The Simpsons' History of Video Games

Get out those joysticks and Wiimotes, The Simpsons are about to do some video gaming.
Music Selections:
0:57 “Together Again” (Animal Crossing: New Horizons) by Just Coffee
• Animal Crossing: New H...
2:50 "Dream Fighter" (Punch Out) by Scott Peeples
• OC ReMix #165: Punch-O...
7:32 "Mercenary Boxing" (Street Fighter II) by Malcos
• Blood on the Asphalt: ...
10:51 “Serenity” (Final Fantasy VII) by Mustin
• OC ReMix #1618: Final ...
14:11 “Like a Dream” (Dark Souls II) by RoeTaKa
• OC ReMix #3119: Dark S...
18:06 “Bossa de Moga” (Monster Hunter Tri) by Jamphibious
• Bossa de Moga - OC ReM...
21:04 “Funky's Tricks” (Donkey Kong Country 3) by Malcos
• 3-09 Funky's Tricks (F...
24:18 “Dan's Ice Cream Truck” (Street Fighter Alpha 2) by Joshua Morse & posu yan
• OC ReMix #1429: Street...
26:49 “Chasing Waterfalls” (Donkey Kong Country 3) by Blue Magic
• OC ReMix #3199: Donkey...
29:14 “Treehouse Campfire” (Donkey Kong Country 3) by Level 99
• 3-02 Treehouse Campfir...
#thesimpsons

[@TheRealJims]

Needless to say, I vastly underestimated how many video games are in the world of Springfield 😬

[@mercenarygundam1487]

I was expecting Hit and Run lol.

[@jessetorres8738]

Next you should talk about The Simpsons' history of making fun of/parodying Disney frorm the beginning, to Disney acquiring FOX, & to today.

[@dwigth8923]

Are you already running out of ideas? Marge's spanish voice actress died It would be more interesting to know the impact of The Simpsons around the world. more than this video with a very strange and unnecessary topic

[@Ensign_games]

16:51 damn I was hoping you would make a better joke about Polybius here

[@leithaziz2716]

I wonder if you're aware there's an actual playable tank in a fighting game. I think his name is Blitztank, but he's from an obscure fighter a while ago. He made a guest appearance in Blazblue Cross Tag Battle.

[@Nerfyboy800]

It's my headcannon that Milhouse's gamertag is ＴＨＲＩＬＬＨＯＵＳＥ

[@peterprime2140]

Thrill ho

[@Zkeleton969]

You mean T H R I L L H O

[@zPandro1]

ＴＨＲＩＬＬＨＯ

[@Nerfyboy800]

​@@Zkeleton969Oh yea... No wonder he was the dud

[@qBeYcarpet]

M I L P O O L___

[@etheweirdo_art]

"That weird street fighter game where you fight a tank for some reason" Dang I can't believe they predicted Akatsuki blitzkamf. The simpsons truly predict everything.

[@clashmanthethird]

Bartztank has some insane tech ngl

[@emperormegaman3856]

I was about to make that comment.

[@mostverticalproductions4808]

Waiting on someone to draw Homer as Akatsuki.

[@X_Gon_Give_It_To_Ya]

Yeah a Street Fighter game where Liu Kang fights a tank.

[@adambelfast1]

I wonder if its a reference the tank man from Tiananmen Square. Seeing as the game seems to be of Chinese influence as its depicts a martial arts fighter and all.

[@RedEyesBlackKnight]

I'll forever associate the SNES with "super Nintendo Chalmers".

[@themollymachine]

Or makes me think of super pretendo From doug

[@CallMeFreakFujiko]

I love SNC games!

[@amelialonelyfart8848]

Once met a guy who painted his SNES as Super Intendent Chalmers. Didn't know the joke at the time and just assumed the dude was a super fan of Chalmers lmao.

[@themollymachine]

@@amelialonelyfart8848 my eyes! the gigggles do nothinggggggggg

[@joezar33]

Man, no joke. "The Simpson Arcade" should have gotten a *SNES* port 😕

[@OH_MY_DOGGG]

He's the calmest gamer you ever heard He's the simpsons video game nerd.

[@Fernybun]

"You have more control over this city layout than you have control over this game"

[@WyattoonsComics]

My headcanon about the Nuke(s) game is Apu tried to trick people into playing a “sequel” with a taped on S.

