The Simpsons Arcade Game
If you grew up in the 90s, there are chances that you saw a Simpsons Arcade Game cabinet in the corner of your local arcade or pizzeria at least once. And if you saw it, then you most likely have a TON of great memories from playing it with friends. This PSN port totally makes it possible to finally relive those memories either face-to-face or online. Though the game is old, that doesn’t mean it isn’t still fun to play. The story, combos, and all of that Simpsons goodness have not only aged wonderfully but also do a fantastic job of luring you into the game and then trapping you for hours with addicting multiplayer fun. I can’t even count how many times I’ve started it up, meaning to only play an hour, and ended up playing for three or four. The only real possible downside to the game is that pretty much all of the fun you’ll experience is in multiplayer. That’s not to say the single-player isn’t good; it’s just not AS good. If you have friends to play with or love beat ‘em ups, then you definitely owe it to yourself to pick this up.
I do have fond memories of this game, but I tried the demo on the Xbox and found the gameplay to be very outdated. I’d rather spend $5 on the XBLA port of Streets of Rage 2 (which I did) and get a far superior old-school beat ‘em up than spend $10 on The Simpsons Arcade. They really needed to turn this into an HD remake/overhaul, with the original game being a nice bonus.
Interesting.
Come on, Joe. I know you got this game for free! What are your thoughts?
I’ve never played this game, but it looks dumb. $10?
Haha, yeah I got it for free, and I loved playing it, but I have to agree with Ned. I just sent you a review with my thoughts in detail.
Well, to be fair, you both like side-scroller beat-em-ups a lot more than I do. Remember how much I hated Castle Crashers? Even with the nostalgia factor, I hate TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist . I guess me saying that it looks dumb, shouldn’t carry that much weight, but the $10 part I stand by.
I’m being fair! This game looks stupid. The graphics come straight from an old school NES, the faux cabinet is gray and just highlights the fact that the didn’t even try to adapt the game to look good on newer consoles. As far as beat-em-ups go this one is lacking int he interesting department. You can only select one character, even when you get a game over, the only way to change it is if you reset your score to zero. I’m not sure what Joel is referring to with “combos”, but it is the purest form of button mashing. I guess if you count jumping and hitting at the same time a “combo” then I guess, but even for big Simpsons fans the game lacks. It is so old that a lot of the characters in the game are nameless additions for the game or are completely out of character for the series. I mean Smithers steals Maggie because during a robbery Maggie accidentally sucks on a diamond instead of a binky. I like it, but it is 95% nostalgia and kitschiness.
When playing multiplayer you can do co-op combos and sure, Smithers is totally out of character but that’s part of the fun. The game is just pure silliness! You can turn off the cabinet, btw. I know I did.
is that online Multiplayer or just regular. I played the whole game with 1 or two other people, locally, but I don’t remember any combos. How did I avoid that? There are only two buttons to press.