The Simpsons: Hit & Run

The Simpsons: Hit & Run
Developer: Radical Entertainment Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games Platforms: Windows, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox Released in US: September 16, 2003 This game has unused areas. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has a prototype article This game has a bugs page This game has a prerelease article

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If The Simpsons and Grand Theft Auto had a love child, the result would most likely be The Simpsons: Hit & Run. Surprisingly, the end result is a pretty solid GTA clone and what many consider to be the best Simpsons game. Not only that, but there's plenty of interesting unused content lurking inside.

To do: There are some unused graphics here.

Unused Levels

Inside the PC version's "\scripts\missions" directory, there is a folder labeled "level08", suggesting that the game had planned to have a total of eight levels instead of seven, but the 8th was later cut for reasons unknown.

The game makes another reference to this cut level in "\art\missions", where a folder labeled "level08" can be found. However, unlike the script folder, there are two files inside this folder, though these only seem to contain position data for an unfinished mission.

Unused Areas

Inside Burns Mansion in Level 1

It is possible to get into Mr. Burns mansion in Level 1, but it isn't easy. Firstly, one must have the jump code activated along with a car big enough to fit through the secret "entrance" in the Nuclear Power Plant. When you have got in and made it to the doors, it will be closed. You can still get in by using the Jump code. If you get in, the mansion is exactly in it's state from Level 4, except that the gag inside the office isn't present, leaving nothing behind.

Once you are in, it is almost impossible to get out; you have to jump the car high enough to get out of the mansion from the garden. If you attempt to get out of the mansion through the front yard, you will respawn in the nuclear power plant.

land_of_choc

To do: Perhaps the game mentions this area elsewhere? So far, this is the only place I know of that mentions it. This was found using Watto Studio's game extractor.

Oddly enough, the music archive music01.rcf has three tracks labeled "land_of_choc_main", "land_of_choc_end_neg", and "land_of_choc_end_pos". While "choc" most likely stands for chocolate, there isn't a single area in any of the levels that have an area made of chocolate, nor is there any mission that involves chocolate. The only mission that uses this song is the second part of There's Something About Monty. The name seems to suggest that at one point there was meant to be a an area that was based on the popular dream sequence from the series' third season, but never made it.

Some years later, EA's The Simpsons Game would recycle this idea in the first level, as part of a dream Homer has in the intro.

Unused Character Models

In the game, there is a cheat that changes you into pedestrian and character models used in the game, one of which is Agnes Skinner. Agnes never uses this model in the game, as she is a character only seen in Skinner's sedan, and doesn't get out when the car blows up. Another unused model is a pale looking boy wearing a Frankenstein hat and black clothes, possibly intented for Level 7. It was likely he was cut in favor of the witch girl. It is possible to put him back in the game by editing the files, which reveals that he uses the same quotes as the boys from Levels 1-6.

Unused Cars

In the game, there is also a cheat that makes the player access cars that they should not in the phone booth. Although technically not unused, there are a few unused road vehicles that are not seen in any level of the game, these include Sedan A, Ice Cream Truck, Station Wagon, three unused recolors of the Cell Phone Users' Car and a Cube Van. These were probably cut later in the game, as they function perfectly.

Unused Gags

There was supposed to be a merry go round for the Springfield Elementary School's playground as shown in the circle icon for it. Despite being in the files, it is not used but the player can make the gag come back by editing the file.

Unused Stage Messages

DESTROY THE DONUT TRUCK

There's never a mission where you have to destroy a Donut Truck. This may have been the original idea for "A Few Donuts More", the first mission in Level 4 where you have to get Chief Wiggum some donuts for more information about the crop circles. In the actual mission, you have to hit the donut truck to collect the donuts.

FIND THE CROP CIRCLE

DESTROY THE COLA SHIPMENT

Most likely meant to be used in Level 4's final mission "From Outer Space", where you have to destroy several Cola Vans.

GO HOME

Was more than likely the original “Drive to the Simpsons House” message. Most likely changed to make it a bit more clear as to where to go.

DRIVE TO THE MONORAIL STATION

While the Monorail Station is in both Levels 2 and 5, there is never an instance where the player has to drive there except in Level 5's "Never Trust a Snake". There is also an unused Circle Icon for the monorail station.

FIND CHIEF WIGGUM AT THE POLICE STATION

The player doesn't have to visit Chief Wiggum here.

TALK TO JASPER

Normally, Jasper only serves as a Gag that you can interact with in the Kwik-E-Mart and drives the Bonestorm truck in "Bonestorm Storm", but it seems he was meant to have a bigger role in the game's plot.

GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE - QUICK!

May have been used when you have to drive your car into the UFO beam for the last three missions in Level 7, but in the final game you automatically get out of the vehicle when you go into the beam.

WATCH OUT FOR THE BLACK SEDANS

There is never an event in any of the missions where you have to avoid multiple black sedans, the closest thing to this being Level 3's unused sedan chases in "Clueless", though all of these are separate.

