Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly is a 1991 platform video game developed by Imagineering and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the Game Boy. The player controls Bart from the television series The Simpsons as he escapes from an unpleasant summer camp run by ruthless counselors. The plot is similar to that of The Simpsons episode "Kamp Krusty", although the game was released nearly a year before that episode aired. Critics gave the game mixed reviews.

Plot and gameplay

Bart and Lisa go to spend the summer at a camp, which turns out to be the dangerous Camp Deadly run by Mr. Burns's nephew, Ironfist Burns. His intentions are to make sure that the children suffer and have as little fun as possible, refusing to allow them to leave until they are thoroughly miserable. In the first stage of the game, Bart and the other children play capture the flag in a forest, as part of the camp's morning activity. Bart is harassed by camp counselors and bullies Blindside Bill and Rebound Rodney, and must make his way through nests of angry bees and other obstacles. The second stage takes place during lunch break at the mess hall, where the counselors throw knives and forks at Bart. Bart can retaliate by throwing food, but if caught he will be made to eat his entire arsenal.

Another game of capture the flag follows in the next stage as the afternoon activity. While playing, Bart must avoid counselors, bullies, killer hornets and traps set out for the escaped Madman Mort. Bart will find Mort in a trap and choose to free him. The fourth stage is dinner break and is the same as the lunch break stage, albeit with increased difficulty. If Bart made the decision to free Madman Mort in the prior stage, he will reappear at a particularly difficult point in the dinner stage to come to Bart's aid. The following day, Bart and Lisa decide to escape from Camp Deadly, both because it is too dangerous and because they cannot stand it anymore. However, Ironfist overhears their plans. At night, in the next stage, they escape by climbing to the other side of a mountain called Mount Deadly. The game's final stage takes place in a forest on the other side. Partway through, Ironfist captures Lisa, and Bart later finds them both at a power station supplying the camp with power. Bart defeats him and frees Lisa. Together, they find and flip a switch at the station that shuts off the power at Camp Deadly and puts an end to their stay there. and in the cafeteria stages, the barely edible food offered at the camp. There are quite a few differences between the game's beta and final versions, in which the madman the player rescued in one part was "Madman Krimmel Krogan", whose appearance looked similar to Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series before his design was changed to the long-haired, overall-wearing, maskless Madman Mort in the final version. Also, the Mount Deadly the player is scaling in another part was named "Mt. Milehigh" before its name was changed to make it more fitting in the final version (as well as the preceding dialogue between Bart and Lisa on how to escape Camp Deadly).

| rev1 = Rocky Mountain News

| rev1Score = C+ Matt Williamson of the Rocky Mountain News gave the game a C+ grade and commented that "Escape from Camp Deadly tries too hard to be a Nintendo game. It's hard, I know, to try to make game graphics more primitive, but please, guys, the more complex you make the graphics, the more confusing a game gets!" However, the Channel 4 video game programme GamesMaster gave the game an 89% rating. GamePro gave the game an average review, writing, "With just three lives and no continues, The Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly is a tough nut to crack. Then again, Bart's never made anybody's life easy. If you're a Bart fan who loves a challenge, chances are you'll find yourself returning to this weird and wicked camp, time and time again." In Japan, two reviewers in Weekly Famicom Tsūshin were upset that the game was only in English and two found it to be a run-of-the-mill action game. Two reviewers were split on how they felt about Bart, with one saying he had some charm, while the other saying he was too off-putting.

Along with Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (1991), Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly was among the first Game Boy titles to include digitized voice samples.

According to internal sales data, by 1994 the game had sold approximately 76,000 copies.

Notes

References

  • Title at Gamefaqs