The Simpsons Hit & Run Just Got Remade In A Week
It's only taken 18 years, but finally, someone has rebuilt The Simpsons: Hit & Run in HD. Better yet, this unofficial build has taken just one week to do. Since this yellow fellow zoomed into our lives in 2003, the popularity of this Simpsons and Grand Theft Auto hybrid has continued to soar.
While we've been here before in terms of asking for a Hit & Run remake, the gas tank is sadly empty. Original developers from Radical Entertainment have since scattered, while publisher Vivendi Universal Games has been amalgamated into Activision.
Putting it simply, no one really knows who owns the rights to Hit & Run - which is why it's never been ported off the likes of GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
What is The Simpsons: Hit & Run remaster?
Posting on YouTube, developer and modder Reubs explained how he brought The Simpsons: Hit & Run revving into 2021 in a big way. Rebuilding the cult classic in Unreal Engine 5, they confirmed this mammoth task was relatively easy to do once they knew how.
With Disney now owning 20th Century Fox, it makes it even more tricky to work out how a remake would even happen, but when it comes to the Unreal Engine 5 version, Reubs said, "I could technically remake the entire map from scratch. But, you would need a team of, like, 100 people. I only have three friends, and I'm including my mum as one of those friends, so that's just not enough people."
He was able to rip the art files from the PC version, however, things still weren't playing quite right. Reubs found a programme that can remaster the textures, and while not all turned out perfect, he remade the ones that didn't work in Photoshop.
The next stage was coding, which Reubs described as putting him in his element. Finding a Homer model was relatively easy, however, the one online wasn't compatible with Unreal 5. Reubs employed an artist from Sweden, who made light work of putting Homer in the Unreal Engine 5 remake of The Simpsons: Hit & Run.
What does the finished version of The Simpsons: Hit & Run remaster look like?
Click to enlargeSeeing Homer dash around Springfield with advanced animations and ray tracing is something our younger selves could've never dreamed of. Better yet, there was even a chance to experience Hit & Run in first-person, "because why the hell not". The next big question is (obviously) vehicles.
The rebuild only uses the classic Simpson Family Sedan - and although it couldn't be properly remastered - we've got to admit it looks fine as it is. Still, with some GTA-inspired flips, Hit & Run just got another major upgrade that we would've loved to have seen in the original.
Reubs admitted this was a good place to start, with him moving his attention to recreating "The Cola Caper" first mission. The final cherry on the top was the iconic Duff Blimp circling the map. The finished product is pretty great, and finally gives us hope about what a Hit & Run remaster will look like.
While this is the closest we've ever got to revisiting The Simpsons: Hit & Run, even showrunner Matt Selman has championed the idea but called it "complicated". The producer of the original game has also thrown themself behind a Hit & Run remaster, but as another year goes by without a fresh lick of paint, the rust on the family Sedan is starting to show. Then again, if one guy can do it in a week, what's Activision's/Disney's excuse?