A Simpsons Game So Bad to Work On it Made a Legendary Developer Quit Forever
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ส.ค. 2024
- Today is March 3rd, 1993! New episode every single Friday!
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Released this week was The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare for the Sega Genesis, Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck in World of Illusion, and Zen: Intergalactic Ninja!
Writers: Jared Knabenbauer, David Rota, & Dylan Lawrence
Editor: Dylan Lawrence
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#retro #retrogaming #nostalgia - เกม
The best part of Bart's Nightmare is that his D or F paper will still get put on the fridge as some sort of shaming display.
In the episode "Bart gets an F" he gets a D, his family is proud and they put it on the fridge. It's a sweet moment
It's pretty out of character for Lisa to grimace at Bart like that, like what does she even care?
@@repussified She's just bitter Bart got all the video games and she didn't even get one. That's why the developers of Hit & Run gave her level the best music to make up for it.
@@dudestepto be fair Part of that D- belongs to God
@@extremelyuncanny2621 I got a d minus! I got a d minus! I got a d minus! I.... Kissed the teacher?! Eeeewww!
I always loved Bart's Nightmare, despite the fact that, to this day, I've never finished the second Indiana Jones stage. Sad to hear the developer was so affected by it.
I've finished none of the mini games that I can recall.
Wait... the Indiana Jones stage... where you turn into a Dinosaur? Or am I confused with Virtual Bart? As I said in my comment, the games are to similar to me they kind of conflate with each other in my memory...
@@computersnevergoonstrike yes, the dinosaur stage is in virtual bart
@@garou119 ha, thought so. Like I said, I rented those games sooooo many times, and it usually was a case of if Virtual Bart was out (it seemed like it was always out at one of the Blockbusters...) we'd rent Bart's Nightmare. Once in awhile we'd torture ourselves with Krusty's Super Funhouse... But Bart's Nightmare and Virtual Bart felt like they could have been the same game at times. I got turned onto Virtual Bart first and I think that's why I liked Bart's Nightmare at all.... it was much harder, much more frustrating, and just not as fun overall, but it felt close enough to Virtual Bart where I'd play the minigames and keep playing them until I finally beat one and then hope I could keep going. I think I remember that you only had so many lives and so much health and getting through it all was impossible for us at the time... so we'd just keep renting it, keep trying. I remember the Dinosaur level though... it was probably my second-favorite level on Virtual Bart (I liked the tomato/egg tossing one the most). At the same time, it was incredibly hard and I only beat it one time. I got to the end of the level with just a tiny bit of life left and couldn't beat it ever again. The tube slide level too... oh god... that game may have been just as difficult as Bart's Nightmare honestly. I probably just restarted every time I got a minigame I didn't like or couldn't beat (the one where you're a pig is the worst).
I also remember the minigame where you're climbing the tree branches on Bart's Nightmare being really hard, but really fun to me. Took my brother and I a combined 100 tries probably but eventually one of us (or together) we beat that damn level....
Those types of games are honestly a lot more fun when you can incorporate save states, sadly.
"Semi-fun" is probably the best description you can give for Bart's Nightmare. It does not play well at all but it sure feels alllmost like you could have fun if you could just get used to the controls (challenge level impossible)
It's a game that looks like it could be a good time... then you actually play it yourself. Same with Virtual Bart.
Semi-fun describes pretty much all the games. The agreed Masterpieces are far and few between.
@@meoff7602 how amazing it would have been had Konami been able to make the home console games like they made the arcade game.... Sigh. What could have been.
This how I felt about the original Simpson nes game. I was too young to understand that it was just a terrible game, but I always almost had fun playing the first level which I actually played way more than I should have.
Mannn the opening for the X-men cartoon didn't have to go as hard as it did, both the music and the animations!
@Orc_Archer check out the japanese xmen intro 😳
check out the intros for the Japanese dub of the Xmen cartoon. If you thing the US version went hard, JP is diamonds
As a teenager I loved World of Illusion and its idea that both characters in singleplayer and in coop have different layouts for the levels. Replayability at its finest. Graphics and music were stunning too. One of the best Disney games either on 8 or 16 bit consoles. And all Illusion saga is worth checking too.
