The Simpsons: The Arcade Game is Konami's 4-player beat-em up based on the ultra-hit TV show, the Simpsons. The Simpsons cartoon has now spanned 21 seasons, a world-wide movie, and licensing from here to kindgom come. In this TAS, adelikat and DarkKobold use four of the five Simpson family, to track down the missing 5th member, Maggie.
- Uses 4-players
- Takes Damage to Save Time
- Speed vs. Entertainment trade-offs
- Used Lua
This was done with a custom
FBA 4.2 build that I made. Included in that download is the multitrack script, written by DarkKobold, used to create this TAS.
The Characters
All characters have a normal attack (4 dmg), a jump-attack (4 dmg), and a special attack (12 dmg). Additionally, each pair of characters can create a special attack, that is controllable by both players. It is initiated by having two characters stand next to each other without moving for about 40 frames.
Homer J. Simpson (The J. stands for Jay!)
Homer uses his fists and feet to deal damage. Additionally, he gets more fun animations when throwing a bowling ball. Watch for his wind up throw against the first boss! Also, when pairing with the kids, homer can deal 12 damage per punch. This is a faster attack than the special attack, but doesn't provide a great amount of benefit, so it is not used extensively. When homer pairs with his wife, they go for a lil' roll... not in the hay, but around the screen, causing 4 damage per hit.
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson (née Bouvier)
Marge uses her vaccum to deal damage, except when her flying butt would do a better job. Meanwhile, she figured out that the key to good parenting was to throw her children around. This attack does 8 dmg, and can help keep the screen moving forward by hitting enemies at the back of the screen. However, all credit for kills is given to the children, so Marge's score stays low the entire game. All right now, play friendly!
Lisa Marie Simpson
Lisa decides to use her jump rope to help save Maggie. A few whirls of her rope take out many of Burn's goons. When she pairs with her brother, they play a deadly game of red-rover, sending the enemies all over, to the tune of 4 damage!
Bartholomew "Bart" JoJo Simpson
Bart uses his skateboarding ability to a new level. He knocks Burn's baddies about with reckless abadon. Aye Crumba!
About the Run
One of the two biggest difference between this run and the TMNT run is the inability to scroll enemies off the screen. Thus, we needed to use Marge's heave ability, as it allowed the children to hit the back of the screen, but end the throw at the front. Also, thrown objects do 8 or 12 dmg, and make it easier to hit enemies from the back. The other big difference is synchronized hits cause extra damage. This means that all four simpsons hitting simultaneously causes 48 damage!
Downtown Springfield
The intro level brings us by noiseland arcade (featured in many episodes), the firehouse, and the rusty barnacle. Also watch for a cameo by Principal Seymour Skinner and Martin Prince. The boss of this level was taken down in two rounds, due to his extremely-high knockdown value. Each boss has an amount of damage they can take due to knock down. Does anyone know what episode the boss came from?
Krustyland
KrustyLand is both part of the Simpsons Universe, and in 2008, our world as well, at Universal Studio, Hollywood. This level features enemy rabbits, based on the character from Matt Groening's initial comic, "Life in Hell." Ironically, the Simpson family was sketched in minutes, due to Matt Groening not wanting to give up ownership of said rabbit. The boss is simply Krusty's face on large balloon. While the knockdown value for this boss is higher than used in the run, it didn't save time to use normal hits over coordinated specials. Also, note that Snowball 2, the cat, and Santa's Little Helper, Bart's dog makes an appearance as weapons in this level. Strangely, Otto the Bus Driver hands out deadly shakes. Must be a summer job.
Springfield Graveyard
Luckily and tactifully, Maude is not one of the zombies that infest this graveyard. (Additionally, she was still alive at the time this game was made). The graveyard is featured in many Treehouse of Horror movies. Additionally, the twofer boss are not actual mobsters from the series. However, the generic 'skinny' mobster that appears hundreds of times in the run is based off of the sidecharacter "Legs" who works for Fat Tony.
Moe's Tavern
Note that in the TV Show, Moe's Tavern is not hidden below a crypt in the cemetery. Also note that Homer enjoys exotic dancers a lil' closer than he should. The boss of this level is a random drunk, who makes no appearance in the TV show.
Springfield Gorge
Probably one of the more interesting levels of the run, and also features many enemies from the TV show. Note that Homer is technically beating himself up, when he kills the mud covered ape creatures. Both this creature, and the boss bear taking maggie, come from the episode
The Call of the Simpsons.
Dreamworld
This is one of the most dreaded levels in all of the game, as the enemies routinely have large amounts of health. The bowling ball boss is based on the Simpsons episode
Life on the Fast Lane. Also note, care was taken in this level to have each Simpson character do their idle animation, without costing time.
Channel 6 News
Homer carries E.T. further than he should. No idea where the bosses in this level came from. Help me out!
Nuclear Power Plant
Burns and Smithers. etc....
Suggested Screenshot
Actual Suggested Screenshot
Nach: Great movie for showing off four players at once. Accepting.
Spikestuff: As a warning. Compared to other FBA Movies there is notable a/v desync after dumping. Be sure to resync it.
EZGames69: Also as a warning, this movie will desync if you don’t set the audio rate to 44100 hz, setting it to 48000 hz will cause a desync in the 2nd stage.