STREET RACE

Message 115.

TIME TRIAL

Message 120.

DESTROY THE DONUT TRUCK

A copy of message 22.

FIND THE SHELBYVILLIANS

Message 136.

ENTER COMIC BOOK GUY'S CAR 

Could have been used in both missions where you have to help the Comic Book Guy, and you instead had to enter the car rather than being placed in it automatically.

GO TO THE OBSERVATORY'S "LOOK-OUT" POINT

May have been used in "Bonfire of the Manatees" where you had to drive back the observatory.

GET A VEHICLE FROM BART

You never have to purchase a car from Bart in the game, and he's actually not a person who can sell you a car in any of the levels.

RACE THE CURATOR TO THE MUSEUM

Most likely means that "Curious Curator" was meant to be a race instead. It may have been changed because the mission may have been considered too short otherwise.

DRIVE TO THE SIT 'N' ROTATE

Message 208.

DRIVE TO THE KRUSTY BURGER BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND SCHOOL

The player doesn't have to visit this Krusty Burger in any of Level 1's or 7's missions.

DRIVE TO THE JAVA SERVER

message 244.

GO INSIDE THE SIMPSONS HOUSE AND DROP OFF THE SUPPLIES

Obviously meant for Level 7's first mission "Rigor Motors". In the normal mission, once you reach the Simpsons house, the mission is completed and you never have to go inside the house. This may also suggest that Lisa and Homer may have had some additional dialogue once you entered the house again.

The remaining objectives do not display correctly:

TO DESTROY WASP CAMERAS, JUMP\\INTO THE AIR WITH THE [SPACEBAR]\\AND THEN [RIGHT-CLICK]\\TO KICK THE WASP

Note the "\\", which isn't used for the rest of these message indexes.

BONUS MISSION

Message 301.

USE [W,S,A,D] TO MOVE AROUND\\USE [SPACEBAR] TO JUMP\\PRESS AND HOLD [LEFT SHIFT] TO RUN

Message 302. It's safe to say that this was the original tutorial before the Bart tutorial was created.

PRESS [W] TO ACCELERATE\\USE [A] OR [D] TO STEER\\USE [S] TO BRAKE\\[RIGHT-CLICK] TO HANDBRAKE

Message 303.

304 - [LEFT-CLICK] TO GET INTO CAR

Message 304.

FIND ALL GAGS

Message 305.

WIN ALL RACES TO GET A CAR

Message 306. May have been meant to be displayed after the player completes their first race.

FIND ALL CARDS TO GET A SURPRIZE

Notice that surprise is misspelled here with a "z".

USE COINS TO PURCHASE\\CARS AND CLOTHES

Message 308.

[LEFT-CLICK] TO USE TELEPHONE BOOTH

Message 309.

[LEFT-CLICK] TO GET INTO THE CAR

Message 310.

[LEFT-CLICK] TO KICK BOX

Message 311.

BREAK CERTAIN OBJECTS TO GET COINS

Message 312.

[LEFT-CLICK] TO GO INSIDE

Message 313.

COIN COLLECTED

Message 314.

VEHICLE DESTROYED!\\FIND A WRENCH,\\OR GO TO A PHONEBOOTH,\\TO REPAIR YOUR VEHICLE.

Message 315.

(Source: http://docs.projectdonut.me/index.php/SetStageMessageIndex_Messages))

Misplaced Objects

To do: there are lots more. Get pictures, also.

Springfield Gasoline Signs

You may have noticed that the bridge to the Burns Mansion is blocked-off in Level 7 due to the destroyed bridge and blocked Nuclear Power Plant. However, there are very few remants of what could be two spinning "Springfield Gasoline" signs. Both are missing the metal poles that support them as well. Also, there's a whole unused road what is not solid and a few houses from Levels 1 and 4 can be seen. It was likely Radical was going to add this area in Level 7, as there is so much unused music in the area, but Radical never finished it.

Washing Machine

In Level 7, the player can notice a washing machine when outside the border. It is possible this is a glitch, as the washing machines are actually meant to appear in the Muntz's House outside. Interestingly there is a cow stuck to the washing machine in Level 1.

Painting

In Level 1, the player can notice a Simpson-esque portrait that appears to be based on the painting "American Gothic". It was likely this was meant to be for the Stonecutter's Tunnel but didn't make the cut.

E3 Levels and Missions

To do: See if it's possible to swap the Level data for the E3 demo with that of the final one, and document differences.

The game actually has two unused level scripts that are from an E3 demo: one for Level 2, the other for Level 7.