Loved World of Illusion as well, but it was Mickeys Magical Quest on Snes that blew me away with its graphics.
World of Ilusion is one hell of an underrated classic and it had a very fun two player mode. Also Land and legend of Ilusion are one of the most forgotten Disney games ever, and yes Castle of Ilusión had it's own distinctive Master System port.
I had castle of illusion on the master system and I loved it.
I know everyone says that the 3DS Epic Mickey was supposed to be a remake of the original Castle of Illusion too, however I couldn't see it. It is a good game as well and does deserve to be in the discussion of Disney's Illusion series.
World of Illusion was a staple of my childhood. Such fond memories of playing that with my cousin. I loved how they found creative ways to have players work as a team in order to progress.
Best I could ever get was a B+ in Bart's Nightmare. The Indiana Jones parody in that game was crushing.
I got past the Itchy & Scratchy, Virus and the bartman levels.
I tried going back and even with save states I would constantly get myself in to a corner where any jump would be game over.
If you keep the extinguisher for against the boiler boss, you can spam the flames he spawns forever to raise your score for an easy A+ rank
Yeah, the Bartman game was long but doable and fun; Indiana Bart was just long, tedious and difficult.
Still better than Bart usually does.
I also rented Bart's Nightmare a ton as a kid. Strangely, I think my favorite part of it wasn't the mini-games at all, but rather the in-between sections when you're walking (or skateboarding) around on the street. It was weirdly relaxing, but also surreal with the Z's floating around and mailboxes chomping their way across the road.
I owned it and yeah same.
As a kid I was more enthused with the mini games but definitely spent more time in the street. I still play this game alot through emulation nowadays when I'm stoned and almost exclusively wander around on the street, playing the mini games only here and there.
It's very zen and allows me to zone out while still keeping me just alert enough to not completely lose track of reality.
It has a Vaporwave vibe a long time before it was a thing
Prolly cause some of the games were fing impossible for us kids lol.
But same. Eitherway I loved it and rented it frequently...however I never asked to have it bought... so maybe nostalgia is getting me here.
Glad i wasn't the only one... There were also a lot of games i would just let play in the background for the ambient music lol. Ocarina of time is definitely one of those lol
The noise the green statues used to make is forever stuck in my head
Bart's Nightmare is a Nightmare to play.
I *thought* that art design for Mazin Saga looked like a certain Super Robot! The shift of the boss fights to the 2D fighting game mechanics reminds me a lot of the SNES Power Rangers beatemup when the game finally let you break out the Megazord.
ZEN The Intergalactic Ninja is one of the best NES games that barely anyone knows about. I happened to have a friend who owned it and I've played the heck out of it back in the day. It's really good, has a ton of variety in the gameplay, literally every stage is doing something different, and most of it plays really well. Also having some of the best graphics on NES doesn't hurt.
I never heard about it before, but now that I have, I wish I had, it looks fantastic and a lotta fun! I really oughta give it a go some day!
@@Mike14264 you'll want to do that on an emulator, unfortunately....
@@Gameboy-Unboxings yeah, the game ain't cheap... but worry not, matey! This ain't me first time sailing these seas!
I'd buy it off you 20bucks
For the record, Bill Williamson's Alley Cat is one of THE best PC arcade games of the early 80s. It overcomes the hardware to be genuinely charming - and very very weird - even today. The jumping physics are wonky since it's really going all-in on the "playing as a cat" theme, but get used to the controls and it's a lot of fun.
I still remember getting Bart's Nightmare for Xmas. Bad choice!
I think everyone had it, unfortunately.
My only memory of Bart's Nightmare was abusing a spot in the "Itchy and Scratchy" level (where you're running through the house with the two chasing you) to gain infinite points/lives. There's a table you can stand on next to a lamp, which keeps you out of the enemies' reach while you can just attack the light bulbs the lamp spits out. At least it wasn't like the NES games with the insanely awkward controls where the jump button is ALSO the run button?
