Simpsons: Hit & Run Is Not As Good As You Remember (Sorry!)

This video is what happens after several ADHD fuelled rabbit holes make babies in the closet and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me
Also bold of me to keep jacking hbomberguy's style after he "Plagiarism and You(Tube)" dropped
ADDENDUM: for the record, I really like Quinton Reviews. His 8 hour video on iCarly basically saved me on a long ass hour train ride from Scotland to London, and his vid on Dan Schneider was excellent -- I found learning about his role on Head of the Class and how that basically opened the door for him fascinating. The bit about video lengths twas a jest. I mean, look at the length of this video! I don't have anything like a high horse to sit on. Relax!
💸 Patreon: / soupemporium
🐦 Twitter: no.com
📈 References: pastebin.com/aU6VB9sD (Look, I don't like that it's in a pastebin, either! But it was too big to fit in the description!)
A huge thanks to exa_eille for their insights into speedrunning for this game and checking the second half of the video over, and, as always, my lovely Patreons. You stuck with me for a year and a half while I shat this out. I hope your patience was rewarded
Also not to spoil the best joke in the video but can you believe I got ‪@SimonClark‬ to do a cameo in this!? It's still hitting me how cool that is!! I've been a fan of his stuff for years! And he's in an overindulgent video I made about a decades old video game!
Timecodes:
0:00 - Intro
3:12 - Qualifying Statements
9:07 - Game Feel
12:53 - When The Simpsons Went Bad Mini Essay
20:02 - Simpsons Game Bad Mini-Mini Essay
24:09 - Principal and the Pauper Is Fine, Actually Mini-Mini-Mini Essay
42:12 - The Actual, Objective Reason The Simpsons Stopped Being Good Mini-Mini-Mini-Mini Essay
49:18 - Return of the Game Feel (Hey, Remember When We Were Talking About Hit & Run?)
1:00:20 - Structuring A Game
1:01:33 - The Problem With Artificial Difficulty
1:14:18 - Seems I'm Full Of (Road) Rage Mini Essay
1:20:48 - Physics!
1:25:52 - The Difficulty Detour Superhighway
1:45:52 - Platforming Detour
1:50:19 - Look, I really wasn't joking when I said I played the whole thing. So if you don't wanna watch three minutes of a tutorial video, skip to the next timecode
1:53:03 - Back To The Platforming Detour (Ahh. You skipped the tutorial, I see ...coward)
1:54:30 - Mario 64's Camera Crimes
1:57:03 - The Life And Crimes Of Hit & Run's Camera
2:08:05 - We're Through The Looking Glass Here, People
2:16:23 - Credits

[@SimonClark]

*wearily sighs* "Somehow, Soup Emporium returned"

[@lucacostardi]

Wasn't expecting it in a thousand years

[@dboot8886]

It's like an old family member showing back up only everything you remember is gone and replaced with slurs and incontinence.

[@ElLorenzoMagnifico]

Of Course Mr. Simon Clark Watches Soup Emporium.... True Yogscast Intelectuals admire quality youtube

[@isabellawinslow5803]

both of yall’s videos scratch the same itch. Thank yall:)

[@Tacom4ster]

​@@lucacostardiwhen the world needed him the most, he vanished

[@scottcaramel]

He comes back from the dead to immediately kill his career with the hottest take imaginable

[@Mr_Meatbox]

This take is ice cold

[@MUGENanaya]

It's lukewarm at best. The game is no doubt an undeniable part of a lotta people's childhoods and is certainly a fun ass game when you just wanna romp around, but man it is also absolute *dogwater* a lot of the time aside.

[@scottcaramel]

@@MUGENanaya yeah I was definitely being hyperbolic, still I feel the take is pretty unpopular given very rarely do I hear people badmouth the game

[@dan_loeb]

i've heard nothing but negative things about quite a few missions in hit and run. the difficulty curve spikes all the time. even growing up i knew it was kinda shit when i had to restart a mission 20 times due to some timed missions requiring near perfect performance, or sometimes even not getting the items in the logical order, instead requiring you to save a set of pickups for last.

[@FawlkesStudios]

Holy s*** he actually said the quiet part out loud about how thumbs down still help

[@MarkusAldawn]

7:05 "UK inflation at 8.7% in May 2023" makes me think that Soup spent a proportional and normal amount of time on this video.

[@sglenny001]

Same

[@jamesr1757]

I just realized I’m 38 minutes in and this is barely about Simpson hit and run I honestly thought the video ended and autoplayed another Simpson video

[@provisio284]

Same, it was kinda of a clickbaity title.

[@CoolHuskyReal]

I forgot it was abt hit and run lol

[@JandreLom]

Only 58% of people watched passed the first 30 seconds of the Helen Keller video?!! I have that downloaded on my phone so I can rewatch it when the internet cuts out. Hell I used to listen to it to fall asleep.

[@nogoodgod4915]

Attention spans have been ruined ever since the explosion of popularity of short foem content like tiktok, yt shorts.

[@orterves]

50% of people are below average intelligence. I don't have an explanation for the remaining 8% however

[@dawgwiddaglasses]

You must have major beef with Helen Keller, lol.

[@Periwinkleaccount]

@@dawgwiddaglasses The video is in favor of her.

[@festeringfingerprintvicodin]

yeah that entire video is one of the greatest ever published on this platform

[@AnimatedTerror]

Jokes on you I’ve never played hit and run!

[@misterkefir]

That was a good hit. Now run!

[@zadirat]

never played hit and run gang!

