Steamed Hams is a fun meme that takes the classic "Skinner and the Superintendent" scene from one of the most creative pieces of content The Simpsons has ever produced, the season seven episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", and twists it into new forms.
Last year a developer who creates games under the handle NeoDement made a fully playable graphic adventure out of the famous segment. Graphics were taken from the 1991 arcade game adaptation of The Simpsons, the 1990 Nintendo Entertainment System port of Maniac Mansion, and the 1993 adventure game Day of the Tentacle as well as created from scratch to match the classic early 1990's video game aesthetic. These are all blended in well, and if you don't know these games by the back of your hand as I do, it is likely you wouldn't know that they came from another game.
The crackling fire sound effects were taken from Day of the Tentacle and the water sound effect was taken from the enhanced DOS version of Maniac Mansion. The main voice acting was taken verbatim from "Skinner and the Superintendent". Adventure games have to have comments outside of the intended path, and this was done through voice clips from The Simpsons: Hit and Run and the season twelve episode of The Simpsons, "Skinner's Sense of Snow". The "Skinner and the Superintendent" voices were crisp and clean and worked well, as did the sound effects. The other voice clips varied in sound volume and quality, but they were just used for going off the intended path and didn't hamper the enjoyment of the game.
To match the feel of 1990's LucasArts adventure games, midi files were used for the theme of The Simpsons as well as the "Skinner and the Superintendent" theme song. Speaking of the latter, the intro was re-created faithfully in pixel art and legitimately looks like something LucasArts might have done with a video game based on The Simpsons circa 1993.
Steamed Hams: The Graphic Adventure is a small but excellent point-and-click adventure game that is designed to resemble classic LucasArts adventure games. "Skinner and the Superintendent" was one of the best things to come from The Simpsons, and Steamed Hams: The Graphic Adventure is one of the most creative products to come from the enjoyable Steamed Hams meme. It's short, free, and fun. Plus, it can even be played online in your browser. If you enjoy adventure games I wholeheartedly recommend trying this one out.
Final Verdict:
4 out of 5
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