I did that too. And with the water heater boss in the basement you can get into a spot where you can just hold the button and shoot the fireballs that it spits to gain a ton of points. That's the only way I even managed to get the A+.
Bart's Nightmare was the rental bicycle that everyone in elementary school took a ride on in the 90s. It was simultaneously played by everyone at school, yet was one of those games that was always in store at the video rental place. It was the game you picked up because every other game you thought might look fun was taken (granted, this was the SNES version but the point stands). EVO: THe search for Eden? NO. Harvest Moon? NO. Aerobiz? NO. Super Star Wars? NO. Secret of Mana? DOUBLE NO. So the rest of the family has picked out videos and when you can't find a good game your parents go "Oh you like the simpsons! Try that one!" and so you get home, put it in your console and vow to make sure to tell your parents to NOT pick that one up for birthday or christmas and to try and see if Funcoland has gotten a copy of Final Fantasy IV yet.
Thumbs up for Aerobiz
I never played it!
@@AldorasDeranor Thumbs up to "One Stop Video" in my hometown for having it! Someone who worked there must've been a gamer cause they had some deep cuts for rental. Uncharted Waters, Stunt Race FX, Robotrek, all the Sim games, and more! Unlike blockbuster who tended to just have 10 copies each of mario world, mario all stars, and donkey kong and maybe some odds and ends like the simpsons games and if you were lucky you might find something like operation desert strike or whatever the gulf war helicopter game was...
In a time period when games like phantasy star 2 expected you to find the right random npc to progress the story, barts nightmare felt rather straight forward.
Funny Easter egg in Bart’s Nightmare. In the stage where you climb up the building, people will randomly toss a competing console at you. In the SNES, they throw Genesis’s at you while Genesis had them throwing SNESes at you.
That moment when you beat the notification.
Neat!
Not going to lie. That Battletoads transition not only had me laughing, but bobbing my head to the music. Great job, Dylan.
Ahhh, "World of Illusion". It's way too easy (even for little kids), it's kinda slow, and it's not that long either.
...But somehow all of this becomes a positive. The slow pace and lack of challenge translates into a really atmospheric experience. The incredibly good music and visuals don't hurt either. This might have the best presentation of any game on the Megadrive. It's definitely in the top ten. Despite its flaws, this game is a joy to play through. It's not quite up there with the 8-bit version of "Castle of Illusion" (way better than the Megadrive version by the way) but it's a cherished gaming memory.
"Zen" sounds like the kind of game that could make me regret having been a Sega kid. Heck, just the gameplay shots make it look awesome. Add into that a hefty dose of "Captain Planet" environmentalism and you have a recipe for a game that could be fun for many reasons, not all of them intentional. Kinda wish I'd come across this one back in the day. Oh well.
I wanna say PBG would be sad to learn that one of his favorite games caused that. Even then, I hope it doesn't ruin the game for him. It's neat to see how even the worst games out there can end up being someone's favorite. Heck, I used to enjoy Pac-Man 2 up until....
*The incident.*
Incident?
As an aside, I absolutely *hated* how during this era Bart was headlining the franchise, when it was the entire Simpsons family who were the main characters of the show...not just Bart. It's why The Simpsons Arcade Game was *such* a breath of fresh air for me.
That riff from the X-Men animated series theme made me light up like the Fourth of July! Such a great show.
Hated that cartoon so much as a kid that I now just hate x-men in general. All of them, bar none.
Oh wow, Zen is the best looking NES game I have ever seen! That's really impressive performance for what it looks like too, on that grey little brick
Bart's Nightmare was one of those games I really REALLY wanted to like but evertytime I rented it it made itself clear that it simply did not wanted to be liked by me.
For one or another reason I can still recall the music on the street levels...
Dylan: * about Go Nagai * "And is arguably the creator of-"
Me: "The Mecha genre! Without him, there would have been no Gundam, no Evangelion, no Gurren Laga-"
Dylan: "The entire Ecchi Genre."
Me: "Okay, that too."
I look forward for the now in the 90s videos all week , I just binge watch em all the time ...brings me back to my childhood 💖
This deserves a ground-up Remake for modern consoles. The Bartzilla level would be incredible....
