn fine job. Well, I say they did a damn fine job, but I have one
00:47:18
Speaker
particular gripe to bring up. Before we go back to the positives again, I have one particular gripe and I think you know what I'm going to bring up here. That of course being the final mission or rather the final re-mission. So basically at this point in the story, for anyone who doesn't know or doesn't remember and doesn't care about spoilers,
00:47:38
Speaker
There is a scene where you have to take three separate cars and you have to drive to the nuclear power plant. Then once you get there, you have to pick up a container of nuclear waste. So then you have to drive all the way back
00:47:53
Speaker
to the other side of town to drive it under the UFO, and then the UFO sucks up the car and explodes, and you have to do that three times throughout the final chapter. Whenever you have the nuclear waste on the back, it is so sensitive. If you so much as look at a curb the wrong way, it blows up and you're like, oh, you have to go back. And to make matters worse, there is a time limit. The third time limit in particular is very tight. Oh, I'll get there. I'll get there.
00:48:23
Speaker
So for the third one, basically this is something else that I always may write enough because for all three of these, I think the first one you play a snake or you use snakes car and the second one it's Frank or it could be swapped about, but you have to use these other people's cars and you think, okay, you know, that's not amazing, but I'll use them. But then you get to the third one and you have to use Grandpa Simpson's Hellfish Jeep and it's
00:48:50
Speaker
not the best at handling, but as you said, the time limit is so unforgiving, so much so that you need to take shortcuts, but shortcuts basically involves going over the tire fire, making sure that you land correctly, you don't bump into anything, you have to go through
00:49:07
Speaker
a graveyard as well. And then when you get to the school, there is one of these black limousines or black cars that follows you and you have to get rid of it and then you have to basically get to the school and get the car sucked up. And I essentially reached at this mission because I completed it with those younger, so I thought, you know what? If years old Satsu could do it.
00:49:30
Speaker
Then what's stopping me from doing it when I'm an adult? You know, I'm an adult. I'm a gamer. I can do this. So I managed, after several attempts, I managed to get the Jeep underneath the UFO. So it's lifting up. It is a beautiful sight. I'm ready with my end speech. I'm like, oh, I can't wait. This is going to be amazing. And then the game cut out and it said, time up, you've failed. And I kid you not, it was pretty much
00:49:55
Speaker
a pixel away from completing the game. So close. And because the timer still counts down when you're underneath the tractor beam, there's nothing you can do really. And that is so, so frustrating. I hate it with that passion.
00:50:10
Speaker
I don't think that's a hot take for me to be like, oh, this is a terrible level because I think a lot of people feel that way. I'll be honest with you. So I consider kind of arcadey driving games to be my forte in gaming. So I didn't encounter nearly as much struggle as I think you did.
00:50:26
Speaker
But that final mission took me three retries. And the second one I had to retry because when you're getting into the school playground, there's a ramp that lets you jump over the wall and get to the diamond, the baseball diamond in the back.
00:50:42
Speaker
And I took that jump so fast that I couldn't turn and stop my momentum in time. So despite having otherwise made it to the playground, I crashed into the gate behind the diamond and lost the barrel of waste. And that was pretty tough.
00:50:58
Speaker
I didn't find it to be nearly as difficult. I think just for me, more the frustration of the elements being so inconsistent because the barrel sometimes would explode and sometimes wouldn't on certain hits. I was never entirely sure what triggered
Legacy and Cultural Impact
00:51:13
Speaker
it. See, that's the thing that really makes me contemplate whenever I do criticise this game because I keep thinking, is the inconsistency because certain elements have been designed quite rough?
00:51:27
Speaker
in a way? Or is it just this game showing its age? Because as we said, it's 21 years old now. Is it just because it's a product of its time? Would you say that this game is a product of its time? Yes, I would definitely at least say that.
00:51:42
Speaker
But I do think it has some elements that are really good. I think just as time has gone on, I've come to realize how many elements weren't really that good in retrospect. Yeah, it's a hard one, doesn't it? Yeah, because as a kid, I didn't play a lot of games like it, so I had no frame of reference. So a lot of the elements were like, that's just how it is. But now that I've played a bunch of games and now that I've gone back to it, I see like, wow, yeah, this is super frustrating compared to what it could be.
00:52:08
Speaker
Because I have to say, when I started streaming, one of the things that I aimed to do was play games that I grew up with. And don't get me wrong, I wasn't going too far back. I was focusing on things like Call of Duty games, Sonic Adventures. And by adventures, I mean one and two. I wasn't getting that wrong.
00:52:26
Speaker
just because anyone's like, you know what you mean Sonic Adventure? Simpsons Hit and Run was definitely on the chopping block for that. I thought, oh I can't wait to play Simpsons Hit and Run. It's going to be so amazing. I'm going to warn you all now, if you are an absolute fan of this game when you are younger and you want to go back and replay it, there are some harsh truths that you are going to have to deal with with this game.
