The Simpsons Game (PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii)

The Simpsons Game is what you get when you make a Simpsons game with every game genre.

A low-end game engine was used compared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, cutting the hub world and obviously reducing the graphical effects (among other differences). The PlayStation Portable port is notoriously choppy, while the Wii release has exclusive "Wii Moments" as extra minigames.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Notes Developer OptionsHaving a rather large debug menu during development has led to a ton of them still remaining in the final game! Unused CutscenesWho knew that in-game cutscenes were hard to implement? Unused Text"Although I wasn't able to cut everyone I wanted to, I have cut a lot of you." Unused Animations"Although I wasn't able to cut everyone I wanted to, I have cut a lot of you."

Differences between Old-Gen and New-Gen Comparisons between the PS2/PSP/Wii versions ("Old-Gen") and PS3/360 versions ("New-Gen").

Unused Models#

In terms of unused assets majority of the game was scrubbed out, however there are still some unused models leftover.

door_asia#

Originally, there was meant to be another room before china in Around the World in 80 Bites. Nothing remains except for the door model that's placed in the level where the entrance is blocked off.

foodpowersauce#

A food pickup meant for homer in Shadow of the Colossal Donut, notably these pickups are correctly placed in the level but are disabled and go unused.

keycard#

A keycard pickup, in the prototype this was given to you after defeating Burns and picking it up ends the level, but in the final game the level ends when you reach Burns. The prop is still implemented and placed in the level, but it's entity gets disabled

Grampa GI#

This model is supposed to be placed next to burns near the start of the episode (where the in-game cutscene plays) but it's entity gets disabled so the model goes unused.

smarchfestsign_01#

A smarchfest sign, intended for an early iteration of the level where it originally took place at daytime. Just like with grampa_gi, it's placed in the level but it's entity gets disabled so it goes unused.

smarchfestsign_02#

A smarchfest sign, intended for an early iteration of the level where it originally took place at daytime. Just like with grampa_gi, it's placed in the level but it's entity gets disabled so it goes unused.

smarchfestsign_03#

A smarchfest sign, intended for an early iteration of the level where it originally took place at daytime. Just like with grampa_gi, it's placed in the level but it's entity gets disabled so it goes unused.

sf_stomach#

A stomach that was meant to show up during the Bite Night Wii moment. This was meant for the cut Gastro-Meter mentioned in the unused text strings for the minigame, and the model has 3 animations for it.

homer (Early)#

A very early model of Homer only found in "wm_hb1" and "wm_cat". Compared to the final game, the early model has no eyelids, is less smooth than the final. This model seems to be sed as a base for some of homer's costumes.

Early Animation	Final Model

Unused Animations#

homer_run (Early)#

An early version of homer's running animations only found in wm_hb1 and wm_cat. Notably the early animation was used in the DS version, and in the 400th Episode Party Preview build.

Early Animation	Final Animation

Unused Blueprints#

The game defines its characters and weapons through blueprints, which are data-templates stored in misc/Common.asr. The final build ships 250 of them, and 54 are never used by anything in the game.

MOH_GermanSoldier#

The german soldier seen in the prototype for "Medal of Homer", still has a template leftover

WMHB#

There are 15 templates would have been used for the HeartBurn Wii Moment minigame, but it never got used due to not being finished.

GEH_8Bit#

Five blueprints intended for the 8-Bit Simpsons, GEH_8Bit_Bart, _Homer, _Lisa, _Marge and _Maggie (who doesn't have an 8-bit counterpart) are leftover, each inheriting from Basic Civilian and each pointing at that character's ordinary model. These might suggest that the 8-Bit Simpsons were going to appear in the Game Engine (despite having no models in the final or prototype).

INT#

These templates were going to be used for the planned unlockable interiors:

• INT_Base: inherits Basic Civilian, overrides nothing
• INT_Apu, INT_Moe, INT_Ned, INT_Wiggum, INT_Jimbo: each inherits INT_Base and sets only a skin.

GTS_Poochie#

a boss actor using the Poochie model. This is different than the Poochie in the actual Grand Theft Scratchy level, who has no template. Its animation table points at Bumblebee Man's, so it was likely still being prototyped as a enemy NPC.

