A blue arcade set with The Simpsons characters drawn on it
Arcade cabinet for The Simpsons, the franchise's first video game adaptation.

The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. It is set in the fictional town of Springfield and lampoons American culture, society and television and many aspects of the human condition. The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987, and after a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and became a hit series for Fox. The growing popularity of the series motivated video game developers to create video games based on the series. Two pinball machines have also been produced; one self-titled, that was only made available for a limited time after the first season finale (1990) and The Simpsons Pinball Party (2003). Additionally, several handheld device games have been released, such as Bartman: Avenger of Evil (1990) and Bart Simpson's Cupcake Crisis (1991).

Video games based on the series started with The Simpsons arcade video game in 1991, developed and published Konami. Bart vs. the Space Mutants (1991), developed by Imagineering, expanded the franchise into new platforms, including the Amstrad CPC, NES and Master System. Over the next few years, the franchise would continue to expand, releasing system-exclusive games, such as the PC's Cartoon Studio (1996) and the PlayStation's The Simpsons Wrestling (2001). The release of The Simpsons Game (2007), developed by EA Redwood Shores (Visceral Games), further expanded the franchise, appearing on new platforms including the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Due to the series' longevity, The Simpsons video games have also spanned many genres, such as the puzzle game Krusty's Fun House (1992), the sports game Itchy & Scratchy in Miniature Golf Madness (1994) and racing game Road Rage (2001). The Simpsons is also one of the franchises spotlighted in the toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions (2015). Characters and locations from the show were added to Fortnite Battle Royale (2017) in Chapter 6: Mini Season 2.

Video games

As of October 2020[update], 27video games focused on The Simpsons series have been released. The following table showcases the correspondent title, release date, publisher, developer and the platforms on which each game was released along with any other relevant information. A detailed overview of each game can be found in their corresponding articles, with the exception of games without articles, which instead have a brief overview in a footnote.

List of The Simpsons video games
TitleRelease detailsPlatform(s)
MicrosoftNintendoSegaSonyOther
Bart vs. the Space MutantsReleased: February, 1991 (NES) Publishers: Acclaim Entertainment, Ocean Software Developer: ImagineeringNESGame Gear Genesis Master SystemAmiga Atari ST Amstrad CPC Commodore 64 IBM PC ZX Spectrum
The SimpsonsReleased: March, 1991 (Arcade) Publisher: Konami Developer: KonamiXBLMPSNArcade IBM PC Commodore 64
Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp DeadlyReleased: November, 1991 Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: ImagineeringGame Boy
Bart vs. the WorldReleased: December 1991 (NES) Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment, Virgin Interactive Entertainment Developer: ImagineeringNESGame Gear Master SystemAmiga Atari ST
Bart's House of WeirdnessReleased: January 1, 1992 Publisher: Konami Developer: DistinctiveIBM PC
Krusty's Fun HouseReleased: May 1992 (NES) Publishers: Acclaim Entertainment, Virgin Games Developer: AudiogenicGame Boy NES Super NESGame Gear Genesis Master SystemAmiga IBM PC
Bart vs. the JuggernautsReleased: September 1992 Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: ImagineeringGame Boy
Bart's NightmareReleased: October 1992 (Super NES) Publishers: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: Sculptured SoftwareSuper NESGenesis
Bartman Meets Radioactive ManReleased: December 1992 (NES) Publishers: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: ImagineeringNESGame Gear
Bart & the BeanstalkReleased: February 1994 Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: Software CreationsGame Boy
Virtual BartReleased: September 30, 1994 (Super NES) Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: Sculptured SoftwareSuper NESGenesis
Itchy & Scratchy in Miniature Golf MadnessReleased: November 1994 Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: Beam SoftwareGame Boy
The Itchy & Scratchy GameReleased: 1995 (Super NES) Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment Developer: BitsSuper NESGame Gear Genesis
The Simpsons: Cartoon StudioReleased: 1996 Publisher: Fox Interactive Developer: Big TopWindowsMac
Virtual SpringfieldReleased: 1997 Publisher: Fox Interactive Developer: Digital EvolutionWindowsMac
The Simpsons BowlingReleased: 2000 Publisher: Konami Developer: KonamiArcade
Night of the Living Treehouse of HorrorReleased: March 21, 2001 Publisher: THQ Developer: Software CreationsGB Color
The Simpsons WrestlingReleased: April 3, 2001 Publishers: Activision (NA) Electronic Arts (EU) Developer: Big ApePlayStation
The Simpsons: Road RageReleased: November 20, 2001 (PS2) Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Radical EntertainmentXboxGameCubePS2
The Simpsons SkateboardingReleased: November 12, 2002 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: The Code MonkeysPS2
Road RageReleased: June 30, 2003 Publisher: THQ Developer: Altron CorporationGBA
Hit & RunReleased: September 16, 2003 Publishers: Vivendi Universal Games Developer: RadicalWindows XboxGameCubePS2
The Simpsons GameReleased: October 30, 2007 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developers: EA Redwood Shores, Rebellion DevelopmentsXbox 360Wii Nintendo DSPS2 PS3 PSP
Minutes to MeltdownReleased: 2007 Publisher: EA Mobile Developer: G5 EntertainmentMobile
Itchy and Scratchy LandReleased: 2009 Publisher: EA Mobile Developer: EA MobileMobile
The Simpsons ArcadeReleased: December 9, 2009 (J2ME) Publisher: EA Mobile Developer: IronMonkeyiOS J2ME
Tapped OutReleased: February 27, 2012 (iOS), February 6, 2013 (Android), June 24, 2013 (Kindle) Publisher: EA Mobile Developer: EA MobileiOS Android Kindle
The Simpsons ArcadeReleased: August 16, 2021 (Arcade1Up Stand-Up) Publisher: Arcade1Up Developer: Arcade1UpArcade1Up Stand-Up

See also

Notes