[@nonixity9346]

No

[@SineN0mine3]

​@@nonixity9346why not?

[@KasumiKenshirou]

There actually were upgrade kits for arcade games. For example, Atari's Star Wars could be upgraded to The Empire Strikes Back.

[@TERMINATOR101-b8j]

@@KasumiKenshirou Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 always comes to mind.

[@RandyHawkeye]

“Hit the Change of Venue button!” “Oh no, you’re in Texas!” Best show ever

[@darkninjafirefox]

It still blows my mind that they referenced Polybius, probably my favorite video game background gag

[@benmalsky9834]

It’s perhaps my most favorite Simpsons video game joke too.

[@motor4X4kombat]

i think you have to be a video game junkie to understand that reference

[@fennecfoxfanatic]

Yeah! I thought it was the coolest thing ever as a kid. And still do now lol

[@psyme-]

And that it also says "Property of U.S. Government" too.

[@uncleeddie5813]

@@darkninjafirefox I lost a friend to polybius. R.i.p. Jimmy.

[@Hack_Man_VII]

In Bart's defense, arcade cabinets were often made more difficult to eat more quarters. Check out videos talking about how Mortal Kombat 2 was programmed, and you'll see how they genuinely programmed the computer opponents to cheat.

[@ccricers]

My favorite one is with NBA Jam. The programmer is a Detroit Pistons fan, so he programmed the Chicago Bulls to whiff last-second shots when they played against the Pistons.

[@Hack_Man_VII]

@@ccricers I never knew that. Pretty interesting. I may have to try that out sometime, and see how I do.

[@trinketmage8145]

Fighting a tank in the Street Fighter parody as a reference to the bonus level where you destroy a car.

[@Pensive_Scarlet]

I can't believe you overlooked "Dig Dug Revelations". I know it's just a one-off banner, but the pictures that puts in your head, man! I wanna play that game so bad I wanna *make* that game just so I can play that game.

[@redwaytoo]

Don't forget that the Myst library model briefly shows up in Homer³

[@skunkface_]

Real ones remember the actual Bible Blaster game on the old Simpsons website

[@alexwilcox4075]

An amazing timeliness of how the Simpsons Parodies of pop culture went from brilliant to beyond lazy over the course of 35 years. MAPPLE?! That was the BEST they could do!? What were you thinking!!

[@MrMapacheumr]

They could've called it Pine so you get the reference by thinking a bit adding apple to it. And now you want the forbidden ingredient for your pizzas

[@buranflakes]

Honestly Bart playing Triangle Wars was pretty much how I felt playing Asteroids on an Atari 2600 for the first time

[@Gabri_Lovecraft]

This is my favorite topic you’ve ever covered. I have a huge special interest in video games, especially fake video games within fiction. I could listen about your alternate universe’s list of games all day, your fake consoles and arcade games and history and developers…Augh. I love fiction within fiction so much. You’re right on the money in that childlike sense of questioning the games, how they’d work in real life. There used to be this guy on Newgrounds that’d try and remake all of the Simpsons arcade games in Flash and it was really cool, even if they were never actually fun to play. My only real thought is why they didn’t go harder into wittiness with their fake consoles, there’s some really funny arcade games but you just call it the Funtendo Zii? In a story I’m working on, the Nintendo Entertainment System /NES became the Nitrondus Potentially Video Game Adjacent System, or VAS for short, and I dunno, I like to think that’s funny. But then again, they probably just want shorthand so everyone can recognize what they’re parodying, but it’d be nice if they had a little fun with it.

[@PhattyBolger]

The point of the E.T. joke is that the game was so bad and so few people played it that it contributed to the video game crash of the 80s and Atari buried all the copies in the desert. Games like these are referred to as "shovelware" as companies at the time just kept producing more and more garbage games with licensed titles. Thankfully Nintendo came along and helped revive the industry.

[@niagargoyle]

I was hoping there was already a comment about ET. When he said that ET was before his time and that there were probably a bunch of Gen Xers who played it all the time, I was like, “Um… actually, ET was so bad that they dumped a bunch of copies in a New Mexico landfill and buried it under concrete. They excavated it ten years ago.”