I can’t believe as a kid I rented this game more than once. But when we were kids there was no such thing as a bad game.
Eww... Bart's Nightmare. I had it, I believe someone gave it to me.
Also Battletoads quite possibly has one of the best starts of any game and then it quickly loses all that good will it built with those first two levels. I think if they had dialed back the difficulty and focused more on keeping it a beat em up it would be regarded as one of the best Beat em ups.
Know what suck? Simpsons games.
I started working at Sculptured Software inbetween the release of the SNES and Genesis games. I remember seeing people working on Bart’s Nightmare.
It’s not the worst game I ever played. Barts Nightmare had its issues, like most of The Simpsons consoles games, but had some good levels like Bartman, Into the Blood stream, and Itchy and Scratchy. This is an example of a game where you need to read the instruction manual to understand the gameplay mechanics. Check out Mike Matei’s play through on his channel.
World of illusion, probably one of the greatest co-op games I've had the pleasure of playing on the Sega back in the day
That battle toads pause music is super nostalgic
I enjoyed Bart's Nightmare. Had no idea it had a bad reputation.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to recall the theme song Jared hummed at the end.
What is it ???? It’s driving me up the wall it’s right there but I can’t remember !!!
Just hit me when I posted that it’s X-men cartoon.
1:51
Those are Atari 800 games, actually.
"Alley Cat" and "Necromancer" are not available for the Atari 2600.
Was not expecting a ProJared jumpscare when I clicked on this video.
"Guyver, anyone? No?"
*Slowly raises hand in aging* 😂
I fucking LOVED the ZEN comic books!
They were all about fighting pollution villains with recycled heroes!
So cheesy good!
Maziner was going through a bit of a revival in the 90's, most notably via Mazinkaiser and God Maziner. They're legitimately great anime products and well worth checking out for mecha fans. Go Nagai, the creator, also co-created Getter Robo, which basically invented the combining robots sub-genre. There's a reason why Getter Robo and Mazinger form 2/3 of the Holy Trinity in the Super Robot Wars franchise.
I only got one of the spotlight games right from my guesses last week: Bart's Nightmare. I said Castle of Illusion instead of World of Illusion and never even heard of Zen.
As for predictions for next week: I'm guessing Tetris 2, Goof Troop, and X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse.
Bart vs the Space Mutants was beyond terrible. I avoided Simpsons games after because of it. Most franchise games suck but there are a few exceptions.
LOL, nice Battletoads transition 🤣
I see you and the Guyver reference, Editor Dylan. I see you.
My fave rental game as a child was Bart's nightmare. Great game for a sleepover
That pause sequence into Battletoads was just *_[chef kiss intensifies]_*
In a show focused on nostalgia, it's funny to me that just the X-Men opening notes is what set off mine the most.
OMG Combat Tribes was another title I had forgotten about. I remember the three heroes having all B names: Blitz, Bullova, and... the third guy.
Zen Intergalactic Ninja was originally published by Zen comics. Archie did a more kid friendly series (similar to their arrangement with Mirage Studios with TMNT) to help back a Zen TV pilot that never got off the ground. Archie picked it up because Surge Licensing (who sold them on TMNT which was making them a crap ton of money) was also involved with licensing Zen. So they were packaged together, and Archie could pick up the license cheap. The animated pilot not happening is why Archie's version of Zen disappeared after only three issues.
Mazin Saga runs so damn smooth. Wow.
Its great
Small correction: Alley Cat was released for Atari 8-bit computers, not the 2600.
Bart's Nightmare is great, it had a lot of different enjoyable gameplay styles. As for the difficulty, well it's a hard game but it wouldn't be a nightmare is it were easy, it's part of its theme and its charm. Plus most of the games of that era were hard for a purpose. You didn't wanted to finish a game you just received for your birthday in one afternoon.
It is a shame that Konami could never port The Simpsons Arcade game to home consoles at that time. Just think of having a port like Turtles in Time on SNES.
The only good Simpsons game in that era was Krusty's Super Fun House, and the only reason it was good was because it was a reskin of an old Amiga game.
