The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare

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The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Flying Edge
Developer: Sculptured Software, The Black Team
Licensor: Twentieth Century Fox, Gracie Films
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1993-08 $49.9549.95 T-81216 EU 1993-10 T-81216-50 UK 1993-10 £39.9939.99 T-81216-50 AU 199x BR 199x 044570
Non-Sega versions Super NES
ESRA

The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare is a video game featuring characters from the Simpsons television series. It was released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1993.

Story

Bart Simpson falls asleep while studying and dreams of a strange universe where TVs and fairies roam the streets. The player must find Bart's lost homework and progress through the various levels to keep the homework pages and eventually wake up.

Gameplay

The game is a collection of mini-games, mostly in a platforming or shoot-'em-up style, which Bart must complete to retrieve the lost pages of his homework. Mini-games are accessed through a hub world called Windy World.

Windy World

Windy World

Mini-game doors

Bart must find pages of his homework, which appear randomly and blow down the street, while avoiding enemies such as living mailboxes and various characters from the show. The street becomes more dangerous as Bart collects more pages. Bart's health is depicted as a row of Zs.

Bart walks around using the D-Pad. The street scrolls endlessly in either direction. He jumps with . He can defeat some enemies by jumping over them (but not on them, which hurts Bart). He can blow bubbles with his bubblegum by holding ; the player can move the bubbles around using the D-Pad as long as is held. Bubbles can be used to repel enemies or to collect floating blue Zs that restore Bart's health (but red Zs pop the bubble). He spits out watermelon seeds with , which can be used to defeat enemies or make them change direction.

Jumping over certain objects makes various items appear. Jumping over a moving mailbox turns it into one of several items: bubblegum or watermelons (which give Bart more bubblegum and watermelon seeds respectively), soda cans (which let Bart burp, which clears the screen of enemies, by holding and pressing or ), or question marks (which point toward the direction of a page when touched). Jumping over a basketball turns it into a skateboard that Bart can ride. The skateboard extends Bart's health bar the longer he is on it. Jumping over a Blinky fish turns it into a pillow. Collecting three pillows gives Bart another health bar if he runs out of Zs.

Jimbo and his gang occasionally appear to coerce Bart into strolling with them, causing Bart to lose control of his movements and have to move with them (though he can still jump). Hitting a flying saxophone summons Lisa Simpson with pixie wings to sprinkle fairy dust on Jimbo and his gang and transform them into rats, freeing Bart. However, if Bart is by himself, the Lisa pixie turns him into a frog that cannot attack. If Bart catches a kiss blown to him by an old lady, he reverts to his human form. Saxophones sometimes release blue notes that invert the player's directional controls temporarily.

Principal Skinner sometimes appears and tries to dress Bart in his Sunday school suit. If the player walks into Skinner, Bart changes appearance, moves more slowly, and can no longer fire at enemies or ride a skateboard; however, the suit also protect Bart from taking damage from all enemies (save for Jimbo and his gang). The suit wears off after a certain amount of time or when Bart jumps in a mud puddle.

When a page is found in Windy World, Bart can jump onto it. This causes him to shrink down on the page, and the player is given a choice of two randomly chosen mini-games. Bart automatically walks toward one of two colored doors, and the player can move him toward one or the other with or . Upon either failing the respective mini-game (and not getting the page back) or completing the mini-game (and receiving the page as a reward), the screen flashes back to Bart's room at night and shows the number of points the player has and the number of pages collected. Once a mini-game is completed, it cannot be played again. Both doors are the same color if there is only one mini-game to complete.

The game ends if Bart loses all of his Zs and takes damage one more time or if he successfully completes all the mini-games. Bart is awarded a letter grade depending on the player's score and how many pages were collected. Slightly different endings are shown where the players sees the Simpson family's reactions to Bart's grade by having the paper affixed to the refrigerator.

Mini-games

The mini-games can be played in any order. At the end of each mini-game, Bart finds a page and collects it by jumping on it. There are eight pages of homework to collect total; some mini-games reward more than one page.