[@IPODsify]

I have played it but as a guy who was under the age of 10 when pretty much every "best game of all time" came out, I happen to have the correct info on all matters. Game ok. 6/10

[@nelsondisalvatore9812]

You are missing out

[@AnimatedTerror]

@@nelsondisalvatore9812funnily enough I actually played the “the Simpson’s game” which he talks a lot about in this video as a negative counterpoint of the writing between hit and runs classic humor and the more modern “comedy” in the game. I agree with him but also “how dare he attack thing I liked when I was 7.”

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

HA! The "Oh, God! His face is a donut!" bit works so much better when the mafia dude doesn't painstakingly narrate his own demise.

[@youmukonpaku3168]

the bit works with either about half of Tony's dialogue and none of Snake's, or none of Tony's and about half of Snake's. It's impressively bad to tell a joke twice in a row badly both times.

[@Amphibax]

Just keep the what is he doing with the dough part and skip to the scream would be so much better

[@masterfuljak]

😢

[@MadGodLA]

Not so fun fact: Simpsons as an IP has one of the toughest and most critical licensor teams, and creating merchandise for them is insanely difficult. I’m not surprised at all that Fox inserted themselves into the process of making the game without knowing anything about it. The level of control they demand over their IP is pretty wild

[@markointhesky]

forget corporate mergers, the greatest dating on this video is the fact youtube changed the layout to something thats somehow even worse mere days before this was uploaded

[@nogoodgod4915]

What part of the layout is different because everything is the same for me.

[@markointhesky]

@@nogoodgod4915 comments are now squished to the right to make room for a massive grid of recommended videos directly under the video where comments used to be/are, and the description is forced into a tiny box above the comments Honest to God worst layout yet, genuinely impressive how shit it is

[@chronossage]

​@@nogoodgod4915 It hasn't hit everyone yet it's still in testing. But it's not good.

[@SwissestCheese]

@@markointhesky”tablet mode activated” said KZbin

[@CusheeFoofee]

I mean, EVERY single time KZbin has changed their UI layout, EVERYONE gets angry and upset. It has happened so many times that I don't care. I know that with time I will get used to the new update.

[@hlibushok]

I really really love Soup Emporium's channel, but the selection of topics presented here is like a parody of video essayists - you've got political analysis of Fallout NV, a video about the history and economics of diamonds, a video about Koko the "talking gorilla", a review of HL Black Mesa, a documentary about the Chernobyl disaster, a video about the Yellowstone volcano, a debunking of conspiracy theories about Helen Keller and at the end of that incohesive list is a video about why "Simpsons: Hit & Run is not as good as you remember". But honestly, that's what I like about this channel the most. Soup just talks about something that interests him and shares his passion with the world, and you can never guess what will be his next scream into the void. Seeing this video in my notifications was like Christmas morning.

[@rlh4648]

Yeah I genuinely thought the little round character guys in this video were parodying someone else who used them originally and made the gorilla video. But no. He just hates coherence more than I find plausible

[@rosen_venus]

Reminds me a bit of Fred Knudsen. Down the Rabbit Hole is semi-cohesive during some eras (like where he talked mostly about internet celebrities/phenomena) but his topics in general are just whatever strikes him as interesting at the time.

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

Like soup. Everything jumbled together. Don't know what's going to be on my spoon next, but I know I'm going to enjoy it.

[@L_HD]

Bro really can't keep it short and can't stay on tracks at all The whole "Simpsons Feel" part explaining The Simpsons' decline without mentionning Hit and Run just severely went off-track (and that's only one of the many times he went off the rails here)

[@rlh4648]

@@L_HD Like because you think the points were bad or because it has nothing to do with Hit and Run? - because I'm kinda confused re whether he's saying hit and run gets the "Simpsonsness" right or not, and if it is right - is he just saying the game design is a bit shoddy... which it lowkey might be

[@Mysterynovus]

What Soup says: Simpsons Hit & Run isn't perfect. What Soup means: You're going to dissect 30+ years of Simpsons discourse with me for 2¼ hours.

[@chromasus9983]

For this reason I felt like the video was a bit disjointed. Long form content is nice and all, but the tangents and mini-mini-essays go for so long (and at times into other topics). Perhaps this compares well to how modern Simpsons could use cuts to keep it more cohesive.. The video probably could have used less segments and length to also stay on topic better.

[@WhatDoesDStandFor]

@@chromasus9983 I mean the amount of actual criticisms about the game are severely small and the rest is just bitching about things completely unrelatedly

[@darkfool2000]

@@WhatDoesDStandFor A lot of his talking points are useful, but I don't think they logically support the thesis he tried to establish. Most of the flaws he pointed out about the game seem like they could be fixed with relatively minor alterations to the source code, definitely within the scope of what a remaster could bring.

[@pyropenguin]

"always cross reference the youtubers you watch" a tiny tiny gem of a statement that should be plastered across this entire platform.

[@Edge-xy3fv]

You would think nobody in the internet age would need to be told to not believe everything on the internet, but stupid people sadly do exist, and every single one of us can become one.

[@scrittle]

@@Edge-xy3fv Confirmation Bias: Somebody presents information as facts and are psychologically believed to be true. If professionals are involved, it's called Appeal to Authority. And then there's by favourite, the fallacy-fallacy, where just because it's a fallacy doesn't mean it's inheritantly bad.

[@idleseven6536]

Holy fuck he live

[@misterkefir]

-s

[@starmaker75]

Soup lives

[@evanh.8845]

I know, drops 2 or 3 absolute banger videos and then drops out for a year to drop another.