[@belstar1128]

apparently the game sold quite well i sometimes find them on the flea market but they literally made more copies of the game than the amount of atari2600 console that were out there so it was still a flop

[@rinrin5500]

This is exactly the kind of niche Simpsons nerdy discussion that I subscribe for. Thanks Jims!

[@tkman2718]

Everytime the Simpsons references or tries to parody something now I just groan, it’s like when your parent sends you a meme they just discovered that was really popular a year ago but now everyone is sick of

[@OctoberAIIOver]

The Sonamy billboard is so funny to me, not just because of Amy's design clearly being her modern one, but anyone knows Sega would never go that far with them. They vetoed the comics from having Sonic blush while being hugged by her, no way they'd show him proposing marriage 😭

[@KurusuPanda]

Sonic full on makes out with Sally in SatAM...

[@godhimself1128]

THESE SIMPSONS WRITERS DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT IT SHOULD BE AMY PROPOSING

[@shenmusings]

Marriage?! No way!

[@MustacheDLuffy]

I think it’s funny it’s sonic preaching consent and waiting for marriage given he’s always running away Amy wanting to force marriage onto him

[@OctoberAIIOver]

@@MustacheDLuffy well achually she hasn't done that since like 2003 🤓👆

[@RobertJW]

19:50 Given the white ground and clear blue sky, I'm confident this is a snowboarding game, not a skateboarding one.

[@conormurnane6457]

What I've learned is that when the show makes up its own in-world games, it's fun, I like the bit of worldbuilding it adds, even just seeing the titles in the background. But when they reference specific games/consoles, it's OK at best and toe-curling at worst. No animated series has tackled gaming as well as South Park. Some of my favourite episodes are the ones that seamlessly tie the plot into whatever the newest release is at the time.

[@mightyfilm]

It cannot be stressed how amazingly rare Mario references were back in the 80's and 90's. Then again, if you look at the cartoons based on video games made then, you can tell there wasn't the nostalgia or reverence that we'd get nowadays. Sure, you'll get an oddly accurate Mega Man episode in a Captain N, or have Stanley the Bugman in an episode of Saturday Supercade Donkey Kong, but everything was about building a show around the characters, rather than around the games. I'd say, maybe after the 90's, we'd get the generation that grew up with and loved these games referencing things to the point of overreference. Everyone has done a Mario parody/reference/background gag at this point. I will say I was impressed at The Simpsons giving us Wario Homer. I'll always appreciate a shout out to my dude. Well, maybe not that SNL skit where he was played by a certain person that makes Wario look like a saint with high moral standards... but I DID find the Wario Lopez joke in Boardertown better than the rest of that series.

[@TetsuDeinonychus]

Very true! Video games have become so widely accepted and are such a major medium now, it's sometimes weird looking back at the time when they were just seen as a silly children's fad and a lesser medium to film and television. Back then it was amazing when a favorite show even acknowledged video games. And you never expected them to be accurate and up to date with their references at all. You'd see them playing a bizarrely inaccurate 16-bit fighting game parody with Atari 2600 controllers and just be glad they were making the effort. lol

[@mightyfilm]

@@TetsuDeinonychus A lot of those cartoons came out just AFTER the crash, and it was fresh in everyone's minds that it was a fad. We, in the future, know better and have grown up to the point of very specific references. The Mega Man 3 level select screen on Cyborg's display in an episode of Teen Titans Go, Mordecai and Rigby playing with Sega Master System controls through the entire series, for example. Mario to the point of over reference.

[@TetsuDeinonychus]

@@mightyfilm Well, the crash happened in 1983, and the Simpsons started in 1989 (or 87 if we're counting the Tracey Ullman show shorts). So it wasn't *right* after the crash, and in-between the NES came out and was huge, making video-games more popular than ever. And, I'm not sure how much the baby-boomer and silent gen writers were aware of either of those things. I'd say it was just the general perception of the time that video games were a toy for children and not a "serious" art/entertainment medium. But, I guess maybe the 1983 crash played a big part in creating that perception among the older generations, despite Nintendo sweeping the nation for the past few years and the 16-bit console war being just around the corner.

