Dec 05, 2003 Sega sues over Simpsons Road Rage It's a Crazy Taxi rip-off. Radical went on to work for VU Games as developer of The Simpsons Hit & Run.
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This page details one or more prototype versions of The Simpsons: Hit & Run.
A late PS2 prototype of the Simpsons Hit and Run was leaked on Jan 23, 2019. Almost all of the game's content is finalized, with most of the differences being relatively minor. This version contains an odd bug if emulated where the characters appear upside down when driving vehicles.
This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. |
To do: Everything. |
- 2Level 1
- 3Level 2
- 4Level 3
- 5Level 6
- 6Level 7
- 8Audio differences
- 9Oddities
Map file
To do: List some interesting findings from the map file. |
In the root of the game disc is SRR2.MAP, a file that maps out all of the game's backend functions. According to this file, this specific prototype of the game was a nightly build.
Level 1
To do: Mission item pick ups are placed differently. |
Level 1 cutscene
- The level 1 cutscene still uses the earlier models. The animation is also more slapstick and comical than the final's.
Final |
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S-M-R-T
- Lisa's science project is placed in front of the Family Sedan, meaning you can simply drive into it to pick it up.
Final |
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Petty Theft Homer
- Barney's cooler pickup is placed further away from him in the prototype.
Final |
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Simpsons Road Rage Vs Hit And Run
Flowers by Irene
- The cutscene's audio mastering is unfinished and very inconsistent. This is especially noticeable with Homer's line 'Marge, that black van is spying on us' being 9 dB louder than the rest and clearly clipping.
The Fat And The Furious
- Due to a programming mistake, Homer's initial line when talking to Mr Burns is overridden by him saying 'There he is!' (a line that goes unused in the final game) This line is likely supposed to play in the stage beforehand, when you first see Mr Burns, however one of the programmers made a mistake and put it in the wrong stage. In the final game this was never fixed, but due to some other changes to game's code, it is instead overridden by the correct line.
Stonecutters' Tunnel
- A music track (stone_cutter_spoof) unused in the final game plays around the area of the Stonecutters' Hall. It is unknown why this was changed.
Power Plant
- Unlike the final game, the power plant has a reverb effect when you are inside. Interestingly, the reverb also affects the menu sounds in the phonebooth, and this could be part of the reason it was removed.
Level 2
Better than Beef
- The location of the satellite is moved further away from the player.
Final |
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Level 3
General
- The texture used on the platform near the red ramp that leads to the C-Spanker shortcut is different.
Final |
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Level 6
Going To The Lu'
The circle HUD icon was changed from a kid to a bus in the final game. Interestingly, the image was the only part of the file that was replaced, and as such the bus is still named 'kids.p3d', is still located in the Objects folder (instead of the Vehicles folder) and uses a blue-purple background colour, unlike the yellow colour of any other vehicle icons.
Final |
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Set To Kill
A timer was added in the final version of the mission. This was likely done to increase the difficulty of a late-game mission, as without it the mission is very easy. Maybe they overdid it a bit...
Level 7
Rigor Motors
The final objective to enter the Simpsons' house is still present. This was commented out in the final.
Text differences
Some of the text is a tad different.
Final | |
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Memory card (8MB) (for PlayStation 2) is unformatted | Memory card (PS2) is unformatted |
Any mention of the PS2 memory card was made less verbose.
Final | |
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Talk to the teen at Aztec theater | Talk to the Squeaky Voiced Teen at Aztec theater |
Text was made more specific.
The text that appears upon collecting all the collector cards in the game is different.
Audio differences
banjo_main
The audio mastering on this track is slightly different.
Final |
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Oddities
minigamecam
A misplaced version of minigamecam.p3d is loose inside the main art folder. This model seems to use an earlier format that provides export data. With it, the following details can be found:
- Models were made in Maya.
- The game's project folder was referenced as 'Simpsons 2', the first game is likely The Simpsons:Road Rage which was Radical's previous entry.
Vehicle scripts
Simpsons Road Rage Gamecube
TT.con is missing from the prototype, despite the model assets being present.