[@ardantop132na6]

In the name of Soup

[@haughtygarbage5848]

May your nostalgia chip and shatter

[@hayaokakizaki4463]

As is written

[@forregom]

is that a fox wearing sunglasses?

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

Victorian doctors classified nostalgia as a mental illness. Honestly I see why.

[@theDENIMMAN]

@@forregom yes it is, photo set was of a rescued fox iirc

[@AFreakingAxeCH]

Simpson Al Gaib

[@theturkeychild]

A weird quirk is that Dead Money is actually really easy if you do it as soon as possible, like levels 1-4, because FNV doesn't quite expect you to try and so the difficulty scaling doesn't kick in

[@AnimatedTerror]

I want you to clip that “principal and the pauper is fine: mini essay.” And “the real reasons the Simpson’s went bad.” And upload it as its own video. It’s really well worded. And I’d love to be able to share it without the baggage of the greater video.

[@GiroKuluBOWSER]

Luckily the video is segmented with chapters to select so if you really want to reccomend just those sections to people you can tell them to go to those sections. Or make timestamps

[@Shell-iq6cx]

​@GiroKuluBOWSER even so a 2 hour video is still intimidating, and will turn a lot of people around even if they are told just to watch one section

[@OdaSwifteye]

@@GiroKuluBOWSER It's real its own video and if Soup wanted more ad dosh he'd separate those out. Honestly, it's a huge tangent that doesn't serve the whole THAT well. He really needed to cut that down to only the essential. Taking down the mindless Dead Homer Society theory was very good, but it had very little to do with Simpsons: Hit and Run.

[@Austin-gj7zj]

@@OdaSwifteye That's why I'm getting tired of these 2-3 hour videos everyone is putting out now. What ever happened to focus?

[@AnimatedTerror]

@@Austin-gj7zj I like the tangents because I do think it serves a greater purpose. I like listening to long form content while I work is the other thing. I more would appreciate the segment being uploaded separately as well because It does serve its own function independent of the video as well as aiding in the greater point.

[@murph64]

The Hbomb “do it for him” board help I love it

[@Accostrophe]

Why the fuck would anyone do anything for that clown

[@Cheezbuckets]

Legit did a double-take when I noticed it. Soup and Hbomb should get together and sell it as a poster! 😂

[@youmgsandwiche]

I must have been looking away, where is it

[@Cheezbuckets]

@@youmgsandwiche 1:18

[@TheTundraTerror]

Thanks for warning me so I didn't waste my time watching this.

[@EonLess]

Fun Fact: Homer Simpson is canonically a millennial. This is because of the floating timeline and how long the Simpsons have gone on.

[@BeautifulObscurity]

It’s kinda funny that he was originally a boomer, and the show had 2 episodes and several jokes making fun of Gen X. Then he became Gen X, complete with an episode about him having been in a grunge band in the early 90s, around the time the show in the real world was in it’s golden age. Kinda weird when you think about it.

[@SirGrimLockSmithVIII]

I hate sliding timelines

[@DougBurgum4VP]

Grandpa Simpson went from WWI to WWII to Vietnam vet. He entirely skipped Korea, weirdly

[@overlookers]

Homer's initial birth year (32 in 1989) was 1957 Millhouse is a caricature of Paul Pfeiffer, a character from _The Wonder Years_ (1988-1993) and is named for Richard Milhous Nixon Skinner was in Nam

[@mythcat1273]

Bart is the perfect age demographic for skibidi toilet

[@miles7749]

Around 50 minutes in you started talking about the game again and I totally forgot what the video was even about until that point

[@andykishore]

Half of this video should have just been a whole separate video entirely about "Simpsons decline essay" whatever.

[@EmperorOfLols]

"apparently South Park went serialized. It was a risk but it paid off." What are you talking about? they terminated the serialized format a loooooooooong time ago.

[@henrynelson9301]

Season 20 was also infamous for just abandoning multiple plot threads at the end because they didn’t expect trump to actually win the 2016 election. The last episode is literally called “the end of serialization as we know it”

[@sephikong8323]

4:16 How dare you say that playing DDR against God is anything other than peak fiction

[@dominator1914]

As a Guy who never played Simpson: Hit and Run, I see this as an absolute win.

[@0uttaS1TE]

Hell yeah, we can watch this without the investment of nostalgia

[@ob2kenobi388]

As a former guy who never played the Simpsons: Hit and Run, I see this as an absolute win.

[@SimonFrack]

Hit and Run is a lot of fun and full of charm. But still a flawed game.

[@Hyper_1989]

The jerma meltdown told me all I need to know

[@pravkdey]

SHHH!

[@DoYouReadSutterCane]

No, simpsons hit and run is exactly as good as I remember, because I remember it being a solid B - B+ game

[@sneepsnoop9547]

Underrated and true comment.

[@pessimisticprofessorfarnsw3241]

I think a really interesting thing of note here 39:12 is when our skinner says take care of her, other skinner refers to the watch instead of Agnes.

[@AuthorMx]

That moment hurts my heart truly and honestly. Our Skinner is earnestly asking one man to another, "please, do me this one favor and take care of Agnes" it's the *only* thing he asks on return for having his life upended. "Yeah I'll wind the watch every day".

[@Copperkaiju]

Iirc Agnes chooses our Skinner over her own blood. I can't tell if that's really sweet or really cold.😅

[@cantthinkofaname5046]

Yeah it’s a really brilliant contrast of the difference between the two men

[@bigjohnsbreakfastlog5819]

@@AuthorMx I believe that is often ignored in discussions; the phony Skinner developed a relationship with this woman, while the real Skinner doesn't particularly care whatsoever and is expecting to get all this attention and respect because "I'm a war veteran" by casually sliding into another man's life like its nothing. Meanwhile, we've had more episodes that are utterly crap, and people just don't want to create two hour essays specifically talking about how horrible it was when Lady Gaga rode her evil train to town and made the worst episode ever.

