Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly
Encyclopedia
Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly is a 2D platform game
for the Game Boy hand-held gaming console. Developed by Imagineering, it was published by Acclaim
in North America in 1991
. The game was released in Europe in 1992 and Japan in 1993. In Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly, 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
". Critics gave the game mixed to negative reviews.
and Lisa
go to spend the summer at a camp, which proves 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. 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.
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. The fourth stage is dinner break and is the same as the lunch break stage. Later that day, Bart and Lisa decide to escape from Camp Deadly, because it is too dangerous, and the fact that they cannot stand it anymore. However, Ironfist Burns 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. Partly through, Lisa is kidnapped, and Bart later finds her at a power station with Ironfist Burns. Bart defeats him and sets Lisa free, and 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.
Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly is a side-scrolling 2D platform game
. It is single-player-only, and the player controls Bart. Lisa's role in the stages is giving Bart boomerangs to use against the various enemies. His default weapon is spit wads, and in the cafeteria stages: the barely edible food offered at the camp.
and published by Acclaim
. It was released in November 1991 in North America for the hand-held console Game Boy
. The game was released in Europe in 1993, and in Japan on February 26, 1993. It was the first Simpsons game to be released on a portable console. The plot of Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly bears a strong similarity to the Simpsons episode "Kamp Krusty
" in the sense that they both revolve around Bart and Lisa staying at an evil summer camp. However, that episode did not air until 1992, a year after the game was released.
gave it a 3.4/5 rating in 1991. UGO Networks gave the game a negative review, commenting that "this uninspired train wreck of a Game Boy title fails on nearly every level, but most of all simply because it's a snore-fest. It's your basic side-scrolling platformer with little to no connection to the source material and lasts only about few hours at best. During the game you come across bullies, camp counselors and even a few wild animals, battling them with spitballs, a boomerang and, in the lunchroom level, food. This one is for completists only." 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!"
In 2009, 1UP.com editor Bob Mackey reviewed the game in 1UP's official Retro Gaming Blog. He wrote: "Camp Deadly drops the limited adventure elements of Bart Vs. the Space Mutants
in exchange for some much simpler platforming with vastly improved controls [...]. The simple jumping and shooting is nothing to write home about, but Camp Deadly would have at least been a semi-competent early Game Boy game if not for the interminable waves of enemies it constantly throws at you. Here was see a common problem with Game Boy titles: the developers were clearly designing Camp Deadly with a big-screen mindset. Enemies teleport in from the edge of the screen and, given how little space there is to actually maneuver, you sometimes have less than a second to react."
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
for the Game Boy hand-held gaming console. Developed by Imagineering, it was published by Acclaim
Acclaim Games
Acclaim Games, based in Beverly Hills, California, was a private online video game company that offered free Massively multiplayer online role-playing games on its website upon registration. The company was founded in 2006 and is the successor of Acclaim Entertainment in terms of brand name...
in North America in 1991
1991 in video gaming
-Notable releases:*Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game .*Electronic Arts releases James Pond 2 and Road Rash for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s....
. The game was released in Europe in 1992 and Japan in 1993. In Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly, the player controls Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
from the television series The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
as he escapes from an unpleasant summer camp run by ruthless counselors. The plot is similar to that of the Simpsons episode "Kamp Krusty
Kamp Krusty
"Kamp Krusty" is the first episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1992. During summer vacation, the children of Springfield attend Kamp Krusty, a summer camp named after Krusty the Clown. The camp is extremely...
". Critics gave the game mixed to negative reviews.
Plot and gameplay
BartBart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
go to spend the summer at a camp, which proves 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. In the first stage of the game, Bart and the other children play capture the flag
Capture the flag
Capture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
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.
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. The fourth stage is dinner break and is the same as the lunch break stage. Later that day, Bart and Lisa decide to escape from Camp Deadly, because it is too dangerous, and the fact that they cannot stand it anymore. However, Ironfist Burns 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. Partly through, Lisa is kidnapped, and Bart later finds her at a power station with Ironfist Burns. Bart defeats him and sets Lisa free, and 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.
Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly is a side-scrolling 2D platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
. It is single-player-only, and the player controls Bart. Lisa's role in the stages is giving Bart boomerangs to use against the various enemies. His default weapon is spit wads, and in the cafeteria stages: the barely edible food offered at the camp.
Development and release
The game was developed by ImagineeringImagineering (software company)
Imagineering, based in Glen Rock, New Jersey, was the in-house studio of Absolute Entertainment. Many notable video games developed for Absolute include A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, Battle Tank, Super Battletank and The Rescue of Princess Blobette...
and published by Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
. It was released in November 1991 in North America for the hand-held console Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
. The game was released in Europe in 1993, and in Japan on February 26, 1993. It was the first Simpsons game to be released on a portable console. The plot of Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly bears a strong similarity to the Simpsons episode "Kamp Krusty
Kamp Krusty
"Kamp Krusty" is the first episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1992. During summer vacation, the children of Springfield attend Kamp Krusty, a summer camp named after Krusty the Clown. The camp is extremely...
" in the sense that they both revolve around Bart and Lisa staying at an evil summer camp. However, that episode did not air until 1992, a year after the game was released.
Reception
Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly has received mixed to negative reviews. Nintendo PowerNintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
gave it a 3.4/5 rating in 1991. UGO Networks gave the game a negative review, commenting that "this uninspired train wreck of a Game Boy title fails on nearly every level, but most of all simply because it's a snore-fest. It's your basic side-scrolling platformer with little to no connection to the source material and lasts only about few hours at best. During the game you come across bullies, camp counselors and even a few wild animals, battling them with spitballs, a boomerang and, in the lunchroom level, food. This one is for completists only." Matt Williamson of the Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
gave the game a C+ grade and commented that "Escape from Camp Deadly tries too hard to be a Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
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!"
In 2009, 1UP.com editor Bob Mackey reviewed the game in 1UP's official Retro Gaming Blog. He wrote: "Camp Deadly drops the limited adventure elements of Bart Vs. the Space Mutants
The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants
The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants is the title of the first video game based on the animated television series The Simpsons. It was released in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Atari ST, Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC, and in 1992 for Mega...
in exchange for some much simpler platforming with vastly improved controls [...]. The simple jumping and shooting is nothing to write home about, but Camp Deadly would have at least been a semi-competent early Game Boy game if not for the interminable waves of enemies it constantly throws at you. Here was see a common problem with Game Boy titles: the developers were clearly designing Camp Deadly with a big-screen mindset. Enemies teleport in from the edge of the screen and, given how little space there is to actually maneuver, you sometimes have less than a second to react."