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Games Entertainment

Combining The Simpsons with MarioCart 127

Posted by timothy from the two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together dept.
FortKnox writes: "The game Simpson's Road Rage was just announced for the Nintendo Game Cube (it'll also be available on PS2 & XBox). Looks like it will be extremely similar to Mario Cart, but with a heavy Simpsons theme. I remember the hours we would play mariocart at college (usually while drunk). This is one of the only ways to improve that game ..." Just a blurb right now, but "Sunday Driving mode" is the sort of thing I wished more games offered -- the ability to explore and poke at the virtual world without obsessing over levels and points.
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Combining The Simpsons with MarioCart More

Combining The Simpsons with MarioCart

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  • Name one thing that simpsons on merchandise hasnt sold well...

    legitately anyhow.

    --donabal

  • The comparison you're looking for... (Score:3, Informative)

    by ProfessorPuke ( 318074 ) on Saturday September 15, 2001 @08:38AM (#2302514)
    ...is "Crazy Taxi"

    It's a fundamentally different game from Mario Cart. Instead of participating in races from a predefined point A -> B, you can travel anyplace on a map and grab passengers to shuttle around [gamespot.com].

  • Exactly. (Score:2, Funny)

    by garcia ( 6573 )
    Excellent...

    Exactly...

    DOH!
  • Seems nothing like Mario Kart at all... The only similarity I can think of is that it uses characters from a cartoon/game in vehicles. I think the 'Sunday driving' is probably more like Midtown Madness (which BTW is very good). There doesn't seem to be much success in copying the Mario Kart kind of game anyway... the original SNES version was just too good.
    • There doesn't seem to be much success in copying the Mario Kart kind of game anyway... the original SNES version was just too good.


      I'll agree, the original SNES version was out there in terms of gameplay and fun. I was a little to the N64 scene, myself, but I just didn't find MarioKart 64 all that great. As far as knockoffs go, though, Crash Team Racing [gamespot.com] for PSX was pretty damned good.
  • This game would be a perfect candidate for Nintendo's "Toon-style". I just have to wonder if they'll end up making it more like the 3D episode, you know, the one where every gets sucked into the black hole.

  • And the heavens sing... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by crashnbur ( 127738 ) on Saturday September 15, 2001 @08:43AM (#2302522)
    There could not be a greater cartoon on the face of the planet.
    There could not be a greater kart-racer on the face of the planet.

    Mmmmmm... forbidden donut...

    I think I might have to indulge myself when this hits! And speaking of the Simpsons, I just bought a wonderful book called The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer [amazon.com]. I read one of the essays at Barnes and Noble, and I was wonderfully surprised. The editors of this book put together some brilliant essays concerning the Simpsons' relation to some serious philosophical issues. Seeing as how we nerds tend to like things like the Simpsons and Philosophy, I figured you guys might not mind a quick review.

    Also look out for the Simpsons Season 1 DVD boxed set, 25% off at Amazon.com. :)
    • The editors of this book put together some brilliant essays concerning the Simpsons' relation to some serious philosophical issues.

      Kind of like when Homer argues with his brian ("Shut-up, Brain, or I'll stab you with a Q-tip."), demonstrates the cartesian mind-body split.

      My parents will forever consider the Simpsons evil, but the Ph.D.s I studied under (French Lit), thought that they were some of the best social commentary of our day.

    • My history teacher brought an article from the New York Times into class on the philosophy of the Simpsons. She encouraged my friend to do his term paper on said subject.
      D'oh! Lousey post...
  • and has some orignallity to it, unlike virtual springfield, this might be quite interesting.

    course your always gonna get someone who says "nintendo, in simpsons kart, doctor marvin monroe runs over poochie, yet dr monroe died before poochie was invented. heh, are we to beleive this is a time traveling game? i hope someone got fired for that one"

  • "Sunday Driving mode" is the sort of thing I wished more games offered


    There was a game at one point called Virtual Springfield which graphically was pretty "Simpsonesque". Not sure what the objectives were but it was laid out quite well and you could explore Springfield.

  • Man, I really hope that Mexican bee guy from channel ocho is a character. He's the best.