00:52:48
Speaker
Unfortunately, it does not hold up in terms of gameplay but in terms of just pure heart and soul. I can't believe I'm saying this a bit again because it's such a strange middle ground for the game because usually when I review games like this and talk about them, it's either, oh the gameplay is amazing but the story sucks
00:53:07
Speaker
or vice versa. The story's amazing, but the gameplay's terrible with everything. For this one, I wouldn't say the story's necessarily strong, but I feel as if the gameplay comes across a lot worse, especially with that mission that Bart has to do for Dr. Nick, where you have to collect the monkeys. That made me cry that night. Not gonna lie.
00:53:29
Speaker
That was a hard mission, I'm not going to lie. Not because it was emotional or anything, but just the sheer having to find the last monkey and running across the city square just to get it. Oh, I was absolutely raging. By the time I got through that, I was like, is this where we are now? Is this where we are?
00:53:47
Speaker
I think the mission that gave me the most trouble was I think it was in the Bart section I think it was you had to pick up like five trash cans and then collect five trash cans throughout like downtown and then Drive them back to dr. Frank
Final Thoughts and Game Identity
00:54:02
Speaker
And that mission was so, it was frustrating because it had a very clear path for all of the places you were supposed to go, but that path wouldn't let you reach the goal in time. So you actually kind of have to do it out of order, and that really frustrated me.
00:54:18
Speaker
The thing that annoys me about that as well is the fact that it was so early in the game, because usually you would think for a game like this, the first level should be easy, second one slightly harder, and then it progressively gets harder the further you go into the game. But in this, there's some times where it's like you'll play the first couple of missions, you're absolutely fine, then you get into barch, and it's like some of them are absolutely really easy, and then others you're like, why is this in the second
00:54:48
Speaker
or why is this in the second level of the game? It's just absolutely crazy. And again, I don't know if that's just because it is a game of its time that they think, oh, we're going to do this mission. And they had the idea for the mission and not so much the execution to follow through with it. Because as I said, there's a lot of repetition in this game. You have the collections, the destroy missions, the racing missions,
00:55:12
Speaker
and some of those racing missions I have to admit are just so frustrating. Especially the comic book guy one and the second mission because again you're locked essentially to one car and if you don't get a perfect run then essentially you're gonna lose and you have to retry again and again until you actually get to the end.
00:55:33
Speaker
I honestly didn't have a whole lot of trouble with him but there are definitely missions that I can imagine a lot of other people would have issues with so I get where you're coming from. But I mean of course we can't end this episode on a negative note because the wider community would absolutely kill me but yeah what are your final thoughts about this game? Between the gameplay, the story, the legacy it leaves behind, what are your thoughts?
00:55:58
Speaker
So I've had a lot to say, and yeah, some of it's negative. But I think, as you were saying, the heart of it really makes the game shine because it was the right game at the right time with the right mix of elements that just all made it really work. And I think that even going back to it and remembering how tough some of the things were, I think it still has its charms and it's got a special place in my heart. It really does.
00:56:26
Speaker
again I know I'm going around like a broken record but it is absolutely crazy to think that after all these years as we said 21 years on we played this game growing up as kids and usually for these types of games you play them you say that was a great game and it goes to the complete back of your mind and you think all right I'm never gonna play this game again or maybe I'll play it on the off chance that it pops up let's say like a gaming day or something like that but the
00:56:56
Speaker
fact is that even today people have started to try and remake it. There's a guy on YouTube, I cannot remember his name, that's terrible, but he was doing a full remaster of the game and I think Unity he was building it in.
00:57:12
Speaker
and he was like changing all the textures, he was changing the graphics and things. It looks absolutely incredible. To be quite honest, as I said, you've also got the mods to bring back other cars into the game. It's just so surprising that people still love this game enough because let's face it, there's so many childhood games out there that probably will never get this type of attention. But the fact is, because of its IP, The Simpsons hit and run has left its mark.
00:57:41
Speaker
purely with Simpson fans as well. But I think that is something surprising, especially at the time, because not many games gave respect to the IP that they were basing their tired identity on, as it were. They would usually just, and apologies for the horrible analogy here, but they would basically wear the IP like a suit and they would be like, oh, Luke, I am series of unfortunate events game, which after that, that was actually quite a fun game.
00:58:07
Speaker
Oh really? I remember enjoying it at the time but I haven't had the courage to go back. But you know, it's like they would wear it and they'd be like, oh right, this is a game and you're like, it's not as great. As we said, there's so much love, care and attention to this game. The one thing I would say in leaving off is I genuinely don't know if this game would have been successful if it wasn't a Simpsons game.