GTS_Scratchy_Kid#

A enemy placeholder that uses the Lewis model and its own animation table.

GTS_Willy#

A placeholder civilian variant whose only override is Can Die = True.

DSSS_Alien_Galaga#

This template is used in the prototype of Invasion of the Yokel-Snatchers during the space-invaders section that was cut from the final, but there is still the template leftover.

MTP_Shakespeare_Old#

An older template for the shakespeare boss (the one used in-game is MTP_Shakespeare), this template has 300 HP, and has a cut quill prop (which the used template has but is disabled) as its ranged weapon, matching up with how the new-gen version has the quill.

MTP_Shakespeare_Quill#

The quill weapon blueprint, which pairs with the unused old Shakespeare

Unused Level Data#

The Land of Chocolate#

Early Enemy Spawners Cliché#

There is leftover data from an earlier version of the Enemy Spawners cliché that was used in the prototype. The cliché can no longer be earned in this episode, but most of its original setup is still present. The system uses a CountedTrigger with the GUID 0x00019126. The enemy spawners themselves use the marge_fountain prop, and whenever an NPCSpawner successfully creates an enemy, it normally sends an Activate message to the old CountedTrigger. It still has a required count of 20, but the trigger starts disabled and its output message has been changed to 0xFFFF.

Around the World in 80 Bites#

Just like with the New-Gen version, there's leftover data intended for an room before China. Not much remains except for a door model, and a placeholder cutscene called "IGC 80b_igc01 - Enter China".

Unused Voicelines#

Note: This section focuses only on unused voicelines exclusive to the Old-Gen versions.

The Land of Chocolate#

A voiceline intended to be used when Homer stands on the Boston Creme Platforms. It is used in the DS version.

Around the World in 80 Bites#

Voicelines that are also used in the DS version when Bart and Homer get into Mexico.

Mob Rules#

Mob member voicelines for Agnes Skinner, who doesn't appear in the episode.

Game Over#

A Lisa voiceline that's likely intended for the DS version, but oddly it’s not present in that version. A similar line does appear in the Wii prototype, but it’s assigned to Bart instead. Based on the chatter type react_tetris, it was likely meant for Lisa’s Tetris-style section in the DS version of the episode.

Bite Night#

Voicelines for the White Chocolate Rabbit and Akira during the introduction of the match. Oddly enough, Comic Book Guy and Barney don't have any voicelines.

Heartburn#

Voicelines for Homer intended to be used during the cut Heartburn Wii Moment.

Unused Sound Effects#

Global#

Leftover in both wm_cat1 and wm_hb1 are sound effects intended to be used when the thought bubbles appear and disappear. The first sound is used in the DS version.

UI_placeholder_sound in GMSND.ASR is an unused placeholder menu sound.

Leftover in wm_cat1 and wm_hb1, are unused character sound effects for Homer, Barney, Bumblebee Man and Bart, which are all (except for Bart) done by placeholder voice actors heard in early cutscenes for the game.

The Land of Chocolate#

Also leftover in wm_hb1 is a sound effect intended to be used when you bounce on the marshmallows.

Berserk Mode#

The game still contains a complete, unreachable Berserk mechanic for the player from the prototype still leftover. It's a temporary powerup state, fuelled by the power meter, that multiplies the damage the player deals while draining. It works like this:

• The player's power meter must be at least a set percentage full before it can be triggered.
• While active, all damage the player deals is multiplied.
• The meter drains continuously; when it empties, the state ends automatically.

Every piece of this is still present in the retail executable:

There's also three developer console variables remain registered, sitting directly beside Player.FullPower and Player.ImmunityPowerupDuration:

• Player.BerserkDamageMultiplier
• Player.BerserkMinPowerPercent
• Player.BerserkDischargeRate

3 & 4 Player Splitscreen#

An incomplete three and four player splitscreen mode that barely functions. It is only somewhat playable in the PSP version with only one player playable. None of the other screens display anything useful, since it doesn't have any controller checks in place, unlike the PS2 and Wii versions.

There are only two areas in the New Gen release that has all 4 Simpsons available at once (but still doesn't allow 4 simultaneous player screens), and every single level in Old Gen only has two players available maximum. This could either be an early leftover from New Gen, or maybe even from when it was prototyped and demoed on the Xbox, which also has 4 available controller ports.

