The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror

The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror
Developer(s)	Software Creations
Publisher(s)	THQ
Platform(s)	Game Boy Color
Release date(s)	NA March 26, 2001 PAL April 20, 2001
Genre(s)	Action game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ACB: G8+ ESRB: E

The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror is a platform game published by THQ on March 26, 2001, for the Game Boy Color. Developed by Software Creations, it is based on the Treehouse of Horror episodes of the animated television series The Simpsons. The game features seven side-scrolling levels in which the player controls the members of the Simpson family. Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror has received average reviews from critics, with praise directed at the design.

Gameplay

The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror is a side-scrolling platformer.^[1] The game features seven levels, each one of which re-creates a tale from the annual Treehouse of Horror episodes of the American animated television series The Simpsons.^[1][2] All five members of the Simpson family have their own level, with the exception of Homer, who has three.^[2] The levels include Marge in a zombie tale, Maggie as a fly, Lisa fighting cannibalistic teachers, Bart rescuing Santa's Little Helper in a haunted house, and Homer as a vampire killer, a robot, and the large ape King Homer.^[1]

Levels

• Bad Dream House (based on the segment of the same name from "Treehouse of Horror")
• Flying Tonight (based on Fly vs Fly from "Treehouse of Horror VIII" although with Maggie as the fly and not Bart.)
• Plan 9 From Outer Springfield (based on 'Dial 'Z' For Zombies from "Treehouse of Horror III")
• Vlad All Over (based on Bart Simpson's 'Dracula' from "Treehouse of Horror IV")^[3]
• If I Only Had a Body (based on If I Only Had a Brain from "Treehouse of Horror II")^[3]
• Nightmare Cafeteria (based on segment of the same name from "Treehouse of Horror V")
• King Homer (based on segment of the same name from "Treehouse of Horror III")

Development

The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror was developed by Software Creations and published by THQ. It was released in the United States on March 30, 2001, for the hand-held Game Boy Color console. Software Creations began developing the game before the May 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but since it was only in its early stages when the expo took place, it was not displayed there.^[3]

Reception

The game has received generally average reviews from critics. IGN's Craig Harris gave it a 6/10 "Passable" rating, commenting that it "is a better-than-average platformer for the Game Boy Color" and has "some decent design elements". He added, however, that he thought the game got boring towards the end: "The difficulty is certainly there — it's not an easy game to play, and you won't be whisking through this title in an afternoon. It starts out clever and decent enough, as the first few levels are a good and fun challenge. Most of the levels, though, are based on the first level's side-scroller, and by the time I got to the first Homer level, I was getting quite bored."^[1] Frank Provo of GameSpot, on the other hand, wrote that "each level [...] is a game unto itself, which makes for a rather pleasing and varied experience." He gave Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror a 7.8/10 "Good" rating, praising it for being "colorfully drawn, highly detailed, and smoothly animated," and for the video game references featured in it. He disliked, however, that it "uses an unwieldy password system, making it unnecessarily tedious to continue a game."^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Harris, Craig (2001-04-24). "The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror Review". IGN. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/164/164644p1.html. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Provo, Frank (2001-04-05). "The Simpsons: Horror Review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/gbc/action/simpsonsnightoftheltoh/review.html. Retrieved 2010-08-10. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror Preview". IGN. 2001-02-09. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/134/134644p1.html. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 

External links

• Night of the Living Tree House of Horror at MobyGames