[@NameHere2243]

I reject your hypothesis in its entirety, be back in 2 hours after my minds changed

[@theandromedaeffect979]

are you back yet

[@boiledelephant]

RIP 2243, the video length was too much for his brittle arteries. He died as all men in his generation lived: online and opinionated.

[@comlitbeta7532]

​@@boiledelephant "online and opinionated" that's a banger of a line

[@Colddirector]

The pure level of cringe I get from Lisa calling Elon Musk "the greatest inventor" should be cause for a lawsuit.

[@vitalepitts]

this is every simpsons video I've ever seen in my fucking life

[@andrewmcnamara6978]

But could Koko play Simpsons hit and run?

[@chaosmorris5865]

Helen Keller would love Simpsons Hit and Run

[@DilanExist]

Yellowstone couldn't play Simpsons hit and run because it's rocks

[@DigitalAnima]

what does Mr House think of hit game Simpsons hit and run?

[@aragorn_]

De Beers couldn't make a gem such as Simpsons Hit and Run

[@Oceanatornowk]

Bold choice criticizing long form video content in your long form video content. Respect

[@boiledelephant]

Hypocrites know best. If a junkie tells you you need to lay off the smack, you _know_ you need to.

[@scrittle]

@@boiledelephant Yeah but a junkie doesn't benefit from telling others not to do drugs. Meanwhile, complaining about long-form while being long-form content is an unfinished statement, they could clarify on their opinion and what elements they dislike about it, but making it a joke is a detriment on their part.

[@boiledelephant]

@@scrittle I think the uploader was being tongue in cheek, as was I. None of this needs to be read into too deeply.

[@pinkflametheepic]

Bit of a big difference between going on several Simpsons related tangents and retelling the plot of a random children's show in painstaking detail. Both aren't needed but I don't enjoy people re telling the plot to me play by play with only five minutes in total of any actual opinions.

[@DrStuff142]

@@pinkflametheepic if you call your video "analysis" and then over 80% of it is summary i automatically assume theyre dumb as fuck and will not watch the rest of the video

[@aceae4210]

can I praise the really good subtitles in this video. like notes the music playing, whats happening, just really good.

[@leow2996]

1:46:19 Having my realisation of "hey, this is that game from Patricia's video" followed by her showing up a second later filled me with levels of crossover-euphoria previously reserved for caricatures of [Insert Cinematic Universe] fans

[@rollapoid]

the Drag Race part actually helped me understand what you were talking about thank you

[@VagabondTE]

So I don't know where this fits in Simpsons analysis but there's always a massive section of sitcoms that people leave out of this discussion. We always talk about stuff like The Cosby show and whatnot, but people forget about the fantasy sitcoms. Like Alf, Harry and the Hendersons, Mork & Mindy, Little Robot, Out of this World, Dinosaurs, and even later stuff like 3rd Rock from the Sun. The "normal family with one fantasy element" genre. These shows are all over sitcom history and yet I've never seen a single one brought up in this discussion. Does anybody ever remember the one about the Dragon? Or the one about the family of aliens that had a baby with a football shaped head who spoke eloquently and was a diabolical evil genius? Yes, stewie's a ripoff. Anyway it's interesting how much of this discussion falls around The Simpsons balancing reality and fantasy, yet this massive tapestry of sitcom history is just ignored. Heck even Flintstones and Jetsons fall into this. I think it's fair to say that Simpsons isn't just making fun of real family sitcoms. I think it has a leaning towards the absurd because quite frankly our sitcoms have almost always been absurd.

[@ninjabunny9526]

This is the first time I've ever heard that people think 3d platforming is in some way inherently awkward. that's such a wildly stupid idea it makes perfect sense it's from zero punctuation

[@Yoshimitsu4prez]

Dude wtf is this, I’ve watched the whole thing (well, I plan to), but I have to keep checking it’s about Hit & Run 😂

[@xXFlameHaze92Xx]

Simpsons: Hit & Run Is Not As Good as You Remember (Sorry!) More like: Simpsons: Hit & Run is OK and here is why

[@keganmemestar4465]

Man, you should change the title because this is way more than *just* a critique of Hit & Run. This is more like an analysis of the critical reception of “The Simpsons” and how that relates to the critical reception/memories of “The Simpsons” licensed games, particularly Hit & Run. I know you mentioned it at the start of the video, but people will see the title and video length and will immediately assume the worse.

[@keganmemestar4465]

Also, the whole rant around 1:40:42 about the driving physics is, just hard to listen to. I don't know if you've ever played a racing game with more realistic driving physics or even drive irl, but slowing down to take the apex of a corner is, in most cases, much faster than powersliding or drifting. Smooth braking leads to more balance which increases traction, and more traction means more speed. And yes, objects traveling at a higher velocity do become more unstable, what else is new.

[@DokturProfesur]

Don't feel too bad about having Homer kick Marge across the street until the cops show up. When the Devs handed Matt the game, the first thing he decided he should do is kick Marge across the street until the cops showed up too.

[@huyphan7825]

The biggest thing I got out of this video is that Alliteration is Soup's Kryptonite. I'll keep that in mind once I get my supervillain origin story going.

