The Simpsons Arcade game is an amazing beat em up that creates a ton of nostalgia.
The game follows the Simpsons family as they adventure through various locations in the city of Springfield while they are trying to get back Maggie who was kidnapped by Mr. Burns and his crony Smithers. Maggie is kidnapped because she is sucking on a diamond which she believes is just another pacifier. The brief amounts of story that is in the game is told in wonderfully animated scenes between stages. The Simpsons contains more story elements than other games of the time such as Streets Of Rage. The game plays out through a number of different stages including the streets of Springfield, the amusement park, Moe's tavern, and the channel 5 studios. All of the stages are very unique in design, and they all have their own different kinds of enemies. There is a boss in each stage and they are also pretty good. One problem with the game design is that I wish there were more prominent Simpsons characters involved in the game as bosses or enemies ect. There are a few cameos by a couple characters only. The game is pretty tough, especially with four people playing at the same time, but i never felt like it was hard enough not to beat it. In fact, I have beaten it many times, and i can beat it with only just a couple quarters. You can play through the game with each of the Simpsons family members, minus Maggie, and all of them play differently. Marge and Lisa have more range, while homer has no range but attacks a lot harder, and Bart has medium range and power. I tend to use either Bart or Homer, but all the characters are certainly playable. There a few different attack variations that can be used such as a normal attack and a jump attack, but a special attack can be executed while pressing both buttons. The special attacks are unlimited and are unique to each character. The game can be played with any number of 1-4 players, and playing with 4 players provides a ton of fun and insane chaos, as the number of enemies and difficulty increases with each character added. I found myself having as much fun solo as with coop, but getting 4 people together to play can be an amazing experience. Like most games in the beat em up genre the Simpsons can be beaten in 30-45 minutes, but in my opinion the game can be played multiple times and you still wouldn't be bored with it. It is easily worth the $10 to download or even for free on MAME.
The Simpsons Arcade game looks amazing for the time it came out. The game design and art style is fantastic as the bright colors and graphics will pop out right at you. The environments and the characters are all well detailed. You can tell that time was spent to make sure every visual detail in the game looked great. The music and sound in the game is also fantastic. The music is really good and includes numerous takes on the Simpsons theme. All of the tracks sound unique and the game is a pleasure to listen to. Not to be outdone by the soundtrack are the sound effects in the game. They are really amazing from the simple sound of your fist to the consumption of a health power up.
Overall the Simpsons Arcade game is a personal favorite of mine, and whenever i play it my body is consumed with the Nostalgia of being a kid again and begging my parents to let me play it in the arcade. The game is outstanding in every aspect from the gameplay to the visuals to the sound.
5 stars (10.0)
Gameplay: 10
Replayability/Value: 9
Graphics: 10
Audio: 10
Presentation/Design/Story: 10
psn/360 version notes:
-online coop 4 players
-english and easier Japanese Rom's
-survival mode, and a number of different play modes