[@mightyfilm]

@@TetsuDeinonychus Well, yes and no. Arcades really weren't seen as a kid's thing, but rather a sleazy hangout for older teens and 20 somethings. I don't know exactly when they became a kid friendly hang out (Noiseland looks especially rough). But other than that, there's always been a strong generational divide between the writers and the generation of what they're trying to reference or parody. Something that looks quaint, if not cringy in retrospect when having knowledge of what survived pop culture and what didn't. Look at any cartoon from the 60's talk about Rock N Roll before Elvis and The Beatles became cultural icons. Same thing applies to video games. Lack of foresight and not having a nostalgic connection to something doesn't give you the understanding you'd get otherwise. Plus, I'm shocked it took them over 20 years to make a TMNT reference. The Simpsons and TMNT grew up together, and the second TMNT movie at least had a dig at Bart Simpson.

[@delayedagain]

When Ralph says "Super Nintendo Chalmers" (mentioned in other comments), he plays on a Coleco computer. There is also a scene in another episode where Homer says something like "This is where all those hours of Tetris come in handy" when packing a car, with the Tetris music playing and the items and kids taking shapes of the Tetris blocks.

[@endlesswanderer1753]

That Waterworld joke is a reference to Dragon's Lair. It was the first game to cost 50 cents a play, due to its groundbreaking use of Laserdisc. You were basically playing a cartoon movie. But, those 50 cents only got you one try and you would die a lot before memorizing it all to beat it. Also, because it was so popular, arcades would often crank up the cost to play on it. I remember it costing $2 to play at my local arcade back in the day, which made it completely insane to even attempt. You would get to see 30 seconds of Don Bluth animation before dying. While around the corner, those two dollars would have gotten you like an hour of lives in Gauntlet.

[@durianthesleepy]

24:55 I don't know why you're shocked Nelson's here. He saw there was money to be made on video games back in Season 1. Little story called Bart The General, if you never heard of it.

[@scpjack7856]

As a millennial, I never really got the Lee Carvalho’s Putting Challenge joke, because by my time the Tiger Woods series was out and golf games were really popular (and also lumped with the hyper-masculine sports game marketing of the time). Also, I thought Lee Carvalho was a real person, which I realised wasn’t true way too late in my life.

[@Tsotha]

he's a parody of real life golfer Lee Trevino

[@belstar1128]

they really made a lot of golf games back then maybe too many but they must have been popular

[@Tsotha]

@@belstar1128 Trevino also lent his voice and likeness to a golf video game titled "Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf" from around the same era, I suspect the "Putting Challenge" game is a parody of that as well

[@BlueKunai]

I was visiting a big second hand game store in Minnesota recently that always has the Simpsons playing on a TV, and they had some commisioned custom boxes for Bonestorm and Lee Carvalo's Putting Challenge sitting on a display shelf. Officially licensed by Nintend'oh and everything.

[@SoAd45474]

The only thing I noticed wasn't mentioned in this is probably one of the weirdest. In Season 17's "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" during the showdown in the cave, Snake's son asks Bart, "Do you like Xbox?" When it cuts to them again, they are playing what I can only describe as... video Battleship. A single device with two buttons on each end and a shared screen in the middle.

[@mii9010]

Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge is based on 36 Great Holes Starring Fred Couples which is on the 32X

[@Tsotha]

I thought it was based on Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf...

[@fireaza]

I love how the graphics of these games in many early episodes are angular, rather than blocky like the games the era actually were. It's almost like they were a few decades early, and were depicting polygon graphics, rather than sprites.

[@Geno746]

I find it weird that Polybius is canonical in the Simpson's universe

[@sonicroc237]

The episode with the Sonic Billboard was set toward the end on the ninties. The Amy is designed after her Dreamcast Appearance. That is Referencing Sonic Adventure.

[@HaveYouTriedGuillotines]

The "Street Fighter game with the tank" is actually Mortal Kombat 2. That background is straight up based on the Kombat Tomb from MK2, and the downed fighter in it is probably meant to be Liu Kang, given the red and black outfit. A tank in a fighting game might seem weird, but look up Blitztank. Blazblue Cross Tag has an actual tank character that has a skull head on a long neck, and it's hilarious.

[@avrahamstern4550]

17:00 Now my ship is pooping more triangles!

[@maxordman4100]

Please do a video on the real video games of the Simpsons too! I definitely want to see that! However this was a very nice idea too! Your channel is always a special delight for me when I’m on KZbin!