[@WillieDangerously]

A lot of great points were made in this video, such as the progression system locking purchases of cars or cosmetic costumes to coins but needing some to progress being nothing more than padding, and I highly respect the research that went into understanding the physics of driving and the vehicles. I don't think this video needed to be 2 hours long to make these points however, and it feels like you wrote two seperate essays; one on this game and another on the "when was the decline of Golden Age Simpsons". Now I have watched a few of those latter types, but I really think it serviced your thesis on the game, the main purpose of this video, very little in comparison to the time it took. I appreciate the nitty gritty but and I'm not usually one to preach brevity, but when you're already pushing past the hour mark with the main content you might just want to have considered seperate videos with linking points, maybe tSHaR reccomends watching the Golden Age/Principal and the Pauper Analysis first. I know people have a tendancy to shut their brains doen upon hearing something challenging or fivergent from their own opinions, but a video this long might be too much of an ask to hear you out. I could defend a two hour thesis needing two hours to be made, complex topics need the nessicary time to communicate itself, but I cannot say that is the case here when so many weakly-related side points and tangents have been made. Frankly this is also a skill I myself am really bad at, so I thank you for giving me this learning opprotunity. I really, really respect that your critique is based on not just playing the game, but analyzing the creators' perspective through code comments and interviews as well as comparing and contrasting mechanic systems to other relevant games around the time and modernly. You doing your homework and meditating on this presentation really shows.

[@greenapple9477]

Finally! Some REAL criticism rather than just insults.

[@entothechesnautknight1762]

Right, so, i think the Principal and the Pauper is still bad (as an episode in a series thats gone on for 9 seasons), and i think its general distaste is justified, but i do wholey agree that the reasons people give are just not true. While its well known that its way easier to say you dislike something then articulate why, i think the reason for the disconnect in this case is more complicated then just that. As you brought up, they literally changed Mr. Burns' backstory in a far greater way, and no one cares. You're right, things change in the simpsons universe all the time, and those changes get reverted all the time. And, only looking at it through the distant lense of a whole series analysis, as most people tend to do, it can seem like what this episode did was merely not be funny enough to get people to forget. But i think this misses the trees for the forrest, to reverse a popular saying, and when the focus os on one particular tree, i think thats important. Let's think back to Burns again. Yes, his backstory changed, but; how did that fundamentally effect his character? Sure, he went through a new story brought on by the change, but fundimentally, it was still the Mr. Burns we knew from his old backstory. He was still the same character, he just took a slightly different path to get there; he still acts like the Mr. Burns we know would act. Think about when Homer started hating Flanders again; thats still Homer and Ned acting like how we expect Homer and Ned to act. Even though what happened in the episode was "forgotten", it didn't fundamentally change. It doesn't matter where the power plant is, where the simpsons home is, where they used to live, what homer used to do; so long as the Simpsons live next to Flanders, so long as they bought the home around a decade ago, so long as homer has to drive to work, so long as homer works for Mr. Burns to support his family, so long as hes lazy and fat; its all good. Its all acceptable. Because the basic, fundamentals of the Simpsons are in tact, and thats what *truely* matters for the status quo. And this is what The Principal and the Pauper fucks up; it breaks Skinner's fundamentals. It turns him from Nerotic Square to a Lier and a Theif, not just for that one episode, but forever. Unlike Mr. Burns, who can be the exact same rich bastard no matter what backstory you go with, the reasons and motives behind why Skinner acted like he did in previous episodes is entirely changed, painted in a wholey different light retroactively by this new backstory. The way this was done in the episode means that there's no way to just "return to the status quo" after this, because *the status quo itself* was changed. Now, instead of Skinner acting like he does because hes a neurotic square, hes acting like that because he *thinks* a neurotic square would act that way, and thats a fundamental shift in character that shifts our perception of him entirely, even if he still acts the same. Basically, they killed the status quo, replaced it with a new one, and acted like nothing happened, entirely by accident. (If they did it on purpose, they'd have put more focus on this some serious revelation, and not just some funny mid-season episode) Which is why i said this was a bad episode... For the ninth season of a show like this. If an episode akin to this was in, like, season 2 or 3, it'd be far different, because the status quo wasn't as well established, the fundinentals not so entrenched, and there wouldn't be nearly as much to retroactively put in a new light, softening the blow. But if it had premiered that early, it would gave also painted skinner for the rest of the series, even if never referenced, just because of how major of a shift it is. It would have been fine to do such a major shift like this earlier when the characters were still new and mailable, but by season 9, Skinner had had so many episodes written around the premise of his old character that giving him a new one, even one that superficially acted like the old one, was a bad move, because it makes all the investment the audience had in him as a character worthless, and when so much of the simpsons comedy is *character based,* doing that for such a major character like Skinner is just a recipe to get people pissed. It's honestly kinda similar to when south park massively misjudged how much people cared about Cartman when they didn't reveal who his father was; the writers probably figured Skinner wasn't one of the characters people were attached to and went for it. The episode is genuinely funny and about as well written as this premise could be, but the issue *is* that premise. But you can see why people don't do a good job of communicating this, right? Even just summarizing it is kinda convoluted; "They changed a character that matters in a way that matters" That invites a lot of questions, both from others and yourself, about what characters matter, what changes matter, and what don't, which can quickly get complex or overwhelming, especially when you're just sitting there an hour after the episode aired, trying to vocalize why you didn't like it. So instead its just simplier to take that base feeling, "i dont like it because they changed skinner's backstory", and say that, instead of dissecting your complex internal media analysis and coming to conclusions about what fundamentally you like and dislike in a show, especially when its 10 PM and you have work in the morning. And when you're reconstructing the reasons an episode was hated from those in-the-moment, oversimplified, self-summarized complaints... Yeah, you're not gonna cone up with the best analytical reasoning, since you're lacking the unspoken context you'd never seen and that had long been forgotten by most of the people saying it. So... Yeah, your critique of the critique is valid and right, its just that while the critique is bad, so is the episode in the context of being an episode in season 9 of The Simpsons. Because, regardless of everything else said here Tonight, people disliked the episode at the time and still do today, so it clearly did something wrong. Many may have their rose-tinted glasses on, but the hate for this episode is all natural. And when people were looking for a scapegoat to blame when the series went bad, well... No one would defend this one. TL;DR: Principal and the Pauper is fine in a vacuum, great even, but brushes up against the larger series at a whole, and that's what makes it hated, and later falsely hailed as the harbinger of modern simpsons sucking. Anyways, I've officially spent more time writing this comment about an episode of a TV show then watching this video about a video game, and I'm only about 40 minutes into it. Oh boy. This is gonna be. A video, huh?

