Simpsons Hit And Run Theme

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Simpsons Hit And Run Theme

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheSimpsonsHitAndRun

2003, the year The Simpsons: Hit & Run was released on Windows. Made by Radical Entertainment Inc. And published by Sierra On-Line, Inc., this action and racing /.

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Simpsons Hit And Run Theme Song

  • Awesome Music: The whole soundtrack could count. Let's list them since there's a lot of space on this page.
    • 'Evergreen Terror', Level 7's driving theme. The Beetlejuice-esque music fits very well with the Halloween zombie invasion theme.
    • 'Otto's theme', which plays on both missions involving his school bus ('Operation Hellfish' and 'Going to the 'Lu').
    • 'The Comic Book Guy's Theme', obviously a Suspiciously Similar Song of the Star Trek: TOS fight music.
    • Who could forget 'Hit & Run!', the theme that plays when the Wanted Meter fills up and the cops start chasing you?
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    • Any of the rock tracks that startup. With Bart, that's expected. But with unexpected characters like Marge, Lisa and Apu, you know they're getting serious.
      • Special mention goes to 'Weapons of Mass Delinquency', which makes up for the missions 'Never Trust a Snake' and 'Set To Kill' being really difficult.
    • The epic 70's/80's cop show-esque 'Wolves Stole My Pills!', which plays during the mission of the same name.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: This applies to pretty much every bonus mission in the game, but special mention must go to Level 2's bonus mission 'Dial B for Blood', which involves Bart going up to random people and asking them for blood.
  • Broken Base: Level 4’s The Cola Wars tends to be a rather divisive mission within the game. It’s often ranked as one of the most difficult levels of the game, as it requires the player to collect 30 Buzz Cola cans on foot under a time limit. On the other hand, there are players who see the level as too easy as said cola cans are close enough by that it’s not that difficult to get lost finding them and that said time limit is 4 minutes, giving them enough time to collect them all before it even reaches the single digits.
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  • Crazy Awesome: Some of the vehicles, such as Apu's Obliteratatron Monster Truck and the RC Buggy.
  • Good Bad Bugs:
    • The physics of this game can be either downright insane or completely random. Imagine this when it can even be applied to hitting a random object for coins and/or a pedestrian (as shown here). Here's even another vehicle-based example.
    • It's also possible for the wasp cameras to accidentally shoot at any NPC's; akin to them getting run over by cars, they'll get sent flying in the usual 'flailing around' state just like when you attack them yourself. Unlike getting them run over by cars of any sort though, it's possible to have the said wasp cameras instead, shoot at any notable character (player or NPC) who happens to be driving a car for you, making them fly out of the car, but still having their supposed person inside driving it (thus their voice clips when driving and/or entering the car from their side will still play like normal).
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    • Buzz Cola boxes and vending machines are permanently gone for that save file once they are destroyed, meaning that their high coin payout is meant to only be grabbed once. This can be worked around by kicking them only twice and then reloading the mission, since the game does not save whether boxes and machines are simply damaged, and they still release coins if they are hit but not destroyed. One mission in Level 6 is located close to four boxes and two machines, so it's possible to use it to grind on money to get all the vehicles and costumes faster. Combine it with another Good Bad Bug that makes characters lose collision, and that gives the quickestnote speedrun strategy for getting enough coins to get everything in a one hundred percent run of the game, which is helpful thanks to how expensive some of the collectables can get.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Remember the South Park gag 'Simpsons did it!' By the time you get to the game's final levels it turns out the plot is remarkably similar to an episode of South Park, namely that Earth is being recorded by aliens to sell as a reality show to the galaxy. The really funny part is that the South Park episode came in March 2003; Hit & Run came out in September. And for extra irony, the 'Simpsons did it!' episode came out just the previous year; one must wonder if the producers of the two shows planned this out for the timing to be so perfect.
    • One of the missions in level 3 is called 'Bonfire of the Manatees'. A mere couple of years later, the show itself would get an episode with that very name.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • One of the gags Homer can perform in his first level is to trigger a meltdown at his office in the nuclear power plant. After doing so, a skeleton floats up in the radioactive waste. Marge can do the same in the fourth level.
