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The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants for Nintendo NES
The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants for Nintendo NES combines a platform game with finding and using items. Aliens have taken over Springfield's residents and are collecting parts for a weapon. Bart's X-ray glasses reveal who is walking around in disguise. You jump through streets and buildings, avoid enemies and try to render the materials useless before the extraterrestrial visitors can carry out their plan. Simply reaching the exit is not enough.
Each of the five areas requires something different. In Springfield you must change, hide or remove purple objects; in the shopping mall you collect hats and in Krustyland you deal with balloons. Exit signs in the museum and fuel rods in the nuclear power plant follow. Spray paint and other supplies are limited. Coins let you buy things in shops or try attractions, so you constantly consider which item to use in which place.
Exposed aliens leave evidence behind. Collect enough letters to convince a family member and receive help against a boss. Attacking ordinary passers-by costs health instead, so look through the glasses first. You play alone with one standard controller. The time limit, jumping and supply management all run together, requiring both dexterity and investigation. There are no passwords or battery-backed saves to continue from a later area after switching off.
Region and language
Our Nintendo NES games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants for Nintendo NES, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants
The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants was released for Nintendo NES in 1991. Imagineering developed the game and Acclaim published it. Garry Kitchen led the project; Barry Marx conceived the story. The game appeared in the television series' early years, when Bart played a prominent part in the family's popularity. The yellow characters were incorporated into an adventure with its own invasion story and locations such as Krustyland and the nuclear power plant.
Kitchen later explained that Acclaim founder Greg Fischbach approached him after obtaining the licence from Fox. A meeting with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks produced a proposal in which you would control a different family member in each area. Acclaim wanted Bart to take centre stage, however. The finished game therefore had you explore as Bart while the other family members could provide help. This connected his jokes and mischievous behaviour with specific tasks in the surroundings.
Kitchen wanted the game to feel different from Super Mario Bros., so he built puzzles around objects and jokes from the series. Different internal teams worked on individual areas; he was most involved in the first and last. In his recollection, the tight schedule put that puzzle concept under pressure. The combination remained visible nonetheless: repainting purple objects requires a different approach from collecting balloons or returning fuel rods. The NES edition therefore emphasises investigation alongside jumping and dodging.
Similar games for Nintendo NES
DuckTales for Nintendo NES likewise places a television character in a platform adventure where you search for secrets and valuable items. Scrooge uses his cane as a pogo stick and chooses which treasure region to visit from a central room. Bart works through areas with a different collecting task each time and needs tools from his inventory. Whereas DuckTales mainly links movement with hidden treasure, Space Mutants also asks you to work out how to change an everyday object or make it inaccessible.
The Goonies II on Nintendo NES combines side-scrolling action with finding and using tools. Mikey explores a maze to rescue friends and enters rooms through doors where you choose commands and objects. Bart stays within the streets and buildings of his five areas, but likewise has to work out which tool solves a problem. The Goonies II focuses more on routes and hidden passages; Space Mutants connects its inventory with changing collection targets and a clock.
Maniac Mansion for Nintendo NES shares the strange intruders, humour and puzzles requiring you to use items in the right places. You guide three teenagers through a house and choose verbs such as open or use, without constantly jumping through platform sections. Bart instead combines his inventory with direct action and limited time. The similarity lies in examining objects; the difference becomes apparent when an enemy approaches and you also have to jump while thinking.
The Battle of Olympus on Nintendo NES also interweaves jumping and fighting with searching for useful tools. Orpheus travels through connected Greek regions, talks to residents and receives objects from gods to progress. Bart finds solutions within five successive locations and buys or collects useful items. Olympus builds a longer quest around new equipment and clues, whereas Space Mutants has you sabotage a new kind of material in each area, making your supplies and remaining time important.
Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo NES, like Space Mutants, requires you to avoid enemies, time jumps and finish an area against the clock. Mario can generally head for the flagpole once he has passed the obstacles. Bart first has to deal with enough objectives and sometimes return to a shop or a difficult-to-reach place. The familiar platform action therefore has a different structure: progress depends not just on a safe route, but also on what you do along the way.