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah, probably not. I don't want to be cruel on the developers, because honestly, one day I would absolutely love to talk to people who worked on this game to say, what were you thinking for this? What were you thinking for that? And obviously a lot of it will have to do with the technology that we're using and basically the blueprint, as it were, for what they had, because this was supposed to be a sequel to Road Rage. So a lot of assets from Road Rage came over to end run. So like the cars, the voice lines, things
00:59:02
Speaker
that, which was really interesting to hear. But if it wasn't a Simpsons game, I don't know how successful it would have been, but I know that's kind of the point of it. It's a bit of a paradox to say it wouldn't be successful if it wasn't the Simpsons. But I think that just goes to show how much these people were Simpsons fans. And as I said,
00:59:21
Speaker
whole game is just chock full of references. I mean, you've got Krusty Burger, you've got Moe's Tavern, and even when you go into Moe's Tavern, you've got things like the Flaming Moe's, you've got the Pickle Jar, you've got the Love Tester. Something that someone brought up which I thought was really interesting is there's a lot of landmarks and things that only appeared in one episode, but they still included them to like the Casino, which I think technically appeared in two episodes, but listen, I'm getting
00:59:49
Speaker
that but you've got Monty Burns' casino, you've also got the monorail that's there, you've also got a really niche reference which I have to admit I never caught on to before where they built, I can't remember what episode this was from but it's when they built the massive magnifying glass at the end but they've built it right beside a popsicle tower or something like that. The only thing they did include with that was the
01:00:15
Speaker
Oh, no, they did, actually. Oh, my God. I was going to say they didn't include the escalator that goes nowhere. Did you write in the centre of town? Oh, my God. I didn't notice that. Because I was like, is there an escalator in the middle of town? That is to say, OK, that makes so much sense.
01:00:31
Speaker
Oh, my life's complete now. But honestly, this is a game that if you're a Simpsons fan, you haven't played this game, I would recommend it, but I would say go in with an air of caution that this is a game of the time, and by time I mean the gameplay and the graphics. If you're a diehard Simpsons fan and you're just looking for the references, you will love this game.
01:00:54
Speaker
The funny thing about our discussion about whether or not this would do well if it wasn't a Simpsons game is that I can't really imagine it as anything other than a Simpsons game because Simpsons is so integral to what that game is that it's hard to really say whether or not it would be a success or not because
01:01:11
Speaker
I think that's partly what makes it good is that it really is a true Simpsons game. It feels like a Simpsons game, not just another game that has Simpsons in it. No, you're completely right. As much as you could think, oh, let's just put a generic town and place a Springfield and I know people have created modes to connect all three of the areas, which I
01:01:32
Speaker
I think it's really cool. I wish we kind of saw a bit more of that in the game, but again I know why they did it. It's probably because of hardware limitations and things like that. So I can't be harsh on them. I can't be like, oh, why didn't they have the whole game? Because hindsight's a wonderful thing. I can't sit here with 2024 technology and be like, oh, why can't you make a game that fits into this floppy disk and of course do say, oh, my beer.
01:01:58
Speaker
It would be interesting to see, but you're completely right, it's one of those few games that its identity as a Simpsons game is integral to how people really perceive it. I suppose that's the right word, because without The Simpsons, it's kind of a symbiotic relationship, isn't it? Without The Simpsons, this game probably wouldn't have taken off, but at the same time, The Simpsons
01:02:19
Speaker
probably needed a game like this to solidify itself and it's just it's so weird that beyond, as we said, the Simpsons game of the 2010s, the Lego Dimensions one which is technically an offshoot and Simpsons tapped out, there's not really been any other Simpsons games that have come out that have rose to such prominence.
01:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, they really haven't. Because I mean, as much as I like the Simpsons game and I appreciate the references as a video gamer, yeah, I just don't see it being looked at the same. Yeah, I don't either. I mean, I don't want to say there was no love there, but in comparison, it's like night and day. Despite the janky graphics, despite the janky gameplay, despite the horrible difficulty curve throughout the game, yeah.
01:03:04
Speaker
The Simpsons hit and run, it's just simply iconic and I cannot praise it enough, to be honest. It's one of those weird things where I'm like, on the one hand, I should be telling you just to leave it alone and if you have fond memories of this, then please do leave it alone. But then again, I am the same person who has deadly premonition in my top 10 games. So take of that what you will.
01:03:28
Speaker
But on that note, Shadow, thank you so much for coming on and talking about this absolutely iconic game. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad I got to talk with you about it. I have to admit, this was definitely a chance episode because you were saying how you'd just finished the game and I was like, oh, why'd you be doing the episode on it, Shadow? And you're like, well, want to do it tomorrow? And I was like, yes, absolutely.
01:03:53
Speaker
Before we wrap up, where could these lovely listeners at home find your content? Well, as always, you can find me on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram. I have Discord pretty much anywhere with the Super Shadow 271 username. And if you want to listen to our last two episodes where we talked about the digitization of gaming, as well as the year of shadow, the character, not yourself,
01:04:19
Speaker
I wouldn't complain about either. Yeah, I wouldn't complain either. We've also talked about Sonic Frontiers. I've even done an interview with Shadow, and we have indeed talked about Sonic OS X. So if you want to check out all of those episodes and more, then you can check out our website, chatsanami.com. I also want to thank our amazing Pandalooding patrons, Robotic Battles, our students on here. Thank you so so much for supporting the show. And if you too want to become a Pandalooding patron, then you can check us out at patreon.com.
01:04:49
Speaker
home. Until next time, thank you all so, so much for listening to this episode. As always, stay safe, stay awesome and most importantly, stay hydrated with a nice Buzz Cola. This episode sponsored by Buzz Cola.