James Pero

Gaming

'The Simpsons' almost had a Sega Dreamcast crossover

This never-before-seen 'Simpsons' demo has us yearning for a game that never was.

If you're into The Simpsons and video games, we've got some good news and bad news: the good news is we're about to show you something very cool, the bad news is you get to go the rest of your life knowing that it never actually got made.

We present to you, The Simpsons: Bug Squad for the Sega Dreamcast.

Mmm, Dreamcast...

YouTuber, "PC" who runs the "DreamcasticChannel" recently unveiled an early tech demo for a Simpsons game titled Bug Squad which was found in a Sega Dreamcast devkit.

The demo is pretty bare bones (lacking music, sound effects, and pretty much all the crucial elements of an actual game), but it gives an enticing look at a cockroach and Simpsons crossover we didn't know we wanted.

The video from Dreamcastic shows some of the game mechanics which consist of lots of running and jumping and flying with a dash of trying to avoid getting crushed by Homer's feet. Bug Squad casts players as a bug (presumably from the titular squad of bugs).

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Since the Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, just a year after this demo was made, Bug Squad was squashed, and according to the co-founder of Red Lemon Studios who had the game never actually even made it into development.

"We had a great coder who had developed an amazing cell shading engine for DC. I knew Fox pretty well, so this was a demo we created and I pitched to them. We were never commissioned, so this was technically never an official title in development."

Andy Campbell, co-founder of Red Lemon Studios, to DreamcasticChannel

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Cel-shading: Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades

Wikipedia

While Bug Squad may have ended as nothing more than a demonstration, The Simpsons would go on to have several successful crossovers into the game world throughout the early 2000s, including Road Rage and Hit & Run.

Bug Squad may never blossom into a full-fledged game, but if you're feeling particularly nostalgic for some Sega goodness, you can go visit the DreamcastJunkyard where old games and Sega reveries abound.

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