Unused UI Elements#

Lisa_Charge#

In both LisaHUD_Wii and LisaHUD_Wii_Pal there's an unused green progress bar widget that doesn't have any functionality named Lisa_Charge that would have be a meter for Lisa's saxophone abilities. This seems to be an early development leftover, as an early build screenshot from the New-Gen E3 Prototype shows Lisa's HUD having 2 bars.

Egg_Ammo_Image#

In both BartHUD_Wii and BartHUD_Wii_Pal there's a image for an egg ammo type for the Bart_Ammo group. Since there's no egg ammo this goes unused.

Cork_Ammo_Image#

In both BartHUD_Wii and BartHUD_Wii_Pal there's a image for an cork ammo type for the Bart_Ammo group. Since there's no cork ammo this goes unused.

CollectibleTotals#

An early menu for the collectible totals screen.

Interiors_Menu#

A UI for the cut interiors on the main menu.

WII_Int#

An earlier version of the cut interiors menu.

Stats_Menu#

A simple placeholder menu for the cut stats menu.

Episode_Failed#

An screen intended for when you fail an episode. In the new-gen version a similar screen would show if the player failed a time challenge, so it's likely this screen would serve the same purpose.

Unused Graphics#

Test Map#

Graphic Type	Filename	Texture	Notes
Environment	air_vent		add text here.
Environment	sign_deeppit		add text here.
Environment	sign_ledgegrab		add text here.
Environment	sign_unevenground		add text here.
Environment	skinner		add text here.

Level Screenshots#

FRONTEND.*\graphics\ui\menus\levels\ has a few early screenshots meant to be used as the episode select preview image for the . These images were taken from a development build on Xbox 360. The final game only has 5 of them that remain, but the earlier prototype has all 16.

Fonts#

The Wii version has two font graphics that aren't used in the final game. The 1st one was used in the prototype for Bite Night, while the 2nd one found in tools_fonts.asrBE is seen being used during earlier prototypes for the debug menu.

DigiFont.asrBE\graphics\fonts\digiface_20_0.tga ...\digiface_20_0.tpl	tools_fonts.asrBE\graphics\tools\font.tga

UI#

wm_hb1.wii is leftover from earlier development stages, which also means there's plenty of leftovers and early tile designs to be found. wm_hb1.wii\graphics\ui\ has a bunch of UI elements resembling graphics that were used in the New Gen release along with a bunch of unused tiles as well.

Homer

• Homer's calorie meter icon has a unique design, along with two other icons, which were presumably for the helium and gummi forms. Homer's Homerball calorie meter is notably used in the DS version of the game, while the other two icons appear but go unused.

• The Gummi shot icon is red instead of green

• Homer's health icons are noticeably cropped, and shifted to the left instead of to the right. it's likely that the health meter was supposed to go directly under the character health icons, like the DS version.

Early Texture	Final Texture

Bart

• The alien ammo is blue instead of green, and has red protons going around it.

• The grenade icon is green instead of brown, and looks more like an actual pineapple grenade.

• The coin icon looks more like an actual coin than the final, which looks more like a retro coin.

Early Texture	Final Texture

Lisa

• The Hand of Buddha icon is different, looking similar to the buddha ports in the DS version.

• A powerup icon for Lisa is present in the early HUD. In the New-Gen version, Lisa is the only character that doesn't have a powerup on the HUD.

• An early icon of Lisa's Saxophone is present (that also appears in the E3 prototype of the New-Gen version), with some sort of meter under her.

Early Texture	Final Texture

Marge

• Marge's Megaphone in her regular, upgrade, and powerup icon is different. notably marge's early normal megaphone icon is used in the DS version.

• The mob crowd control icon is a different position.

Early Texture	Final Texture

All of the Character HUD containers, GloblHUD.* and tbubbles.* has a commonhud.tga graphic which also contains many New-Gen HUD elements that aren't used in this version. And ColTotal.* happens to have an earlier version of this graphic, lacking a few tiles, such as the notepad icon.

ColTotal.*\graphics\ui\hud\commonhud.tga	GloblHUD.*\graphics\ui\hud\commonhud.tga Also in (Character)HUD.*, tbubbles.*.