[@tekii111]

Soup was 2 hours really necessary

[@misterkefir]

That surely is an.. interesting topic to chose after such a long video making hiatus. Good to hear from you again, anyway.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

Hello friend. Though I think most people would say the "best" Simpsons game was... The Simpsons game (around the time of the movie)

[@misterkefir]

@@cyberninjazero5659 Hello, yes! Cheers, man. As for The Simpsons themed games - I remember playing "The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants" on my Amiga circa 2000. I liked it.

[@thepeasantsofdithmarschen3507]

It’s always great to see hbomberguy make his yearly videos

[@OdaSwifteye]

James Somerton's corpse is a big fan.

[@user-ck7tg1dq9y]

Based on your pfp and username, are you an EU4 player?

[@thepeasantsofdithmarschen3507]

@@user-ck7tg1dq9y yeah, I use it as if it was a secret language to tell people I play paradox games

[@vincedameion2631]

How did it take 30 minutes for me to get reminded you were talking about hit and run

[@stardeki]

After watching the full VOD of Jerma losing his mind at this game, I was fully on board with you and now im just delighted by the dissection of the Simpson's as a show

[@apollofell3925]

Today on "KZbinrs I forgot I'm Subscribed to"

[@metsfan241996]

Shows up, gives hottest take of 2024, leaves again. What a legend

[@coenisgreat]

47:08 The main thing this clip taught me is that the voice actors are *really* starting to show their age. I can't imagine they'll last too much longer.

[@hassledvania]

30:52 Not to be that guy but canonically Bart goes through a slacker phase and THEN become a Supreme Justice. He even says in that Lisa Wedding episode that he's "Getting his aggression out before Law School"

[@JamesRoyceDawson]

3:20 I also have Red Flags stuck in my head permanently.

[@AnimeFrankReynolds]

"this is a video game essay". I thought to myself 42 minutes in.

[@noahleveille366]

Honestly, I think this video is kind of a mess. Like it’s only coherent if you are putting it on in the background while you do something else.

[@Jhon47807]

I love Simpsons: Hit and run. It has a special place in my heart because it made the best Jerma Stream ever possible.

[@NovemberOrWhatever]

I think the argument that The Simpsons is bad now purely because culture has moved on so it's no longer really parodying anything can't be entirely the case. If that was the case, watching the first seasons today would not be all that fun, but Simpsons fans seem to enjoy them. I'm sure some fun is lost with time, but not all of it.

[@remnantviscera4137]

Man, I love long ass videos and I really tried to like this one; but these insane tangents really feel like they need trimming. Burying the lead on your talking points on up to 20 minutes of barely related commentary might not necessarily prevent people from understanding your point; but it sure doesn't help. Genuinely curious how long a cut of this video with only the parts where you talk about Hit and Run would be.

[@scrittle]

I jumped to a random point 1:05:05 and suddenly we're talking about Dead Rising 3??? There so many problems like unfair comparisons and two completely different games, but structuring a Hit & Run video and throwing in random discussions on other games? Come on.

[@remnantviscera4137]

@@scrittle There's a benefit to providing examples and I agree with most of the idividual points made. I just find the structure of the video actively gets in the way of its value as a deconstruction. That Dead Rising 3 segment is part of a discussion about user-defined difficulty. Which already had several examples and further tangented into a short bit about why Dead Rising 3 was bad, all prior to actually explaining why it's relevant to Hit and Run. It makes the point confused, whether it's right or wrong.

[@henrynelson9301]

He spends over 30 minutes talking about why modern simpsons isn’t funny and it has nothing to do with Hit and Run. It could’ve been a separate video.

[@darklights045]

Yeah I definitely agree. Like you said, none of his points were bad, but the video kind of felt like being a pinball just randomly bouncing from topic to topic. I think HBomberguy would be a good comparison especially since this video has tons of references to him. When HBG did his Deus Ex video, he would throw in brief asides on hacking minigames or other game's design, but not a single one dragged out. You don't get a mini essay on System Shock 2 in the middle of the Deus Ex video, it shows up when relevant and disappears twice as fast. If that video was structured like this one the tangents would be way longer and start to include things like the translation history of the Icarus myth and why Final Fantasy XIII was structured as linear hallways and which movies and books exactly feel most like Deus Ex. Perhaps interesting, but not when all crammed together with what feels like random pacing. I even see a lot of pepple in the comments requesting this video get cut up amd published separately, People saying stuff like, "Hey can you post just the part on the Principle and the Pauper! I have a friend who would enjoy that without the surrounding context!" and to me that is kind of proof that this video could be dissected into smaller videos and would probably benefit greatly. I've never seen anyone ask for just the hacking minigame or Invisible War tangents be uploaded from the HBomberguy Deus Ex video. The closest is HBomberguy's review of the Room which is in a video literally about incoherent pacing and wild tangents because it was a review of Ctrl+Alt+Del.

