The Simpsons (video game)

For other video games based on The Simpsons, see List of The Simpsons video games.
The Simpsons
A blue arcade game with The Simpsons characters on it
The Simpsons four player arcade cabinet
Developer(s)Konami (Arcade)
Novotrade (C64, MS-DOS)
Backbone Entertainment (XBLA, PSN)
Publisher(s)Konami
Director(s)Kengo Nakamura
Producer(s)S. Kido
Programmer(s)Akira Suzuki
Hirotaka Ishikawa
NWK
Artist(s)Kengo Nakamura
Yasushi Takano
K. Nakajima
Noriyuki Yokoki
Hiroshi Iuchi
Composer(s)Norio Hanzawa
Platform(s)Arcade, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
ReleaseArcade
  • NA: March 1991
  • JP: August 11, 1991
  • WW: 1991
Commodore 64
MS-DOS
Xbox Live Arcade
  • WW: February 3, 2012
PlayStation Network
  • NA: February 7, 2012
  • EU: February 8, 2012
Genre(s)Beat 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The Simpsons is an arcade beat 'em up developed and published by Konami released in 1991. It was the first video game based on the Simpsons franchise to be released in North America. The game allows up to four players to control members of the Simpson family as they fight various enemies to rescue the kidnapped Maggie.[1] It was a commercial success in the United States, where it was one of the top three best-selling arcade video game machines of 1991, The game also features the television shows's voice actors; Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith reprising their respective roles as the Simpsons family.

The game was ported to the Commodore 64 and MS-DOS soon after its launch in the arcades, and was released as The Simpsons Arcade Game on those platforms. It was also released under that title on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 in February 2012; however, for unknown reasons, it was removed from both services on December 20, 2013.[2][3] In 2021, Arcade1Up released a 30th anniversary home arcade cabinet.[4]

  1. ^ Hopper, Steven (2012-02-03). "The Simpsons Arcade Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 2018-11-14. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  2. ^ "X-Men and The Simpsons Arcade Game disappear from PSN, still on XBLA". Polygon. 2013-12-20. Archived from the original on 2017-01-09. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  3. ^ "The Simpsons Arcade takes us back to the bowling alley (review)". VentureBeat. 2012-02-07. Archived from the original on 2017-05-12. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  4. ^ Peters, Jay (June 9, 2021). "The Classic Simpsons Arcade Cabinet Is Getting rereleased Thanks To Arcade1Up". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.