	Bartzilla
	Door color: Green Pages rewarded: 2
	Bart, as a giant monster similar to Godzilla, stomps through the streets of Springfield and destroys an army with fire breath and visual lasers. After being zapped by a shrink ray, Bart climbs the Springfield State Building and fights his parents as "Homer Kong" and "Momthra." While devastating the city, Bartzilla walks automatically; he stops walking with . He breathes fireballs straight ahead with , to his left with , or to his right with . He shoots laser beams from his eyes straight ahead with (higher than the fireballs), at the road to his left with , and at the monorail tracks to his left with . The mini-game ends if Bart takes too much damage, though there is no visual indication of how much damage he has taken. While climbing the building, Bartzilla climbs with and moves with and . He stops climbing with . People in the building throw trash out of the windows. Bartzilla is knocked back if something hits him. The mini-game ends if he falls past the end of the screen (which scrolls upwards continually). Bartzilla electrifies his body with , , or , which is how he defeats Homer Kong.
	Bart's Bloodstream
	Door color: Purple Pages rewarded: 1
	A journey into Bart's bloodstream, where Bart must use an air pump to inflate and destroy germs. The paper appears at the top of the screen, surrounded by a force field. Collecting a "Smilin' Joe Fission" when it appears weakens the field; when six are collected, the field busts, so Bart can collect the paper. Bart swims in any direction using the D-Pad. Touching a germ with the air pump attaches it, then Bart can pump it up by pressing repeatedly until the germ bursts. Germs with pointed helmets attack Bart if he swims over them, which knocks him up and detaches him from germs. Germs with round helmets toss grenades, which end the mini-game if they explode on Bart.
	Itchy & Scratchy
	Door color: Yellow Pages rewarded: 2
	Bart is attacked by the duo of Itchy and Scratchy, wielding an assortment of weapons, as well as hostile household objects such as telephones and vacuum cleaners. Destroying all of the enemies in one area lets Bart enter the next area. Bart moves in any direction using the D-Pad. He jumps with and uses his weapon with . He starts with no weapon but can find a mallet, a plunger gun, or a fire extinguisher. Bart has a health meter that goes down as he takes damage and gets three tries. Some weapons, such as bazooka shells or giant knives, are instantly fatal. This is the only mini-game divided into two separate parts; Bart must locate another page in Windy World to collect the second page. The second part ends in a boss fight against a furnace monster.
	Bartman
	Door color: Blue Pages rewarded: 1
	Bart flies over Springfield as the superhero "Bartman." There are four sections, each filled with enemies and ending in a boss fight: Sherri and Terri in a hot air balloon, Barney Gumble on a pink elephant, Waylon Smithers in a blimp (Bart faces him twice), and eventually Mr. Burns in a biplane. This mini-game plays like a shoot-'em-up. Bart flies in any direction using the D-Pad. The playfield scrolls vertically. He shoots his slingshot with . He can only shoot forwards. His shots arc downwards with gravity, but they can be aimed diagonally up or down. Bart has a health meter that goes down as he takes damage and gets three tries. He loses control momentarily when he is hit. In addition to avoiding enemies, Bart must avoid clouds of radioactive gas in the last section. Apu appears on a magic carpet and drops bottled Squishees that replenish Bart's health when collected.
	The Temple of the Maggie
	Door color: Orange Pages rewarded: 2
	Bart, as Idaho Simpson (a parody of Indiana Jones), must make his way through the balancing columns in the Temple of the Maggie. The player can pan the screen by holding while pressing or to look ahead or behind. Bart jumps onto a stone column using the D-Pad. Pillars drop down when Bart jumps on them, which causes another pillar to rise up. Low pillars fall when Bart jumps on them. Flames also appear to indicate that a stone column is likely to crumble if Bart steps on it. Bart starts with only one chance to complete the mini-game, but collecting a Golden Egg gives him another chance. Getting hit by Maggie's pacifier (which is shot when Bart passes by her stone carving in the background) also ends the mini-game. There are two stages, each with a page reward at the end. Blue Demons appear and poke Bart into adjacent columns. Bart can use his whip by holding and picking a direction on the D-Pad.

Production credits

• Acclaim Development by "The Black Team": Mark Flitman, Donn Nauert, Mike Arkin, Tom Rademacher, Joe Allocco, Linda Spelman
• Windy World, Bartzilla, Homer Kong: John Lewis Guymon Jr
• Temple of Maggie, Itchy & Scratchy by: James Michael Henn
• Germs, Bartman: Craig Seastrom
• Animations, Multitasking, Conversion Design, Base Support Code: John Lewis Guymon Jr
• Hardware & Development Tools: Joe Barnes
• Testing & Analysis: Richard Reagan, Lee Smith, Matt Grate, Brian Miller
• Project Manager: Harald Seeley
• Artwork: Virginia Sargent
• Music: Dean Morrell
• Data Compression: Lynn Pugh
• Miscellaneous: Bryon Paul Hapgood
• Special Thanks To: Shauna, Little John, Brittany, Jacob

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #50: "September 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

Print advert in GamePro (US) #51: "October 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Sega Visions (US) #15: "October/November 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
• VideoGames (US) #58: "November 1993" (1993-1x-xx)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #52: "November 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

Print advert in Hacker (HR) #8: "07/1995" (1995-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Hacker (HR) #9: "09/1995" (1995-xx-xx)
• Hacker (HR) #10: "10/1995" (1995-xx-xx)
• Hacker (HR) #11: "11/1995" (1995-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) 62 №15, p42/43

	62
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Consoles + (FR) 55 Computer & Video Games (UK) 80 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 89 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 68 GamesMaster (UK) PAL 55 Joypad (FR) PAL 79 Mega (UK) PAL 35 Mega Action (UK) PAL 90 Mega Force (FR) 82 Mega Power (UK) PAL 60 MegaTech (UK) PAL 75 Player One (FR) 85 Score (CZ) 30 Sega Magazin (DE) 61 Sega Power (UK) PAL 39 Sega Pro (UK) 75 Sega Zone (UK) PAL 47 Supergame (BR) 75 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 70 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 50

	65
Based on 22 reviews

The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU
Cart

Mega Drive, BR
Cover

Technical information

Main article: The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare/Technical information.