[@oofym353]

Agreed, this feels like a good book that desperately needed an editor to trim all the fat. Soup is not helping the trope that video essays are becoming stupidly bloated.

[@crowkingv6410]

1:17 Have you given Hbomb all your money yet?

[@sortof3337]

I was literally watching Helen Keler video and thought this guy was dead. I am the good luck guys.

[@MCFinest2013]

49:10 cutting out the staying alive joke was criminal

[@aldraone-mu5yg]

Is this subject worth a 2 hour video?

[@wagenenr]

soup having the restraint to not say ludo narrative dissonance 👍

[@DirkDjently]

eyyy, I was just going back through some of your videos the past couple days, and now a new one

[@ethoatom668]

Oh my god, the timing on this. I had just started rewatching all of your videos since the beginning of this week.

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

The Numpad buttons have also been, historically, the default keyboard camera controls on many FPS games. I don't know of a single human being who uses them, though.

[@boiledelephant]

"I have no idea if any of that was accurate, but I sounded convincing saying it, didn't I?!" That about sums up KZbin

[@BoneBoyYo]

you kill all my misinformation ive retained and now you go after my nostalgia? how cruel....

[@Alucard-gt1zf]

Next, he'll be telling us our favourite youtubers are lying and copying other people!

[@dextercritten6167]

I've wondering about your return for a while, I'm so happy to see this.

[@scotmelee44]

The Simpson show mini essay had me forgetting this video was even about hit and run

[@EmperorOfLols]

"Zero Punctuation didnt like Brutal Legends cause of the RTS" Nah, he didnt like it cause the RTS was much better by a similar game 9 years prior, that also has Tim Curry and Jennifer Hale, as well Tony Jay, Kevin Michael Richardson and Paul Eiding. Helps to have actual PC controls instead of controls of a console....and not an empty open world, and have actual branching paths in the narrative that affect your Tech Tree as well, and 5 factions instead of 3, and 12+ wizards that you can use for multiplayer with any god faction regardless if they belong to that god in the story or not and with a customizable spellbook (tech tree) at any lvl if you finish the campaing, and a map editor to make campaings and multiplayer maps with land deformation. Brutal Legends is a little anemic, its all i am saying.

[@panameadeplm]

I hate to put your Simpsons critique into serious question with a very short paragraph, but I'm going to do that: The assertion that Simpsons had some kind of foundational mission of being countercultural is just not true. It's, much like The Principal and the Pauper, this was probably some blurb, blurted out by someone being interviewed for a TV documentary special on MTV or something in 2005. People take this for granted uncritically, as if it's gospel. For one, seasons 1-4 especially had a lot of completely straight-faced dramatic moments that were not a parody or a deconstruction of contemporary sitcoms. They interjected serious drama and sap through the comedy in the exact same manner as said contemporary sitcoms, without subversion. Second, we act as if the late 80s was Victorian England. It was not. It was literally the edgiest period of film and television, in the history of film and television. Most stuff from the 80s is getting banned or "adjusted for modern sensibilities" today in 2024. I posit to you, thus, that the mission statement of The Simpsons is actually to be a funny comedy whose personality is true to its creators. And one of the most expedient ways to be funny is to take jabs at your environment, like literally every comedian that exists does, literally all the time. It's almost to the point where it can be said that doing so is literally what comedy is. The show's entropic downfall, therefore, is little more than the reality of people aging. People in their 30s are more in touch with media than people in their 70s. Good comedy, especially parody, must always come from a place of fundamental understanding of the subject, as well as at least some form of respect or appreciation. The Simpsons is bad today for the same reason that 10 future Skibidi Toilets down the line, you won't be deriding it in jest, you just won't hear about it because you'll be old and your desire to keep up with the times will be held in check by your fear to not forget what you already know. Sad but true. Naturally, you can't just "hire new talent," because that's not possible, regardless of what The Industry wants us to believe. So we get modern Simpsons.

[@Minib31]

46.29 bro deadass forgot this was a video about Simpsons hit and run and not when the Simpsons fell off

[@SheerSniper7]

my professor was the level designer for this game. He's haunted by how he designed the Squid Port :(

[@lobachevscki]

Although somewhat consistent how much over the place the subject matters for Soup Emporium are brings me such joy.

[@oofym353]

I liked this video man, but honestly you probably should have uploaded this as two separate videos. Also you REALLY did not need to put an entire 3 minutes of uninterrupted audio of Bart Simpson giving tutorial tips at 1:50:00 in. Considering earlier in the video you talked about how jokes aren't funny if they're bloated and you drag them out, I thought you might take your own advice.

[@Squishypalms]

Why are your expectations the same for a well funded sitcom the same as a youtube video essay? Is your criticism really necessary? I think you're a senseless troglodite hater

[@mossy3565]

One issue: You have a go at the Simpson's Game for being self aware of its flaws, then point out several times in your own video the bad flow and structure of the arguement you's making. Not meant to discredit your video, obviously. One problem doesn't discredit all the work done

[@scrittle]

Lampshading is in now! Why see a flaw and rectify it when you could spin it into a joke again, and again, and again. Wow, talk about modern lazy writing, this writing is lazy!

[@Robin_Glorb]

​@scrittle the first comment talks about how a detail in the video is contradictory and then clarifies that this does not discredit what is said in the video and that there was a lot of work put into it. Then you say this shows that the writing is lazy. This is almost comedic.