  • Old news - screenshots and stuff (Score:4, Informative)

    by iapetus ( 24050 ) on Saturday September 15, 2001 @09:06AM (#2302558) Homepage

    Not just old news, but positively antique. Here's a link to a C&VG article [computeran...ogames.com] complete with screenshots of the PS2/XBox versions, which were announced long before the GC one. Also an IGN preview [ign.com] of the PS2 version.

  • Sunday driving mode is cool.. but what about... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lostman ( 172654 ) on Saturday September 15, 2001 @09:08AM (#2302560)
    Sunday driving mode is cool.. but what about Saturday Morning driving mode?

    You start the game in this mode, and all of a sudden all the games sounds get WAY to loud. Then you notice that your view of the road starts going blurry. Then you notice that all the colors seem to be REALLY bright...

    The icing on this mode, of course, is the fact that when you "turn" left, your car doesnt start turning until a few secs later...

    With this mode, everyone will be able to experience the joy of hangovers and having a bit to much alcohol STILL in their system after a nice night of lan partying...
    • Why is this rated +4, funny? If the poster is describing an experience where he gamed and drank all night long, then left the LAN party the next morning, then he is likely describing driving drunk...If he is describing driving the day after (ie. assuming he got some sleep), then his description still fits that of impaired driving.

      I don't think impaired driving is funny, particulary because of the terrible loss of life that can result.

    • Midtown Madness and Midtown Madness 2 for the PC have "Sunday driving" modes (I forget what it's called -- "Cruising Mode" or something like that) where you can just drive around and explore, with no pressure. They are both very fun games; in the first one, you drive around Chicago. In the second one, they have San Francisco and London. Although this being Slashdot, I feel obligated to mention that they were released by Microsoft.


      As for drunk driving, early last year I bought a "Driver's Education" program for my girlfriend, who was just learning to drive. It was OK. (I have a steering wheel for my PC, which helps.) Anyway, it does have a "drunk driving" mode, where the response of the on-screen car lags behind what you do. Even when you try to compensate for it, it's still hard.

  • That's right. You're all unfaithful and unworthy if for one moment you called it Mario Cart. There is no such game as "Mario Cart".

    You disgrace the name of our Lord and savior Mario Kart by slandering its name in such a haphazard fashion.
    • Exactly. And, FYI, unless it uses Mode 7 scrolling, it's a Mario Kart 64 clone, not a Mario Kart clone. In my opinion Mario Kart for SNES was the best verion of the game, I an not a huge fan of the 64 version... maybe it's just because i played it for years and years.
    • nah you dont like 64 cause the game play is sloppier. the first version was TIGHT. anyone who mastered that game knew it cause you could take player 2, put them in the center of a field, get a red shell, and by aiming it just right, put it into orbit around them. actually thats my BIGGEST gripe against 64- the red shells are unpredictable. it took a whole level out of the game. the roads are 4 times too wide, anyone can play it and win after 8 minutes.

  • More cars! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sg3000 ( 87992 ) <sg_public@nOsPaM.mac.com> on Saturday September 15, 2001 @09:24AM (#2302587)
    Read the links for the images on IGN's site (comment 2302558-- sue me, I'm too lazy to hyperlink). Whoever set up the site has probably never seen Simpsons

    Apu isn't driving a "Red Car"; it should be a circa 1978-era Trans Am-like car (they already had to license the Simpsons characters; I wonder if they'll bother to license the car makes)

    Homer definitely isn't driving a pink Cadillac. It's just a pink American sedan.

    The game should put Marge in her Canyonero (I guess Krusty should have one too). And they should make Homer's "The Car Built for Homer" a bonus car. Or even his 70s-something Dodge Charger (with sideburned-clad Homer to boot). Then they could put a younger Marge in her Gremlin.

    What about Mr. Burns? Would he be in his limo? Or would they show him driving his Model T-type car where the tires must be revulcanized?

    For completeness sake, Otto should be in his school bus (although his character is annoying in anything more than 10 second doses).

    What about celebrity cameos? Ed Begley Jr can show up in his eco-friendly car powered by his "own sense of self-satisfaction".

    They've already got Barney in his Plow King snow plow. Are there any other vehicles they should show?