Sad thing was, Bill Williams went to the Lutheran School of Theology for only two years, but Chicago’s air pollution worsened his cystic fibrosis dramatically. Even after a move to Rockport, Texas, Bill died May 28, 1998 from complications to said cystic fibrosis, one day before his 38th birthday. A tragic end to what could have been a great career,
Okay, so that makes two people I've heard mention Guyver on the internet, the other being Brandon Tenold.
Why Jared why did you forget Starfox last week and still refuse to cover it Dx why do you hate starfox !
Normal game - Blocking a character from accessing a route by denying them an ability like double jumps.
World of Illusion - Blocking a character from accessing a route by giving them a big ol` duck butt that wont fit through a gap.
No really. You have to play with both characters so when Donald gets stuck Mickey can take his hand and pull him through.
Jared said 'One of the coolest things in the 90's' because everyone knows the coolest will always be pirates.
The war will never die.
This game is such an underrated gem. I had this as a kid and I don’t think I ever got over a B
BART'S NIGHTMARE.... difficult?? That game was a sweet breeze, but I will admit that Bartzilla level is tough but worth it in the 2nd half.
Bart's Nightmare proves why we NEEDED rental stores back in the day. Game magazine says it's great, advertising looked awesome, go pick up the game and....nope!
Keep Going Jared, love the Now in the 90s Show = )
I had an SNES, my friend had a Sega. I can testify that Bart's Nightmare (we each had it) plays differently on each console. I don't know if it was just the controller layout, but I was better at my version and he was better at the Sega version.
3:47
Thank Working Designs for bringing this one over althought that would be the reason it can't be officially brought back.
Okay so I somehow owned this game as a kid. Don't ask me how. I hated it at first but I pushed through ... and I came to absolutely adore it. VERY hard game to get the hang of, but it felt great to eventually beat and finally master it. I was excited when I rented another Simpson's game after this one, but that was legitimately a turd. Lol. So it goes.
EDIT: I played on SNES, so that's pretty interesting to consider. Never had a Genesis.
Krusty's Fun House was a rare simpsons game that was actually good, it did this by being far away from trying to re-create a scene from an episode and just being its own thing.
Somewhere, Jirard starts to panic and looks around as if he can hear something nobody else can at the mention of "Bart's Nightmare".
So, when we get to 2025, I'm super excited when Jared gets to the SEGA Saturn games. Oh, and the PlayStation games, those are okay too. Also, now I wanna try Mazin Saga Mutant Fighter, cause holy shit. Thanks, Dylan! 😉
The best part of Barts Nightmare is where you throw it in the trash. It's a lot like a 4 ton pile of dog shit dumped on a crisp 100$ bill. There's fun to be had but you'll get messy and stinky!
My brother and I played a TON of World of Illusion. I will always love that game, I bought a Genesis Mini purely so we could finally beat it.
Man, those sprite animations during Mazin Saga's boss fights are *ludicrously good.*
Bart has ALWAYS BEEN Homer's NIGHTMARE!!!
If only Editor Dylan could've heard me squeal when he mentioned Guyver...
Wait, really? You guys never heard of Mazinger Z? It's the anime/manga that pioneered the mecha genre.
Yeah, Bart's nightmare was a "We rented this one a lot and I don't know why" games here as well.
Rented this game enough as a kid to have owned it twice. Same with World of Illusion lol.
I actually loved the game, it was just impossibly difficult for a child.
Now in the 90s is such a glow up for Jared, not to say that there's anything at all wrong with the ProJared channel's content but I really admire the confidence present in this new channel.
Particularly impressive in light of the past controversies, I think that this kind of best foot forward approach is great. Love to see it.
Also my brother and I would also rent Simpsons games until we finally learned to avoid them. Bart's Nightmare is a really apt title.
Bart’s Nightmare is criminally underrated
I don’t think I’ve ever hit subscribe so fast on a video. Nostalgia ftw.
I swear as much as I like the main attraction games. Dylan's segments are packed with some interesting tidbits.
