Famous Simpsons Meme Becomes A Point-And-Click Adventure Game
This famous Simpsons bit is a video game now!
This article is more than 2 years old
Steamed Hams, a memorable skit between Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers from The Simpsons, the one that has been turned into a now-famous meme, has also become a point-and-click graphic adventure game. The scene has been recreated many times over the years, but no one ever came close to turning the whole thing into a video game akin to classics 1990’s The Secret of the Monkey Island.
As reported by Kotaku, GameJolt user and developer NeoDement had gone and recreated the famous scene and one of the silliest moments from the show that beat Marvel, into a playable adventure game called Steamed Hams: The Adventure Game. The game features all the hallmarks of the 90s-era video games, all with the 8-bit graphics and audio tracks, though it appears that the voice acting is authentic, taken directly from the sitcom. However, we’re discussing a hilarious recreation of the memorable scene, and while players go through the game as Skinner, the entire thing is more akin to an “interactive experience” rather than a video game. Still, kudos where kudos are due, and you can see the developer’s playthrough below:
The iconic scene comes from a scene in The Simpsons episode “22 Short Films About Springfield,” first aired as the 21st episode of Season 7 of the series on April 14th, 1996. The episode is an anthology of 22 short scenes about several of Springfield’s citizens, featuring classic moments and jokes the world’s most famous animated sitcom is known for. However, in one segment of the episode, Principal Skinner invites Superintendent Chalmers for a meal in a play on the “dinner with the boss” sitcom trope. As per the trope, the dinner doesn’t go according to plan, as Skinner burns his roast and sneaks over to Krusty Burger to get some food he can pass as his own.
Of course, what ensues is an elaborate and increasingly unbelievable series of lies regarding the truth about the meal. More specifically, Skinner tells Chalmers he’s making “steamed clams” for dinner, goes over to Krusty, and attempts to convince Chalmers that what he had prepared “steamed hams” for dinner — an expression for hamburgers native to Albany, New York. It’s truly one of the silliest moments between the two characters that ends with Aurora Borealis, the northern lights, ablaze in Skinner’s kitchen. For anyone oblivious of what exactly we’re talking about, please view the video below:
It still remains to be seen whether NeoDement’s fangame runs into any legal issues, considering that The Simpsons are now owned by Disney, which is relentlessly protective about their IPs. The developer of this interactive experience acknowledged that all assets belong to Disney and encouraged viewers and gamers to support The Simpsons by purchasing official products. It’s worth pointing out that NeoDement isn’t actually pioneering the field; last year, an Unreal developer and life-long fan of The Simpsons: Hit & Run video game remade the game in Unreal Engine 5, and the impressiveness of his effort didn’t go unnoticed.