[@scrittle]

@@Robin_Glorb That was their sane humanising conclusion. I on the other hand, hold great hatred for this style of content.

[@henrynelson9301]

He also leaves in so many flubbed takes and draws attention to it, and does it so much it stops being funny

[@oofym353]

Best example of this is the section at 1:50:00 of him just leaving in a full 3 minutes of Bart's tutorial dialogue for no reason, then playing it off as a joke he knows no one will like.

[@MrDoctorCrow]

Today I learned I've been mistaking Hit and Run with the Crazy Taxi reskin for about 20 years

[@runktheruler]

Despite how much this game was a part of my childhood, all it takes is one jerma stream to make me realise its true evil.

[@Skufnut_]

Soup!!!!! YOURE BACK! Oh how’ve the masses missed you!

[@UltraPaperGamer]

It's insane how you keep comparing Hit and Run and the Simpsons games like they were made decades apart, when in reality The Simpsons Game is ONLY 4 YEARS AFTER HIT AND RUN, So saying stuff like "Hit and Run was the monorail while The Simpsons game is the Gaga Train" THERE'S A BIGGER GAP BETWEEN THE SIMPSONS GAME AND THE GAGA EPISODE THAT HIT AND RUN AND THE 7TH GENERATION GAME, Like WHAT?!! Like I understand the argument, Hit and Run was using early content of the franchise while TSG was using more modern content, that's a valid complain, however It also ignores that both games were aiming to do diferent things, Granted it's kinda dificult to compare when you remember that H&R is the same game for every version, while TSG has like 4 diferent versions with radical diferent gameplay(The Wii/PS2 game don't have the overworld is chapter base) all of them name the same thing. Regarless of this, I think you did an excelent job in the video and I think this is an amazing analisys on the franchise itself.

[@gybrush3pwood808]

you played it with a fucking keyboard?

[@cinnasauria]

Forgot this was a video about Hit & Run at some point, but it sure is a video about The Simpsons.

[@jamtamart]

i had only ever heard of this game through watching Jerma985 lose his mind for 11 hours trying to complete it- so you can imagine my surprise when i found out through this video that people think its peak

[@TheRealMycanthrope]

Me if my lazy ass could be bothered: "Borderlands 2 was NEVER a masterpiece and I'll tell you why."

[@dudeskeela]

Do it! I’ll watch!

[@boiledelephant]

legit premise. It was funny, but the gameplay was super duper basic and the difficulty curve was borked.

[@Shell-iq6cx]

I don't think Gearbox has ever made a game that was more than okay

[@lolusuck386]

Shit I'd help you out with that. I could never understand what people liked about that series.

[@boiledelephant]

@lolusuck386 They're gratifying, in a mobile game sort of way. Easy, mindless shooting and looting. Just like mobile games, after a few hours you kinda 'come to' and realise you've wasted your evening just trying to make numbers bigger and craving the next good bit of loot.

[@lapricity]

the only thing i learnt from this is what cromulent means

[@gwen3504]

"What country is this car from?" "It not longer exists."

[@tatl__tael]

Recently discovered your Mr House video subbed right away. I was so excited to see a new upload from you! Thanks for the amazing content

[@psiamnotdrunk]

Please do not grow accustomed to that feeling

[@thebobbrom7176]

A 2 hour 19 minute video on The Simpsons version of Grand Theft Auto... Ok...

[@ennayanne]

and yet he has the gall to call out other youtubers for long videos

[@mkaido3224]

And only actually talks about the game 49 minutes in Jesus fuck

[@schlankeschlangemitlanze2467]

​@@ennayanneThere is a difference between a 2 hour video and a 11 hour one lmao

[@internetguy7319]

​@@schlankeschlangemitlanze2467the chad "enjoys both soup emporium and quinton reviews" person is me

[@johnsurdoval6367]

I just watched a 38 and 1/2 hour video on Beverly Hillbillies this is practically a snack to me

[@just_some_donkus]

the 'do it for him' collage lmfao 1:17

[@TitoSilvey]

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who never beat the game because of how fucking difficult those last missions are

[@gavinmcphie6936]

I'm only four and a half minutes in but I already know I'll also need you to make a 2 hour video on The Simpsons Game because it's the cleverest, sexiest video game of all time.

[@shadogiant]

I feel like this video missed the mark. I saw the HBomb influence and that's whatever, but I feel the points fail to build on top of each other here. At the end of the video, it isn't clear to me (someone that hasn't played the game) if it is a good game with old jank or in what way the game sticks with players in the way I see you and others describe.

[@MorganScott82]

"A newer episode, from season 18" currently in Season 35, is something half a Simpsons ago newer?

[@leomorris7573]

i constantly think when jerma streamed this game, specifically the part where someone in chat said they used to bite their controller because they would get so frustrated at the game

[@spookadoota4075]

I love how in the beginning, he denies viewing the source code, and by the middle of the video, he's directly analyzing it lol

[@beep_the_foolish]

after watching jerma's playthough of this game, I don't need a 3 hour video essay to explain the concept of a simpson's video game not being very good, but I'll dignify this essay with my time since you've clearly put a lot of effort into it.

[@Salt_Mage]

I just watched the patreon cut yesterday. So here I am watching the full release again. You’re welcome for the engagement!

[@2ndeaster]

I was just on a third rewatch on Helen Keller video and now he's back!

[@staplegun4995]

Oh my god he is back

[@awsomebot1]

A two hour video (in which overly-long vidoes are mocked) just to say that a famously difficult game is indeed too difficult Holy shit