I was not prepared to hear that word Echi in my video game review show... Tho I suppose I SHOULD be.
Seeing Bill Williams credited under "miscellanious" is soul crushing. If that were me, I'd rather not be credited at all.
Bart's Nightmare Bartzilla Level gameplay is all the Game boy Colour Godzilla games are which are the only games based on the 1998 Godzilla Animated series.
I remember a friend and I rented Battletoads because we wanted a 2 player fighting game like Double Dragon 2. Man were we wrong, we never got passed the Turbo Tunnel together. And only got past it once. The warps helped, but that's like saying an umbrella helps you to slow down your fall.
Barts Nightmare was one of my favorites lol
It sucks that basically everyone old Simpson's game sucked as bad they did. Well, if the obvious exception of the Simpson's Arcade game, but it really doesn't count as it never really got an official port except for an odd DOS release that I never knew about until WAY later. (Kinda reminds of all the bad Ren & Stimpy games that came out nearly all at once. It was super popular series that had a ton of pontential to be made into a great game, but alas they were literally some of the worst..I remember being SO disappointed by them, even as a kid who could find enjoyment out most videogames, I knew they were bad and hated them!)
As for the who was the cause of the nightmare for that developer...well, it's well known that the owners of the Simpsons franchise (I think Gracie Films..ircc) were extremely protective of it and was always hassle to deal with, especially when it came to the video games. Even with the more modern release despite some of them being pretty damn awesome, you heard horror stories of hard they were to work with and all the oddly specific and rather odd design choices they were told they had to implement.
I mean, it was great they were protective of it and being pro-active about how the franchise was used and all, but the way they went about it only ended up hurting them. Well, quality-wise that is, as I have little doubt they probably still made out extremely well monetarily with just how popular the Simpson's were back then.
World of Illusion is so popular in Europe that at least one Disney game that had nothing to do with it was renamed there to pretend being a sequel.
I actually liked Bart's Nightmare (and the VR one). Even though I got the hang of the minigames, still wasn't a fan of Maggie's Temple, but Bartzilla was lit.
Edit: I didn't know about Bill's story, makes me appreciate it even more, as opposed to the alternatives.
Second Edit: Oh, I remember The Guyver.
As a kid I always wondered why they couldn’t make a normal Simpsons console game. Bart’s nightmare and virtual Bart are both weird
I hate Bart's Nightmare so damn much; I worked my ass off to save up the money for that game, only to end up with a game that's now infamous for how bad it is.
Never heard of Zen, but it looks interesting. I'll have to check it out.
Also kinda surprised there was a western release in 1993 for what is basically a Mazinger game without any major overhaul. Pretty cool.
Hard to believe the Simpsons used to be such a powerhouse industry, just by looking at the ridiculous silly mess it is today. I still have very fond memories of back when it was a good show.
Yo Jared! I didn't know you still did content after you know. Happy to see you still around.
I never heard of Zen. Blows my mind that there's still NES games I haven't heard of. Too bad he didn't take off, the game looks pretty cool.
Dang Bill Williams hated making Bart’s Nightmare so much that he forced himself as a game developer forever.
I know that the game is painfully hard,but never thought that it would make him quit.
If the whole game had just been a Bartman flying shooter, it would have been 100 times better.
I was a kid in 90’s, born in ‘84 so Simpsons was my source of entertainment and comedy for quite a while. I remember being so surprised by Barts Nightmare because, graphically it was so close to the show at the time my jaw was on the floor. As gameplay goes it was horrendous. I don’t think I ever beat a single level. Virtual Bart was indeed better, I got it as a gift for my Sega one year. Still kinda crappy, and depressing as a huge Simpsons fan, but far more playable than the previous game. Still those games got me used to not expect anything from movie/tv show games, and in fact expect them to be shitty so when one comes along that’s decent, you appreciate it more
If only Konami had the license for Simpsons console games like they did with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tiny Toon Adventures...
What deal with the Devil did Acclaim make to get the license to make Simpsons games? You know your games are infamous when one of the developers disliked working on them.
Big ups for both a Guyver and a Devilman reference. And that segue in Battletoads was great.