    • The majority of the last level counts. They chose to base it off the Treehouse Of Horror series since the cola was potent enough to wake the dead.
    • The whole plotline of the new Buzz Cola. At the beginning of the game, it starts off only being released, but Krusty mentioning that the product has 'a special ingredient too hot for the FDA' and 'isn't poisonous to anybody' already sounds suspicious enough. Then, in Level 4, Bart mentions it was the thing given to him on the 'alien spaceshift' after snapping out of his trance, and it's only time until we discover it's Kang and Kodos' Gargle Blaster intended to wipe out the human race as part of an attempt to increase their show's ratings, and they eventually dump it into the water supply to cause a zombie outbreak to make their ratings rise even after their lasers fail.
  • No Problem with Licensed Games: A shining example. Though some of the missions are rather difficult, the voice actors are right from the cartoon and are still funny in their roles, the story is ridiculously enjoyable (emphasis on ridiculous), and so much Continuity Porn that any diehard fan will go nuts over it.
  • Padding:
    • The 'Full Metal Jackass' mission in level 6 is considered completely pointless: after stealing a ray gun from the Duff blimp, Bart's on his way to show it to Krusty... only to suddenly, for no real reason, run into Principal Skinner and attempt to persuade him to help stop the aliens. Skinner promptly confiscates the gun, forcing Bart to destroy Skinner's car to get it back. Said mission has no impact on the story whatsoever.
    • 'Clueless' in Level 3 has Lisa travel to various locations Mulhouse tells her Bart may be at... only for her to keep finding Milhouse instead. He doesn’t even give any hint as to where he could be, all he does is send the player on a wild goose chase until Lisa angrily asks him what’s going on and he complains that it’s 'never a good time' to go out or hang out with him. Aside from Lisa suggesting she should talk to Apu, nothing of importance was accomplished.
  • Paranoia Fuel: The 'black sedans' and the Wasp Cameras.
  • Polished Port: The Xbox version is considered to have the best control possible due to the driving speed being completely controllable on the level of how hard or light you pull on the right trigger, making for a very smooth driving experience.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song:
    • One of Bart's musical cues during free-roam is eerily reminiscent of the opening riff to 'All Apologies' by Nirvana.
    • It's rather fitting that Ketchup Logic takes lots of musical cues from Tom Jones' 'It's Not Unusual' (with the main chorus sounding so similar to said song, it's a wonder the lawyers didn't get involved.)
    • It's not easy being Husky, the theme for the missions Blind Big Brother, Beached Love and Level 4's Wager Race, takes some cues from Philip Glass' 'Pruit Igoe'.
    • Halls Balls, the mission theme for Milking the Pigs, the first half of There's Something About Monty and Level 6's Wager Race, is an obvious reference to the song 'Hell's Bells' by AC/DC in both title and instrument used.
    • Not Leaf Blower Aliens, Tentacle Aliens!, the theme music for the missions Long Black Probes and Alien 'Auto'topsy Part I is actually a remix of the opening theme of UFO.
  • That One Level:
    • The final three missions, 'Alien 'Auto'topsy Parts I', 'II' and 'III', which force you to drive perfectly and avoid so much as lightly hitting anything if you don't want to knock off the extremely sensitive barrel of nuclear waste strapped to your fender. Worse still is that since the timers become progressively more restrictive with each level, major crashes from either the traffic, the chase sequences or other obstacles will absolutely cause you to fail if you can't outrun/avoid them on the first pass. Each level ups the ante in regards to difficulty:
      • 'Part I' is the easiest, being practically identical to the third mission Pocket Protectors; it asks you to simply drive from the powerplant to the playground, except it allows you to use a vehicle of your choice instead of being forced to use Frink's Hovercar.
      • 'Part II' essentially combines the previous two missions together, requiring you to drive to the Power Plant to pick up the waste (avoiding the Black Alien Sports Car in Evergreen Terrace) before driving back to Springfield Elementary to drop it off. While you are forced into using a specific vehicle for the level, the vehicle in question is Snake's Lil' Bandit, which has strong speed, acceleration and handling but poor toughness (which technically doesn't factor in that much when the whole point of the mission is to not hit anything).
      • 'Part III', however, really takes the cake. While the mission is practically identical to Part II (with the only changes being further restricted time limits, a race with the Black Alien Sports Car to the Power Plant and another evasion section with it on your way back through Evergreen Terrace), the real problem stems from two major issues:
      • The first is the vehicle you are forced to use for the mission: The WWII Vehicle w/ Rocket. Browsing through the in-game files shows that the vehicle's stats are practically identical to the regular version... aside from the Speed and Acceleration, which have been massively boosted from 1.5 to 5 stars. Since nothing else has been changed, this vehicle is extremely hard to control thanks to the paltry 3-star handling, making the mission much more difficult than it needs to be. This video really shows how much of an impact the WWII Vehicle w/ Rocket has on the mission's difficulty... by completing the mission using The Family Sedan!
      • The second, as explained in the above video's description, is the poor mission scripting after the Evade portion with the Black Alien Sports Car; once the car has been successfully evaded, you only have 30 seconds to drive to the school playground. This time limit does not adapt to your position in the level, meaning that if you lose the car beyond a certain distance away from the school, you 'will' be timed out and forced to restart the mission. That's right, You are punished for doing too well.
    • Also of notable mention is 'Set To Kill', the penultimate mission of the sixth level. It takes some very skilful driving and knowledge of the map to hit all of the awkwardly-placed laser gun stands with even a few seconds left on the clock, and also a fair amount of luck when you factor in traffic (if you're not careful, the cops will be onto you and will delay you even further). The trip back to Krustylu is even worse, giving you only fifty seconds to get there from the opposite side of the map. You need to go flat-out and pray to God you don't suffer any major hold-ups, otherwise, you're guaranteed to not make it. Even with the Globex Super Villain Car, it's damned tough. At least it's backed by the same very awesome rock track noted above, arguably one of the best in the game. So if you keep failing, it also means to get plenty of time to listen to music!
      • In a prototype that was compiled very close to the game's release, the 50 second time limit isn't present. This indicates that the time constraint was a last-minute addition, which certainly explains why it is only just doable.
    • 'Never Trust A Snake', from the fifth level. Simply put, you will not get it on the first try. The main problem is that, in the second part of the mission where you're collecting trash on foot, the time you have left after doing it becomes the time you have to get back to the DMV (a pretty substantial distance away). Which is very jarring, since usually a whole new timer is given for getting to the final destination. The second time around, you can get it without significant hassle if you plan your route carefully, but it still takes some shortcut use on the expressway.
    • 'Kwik Cash', the level that comes after 'Never Trust a Snake'. Your mission is to destroy an Armoured Car... with Snake's Li'l Bandit. Fortunately, the only time limits you're given are to go to the Googolplex and escape Chief Wiggum twice (first at the end of the freeway and the last at the Snake's Hideout). There's no time limit to destroy the armored car because it takes forever to destroy the toughest vehicle in the game with a sports carnote .
      • The mission was originally going to be a lot worse. By editing the main file for the mission, a 3:00 timer to destroy the armoured car can be re-enabled.
    • 'Monkey See Monkey D'oh', the sixth mission of Level 2. You have to collect 30 monkeys for Dr Nick and then get back to him within a time limit. The problem with this is that they give you just enough time to get all the monkeys and get to the goal. If you get them all but fail to make it back to Dr. Nick in time, you have to start the whole thing over again. At least the music for it is pretty catchy, but that does little to alleviate anything when it's all you'll be hearing for a while.
    • 'Wolves Stole My Pills', the fifth mission in Level 4. You have to retrieve Abe’s medication that was stolen from him. Sounds simple enough, but what hurts the level is the car you chase down to retrieve said pills. Simply put, this car is both too fast for you to catch up with, and he’s dropping pills in random spots that’ll more likely than not slow you down and make you fail the mission. Needless to say, it’s not one that can be beaten in one shot.
  • That One Sidequest: Every race in the game (see The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard on the main page), but the early levels, alongside levels 4 and 6, are the worst.
    • Level 3's Circuit Race is especially bad, as it genuinely makes you want to believe that the racers are less interested in winning and more in making sure that you DON'T win. Not only is the AI Marge's Canyonero abnormally faster than the one you officially obtain, the race track features many corners to turn and crossroad where a racer willactively ram into you and knock you off course at every opportunity they get.