DAY 114 / GAME 114
Bart's Nightmare
There were Simpsons games and then there was Bart's Nightmare. This was, in my opinion, the best Simpsons game made to date. (Though, I never did try Simpsons Hit and Run and I hear that's pretty good.) I only ever knew of it on the Super Nintendo, which is part of why I never actually own a copy, but turns out it was available on the Sega Genesis as well. Which is too bad, because I would have bought this for sure and right about now I wish I had a copy.
While taking a quick review of the game to write this, I realise now it seems like it was a super short game. But I guess since I never did get very far in completing it it felt as if it could have been a much larger game.
I'm not sure what it is about the Simpsons games but they always seemed overly tough. Bart vs the Space Mutants was absolutely impossible, Escape from Camp Krusty was not easy in the least and neither was Krusty's Super Funhouse. This was no exception to that rule. Bart's Nightmare was basically a collection of mini-games, each of which were, I guess, a dream within a dream. The game starts with you as Bart, falling asleep while trying to write a paper for school. In your dreams you wander about a bizarre and twisted version of Springfield; a windy overworld that gives you access to the dream mini-games. You try your best not to wake up by avoiding pretty much everything. This includes Otto's bus, mailboxes that twist into monsters, Jimbo's gang, Principal Skinner and Zzz's.
The mini-games are equally as twisted and cool. The game now had the opportunity to play with all the different aspects of the Simpsons world. There was an Itchy and Scratchy dream, where you fight your way through their cartoon world using various pickups, my favorite of which is the giant mallet. There was a cellular scaled level, where you float around in Bart's body, fighting off germs using an air pump, over-inflating and blowing them up. (We also get a cameo from Smilin' Joe Fission in this level.) There's also a BartZilla level where you destroy Springfield with your laser eyes and battle with Mom-thra and Homer Kong. A level where you dream you are Bartman, flying across the sky shooting down various Springfield residents and an Indiana Bart level.
The whole game was just so neat. With the whole concept revolving around Bart's overactive imagination meant that the developer, Flying Edge, could really just go nuts with the property. I really enjoyed the entire charm of the game. It looked pretty great and sounded awesome. As I recall it had a pretty neat soundtrack.
Bart's Nightmare also had some interesting inside baseball. Apparently it was designed by legendary Atari game developer Bill Williams and moreover this was his very last job in the industry. 'Meddling' within this game development process drove him to leave for good and he was not happy at all with the final product. He at one time referred to the game, lovingly I'm sure, as 'Bill's Nightmare'. He then, unfortunately passed away 5 years later at age 38 from cystic fibrosis. Now, despite Bill disliking the final product so much, I still enjoyed it quite a bit and I'd like to think I'm not the only one and perhaps he heard some good review after it was released. I'd certainly like to think so.
Bart's Nightmare
There were Simpsons games and then there was Bart's Nightmare. This was, in my opinion, the best Simpsons game made to date. (Though, I never did try Simpsons Hit and Run and I hear that's pretty good.) I only ever knew of it on the Super Nintendo, which is part of why I never actually own a copy, but turns out it was available on the Sega Genesis as well. Which is too bad, because I would have bought this for sure and right about now I wish I had a copy.While taking a quick review of the game to write this, I realise now it seems like it was a super short game. But I guess since I never did get very far in completing it it felt as if it could have been a much larger game.
I'm not sure what it is about the Simpsons games but they always seemed overly tough. Bart vs the Space Mutants was absolutely impossible, Escape from Camp Krusty was not easy in the least and neither was Krusty's Super Funhouse. This was no exception to that rule. Bart's Nightmare was basically a collection of mini-games, each of which were, I guess, a dream within a dream. The game starts with you as Bart, falling asleep while trying to write a paper for school. In your dreams you wander about a bizarre and twisted version of Springfield; a windy overworld that gives you access to the dream mini-games. You try your best not to wake up by avoiding pretty much everything. This includes Otto's bus, mailboxes that twist into monsters, Jimbo's gang, Principal Skinner and Zzz's. The mini-games are equally as twisted and cool. The game now had the opportunity to play with all the different aspects of the Simpsons world. There was an Itchy and Scratchy dream, where you fight your way through their cartoon world using various pickups, my favorite of which is the giant mallet. There was a cellular scaled level, where you float around in Bart's body, fighting off germs using an air pump, over-inflating and blowing them up. (We also get a cameo from Smilin' Joe Fission in this level.) There's also a BartZilla level where you destroy Springfield with your laser eyes and battle with Mom-thra and Homer Kong. A level where you dream you are Bartman, flying across the sky shooting down various Springfield residents and an Indiana Bart level. The whole game was just so neat. With the whole concept revolving around Bart's overactive imagination meant that the developer, Flying Edge, could really just go nuts with the property. I really enjoyed the entire charm of the game. It looked pretty great and sounded awesome. As I recall it had a pretty neat soundtrack. Bart's Nightmare also had some interesting inside baseball. Apparently it was designed by legendary Atari game developer Bill Williams and moreover this was his very last job in the industry. 'Meddling' within this game development process drove him to leave for good and he was not happy at all with the final product. He at one time referred to the game, lovingly I'm sure, as 'Bill's Nightmare'. He then, unfortunately passed away 5 years later at age 38 from cystic fibrosis. Now, despite Bill disliking the final product so much, I still enjoyed it quite a bit and I'd like to think I'm not the only one and perhaps he heard some good review after it was released. I'd certainly like to think so.
No comments:
Post a Comment