    Sometimes I wonder if the game programmers are actually fans of the show (if so, they should be aware of the above vehicles), or if they just tacked a Simpson's theme on a Crazy Taxi ripoff they were already doing.
    • Are there any other vehicles they should show?

      Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney should be driving their stolen mini-bikes.

      Since Bart is driving a soapbox racer, Nelson should be in "Roadkill", his racer.

      Flanders has both a wood-panelled station-wagon and a GEO.

      The Capitol City Goofball should be in the "Baseball Cart."
      • Flanders has both a wood-panelled station-wagon and a GEO.

        I'm not so sure about the Geo.. it seems the last we saw of it was in episde CABF06 [lardlad.com] when Homer drove it into the salt silo. The salt and snow pretty much destroyed the car when the car spontaneously rusted.

        You did it, Nibbles! Now... chew through my ball sack! [smoovenet.com]

        -Nerftoe
      • Good ones.

        Bart briefly had a Ferarri when he was Burn's heir. He could even have a Christmas elf to come along for the ride. In fact, Marge briefly stole Ranier's Testerossa briefly in one episode.

        Troy McClure could have his Delorean. Cletus should be in his stepside pickup truck (complete with roadkill in the bed). Dr. Hibbert could be in his Volvo. I'd like to drive as Prof. Frink on his flying motorcycle.

        For songs, the various incarnations of the Simpson's themes would get boring. They should use:

        1. The Canyonero theme song (that song is great!)
        2. the standard "chase music" that they use for car chases
        3. music licensed from bands that have appeared on the Simpsons: Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill, the Who, Elton John, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Lurleen's songs, Tom Jones, etc.
        4. They could stretch it with some vaguely related songs like "Gonna Paint our Wagon" (assuming someone's driving a wood paneled station wagon), "Oh, Streetcar!", the monorail song (particularly if the story is that someone raised the taxes on bus fare)

        There are plenty of chances for them to really make this a *Simpsons* game (multiple characters, multiple cars, variety of music), but I suspect that just shoehorned the most obvious Simpsons characters into this game without really thinking about it.
      • Kerney drives a hyundai (or however you spell it). it was in the episode where chalmers got a honda and nelson stole the "h"
    • Are there any other vehicles they should show?

      The Duffmobile.
    • mr burns has a 1947 (or 48) rolls royce, which would be cool to have in the game.


      and otto should have the Poolmobile.

    • What about when Homer was driving in Big Red's truck after he died in the steak eating competition?
    • Moe's car with the big flower decals that Homer stole and drove off a cliff. Marge also went off a cliff into Springfield gorge, but it was a stolen car (I don't remember the make).

      Ned and Homer both had RVs.

      Kang and Kodos have a very nice spaceship, for the sequel game. This would go nicely with Frink's flying motorcycle, the human powered fake spaceship flown by the Leader of the Movementarians, Krusty's Krashed plane and Homer's space shuttle sabotaging Mir.

      Apu's car was definitely a firebird, with the big decal on the hood ("Squirt the boy").

      How about the funky "walking sphere" that Luanne van Houtan and her stuntman boyfriend tool around town in?

      The very tall guy with the very small car who marched Nelson down the street.

      There are lots more, but they probably get a little silly.
    • Homer definitely isn't driving a pink Cadillac. It's just a pink American sedan.

      Ah, but if you remember the tomacco episode then you know that Homer's car was really made in Guatemala...

    • "Otto, there's a Gremlin on the side of the bus!"
    • For completeness sake, Otto should be in his school bus (although his character is annoying in anything more than 10 second doses).

      Whoa, what a bummer, dude.
  • This game is very scary. Bart the racer is only 10yo. I had better buy a truck as a family vehicle if I were going to relocate to Springfield.
  • What with this release, Resident Evil, Zelda, etc... though personally I still think the X-Box will be my choice.
    • To take the X-Box as your choice instead of the Game Cube(or even the PS2) is like saying that you are waiting and wanting to be screwed over by Microsoft.
      1. The X-Box controller is bigger than any hands known to man kind(the Japan controller looks good, alas..).
      2. Microsoft doctored up "screen shots" of some of their games, to make them look more appealing.
      3. Microsoft=Bugs
      4. Luigi's Mansion, just those two words, you would be leaving Nintendo when they are going to make a Luigi game!

