Arcade Beat 'Em Up Review: The Simpsons

The Simpsons is a beat 'em-up arcade developed and manufactured by Konami early in the run of The Simpsons television series.

The plot is fairly simple but works well. Waylon Smithers broke into a jewelry store and stole a diamond for Mr. Burns. He crashes into the Simpsons, the diamond pops into Maggie's mouth in place of her pacifier and Smithers takes the diamond, Maggie and all.

Players can take control of any of the remaining four main Simpsons family members. Marge smacks thugs with a vaccuum cleaner, Bart whacks enemies with his skateboard, Lisa whips baddies with a jump rope, and Homer just uses his fists and feet. A devestating attack can also be accomplished when two players combine forces, resulting in the duo spinning around to offer an enhanced attack on enemies.

There are eight levels total, including Downtown Springfield. Krustyland. the Springfield Cemetery. Moe's Tavern. Springfield Butte at the Springfield National Forest, Dreamland, the Channel 6 Station building. and the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Each of the levels includes generic Simpsons-style men as enemies, but also include level-specific enemies such as Bigfoot, flying saxophones, and ninjas, among others.

The bosses include characters from the show such as the wrestler Professor Werner von Brawn, a Krusty the Clown balloon, a bear that looks like the one that befriended Maggie, and of course, Smithers, and Mr. Burns. It also includes characters created for the game such as a large goon and his child-size henchman, a fire-breathing drunk, a sentient bowling ball, an electric-shooting robot, and a kabuki warrior.

Konami did a fantastic job with the graphics, as both the characters and the backgrounds look just like pixelized versions of the art from the show. The music is also fantastic, including a digitized version of the classic theme song as well as stage music that wouldn't be out of place in the show proper. There are also samples of vocal clips from the show's characters.

Konami was the king of arcade beat 'em ups in the 1990s, and The Simpsons ranks among their best. Since it was released early in the show's run it includes some oddities such as a much eviler Mr. Smithers than usual, and deeper voices for Smithers and Mr. Burns than usual. All of that aside, it is still a fantastic beat 'em up arcade game that should be played by everyone at least once.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

Freemium Social City-Building Video Game Review: The Simpsons - Tapped Out

The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a free-to-play social city-building video game for mobile devices that defied the odds by having constant updates by EA Mobile for over ten years.

It is really no surprise that it is a popular game as it is based on the popular adult animated comedy television series, The Simpsons. That show has five generations of fans, from baby boomers to zoomers, as it has been on the air for nearly thirty-five years.

The game lets gamers create their own Springfield with characters and buildings that are unlocked as the player collects experience by buying and collecting rent from various buildings from the show such as Kwik-E-Marts and Krusty Burgers.

It's a fun concept that works well because there are hundreds of different pieces of content that can be added since the television series has been on the air for over thirty years.

One thing makes it a bit of a hard sell, however. At this point, it's easy to earn premium currency through collecting experience and leveling up, as well as collecting from donut-producing buildings. However, this is only true for players that have been with the game since near the beginning. New players will have a hard time collecting donuts past the first few levels.

Update March 20, 2023, adding more information: A free-to-play video game should have lots of content and updates, and The Simpsons: Tapped Out has that in spades as it has been consistently updated for over ten years. It's fun to build your own Springfield, and there are a lot of characters available for no charge through the level-up feature. However, there are only voice clips for some of the characters, and some of them aren't even interactable as they just wander around your Springfield. Another bummer is that some of the characters don't have outside jobs, so if you send your Springfielders away to earn money and experience so that you can buy new things as well as level up, some characters will remain hidden. There are unlimited levels, however, the level stories are not unlimited. 

After a while, all you get is premium currency and experience, which isn't a bad thing, but it's not enough to buy most of the premium items in the game, especially in the game's events, as they are usually vastly overpriced. If you have played the game for years, it's likely you have ways to get donuts more easily through quick level-ups due to lots of buildings, and possibly even through donut-producing buildings. If you haven't played for years, however, you'll probably find it harder to farm for donuts. Thus, it's a fun game that's ridiculously unbalanced. Because of this, it's hard to recommend the game to anyone but the most die-hard fans of The Simpsons.

Final verdict:
3 out of 5

Free Point-and-Click Adventure Review: Steamed Hams: The Graphic Adventure

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

Adult Animated Comedy Television Series Review: The Simpsons - Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes

The Simpsons: Sex Pies and Idiot Scrapes review was previously published on Jupiter Beagle on September 29, 2008.

Primetime animation is commonplace today, but in the 1980s that wasn’t the case. The Flintstones aired in primetime, but it wasn’t until the breakthrough success of The Simpsons that primetime animation became the American television staple that it is today. True, the Simpsons no longer seem fresh or innovative, but it’s amazing that a show that is in its twentieth year on television can still elicit laughs.

