"Not a very good Simpson's game."

Bart vs. the Space mutants is one of the first Simpson inspired games available, as well as being on the Nintendo. In it, you control Bart as he tries to save the world from evil Space Mutants (as you can guess from the title). Here's what you can expect from this game:

Story: 4/10

There is really not much of a story in the game. Bart happens to overhear some Space Mutants talking about how they are going to take over Springfield with their amazing machine that can somehow ingest objects with the color purple and use them for power. To stop them, Bart decides to go out and sabotage their plan by going into Springfield and either destroying or collecting all of the purple objects himself. However, these are smart aliens, as they change the function of their machine to accept other objects, which Bart than goes out and collects.

Honestly, the story is pretty darn bad. The aliens refuse to learn their lessons, and most of what fans want to see (the humor from the show) is absent. To be fair, there is a pretty cool part where you can prank-call Moe, but the story isn't good enough to make this game more than a fairly poor plat-former with a Simpson's skin.

Game play: 5/10

In the game, you control Bart as he goes through five different stages collecting or hiding the items that the aliens are after while eventually battling a boss at the end. In every stage you also have x-ray glasses which will show you if ordinary citizens are really aliens in disguise. If they are, you can bounce on their heads to expose them. By doing this you can collect letters of one of your family member's name. By collecting them all you will gain that family member's support during the boss battle.

Throughout the levels, you will gain different items to help you. For example, during the first level Bart can use bottle rockets and cherry bombs to help him out, and in the third he can use his slingshot. You can also collect items throughout the level such as coins (to buy items and gain 1-ups), Krusty dolls (which are 1-up icons), and the head of Jebidiah Springfield (which gives Bart a moment of invincibility). To get in your way are a variety of enemies, most notable of which are the small alien creatures which merely make moving and jumping tricky, but there are also a variety of weird enemies such as a magician's rabbits and moving shoes.

Overall, the game play is little more than a collecting game. I personally loved the first level, as it employed creative ways to disguise the color purple and even threw in some Simpson's humor. However, past that, it is merely a collecting game with bad jumping mechanics and some very hard dodging-obstacles segments. You even had to jump on an invisible platform at one point (broken!). Trust me, you'll have a lot more frustration than enjoyment out of this game.

Graphics: 5/10

The graphics in the game aren't too impressive. Actually, they look more like a hand-drawn rendition of the Simpson's. I was most disappointed in the way they portrayed the characters (as in not giving Marge her trademark green dress). Also, the characters aren't really displayed properly, as their outlines look a little off and disproportional. however, this applies to almost everything in the game, as all of the other characters also look a little weird. I also didn't like the random enemies, let alone the developer's choice on what to display them as (random inanimate objects).

Music and sound effects: 4/10

The music in the game is predominantly occupied by the Simpson's theme song. You will hear this song over and over and over until it is drilled into your skull, even to the point of having entire levels use nothing but the theme song. Can they do know better? Sound effects are fairly normal (as normal as bottle rockets and cherry bombs can be anyways). You will also be treated to some fairly bad Bart Simpson quotes whenever you die or beat the game (guess which will come first?).

Re-playability: 5/10

There are quite a few secrets to find in the game, but most of them are so hard to find that without a guide, you're virtually never going to see them. We're talking about random things like "jump on this random trashcan three times". Combine that with the fact that you can only play as Bart in those five levels and there really isn't too much of a reason to play at all. Practice will ease some of the more difficult parts of the game, and is an absolute must if you plan on beating it without cheating.

Overall: 5/10

Overall Bart vs. the Space Mutants isn't that good of a game. It's mostly just a collection game with a Simpson's skin put over it, and there are a lot more enjoyable Nintendo titles out there, especially in the overcrowded plat-forming genre. Have fun and keep playing!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/29/09

Game Release: The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (US, February 1991)