      If you decide to get an X-Box e-mail me and tell me how it works....you heathen ;)



      "Alas, Old Dreamcast, I knew Ye Well"
  • Some famous music critic once remarked that "only seven songs have ever been written in the history of rock music; most bands just learn one and play it over and over."

    This statement especially holds true for video games. Once a game breaks into the mainstream, thousands of imitations will appear, merely tweaking a theme or giving a boost to graphics performance. Primary examples:

    1. Super Mario Brothers - side scroller
    2. Street Fighter 2 - head-to-head side scroller
    3. Doom - First Person shooter
    4. Warcraft 2 - Realtime Strategy
    5. Dragon Warrior - Overhead RPG
    6. Pole Position - First person race

    I'm not sure that it would be unfair to say that 75% of video games ever written were based on one of these six themes. Sure, there are plenty of others, like Tetris-style puzzles and Koei-style map-based war games, but in my mind, these are the big five.

    I just wonder - will there be enough imitators of Mario Kart to make it the "seventh rock song ever written"?
    • Those categories don't really make much sense. You have "First person shooter", but no "third person shooter" (and no "climb into your spaceship and kill evil aliens shooter" either - shame on you :P). "First person race", but no "overhead race" (Super Sprint anyone? RC Pro Am? Or maybe, given the comparison, Rock And Roll Racing?). "Realtime strategy" but no "turn-based strategy", and so on. With such poor categories, I think it would be grossly inaccurate to say that 75% of video games ever written are based on one of those themes.

      That blurb about "only 7 rock songs" is probably only quoted because it's memorable, not because it's particularly accurate, insightful, or interesting.
    • First off, you do know that Warcraft2 was just an expansion on DuneII right? The First TRUE rts game. Doom, blah, have you EVER heard of wolfenstein? Get your facts straight before you start talking about the true games.

      • Doom, blah, have you EVER heard of wolfenstein?

        Wolfenstein 3D was a clone of Midi-Maze aka Faceball 2000 [everything2.com].

        Mario Kart (racing games with weapons) is a clone of Pole Position (racing games). (Did you know that NBA Jam used Pole Position's floor-rendering algorithm [everything2.com]?)

      • hey, smeg-eating shithead, if you had a grasp of the goddamn english language instead of that urdu shit they teach you in pakistan, you would have noticed that the guy specifically said:
        Once a game breaks into the mainstream, thousands of imitations will appear, merely tweaking a theme or giving a boost to graphics performance.

        the games he's listing are examples of the ones that BROKE INTO THE MAINSTREAM, not the original genre-starter.

        what's funny is that i started writing this post as soon as i'd read the original, because i knew there'd be a whole fucking platoon of nimrods wanting to prop up their shrinking-violet personalities by saying, "well, actually.... GameXYZ came out years before any of the games you mention and is the first TRUE XYZ game."

        pls die tks
    • We were playing Dune 2 long before Warcraft2 was a dot on the map
    • I understand that you were only giving examples of each genre, rather than the first of each genre, but besides that, some points need to be made:
      • Street Fighter 2 is not a side scroller! it's a fighting game.
      • Pole Position is not a first person racer, since you see your car (you're not in the driver's seat), so it's really a 3rd person, 3d racer. But the important thing here is that it's a 3-d racer (as opposed to overhead racer, a far smaller genre)
      • 3rd Person platformer is another big genre, ever since Tomb Raider
      • You say "in my mind, these are the big five", when you list 6 game types
      I understand the sentiment, but this needs to be given a bit more thought before choosing those six genres as "the big five" ;-)
    • Few more:

      7. Colossal Cave (aka Adventure aka Classic Adventure) - Text based adventure, lead to MUDs.
      8. Might & Magic - Secret of the Inner Sanctum (1st person dungeon RPG with only 90 degree turns)
      9. Space Invaders (deserves a special mention cause of the number of "Shoot at the sky from your rocket ship" games it spawned - either with or without top-scrolling)
  • ...battle mode in the original SNES version of MarioKart. Anyone who knows that game intimately will appreciate the countless hours I've squandered duelling with my brothers. We developed and entire vocabulary around that game. "Drive-by shellings", "peel out", and "rogue shells" all evoke the memory of time spent doing intense combat. Heck, it's making me nostalgic. HEck, my youngest brother still has that SNES, maybe it's time for battle...
  • For anyone who's even seen 10 seconds of the game, they know damn well its no Mario Kart rip-off. HOWEVER, it IS most definately a Crazy Taxi rip-off, with Homer (and others) driving around Springfield picking up people, and dropping them off. Wonder what Sega thinks about this...
  • Futurama would be a better license?

    You could pick up and deliver packages all over space, and of course stop off at any planet you want. It certainly would make a lot more sense then picking up and dropping people off in the Springfield (as far as I know there hasn't been any taxi-like situations in the show at all), whereas futurama, the entire show is about making deliveries. I would also think that it would be a lot cheaper, since almost everything in Futurama is made up (spaceships etc.). Oh well, just a thought.

  • Sunday-driving mode...

    One of my favorite "simple amusements" in SimCopter used to be setting up a city in SCURK that's just a circular road and a few buldings and loading it as a user level in SimCopter. Then I'd get into a helicopter (occasionally an f-16 if i was feeling particularly stressed) and activate the "Out for a sunday drive" code that puts your persepective behind one of the cars in the city (while leaving control). Then I could watch myself flying around, terroriziing the city, holding up traffic by landing in the road, etc.

    Easily amused....

    Of course, I haven't played SimCopter at all this week... it feels... odd.

  • I don't care what anyone says, but it's NOT Mario Kart. It might be a racing game with cartoon characters, but I know I won't be buying it. I personally (and all my friends) don't like the Simpsons so we would have no enjoyment playing this game. We would prefer just a sequel to Mario Kart 64 complete with battle mode, etc.

    Does anyone know if there are any plans to produce a REAL Mario Kart for the Game Cube?
    • You bet there are. Look at cube.ign.com for the few seconds of video that have been released. If the other games released yesterday in japan are any indication, it will be stunning in every way.
  • ...
    Resident Evil with Sesame Street
  • This is just Crazy Taxi with a loosely-fitted Simpsons license.

    It's one thing to use a game's engine and expand upon it and make something reasonably different... but this might as well be a skin set.

    • No, it's not using the Crazy Taxi engine. Crazy Taxi is beautifully done. Simpsons Road Rage looks rather primitive comparatively, but it does look like it uses a slight cartoon render process on at least the main character vehicle and the directional hand. Note the second-pass dark edge lines. Interesting effect.

  • So when are we going to see a Kart racer featuring the Slashdot crew? CmdrTaco vs. JonKatz in battle mode would be hilarious. :-D
  • Does anyone know if DDR's (dance dance revolution) be coming to the Game Cube? More importantly - will they come to the USA market?

    -Brian

    • Your question is oddly phrased, so I'll answer both ways I can percieve it.

      1. There have been no announcements as to DDR's coming to Gamecube or Xbox (or PS2, AFAIK). If it does come out for either of those, if it even does come over, it'll take a while.

      2. DDR is already in the USA market, for the playstation. There's the USA mix, and a disney version coming out sometime soon.
      • Although it is my opinion, as well as most of my friends' DDR USA sucks. The one for the PS doesn't interest me really as I don't have one and don't think I will go out and buy one any time soon. I'm hoping that the japanese variants of DDR will come to the game cube. More importantly I would hope that those games are going to also come to the usa release of the game cube.

  • Not Mario Kart, but Crazy Taxi.

    Crazy Taxi = best game for Dreamcast
    Simpsons = best TV show

    What a great combination. Interestingly, Crazy Taxi is coming out on the GameCube at the same time as Simpsons Road Rage (Nov 18). And, for the fans out there, Crazy Taxi 2 came out for the Dreamcast recently.

  • it's mario kart (not cart).. and it looks nothing like mario kart, it look's more like crazy taxi (which is a good game :p)
  • I don't think the simpsons is a very good basis
    for any video game. i just like to laugh at the TV.
  • test

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