[@buddyzilla4557]

9:39 -I mean..yes. I remember that from the early 90s. We had a couple very small mom and pop stores for video rental in the very early 90s. We went to one in particualr with a grumpy older guy behind the counter. I was fairly young but I do remember it wedged between the pizza place and the dry cleaner. It was a small hole in the wall with a narrow line of VHS display stands. I used to rent the hell out of the Dinobots VHS epusode collection from transformers. There was salsa a very small "room off the main one for adult videos. It had a curtian in the doorway but was big enogh basically for a person to just stand it. It was likley a janitor's closet or small storage nook they made into the 18 + collection. What they ahd was what they had AND it wasn't much..for everything, not just porn..again, Dinobots was my best friend and not just vecauae I loved dinosaurs. It wasn't until a little later that we got out first Blockbuster and Hollywood around the same time. This was in California. In upstate new York where my grandparents lived, that didn't happen even into the early 2000s. They didn't have an old independent rental place but they had a rental section at the front of the Wegmans Grocery store. They had a lot of older VHS stuff there. They had a similar style to the old mom and pop shop where movies were more expensive that TV show collections and video games were around the same price as a movie or more (in time allowed for the price.) That's how we got to experience a lot of older stuff like Francis the Talking Mule and Abott and Costello. Those counted as shows instead of movies so we got them a bunch. We would be allowed to pick out a newer movie and two show VHS for the period when it was too hot or rainy to go outside during our visits. We had my parents old Atari 7200 and a gameboy when the old shcool rental place was around but nothing thwy rented games for. We never did that and only rented stuff from blockbuster later. I remember the shop had consoles to rent with a game and asking my dad to rent one but it was insanely expensive and he was not fond of home consoles thanks to the whole Atari 7200 being a bust thing. Lol

[@cedricfowler3465]

One of my favorite Simpsons DVD special features was the video game compilation for season 13. My PS3 is backward compatable so I gotta get a copy of Hit & Run soon.

[@TheG_Boy]

It's interresting to see as video games become more mainstream they become more accurate in the show as the writers possibly grew a better understanding of them

[@Neckbeardlevel]

I was just thinking last night that someone should make a compilation of video games in the simpsons. Nice work Jim

[@NokioftheStars]

Fun fact about the 'Just take it' bit in Marge Be Not Proud. Both Sonic and Homer are playable in LEGO Dimensions and if you have them together Sonic might do the bit (though telling him to grab a Chaos Emerald instead of Bonestorm. Another bit of flavor dialogue has him think Homer is Eggman after he shaved off his stache.

[@JuGrNaught]

@21:31 "Tree of Life Online" looks like a Second Life parody, especially with the logo

[@BlindProphet413]

Lovejoy's delivery of "Slay the wounded!" in that Treehouse of Horror lives in my head rent free.

[@WhatDoesDStandFor]

9:40 I believe it's referring to old controllers that had numpads. I believe there's an atari one with that.

[@youmukonpaku3168]

yeah, given the poor quality of the game and apparently poor sales, along with the mentioned control scheme, it's most likely an Atari Jaguar game. Which leads me to suspect someone in the writers' room at the time had one, because it sure wasn't in a friend's house or pop culture.

[@danielbecker1431]

Ok I've definitely been wanting a video on Simpsons games for a while now. But you still need to give the people what they want. A whole dedicated video on Dr. S!

[@kallenmorrison9483]

was not expecting my home of Calgary to get mentioned in this episode but here we are

[@gamingintrospection]

I'm always amazed at the myriad of tangents you're able to venture into, Jims! This was such a great topic that I wouldn't have even considered diving into, yet there's so much here once you get into it. I remember only about half of the references you analyze, so this was a great deep dive. Keep it up!

[@98JSB]

You didn't mention models from Myst showing up on the 3D Homer Tree House of Horror! When are we gonna get to the Myst Library!?

[@Faniwa828]

Fun fact: Sonic's "Just take it!" line is actually referenced in Lego Dimensions as one of Sonic's lines when he's around Bart

[@TheRandomAustralian]

19:20 kind of looks more like a Gears of War thing with the macho military types and guns with chainsaws underneath them.

