For nearly as long as the series has been on television, The Simpsons have frequently appeared throughout the world of gaming. From arcades to home consoles, there are tons of official Simpsons games that are not only cult classics today, but hidden gems from more than a decade ago.
That said, the actual list of Simpsons games is incredibly scattered in terms of quality -- particularly on Metacritic. Reviews for these games scale from utter failures to being as glowing as the ones for big-budget titles. That makes for one of the most scattered lists of scores for any pop culture series.
10 The Simpsons Wrestling (32)
Several Simpsons games don’t have scores on Metacritic due to their lack of official reviews. But the lowest one with an actual number attached is The Simpsons Wrestling -- an absolutely bizarre title from the original Playstation. This game holds a disastrous score of 32. Given the bizarre animations and complex controls, that’s no surprise.
It’s not too far off from typical wrestling games in terms of style and control, but it’s incredibly shallow and slow despite the cartoon characters fighting across the squared circle. It’s much more of an experience than it is a proper video game making it a fitting bottom entry for the Simpsons brand.
9 The Simpsons Skateboarding (38)
Another absolute mess of a game is The Simpsons Skateboarding. This alternate take on the Tony Hawk formula puts Bart’s original sporty hobby in the spotlight. Unfortunately, much like many other poor attempts at skateboarding games, it comes across more like a cheap imitation than a proper game in its own right.
With that in mind, it reaches only slightly higher than The Simpsons Wrestling with a score of 38. It’s still a failure of a game, but it is slightly more playable just because the source material is easier to copy and have fun with.
8 The Simpsons: Road Rage (55)
Something interesting about Simpsons games is that most of them tend to have ports on nearly every console imaginable. Simpsons Skateboarding and Simpsons Wrestling were both Playstation exclusives. The Simpsons: Road Rage managed to show up everywhere from home consoles to the Game Boy Advance.
Unfortunately, this version of the game is substantially worse. The high speed of this Crazy Taxi impersonation isn’t captured well by the graphical capabilities of a portable Nintendo console. As a result, it has an astonishingly lower score than the rest of the ports at 55.
7 The Simpsons Game (64)
Alternate to nearly any other Simpsons game is the literal Simpsons Game: an action-adventure platformer where The Simpsons end up exploring various worlds and video game parodies throughout an oddly fantastical adventure. This is one of the only Simpsons games that isn’t riffing on another series and, despite its originality, it came with a very mixed set of reactions.
The Wii version, however, is widely considered the inferior version of this strange game. Due to the console’s motion controls, this game requires far more wiggling and movement leading to an average score of 64. The game itself is mostly the same, but poorer graphics and distracting controls make it a much duller experience.
6 The Simpsons: Road Rage (67)
While the Game Boy Advance wasn’t capable of showcasing what Simpsons: Road Rage was about, every other console it was on had a much more fulfilling experience. This game is just Crazy Taxi with Simpsons characters, but because of its arcade-style, it ends up being far more entertaining than other Simpsons games.
There are a few different scores across different consoles, but the 67 is a solid representative for the general rating of this game. It’s hardly a Game Of The Year contender, but a wonderfully entertaining hidden gem worth the nostalgia trip.
5 The Simpsons: Tapped Out (69)
Simpsons games are especially rare nowadays, but one of the most recent is easily the most dissimilar to any of these listed. The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a mobile game full of typical timing strategy and resource management as players build their own personal Springfield.
The game's rating of 69 is relatively fair as it’s an entertaining game for those who enjoy these kinds of management simulators. It’s definitely not for everyone and the money spent can hit some dangerous amounts without caution.
4 The Simpsons Arcade Game (69)
The naming conventions of most Simpsons games can be especially irritating. The relationship it has with arcade games is probably the most unnecessarily confusing. There is one specific classic Simpsons game that came out in classic arcades in the 90s, but there are plenty of other arcade games featuring the TV family under many names.
The one literally named The Simpsons Arcade Game arrived on Xbox 360 and PS3 back in 2012 and has a fairly sufficient score of 69. It’s a fairly basic beat-em-up, but having it on home hardware is certainly a good change from putting quarters into a machine for hours.
3 The Simpsons Game (71)
While the Wii wasn’t able to create an enjoyable experience out of this game, the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of The Simpsons Game end up being much easier to play thanks to the standard controllers. Without a player needing to wave their hands for attacks and actions, it gets a higher average score of 71.
This still isn’t especially high or dramatic, but it’s still a fitting score for something that feels more like a video game themed Simpsons episode. It’s certainly entertaining, especially with its original cutscenes between and throughout the levels.
2 The Simpsons Arcade (72)
As mentioned early, the Simpsons arcade games have been re-released on a few different consoles, but the release on iOS decided to overcomplicate things by releasing The Simpsons Arcade. This fully different game featured more smoothly animated characters than the original arcade game.
This game lands at an easy 72 and likely has a higher review more due to the different preferences that come with iOS games. It isn't particularly much stronger than the other Simpsons arcade games but is hardly anything astounding or jaw-dropping compared to other Simpsons media players could opt for instead.
1 The Simpsons: Hit & Run (82)
Hitting way higher than any other game on this list is The Simpsons: Hit & Run, a Grand Theft Auto parody. The game ended up being astonishingly deep compared to the other games on this list. It’s easily the biggest cult classic of all Simpsons games and this is cemented by a strong average score of 82 on Metacritic.
Outside of the driving in this game, there’s a large number of costumes and collectibles to get through platforming sections akin to the recent Simpsons Game. However, just racing through the game’s massive maps end up being surprisingly entertaining thanks to the goofy controls and wide variety of cars. Most of these games strive on just being playable, but Simpsons: Hit & Run earns its success by actually being fun to play.