Sex Pies and Idiot Scrapes, the twentieth season premiere, finds Homer once again trying a new profession for size. This time, after being arrested for taking part in a St. Patrick’s Day brawl, Homer visits a bail bondsman to post his bail. After getting a taste of the life of a bounty hunter, Homer decides to become one himself. On his first hunt, Homer is accidentally saved by Ned Flanders, and the two decide to become a bounty-hunting duo.

The unlikely pair unsurprisingly get themselves into some very funny situations while they attempt to catch crooks. Long-time fans of the series will be pleased to see a plethora of character cameos in this episode.

The side story has Marge also trying out a new profession. She meets an Irish baker and agrees to bake cakes for him at his bakery. I’m not going to ruin the twist, as this is only a 22-minute episode and I don’t want to give it all away in a review. But, Marge’s job turns out to be quite different from what she was expecting. I was very pleased to see that the side story actually worked well in this episode. It was also nice to see that the writers managed to mesh both stories together in a believable and in-character fashion at the end of the story.

This episode wasn’t perfect, but it was a good start to the new season. Some of the jokes fell flat, especially during the beginning of the episode, but I actually found myself laughing out loud at some points. There wasn’t any character development, but everyone stayed in character throughout the episode. It’s not a series classic by any means, but Sex Pies and Idiot Scrapes is an enjoyable, if somewhat average, episode.

Final Verdict:
3½ out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Television Episode Review: Simpsorama

Simpsorama is a crossover between Matt Groening's two most popular creations, The Simpsons and Futurama. While the two had crossed over in comic books, this was the first time they did so on television.

The episode begins with the children of Springfield Elementary in the twenty-first century putting objects into a time capsule that will be opened in the thirty-first century. When the hole is dug for the time capsule, nuclear ooze flows in from the nuclear plant owned by the town's money-pinching billionaire, Mr. Burns.

During a thunderstorm, the lazy robot Bender arrives from the thirty-first century. He has amnesia until his processor is reset, at which time it is revealed that he was sent back in time to kill Homer Simpson due to the Simpson DNA from the time capsule that mixed with the nuclear ooze to create mutants that wreak havoc in the thirty-first century. The main crew from the Planet Express in the future, Leela, Fry, and Professor Farnsworth, are sent into the past through Bender's chest compartment.

This leads to funny interactions between characters with similar personalities, such as Bender and Homer, and Professor Farnsworth and Professor Frink. It is stuffed full of humor that is more of Futurama's style than that of The Simpsons. That doesn't mean that there isn't anything here for Simpsons fans as there are plenty of jokes from Simpsons characters as well.

The Simpsons and Futurama worlds are fictional in the world of the other, so it's best that don't overanalyze it. If you just sit back and enjoy the comedy, it is a lot of fun. The comics still contain the best crossovers between the two properties, but this one is really enjoyable as well. The only drawback is that some characters didn't get many interactions. It's too bad the Family Guy crossover, The Simpsons Guy, was given an hour instead of Simpsorama as this crossover is much better.

Final Verdict:
4½ out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Television Series Review: The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror review was previously published on Jupiter Beagle on October 15, 2008.

Treehouse of Horror is the annual Halloween-themed episode of The Simpsons. It has become a place for the Simpsons’ creators to do wonderfully bizarre things to their characters without having to worry about series continuity. But, here, in the second season’s Treehouse of Horror, things started off much more innocently.

This episode takes place in Bart’s treehouse (hence the name). The Simpsons kids (Bart, Lisa, and Maggie) are up in the treehouse telling scary stories while Homer eavesdrops on them. The episode is really a series of three short cartoons, interspersed with scenes showing that the kids are the ones telling the stories.

The first story, “Bad Dream House”, has the Simpsons family moving out of their familiar home on Evergreen Terrace in Springfield. Their new house turns out to be alive and decides to get the Simpsons family out by possessing the family members, turning them into psychopaths who want to try to kill each other.

The second story, “Hungry are the Damned”, parodies the episode of the Twilight Zone TV show called “To Serve Man”. The Simpsons are abducted by two aliens known as Kang and Kodos. They give the Simpsons huge amounts of food and take pleasure in watching the family stuff themselves. This makes Lisa suspicious, so she searches the ship to find out the aliens’ true intentions.

The last story is a retelling of the short story “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe. This is easily the most memorable segment of the whole episode. Here Bart is the raven that drives the main character, Homer, crazy while he thinks of his lost love Lenore (who is shown in a portrait as Marge). The story is spoken from the text directly from Edgar Allen Poe’s story and is narrated by James Earl Jones.

The first episode of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is excellent. But, the best episodes in the series are still to come. Even so, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror has become a Halloween tradition in many American households (mine included), and this is the one that started it all. Everyone should see this at least once.

Final Verdict:
4½ out of 5