The Simpsons is no stranger to video games. In addition to spawning more than a few surprisingly good video games of its own, the show has also featured dozens upon dozens of fictional video games over the years.
Now one indie game developer by the name GumpyFunction has brought three of those games to life. Better yet, you can download and play them for free right now via Gamejolt.
"I spent about two years learning how to use game maker studio and these were the results!" GumpyFunction posted on Reddit. "Each game is a recreation of a video game featured within the Simpsons universe. I always wanted to play some of them so I thought I'd just make them myself."
The first is Kevin Costner's Waterworld, from the Season 8 episode "The Springfield Files" — sort of based on the film of the same name.
Next comes Escape from Grandma's, from the Season 2 episode "Bart Gets An F." This sidescroller takes inspiration from the notoriously difficult third level of Battletoads for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Last, but certainly not least, there is Larry the Looter. This game comes from the Season 3 episode "Radio Bart" and is classic side-scrolling beat em' up — in which players take control of Larry as he smashes storefront windows, steals valuables and punches his way past anybody trying to stop him.
The games are surprisingly polished and fun to play. What's really cool here is that these real-world games so closely match their in-show counterparts. It's kind of a surreal experience — playing a real-world version of a fictional game, with so little to have been changed in the process. It just goes to show that the Simpsons showrunners actually put time into thinking about how these fictional games might play.
And these are only three of them. As one Redditor points out, the show has featured more than 70 fictional games in the form of pinball machines, arcade cabinets and console games. Get on it, indie developers. All of these games need to become a reality.
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