Unused Wii Moments Minigames#

The Wii version has two unused Wii Moment maps.

wm_cat1 (Hobbapult)#

A cut catapulting minigame. In-game this will put you in a blank world with nothing in it, but the environment mesh data still is leftover.

wm_hb1 (Heartburn)#

Watch on YouTube

Also known as Homer Bowling. The actual map it was supposed to use has been long removed in this build, but is fully present in the earlier Wii prototype. What did remain in the final release, however, was the Metrics.wii test map that took its place. It's also mentioned in the PlayStation 2 release inside CD_ENVS.TXT, but isn't actually present. Notably, this map uses Version 0 for it's level geometry (version 0 is very rare and is only used by 2 .Wii files) which suggests along with other things like it's assets being earlier variants, this map (along with wm_cat.wii) is even older than the actual test map in the prototype.

Unused Music#

Only in the Wii version of the game are two unused original music demos, “moh02ac” and “moh03am,” both created with virtual instruments as placeholders for later orchestral recordings in the Medal of Homer episode. Interestingly, these demos don’t appear in the Wii prototype (BUT are present in the New-Gen E3 prototype), even though that prototype includes demo music for most levels (Medal of Homer is one of the only episodes in the prototype with no music at all.)

Oddities#

Dialogue Name Mapping#

Inside the executable is a source file named Simp_Dialogue_Name_Mappings.cpp, which contains the internal names for the game's characters. Interestingly, this file also references a cut character called "Nelson Troll" from the NeverQuest episode. Originally, there was meant to be a puzzle where you had to wake up a troll played by Nelson Muntz, but this was scrapped at the last minute for complex reasons. Despite being cut, the troll’s model is mention as being built in the Making-of movie, and there are voicelines from other characters, as well as subtitle text strings related to the puzzle, found in various prototype builds.

Build Dates#

The Wii version has a build date mentioned in the game's executable.

Development Leftovers#

ELF Executable#

An executable with debug symbols named Simpsons_Wii_Sub.elf is present in the root of the Wii version. It is just the retail executable, as the MD5 hash matches with main.dol after stripping the symbols from it, the European/Australian version has it named Simpsons_Wii_Sub_Pal.elf.

Disc Definition File#

To do: Check all regions for this file?

A ddf file named Simpsons_Wii_am.ddf is present on the root of the Wii version.

Compilation Metadata#

The compiled font file for the game, SimpFont.asrBE in the Wii version leftover a TEMP chunk, having a small bit of information of where a developer compiled it. The developer being Andrew Haith. A lead designer of Rebellion Developments.

TEMP=C:\DOCUME~1\ANDREW~1.HAI\LOCALS~1\Temp
TMP=C:\DOCUMEB
LLION
USERNAME=andrew.haith
USERPROFILE=C:\Documents  dna

Platform Differences#

PlayStation Portable#

• Subtitles are not present.
• Since the PlayStation Portable's UMD format has much less storage than the PlayStation 2's DVD and the Wii's Optical Disc, several textures ended up being scaled down to accommodate for the smaller file size.

The example below uses the font texture located in SimpFont.asr*\graphics\fonts\itc highlander std medium_24_bold_0.tga:

PlayStation 2, Wii	PlayStation Portable

Wii#

Text

Due to the Wii’s different control scheme compared to the PlayStation 2 and PSP, some in-game text was slightly adjusted to match the Wii’s controls.

Wii Moments

Two exclusive "Wii Moments" minigames are present in the Wii version: Bite Night and Bart Wings. To access them, special teleport points were added to specific episodes:

Bite Night #1 (White Chocolate Rabbit) – Found in The Land of Chocolate, shortly after destroying the chocolate carts.

Bite Night #2 (Barney) – Located in Around the World in 80 Bites, at the Krusty Fried Chicken stand in the China section.

Bite Night #3 (Comic Book Guy) – Placed on top of a destroyed trailer near the Hailstone’s building in Invasion of the Yokel-Snatchers.

Bite Night #4 (Akira) – Found in Game Over, in front of the Flying Heavenfish cabana house on the right side.

Bart Wings – Found on Deck D-5 of the U.S.S. Reel Crazy, just before flying up to the top level of the aircraft carrier.