One of the most beloved licensed games of the PS2 era was The Simpsons: Hit & Run. Often referenced as a more PG version of Grand Theft Auto, Hit & Run took all the wacky antics of the popular show and allowed players to explore the open world of Springfield. The Simpsons: Hit & Run’s producer Vlad Ceraldi recently spoke about the classic PS2 game, talking about why it was fun and how the team knew it was going to be a success. Ceraldi is also very interested in seeing the game come back in some way, either as a remake or remaster.
In an interview with LADBible, Ceraldi said:
I could see it on multiple different types of platforms as a remake or remaster. It would have to take the parties who are in charge of the property to want that to happen and someone out there to decide that they were going to go out and do it. But absolutely, it would be fun to explore those characters and that universe again, that work again.
As far as why it stood the test of time, I think it’s a game that kids could play, adults could play, anyone who was fans of the show could try and laugh and have fun with.
Ceraldi then commented on knowing that the game would be a big hit before it released all those years ago:
It’s come up before in discussions but not seriously, usually at the pub, just talking about the idea of some of the magic that was captured and the potential ability to recapture it in a new way with a different audience, with a different generation of devices.
When you make something, sometimes you know you’ve made something special. This was one of the ones that we knew we hit the mark. We didn’t know it was going to sell as well as it did – we had high hopes, but it definitely hit its expectations.
At this point Ceraldi is not aware of any plans to remake or remaster the game, relegating such fantasies to “pub talk.” He goes on to say that there were a lot of technical limitations in the PS2-era that could be dispelled with modern consoles, including revised controls and packing Springfield full of even more references.
If we can get a remaster of Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King, surely it’s not impossible to see The Simpsons: Hit & Run again in some capacity, right?
[Source: LADBible]
