Sarcastically, it doesn’t function Bumblebee Man (Pic: DreamcasticChannel)
Footage from a tech demo for a deliberate Simpsons recreation on the Dreamcast, that by no means noticed the sunshine of day, has been leaked on-line.
The Simpsons, being the popular culture large that it’s, is not any stranger to the world of video video games, with the likes of the Grand Theft Auto impressed Hit & Run and the original Konami arcade game being beloved classics.
Nevertheless, a beforehand unsuspected Simpsons recreation for Sega’s ill-fated Dreamcast console has just lately been found, one which in the end by no means got here to fruition.
Or to be extra particular, a tech demo of stated recreation, made by the Glasgow-based Pink Lemon Studio, which went bankrupt in 2003.
Titled The Simpsons: Bug Squad, it was discovered when a consumer on the Dreamcast-Speak boards obtained a broken development kit for the console and uploaded the contents of its exhausting drive.
YouTube channel DreamcasticChannel (which dedicates itself completely to the Dreamcast) was in a position to seize and add footage of the demo, which places you in charge of a tiny bug and allows you to fly across the Simpsons’ dwelling, with Homer himself wandering about.
The demo lacks any music and sound results, and there are not any targets or something, however its cel-shaded visuals are actually spectacular given the timeframe of when it was doubtless in growth.
It arguably seems higher than the primary 3D rendered Simpsons recreation that did come out, that being the poorly acquired The Simpsons Wrestling for the unique PlayStation.
In a pinned remark underneath the video, DreamcasticChannel says that it was contacted by one in all Pink Lemon’s founders, Andy Campbell, who shared some clarification behind the demo’s origins.
‘We had an incredible coder who had developed an incredible cel-shading engine for DC. I knew Fox fairly effectively, so this was a demo we created and I pitched to them. We have been by no means commissioned, so this was technically by no means an official title in growth,’ says Campbell.
‘This was a visit down reminiscence lane. The tech was nice, developed by a man name Wealthy Evans, nice coder. Bug Squad idea got here from Jamie Grant if I keep in mind. An amazing artwork workforce constructed the fashions. The tech was additionally pitched as a manufacturing software for the present itself. No recreation made although.’
It’s not possible to inform what the sport would’ve develop into had it been commissioned. It might very effectively have was one thing utterly totally different had Pink Lemon been given the inexperienced mild. However for what it’s, that is nonetheless an enchanting piece of online game and Simpsons historical past.
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