TITLE
An Oral History of ‘The Simpsons: Road Rage’
AUTHOR
Brian VanHooker
PUBLICATION
Input
YEAR
2021
ARTICLE TYPE
Interview
FROM THE ARTICLE
If you’ve ever played Bart vs. the World or Bart vs. the Space Mutants or The Simpsons Wrestling you know that — almost as a rule — games based on The Simpsons suck.The early exception, of course, is the 1991 Konami arcade game which wisely mirrored the playability of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. Sadly, after that, things took an immediate downturn and for the next decade Simpsons games were terrible. Even if you have some misplaced nostalgia for something like Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, in your heart, you know it’s a bad game.
While The Simpsons was in its golden age during the ‘90s, games based on the property were stinkers year after year and, at first, 2001 looked to deliver much of the same. In April came the forgettable Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror for Game Boy Color. A month later was the notoriously abysmal The Simpsons Wrestling, a game so bad that Matt Groening demanded his name be taken off the cover. But then, in November of 2001, came The Simpsons: Road Rage and, for a brief moment in time, games based on your favorite Springfield family enjoyed a beautiful renaissance.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Fox Interactive
Radical Entertainment
GAMES MENTIONED
The Simpsons: Hit & Run
The Simpsons: Road Rage
The Simpsons Wrestling
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Warren Evans
Matt Groening
Greg Mayer
Jeremy McCarron
John Melchior
Michael Pole
Matt Selman
Charlie Southern
Nathan Sutter
ALTERNATE LINK
Reprint @ Inverse