Misc
To do: Compare scripts |
- Handling is still called 'stability' in the Phone Booth UI as seen in some earlier screenshots.
- The sun flare effect is incomplete and can still be seen through walls.
- You do not perform a victory dance animation upon finishing a bonus race.
- Wasp AI is more aggressive to dodging attacks than in the final game.
- If your memory card is unformatted, the prototype has the option to format it for you, while the final game just displays an error.
- There are a number of differences in the startup screen videos:
- The Fox Interactive music is different.
- The Gracie Films video appears to be taken directly from the TV series, while in the final game it has a higher quality.
- The Radical Entertainment video uses the same sound effects as The Simpsons: Road Rage, with the added recording of Snake's voice which is present in the final game.
- The bonus cutscene, 500 Yard Gash, has some extended sequences and certain parts were reanimated.
Final |
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- Level 7 actually contains some road nodes for the area past the blocked bridge, although they are extremely limited.
- The Phone Booth Menu accessible with the Unlock All Vehicles cheat code contains entries for a set of vehicles listed as 'N/A XX' (the X's being replaced with numbers), as well another vehicle listed as 'Charred Husk'. Selecting the former will have no effect, and selecting the latter will spawn the wreck vehicle that can be driven after certain vehicles are destroyed. Driving this vehicle over a Wrench pickup does not do anything.
- If a player exits their vehicle during a stage where a 10 second time limit to re-enter the vehicle is given, and then triggers the next objective on foot, said timer disappears and the player can be out of the vehicle from then on. In the final game, the timer continues regardless of the fact the player triggers the next objective or not.
The Simpsons series | |
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Arcade | The Simpsons • The Simpsons Bowling |
DOS | The Simpsons • Bart's House of Weirdness |
NES | Bart vs. the Space Mutants • Bart vs. the World • Krusty's Fun House • Bartman Meets Radioactive Man (Prototype) |
Sega Master System | Krusty's Fun House |
Game Boy (Color) | Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly • Bart & the Beanstalk • Itchy & Scratchy in Miniature Golf Madness • Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror |
Genesis | Bart vs. the Space Mutants • Virtual Bart • The Itchy and Scratchy Game |
SNES | Krusty's Super Fun House • Bart's Nightmare • Virtual Bart (Prototype) • The Itchy & Scratchy Game |
Game Gear | Bartman Meets Radioactive Man |
PlayStation | Wrestling |
Windows | Cartoon Studio • Hit & Run |
Game Boy Advance | Road Rage |
GameCube | Road Rage (Prototypes) • Hit & Run |
PlayStation 2 | Road Rage (Prototypes) • Skateboarding • Hit & Run (Prototype) |
Xbox | Road Rage (Prototypes) • Hit & Run |
PlayStation Portable | The Simpsons Game |
Nintendo DS | The Simpsons Game |
Android | Tapped Out |
iOS | Tapped Out |
As we can read on Wikipedia, The Simpsons Hit & Run is an action-adventure game based on the animated sitcom The Simpsons. It was released for the GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2 on September 2003. The game’s developer, Radical Entertainment, received the rights to create games for The Simpsons franchise when they demonstrated a playable prototype. Radical released its first The Simpsons game in 2001 called The Simpsons Road Rage, a parody of the Crazy Taxi series of video games. After Road Rage was released, the development team for Hit & Run decided not to create a direct sequel to Road Rage. Instead, Radical wanted to steer the franchise’s video game series in a different direction by giving the game engine a complete overhaul.
In the game’s booklet, there are some beta images that shows the character mission mugs were in 3D too rather than animated. One has a display mode in options. In Tips & Tricks No. 105 in 2003, some character’s clothes were identified in the wrong episode. For example, Lisa’s “cool” outfit info says that it’s from the episode Little Girl In the Big Ten, but it’s actually from Summer of 4 ft. 2. Lisa didn’t wear that outfit in Little Girl In the Big Ten. Marge’s inmate outfit from Marge in Chains is originally periwinkle and short-sleeved, but the red-orange color may come from another episode. Facts say that Maggie is a playable character in the game, but for unknown reasons, she was replaced with Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in the final game.
Thanks to Luis Morales for the contribution!
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