[@ManahManah77]

Polybius has an interesting story. It is an urban legend about a video game that "mysteriously appeared and disappeared" from arcades in the Pacific NW in the early 80's. The game supposedly tested the player on skills like reaction time, fast thinking, problem solving, etc. It was also rumored to have more sinister purposes such as mind control and brainwashing. The "testing" part sounds an awful lot like "The Last Starfighter", and the second is your typical government "Men In Black" tale. A guy who runs a channel called "Ahoy" did an outstanding and in-depth investigation into the legend and, as far as I'm concerned, completely debunked it. The video is over an hour long, but the short version is that he was able to find no evidence of the story's existence prior to an article in Game Player magazine that directed the reader to an arcade archive website. The creator goes into a lot more detail about where he searched and I can honestly say he left no stone unturned.

[@tdward23]

Nobody can honestly say they played ET in the 80s for more than an hour. 20 minutes would be median.

[@SuperQuadocky]

I gotta admit, the parodies of the video games in early Simpsons really did feel like how it felt to experience video games as a kid as just 'things' rather than just 'platforms' and 'brands' and 'eras'. Games were just games.

[@soundspark]

Remember, Futurama starts out by Fry losing Monkey Fracas when the gorilla starts throwing barrels, with a little kid yelling YOU STINK LOSER.

[@PanAndScanBuddy]

22:58 Grand Theft Otto feels like regret over the movie showing GTW. Hmm, maybe the arcade machine was an awful cash grab.

[@airguitardemon]

9:07 Just noticed the other cartridge marked "Angus Podgorny's Caber Toss", a brilliant well hidden (and more obscure than normal) Monty Python reference 😄

[@eduraddordun]

28:56 You got the Dud!

[@thebatterymill]

It’s strange how much video game depictions varied in the classic era. One time it’s just like a regular scene, next they try to add a pixel effect, then it’s blocky

[@russellst.martin4255]

I've never been able to pin down exactly why 'Marge Be Not Proud' made me feel vibes of alienation but I finally realize it's because the last video game I played was on a Super Nintendo.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

5:44 Now we know why Bart decided to get Goulet for his treehouse casino.

[@t4washere384]

The kids show I first remember really getting and showing off video games was Sailor Moon of all things. Guess anime makers were more on the ball when it comes to nerd stuff. Worth looking into for future episodes.

[@Violet-fj3lr]

Sailor Moon is a really cozy look back at that era of games for me. The arcade being a major set piece was a great choice for a place that was familiar, but could change completely if you knew the secret about it.

[@StephanieGreen-ff4zo]

27:32 - This looks more like Dishonored than Assassin's Creed, imo

[@Franangrsheim]

The Simpson's rendition of Sonic always cracks me up.

[@SammEater]

The episode where Lisa is playing that Crash Bandicoot parody was my favorite back then because I was pretty much a Crash fanboy at that point. Lol

[@RockSoup]

The writers got so lazy. "So I guess we're doing an E3 episode." "Should we come up with a funny and clever name for the event in the show?" "Normally, I'd say yes. But it's almost happy hour. It's E4."

[@charodibalon2511]

The Putting Challenge Game was definitely a reference to the Phillips CDI due to the talking at the player and the controller- You could use a remote to control it because it both played CDs and videogames, and was a byproduct of Sony stepping back from a deal with Nintendo. It is also rather infamous.

[@Flippin-mad]

The devils advocate is a reference to the pinball Fireball art wise

[@fargoretro]

Simpsons and Video Games are my two biggest KZbin rabbit holes

[@Sirenhound]

Super Slugfest makes an appearance in the music video for Deep Deep Trouble

[@SupPalInd]

Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge is most likely inspired by Pebble Beach Golf Links for the Saturn and 3DO. In that game a digitized Craig Stadler offered you advice.

[@moonbeam9142]

12:07 was there any specifications on the one he used at the beginning of the movie or the one in 30 min over Tokyo?

[@trinketmage8145]

I'm guessing the the "Nuke" game, and its sequel "Nuke Canada" is Missile Command, an old school arcade machine with a million ports whereyou shoot down nuclear missiles before they destroy your cities. Peak Cold War content.

[@tofu5690]

FINALLY SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THESE , please do one about fictional games/consoles in general gumball,steven universe and adventure time have some great ones

[@peacemaster8117]

The E4 episode was from 2011 and had a gag about a God Of War developer ruining his family life to make the game. In 2018, Sony put out the God Of War reboot along with a documentary where the lead developer talks about neglecting his kid so he could work on the game. Life imitates The Simpsons.

