[Re-Play] The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare

Recognize this?

For those of you who don't, this is just one of many introductions to the Simpsons, a TV show that features and parodies pop culture and current events. When the Simpsons were still a relatively new family to everyone in America, I was still a young boy who didn't catch any of the references on comedy shows and yet... there was something appealing about the yellow family of Springfield. One of the best character on the show, Bart, brought out the destructive youth in all of us. Who better for a protagonist in a game?

The Simpsons family | simpsons.wikia.com

The Simpsons: Bart’s Nightmare has you live out the “worst” dreams of everyone’s favorite troublemaker. The story starts off as Bart falls asleep trying to complete an assignment at his desk. As he dozes off he is transported to a world ridiculously similar to his hometown of Springfield. The main area, called Windy World, resembles Evergreen Terrace; the street Bart’s family lives on in the show. Here, Bart searches for pieces of his homework, which lead to different mini-game levels.

In my opinion, this area really only serves as a hub world, but combat with other characters (via blowing bubblegum bubbles) and minor exploration can be done. Once Bart finds a page of his homework, he must jump into it, which will transport him to a hallway with two doors, one of which he must quickly choose. Each door is one of several colors, each representing a different world Bart will travel to. Once the level is completed a piece of Bart’s homework will be recovered. Bart dons many different outfits through his journey, including Bartman (blue door), Indiana Bart (orange), and Bartzilla (green). The other two doors find Bart in the world of Itchy & Scratchy (yellow) and Bart's bloodstream (purple).  Each level offers a different style of gameplay, which keeps the majority of the game refreshing and challenging.

GameFAQs.com

The Idea: Combine Simpsons intellectual property with some pop-culture references and throw it in a bag. Shake up the standard gameplay with five different “levels”, each of which must be completed to finish Bart's assignment, and you've got yourself a game! Possibly add in a few hits of acid for some creative inspiration… 

Intro & Bartzilla level

The Look: 16-bit Bart and friends look pretty good for the time and a lot of the Simpsons characters are present including Homer and Marge (as “Homer Kong” and “Momthra”, respectively), Lisa, Maggie, Itchy and Scratchy, Principal Skinner and more.

godisageek.com

The Sound: The sound was pretty much what you’d expect from a 90’s game. The music is a pretty cheesy but it fits the goofy style of the game. The sound effects fit the cartoony environment, but the lack of music in certain levels (particularly Bartzilla) made the game feel a little slow back when I was a kid. I love the music for Bartman’s level, though. The video below does a pretty good job of explaining the level too.

The Play:  Windy World is primarily a 2-D side scrolling area where Bart travels back and forth in search of homework pages. Each world features different gameplay, however. The Bartman and Bartzilla are arcade-style side scrolling with shoot ‘em up elements. The bloodstream area finds Bart “swimming” (complete with mask and snorkel) and using his pump to kill germ enemies who come from the bottom of the screen. The yellow door leads Bart in a comical and deadly house, going from room to room avoiding all kinds of household villains while fighting both Itchy and Scratch with various weapons. This area plays like an old school beat ‘em up game. The orange door leads Bart to Maggie’s Temple, where he must hope from pillar to pillar in order to traverse the temples dangers.

The Entertainment: This game had a lot of different styles of play and all of them offer different joys and frustrations. My favorite levels as a kid were Bartman, the germ level, and Itchy and Scratchy. Nothing is as satisfying as smacking a cat with a hammer… and doing it in a game is just as fun!

See what I mean? | simpsonscrazy.com

The Challenge: The majority of the challenge in this game came from figuring out what exactly you had to do to accomplish anything. Another problem came with dying, as this like many games in its time didn’t believe in save points and the arcade style gameplay wanted to promote repeated play – always from beginning to end. Oh, and even if you don't fail a level, the game requires you repeat some of the mini-games multiple times to get the best ending. At least you get to choose which ones...

The Legacy: The real legacy of this game comes from the nostalgia it provides to us 90’s kids. The game is one of many attempts to put Simpsons into the gaming realm and this particular entry does so pretty successfully. And let us not forget, you get to hit cats with hammers!

Well, that wraps up another week of Re-Play! One last thing for you Minecraft fans...