E3 Better Than Beef

Within the Level 2 folder, not only is there an E3 version of Level 2, but there's also an unused version of the mission Better Than Beef that was meant for E3. The mission itself is close to that of the final, and can be played by replacing m5i.mfk with the e3m1i.mfk file inside the Level 2 folder, and then editing the first line with Notepad++ to prevent the game from crashing during loading from:

SelectMission("e3m1");

to

SelectMission("m5");

The level itself has several differences. One is that you're given more time in this version of the mission, Apu uses a different AI (uses Easycop.con in the \scripts\cars\pursuit directory), Curious Curator doesn't play when Apu appears, and you have to talk to Cletus after arriving at the Krusty Burger whereas in the final the conversation happens automatically.

E3 Rigor Motors

Like Level 2, Level 7 also has a file that appears to be an E3 Rigor Motors (judging by the positions mentioned in the file) that was used for a E3 demo. The problem is that unlike Better Than Beef, the mission script is incomplete, and all that remains is a "dummy" objective that's meant for testing, so there really isn't anything left.

Unused Clueless Sedan Chases

To do: Lots here. Go back and look at an unedited version of the file to go into further detail about the "Milhouse" locations, record each one of the sedan chases in action, and perhaps add an edited script mission file that enables the sedan chases and fixes the timers? Another thing that may be looking into is the EasyCop AI, which I don't think is actually used by any car AI in the final.

Level 3's second main mission, Clueless, has a total of three unused sedan chases, each of which are close to Milhouse's locations in the normal mission. By using Notepad++, it's possible to edit the mission file and re-enable the sedan chases. Like Apu in the E3 version of Better Than Beef, the sedan AI uses the EasyCop AI. The black sedan is already loaded in the m2l.mfk file, which means that the file doesn't have to be edited to get the black sedan chases working.

Also worth pointing out that underneath the second and third sedan chases are two strange locations that also can be enabled. "mhouse_loc2" and "mil_loc3" both seem to refer to possible Milhouse locations, but Milhouse doesn't appear in these locations in the final.The first unused location is on the path of grass that leads to the Burns' Casino ramp shortcut, while the other one is near the Springfield Gasoline.

Unused Music & Jingles

To do: Need to update this section later. Lucas has a new .RCF tool that can open the archives, and it turns out the music isn't mislabeled, this was actually just an error created by Watto's extractor.

The Fat and Furious (Part 1)

300px

While technically this isn't an unused song in the actual game, it's somewhat unlikely that the player will ever be able to hear the full song or most of it. The song is used as soon as the Fat and Furious starts while the player is still outside their vehicle, but changes to the second part of the song that's later reused in certain missions such as "Alien 'Auto' Topsy Part III" when the player ENTERS their car. Assuming the playing parked close to Carl, the player will only hear around five seconds of it. However, the song can also be heard again if the player loses the race to Smithers or restart the mission. Even then, it only loops once before part 2 plays indefinitely, so it can only be heard once. None of the games later missions reuse it, unlike the second part. It's stored in the PC version's second .RCF archive (music01.rcf) under “hit_run_end_neg”.

longue10

A strange unused song that can be heard in Level 7 if the player glitches outside the map near the Power Plant. The song is a slowed down version of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue". The song's quality is radio-ish, much like muzak used in Stone Cutter Hall in Level's 1 and 4. It seems likely that Stone Cutter Hall was meant to be explored at one point in Level 7, but along with the rich side, it was cut off entirely. Note that the name comes from the PS2 versions archive.

Celebration/Stone_Cutter_Spoof.rsd

This song is unused, but it can be found in Level 7 if the player glitches outside the map near the blocked-off bridge. It was probably intended for Burns' Mansion where they could've been having a party, or maybe it could possibly be intended for something else. The song itself is very similar to the show's Stonecutter's theme.

Mission Failed (There's Something About Monty Part 2)

This song plays when the player fails the second part of There's Something About Monty...except you can't hear it normally because it's impossible to fail the second part of the mission. The first part of this mission IS fail-able on the drive to the Power Plant or during the Black Car chase which re-use the song from Milking the Pigs, but not when you have to get to Mr. Burns' office. The reason why the second part isn't fail-able is because there isn't any condition that you can fail to fail the mission itself and trigger this.

However, if the mission file (m5i.mfk) is viewed with a program such as Notepad++, you can see an unused time limit that Radical "dummied" out by adding "//" to the beginning of the line. If you delete these slashes and then save the file, you can re-enable the timer for this part of the mission. If you let the timer run out, this plays.

The timer itself was likely dropped because Radical may have thought it was too harsh considering making a mistake usually results in you having to start over from the beginning of the section and that it's already a challenge to climb to Burns' office, but since none of the game's other missions use this song where you can fail, this jingle goes fully unused. The song is later used again in the credits, but only the main part. It's stored in the PC version's second .RCF archive (music01.rcf) under "margesamba_end_neg".

Another unused song is a song entitled "Springfield Cemetery" which by the name was probably going to be used in the Cemetery. Despite this, the song never does play in the cemetery and instead no song or sometimes the Level 7 car song if the player exited their car here play.