[@floydfanTN]

I appreciate the CIV VI joke, reminds me I have a Canada save I need to get back too :V

[@nickkennedy9034]

Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge uses the Intellivision control scheme. You had a number pad and a dial that you would use to control things in the game. There was a tank game made for the Intellivision that was later copied/remade as the tank minigame in Wii Play.

[@nickkennedy9034]

Also triangle wars I think is more in reference to Asteroids or Battlezone

[@bronzewand]

5:03 Bart isn't bad, you just don't remember how brutal arcade games were back in the day.. The Waterworld game Milhouse plays is peak arcade gaming

[@mellowgeekstudio]

17:00 More like a Star Wars reference. That game appeared in the 80s themed Treehouse of Horror (2:12) and the font for Wars in both machines is identical to the Star Wars font.

[@joseaguilar3323]

Mixed Martian Arts is a great name for a game

[@amitysluzara2022]

I never realised just how much video games are in this show

[@ricardofredes9527]

There are a couple of Zelda references in The Serfsons and Murder, She Boat and there's a Nintendo Switch (or Funtendo Swap) on Homer's car in Homer's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass

[@Boltscrap]

They really cooked with that Plague Station 3 cover, grim stuff.

[@VincentMariethe4th]

When I first saw that joke about "Tandem Bike With Your Mom" as a game, it kinda reflected why I could never get into any of "The Sims" games.

[@carriemccaig8765]

As someone who spent years pining for Nintendo Wii and finally bought one on a trip to Japan, I cannot believe that you dislike this era. I love it. I cannot believe that I finally get to play Wii Sports and Just Dance (in Japanese, bc regions)

[@dman77ds]

why am i sat watching a video about in-show video games in the Simpsons idk but i will watch til the very end

[@SporeRose]

Simpsons really predicted the AC VR game six months before Ubisoft announced it.

[@KyleRDent]

I think the numbers for the golf game was a reference to the ZX Spectrum. The visuals are more like a PC golf game, but they would usually use the main keys like space bar and arrows. A happy crossover?

[@slothfulcobra]

it's wild that the wii was probably the time that the writers were most current with videogames because they've always been old men, but the wii was a hit with old men

[@Mienshaos]

crash bandicoot mention warms my heart

[@fangoram29]

25:18 I know Canada and the US share pretty much every "national" league but I still did a double take here

[@mariamanousakis1717]

I would love a video on Simpson video games I really love the Simpsons tapped Out and the vastness of the characters and events it's had I play it every single day

[@LATerr0r]

21:55 ... That sarcasm though😂😂

[@JonFawkes]

The Le Carvalo Golf Game was most likely for the Atari as there were some Atari controllers that used the number pad (notably the Atari 5200)

[@godorninja8079]

YOU HAVE ENTERED POWER DRIVE

[@klebbe1]

"Canasta Master" sounds like a reference to Blaster Master from Mad Max

[@NobodyYouKnow01]

I bet Bart keeps putting the S on the Nuke cabinet and Apu keeps taking it down

[@LUCKO2022]

The Escape from Grandma's House game at 5:51 has a map screen that is really close to Friday the 13th NES game map.

[@RadicalRaymondd]

I want to say that 2D fighters were still very prevalent in the 90s with street fighter 3 dropping in 97 and whatnot, I think it's fair for bart to still be playing 2D fighters in the playstation era but I'm just being pedantic lmao

[@austinreed7343]

In American markets, it was the digitized 2D fighters that got more attention, people were turned off by the more overtly “anime” aesthetics of SFA, KoF, the Vs. Series, etc. and 2D pixel art in general was considered “outdated” by consumers. Of course, a lot of the digitized games blew chunk after chunk, so they eventually all moved on to 3D until like SF4's French vanilla release.

[@wesshiflet2214]

-1000 points for calling the transition from Atari to NES “into the 8-bit era”

[@SHADECIRCLE]

Side note: Amy in the marriage billboard uses her Dreamcast design, which didn't debut until Sonic Adventure, so it is Dreamcast Sonic. Sonic CD also came out in '93, which would be quite the time gap.