If you appreciate the work done within the wiki, please consider supporting The Cutting Room Floor on Patreon. Thanks for all your support!

Prerelease:The Simpsons: Road Rage (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)

From The Cutting Room Floor
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This page details prerelease information and/or media for The Simpsons: Road Rage (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox).

Hmmm...
To do:
See if there's any more post-E3 prerelease stuff

Not much is known about Road Rage's development, except it was developed in eleven months which led to some serious deadlines having to be met.

Though it got mixed reviews from critics, it still fared enough to pave way for a much more superior spiritual successor. Retrospectively, it's seen as a decent return to form for Simpsons games after The Simpsons Wrestling.

Development Timeline

2000/2001

  • circa December-January - Development begins.

2001

  • May 17-19 - The game is revealed at E3.
  • September 2-4 - The game is shown off at ECTS.
  • November 8 - The Simpsons: Road Rage is released in Europe.
  • November 20 - The Simpsons: Road Rage is released in North America.

Early Development

One of the intial ideas at the very beginning of development was a kart racer, but that was rejected because every other IP was doing that genre. Another idea was a clone based on Crazy Taxi, where a playable prototype for the game was sent to FOX, allowing them to go ahead with development.

This was also one of the first few games to be developed on new hardware, specifically the Xbox and GameCube, which would be released later on in 2001.

circa. April-May

Pre-E3 2001 Screenshots

The following images are dated to May 28-30, but some of them have slight differences in comparison to the build shown at E3 2001.

The graphical style is more cartoonier, closely resembling the show. This was changed in the final, due to the creator Matt Groening wanting it to look like a video game rather than a "carbon copy of the show" after reviewing it.

Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image1.jpg
  • The license plate of Marge's vehicle originally said "MUTHA", rather than "MOMMY" in the final.
Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image2.jpg
  • The passengers were displayed in a "dome" before it was changed to a spotlight, and eventually to a "dome" again.
  • A placeholder "map" appears on the bottom-right side of the images, likely as a placeholder due to it being found in the final as an unused graphic.
Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image3.jpg
Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image4.jpg
Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image5.jpg
Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image6.jpg
Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image7.jpg
Prerelease E3 2003 Build Final
TSRR PreE3 Image8.jpg

May

E3 2001

Hmmm...
To do:
Upload videos and coverage anyway.

The Simpsons Road Rage was revealed. The E3 build has been dumped, and is documented here.

Videos

PlayZone Coverage

Screenshots

Those screenshots were uploaded later on July 12, 2001.

circa. June-July

Xbox Alpha Development Kit Build

An early build of the game can be found on certain Xbox development kits which is likely from a similar date to the E3 build, although it has major differences.

Main Differences

  • The game opens with a cutscene of Homer jumping into his car and reminiscing about a scene in the Simpsons episode "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer". The scene, which uses 3D animation like the rest of the game, features Marge and Homer arguing about Homer going to a chilli cook-off.
  • The logo at the beginning of the game is different to the final version. It is very similar looking to the Simpsons Racing placeholder logo, but shows Homer and Mr. Burns looking angry at each other.
  • The loading screen shows Bart at a blackboard writing lines in the same style as the show's chalkboard gag that appears in the opening credits.
  • Like the E3 demo, the title screen shows the game's boxart. The screen also notably shows the game's final logo, instead of the aforementioned prototype logo.
  • The selection screen provides a "Quick Start" option.
  • The Head-to-Head selection screen shows an image of Ganesha holding gasoline pumps.
  • The Mission Mode selection screen shows Apu holding hot dogs next to the words "Hotdoggin Around".
  • The Entertainment District level is called "Moe's".
  • The graphics in this state appears to be branching into a slightly more realistic style as in the final game.

Gameplay Differences

  • Characters do not have lines and instead speak with robotic placeholder lines such as "Homer driver start of game 1" and "Homer driver big bump 3". An exception to this is Mr. Burns.
  • A thumbs up appears over characters who want to be picked up.
  • The drop off location is indicated by a UFO instead of clouds.
  • Like the E3 build, Mr. Burns' limo is stronger than the player's vehicle.
  • Like the E3 build, the Road Rage mode music uses the same music as Sunday Drive.

Map Differences

  • The Evergreen Terrace level has a broken bridge at the beginning which appears to be used to cut it off from the Springfield Mountains level.
  • The HUD map is green and brown instead of blue in the final game.
  • The Springfield Dam level is incomplete. There is no water and the player can drive out of the map.

July

Late July Build

Five images were released on IGN, dating to July 26, 2001. Downtown Springfield appear to be very unfinished at that state.

Prerelease Final
TSRR Jul2601 Image1.jpg
Prerelease Final
TSRR Jul2601 Image2.jpg
Prerelease Final
TSRR Jul2601 Image3.jpg
Prerelease Final
TSRR Jul2601 Image4.jpg
Prerelease Final
TSRR Jul2601 Image5.jpg

References