Simpsons: Hit and Run remastered PC

The 1990s and 2000s were flush with licensed The Simpsons games, most of which have largely faded from memory. Several, however, like the original The Simpsons arcade game from 1991, are warmly remembered and celebrated. The Simpsons: Hit and Run is one example of a beloved The Simpsons game, initially released in 2003 for the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. It's so popular that many The Simpsons fans have asked for a remaster, even leading to one fan deciding to make a remaster mod by themselves.

The Simpsons: Hit and Run Remastered mod is currently in development by modder El Gato Del Tajado, first announced around two months ago. Several videos have been released since the original announcement documenting the work that's gone into the mod. The latest video from El Gato Del Tajado shows just how much work the modder is putting into the game, not only remaking all The Simpsons: Hit and Run's textures with a new cel-shaded style, but also updating 3D models and re-animating Hit and Run's cinematics.

In the latest trailer for the Simpsons: Hit and Run Remastered mod, El Gato Del Tajado focuses on several key areas. The first is the replacement of several notable textures, including billboards that mark stunts throughout the game. After that, model changes to Bart and Lisa are detailed. Specifically, Bart has issues with the cell-shaded shader that erases his nose when looking from the front. Lisa is another problem altogether, with El Gato Del Tajado deciding to hand-alter Lisa's 3D model to add 3D hair.

The last major topic of the trailer is The Simpsons: Hit and Run's 3D cinematics. El Gato Del Tajado initially tried to simply rotoscope these animations to shift them into 2D, but the results were nightmarish. Instead, in a stunning overachievement, El Gato Del Tajado consulted Matt Groening's own design documents for The Simpsons and is doing some 2D cinematic animation by hand. This has, undeniably, improved the cinematics dramatically from when Hit and Run was released in 2003.

To close out the video, El Gato Del Tajado touches on their plans for the next video they're planning. That video will delve into updating interior settings in The Simpsons: Hit and Run, updating textures to high resolution, and delving further into 2D animation. It was two months between the first video and the second, so The Simpsons fans will have to be patient.

The Simpsons: Hit and Run Remastered mod is not currently available publicly and is currently being worked on. It's also unclear if the unfinished mod has been made available via El Gato Del Tajado's Patreon, though updated information is more readily provided there. The Simpsons: Hit and Run is a highly demanded remaster, with one 2021 poll even ranking it as the most-wanted remaster in the world. Hopefully, an official remaster is eventually made, but in the meantime all eyes are on the work El Gato Del Tajado is doing.

The Simpsons: Hit and Run was released in 2003 for the GameCube, PC, PS2, and Xbox.

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