Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

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DementedPurple
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Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by DementedPurple »

I find that I'm kind of the weird kid on the bus when I talk about this, but I actually kind of liked Bart vs. The Space Mutants. Now I will admit, it definitely wasn't the best game for the NES, but I wouldn't say it was so bad that it was Angry Video Game Nerd worthy. Sure, the idea of aliens fueling an evil weapon with purple objects may seem kind of ridiculous, and it is, but I don't really care about the story when I play games. I like how there is a whole lot of strategy and figuring things out involved. Like when you figure out to buy a wrench and use it on the fire hydrant, you feel good when you find something out like that. Sure, it's controls are awkward to anyone who's gotten used to Super Mario Bros. mainly because you have to tap then hold A to sprint instead of holding B, because that B button is used for spray paint. A lot of people will poke fun at the controls, but to be fair, they only had 8-buttons to work with, and half of them had to be used to move. Of course, I could just be saying this because this was the first game I got for Christmas with my NES. (I got it used so no Mario for me.)
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Dwedit
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Dwedit »

It was too damn hard for its time, and too damn hard for its license.
Tons of dangerous objects on the screen, and you can get hit 8 times before it's Game Over.
Guide-dang-it moments all over the place.
Bad controls, hold A to run, or hold B to do running jumps.
And this was just a description of Level 1. Not too many people beat Level 1. Later levels were much harder.
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

I don't think you were alone, especially pre-internet days I remember everyone liking the Simpsons games. But we all recognized the problem with the controls, and that can make or break a good game.

But what really killed it for me was that damn dinosaur.
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Fisher
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Fisher »

I remember being sooo exited the first time I played this game!!
Unfortunatelly, this game just kicked my a** back in the day.
I liked the Bart vs the World more, and was able to finish it! :)

Sometime later I got Bart vs the Space Mutants as a gift for MegaDrive.
I wasn't able to finish it either, the most far I got was the 2nd stage. :-(

By the way, does Bart really says "Eat my short" or "Eat my shot"?
I think I had heard the second insult on Road Rash 3D, wich kind of makes sense to me...
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nesrocks
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by nesrocks »

As a kid I finished both this and vs. the world, so it certainly wasn't too hard. There were many games I couldn't finish. Maybe loving the simpsons gave me the will to persevere.

He says "eat my shorts" as in season 1 episode 2. Most things from season 1 ended up on the early games, such as this one and the arcade game.
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tokumaru
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by tokumaru »

I played the Genesis version when it came out. I considered it an okay game, but didn't get very far. The first time I played the NES version I found it really ugly... Now that I think of it, I guess this is something all Simpsons games on the NES have in common.
nesrocks wrote:He says "eat my shorts" as in season 1 episode 2.
Well, this was probably dubbed into something completely different in portuguese that didn't have the same impact. In addition to that, "ay, caramba" is an expression commonly used in portuguese too, so Bart didn't really appear to have any catch phrases to us.
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Sumez
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Sumez »

It's funny how this game has a reputation for being a shitty game nowadays, but I share the same experience as Jedi Questmaster. My friend and I loved this game as kids, and we weren't even Simpsons fans (I think we were just a few years too young to appreciate it), and didn't understand any of the English text in the game.
So getting anywhere in the game took ages, like just figuring out the objectives was a hassle. But there was something really appealing about the game, like how the developers put a lot of strange ideas into it instead of just making a straight up platformer painted with a Simpsons-theme. I remember we would consistently make it to the final stage, and always get stuck there because we had absolutely no idea what to do, and would just walk around in circles.

I would love to pick the game back up and give it another chance.
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gauauu
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by gauauu »

DementedPurple wrote: I wouldn't say it was so bad that it was Angry Video Game Nerd worthy.
I'm not sure how and why he picks the things to complain about that he does. I am sure that it's entirely more about entertainment than it is about accurately identifying hard and bad games or parts of games. I disagree with him quite often.
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Sumez
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Sumez »

Yeah, people tend to forget that it's a show, not necessarily objective opinions.

Games like Fester's Quest and, obviously, Castlevania 2, has their qualities in spite of their flaws. Turtles is a great game, even, and so is Battletoads. Silver Surfer, while not particularly great, is nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be in his episode about it.
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Drag »

I grew up with Bart vs The Space Mutants and Bart vs The World on NES, and I didn't really get past the first stage in either game until I started playing them in Nesticle. Neither is a bad game at heart, but there's definitely some flaws that could've been worked out. For example, Bart's amazing disappearing nose. :P

Other than that, the games just get way too hard past the first stage, which is a shame because some the game's graphics are pretty impressive later on. It definitely feels like stage one of Mutants is the most thought out and developed, with the others (save for the carnival stage) lacking. World needed a better ice cavern stage that wasn't just ladder jumps, and needed to do away with the entirety of the coffin-wall jump stage. On the upside, it was pretty unique to have each zone consist of minigames as well as the sidescrolling segments.

I also had Escape From Camp Deadly, but it's been too long and I don't remember much from it.
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Fisher
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Fisher »

Nesrocks is correct!!
The "eat my shorts" quote is in season 1, episode 2.

I found a clip with the original voice acting here.
In portuguese it was dubbed as "Ah vai ver se eu tô na esquina!", wich is something like "Ah, go see if I'm in the corner!", totally different!!

Sorry for asking, but are you brazilian too, Nesrocks?
Besides that excellent Super Pitfall hack, I saw portuguese translation of it.
I haven't tried your Adventure Island hack yet :-(.

I have got this game in a lot I bought a while ago.
Looks like it's time to pay it a serious revisit!! :-)
Here's a pic of the lot, just try to guess wich is the Simpsons cart:
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About the Nerd's episodes I found them to be solely made reflecing the opinion of the staff.
I usually don't take it as a serious game review, just as a game show made for you to watch and laugh a bit remembering of the past.
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tokumaru
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by tokumaru »

Fisher wrote:In portuguese it was dubbed as "Ah vai ver se eu tô na esquina!"
Ah man, Bart's voice from season 1 brings back so many memories! Bart's had so many voices in portuguese that I had totally forgotten​ about the very first one. Such a contrast from the original voice acting, that sounds pretty much the same to this day!
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Sumez
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Sumez »

"Eat my shorts" was considered Bart's "catchphrase" throughout most of the series as far as I'm concerned. I'm guessing the term got popular in pop culture, and the series embraced it. Whenever used in the series since its first occurance it's often done with some sort of ironic twist, lampshading the status as a catchphrase in almost fourth wall breaking ways, such as the in-universe T-shirt with the slogan printed on it, which reflects T-shirts that obviously existed in real life too.
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Drag »

Eat my shorts!
Don't have a cow, man!
Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!

Also Bart having a blue shirt.
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Fisher
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Re: Bart vs. The Space Mutants was underrated.

Post by Fisher »

I did a quick play on it last night.
Definitely it's not a bad game!!
It's really difficult if you don't know exactly what/how to do.

I think I understood the disapealing nose, it's like Bart's looking at the camera when stopped and looking to where he's going while walking.
They should had added a delay/transition between the two, but I guess it wasn't an easy task back in the day...
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