You can choose to play as any of the remaining Simpsons, each with his or her own characteristics that fans will instantly recognize. Bart is the most fun of the bunch: he scoots around on his skateboard, which he can use to whack people, or jump over them. When he dies, a red devil Bart (complete with pitchfork) hovers over the corpse, and (if you have any remaining lives) the new Bart zooms in in his Bartman costume. The second-most fun character is Marge, who wields a mighty Hoover vacuum cleaner as her weapon. Lisa swings her jumprope around like a whip, and is the most difficult to play because of her low health and limited attacks. Lastly, Homer simply punches the bad guys with his fists, but can endure a lot of damage before dying. Most bad guys are dressed in purple suits, but many of them are disguised as nonchalant citizens who quickly ambush you by surprise.

All of the game's eight stages and the two bonus ones take place in locations from the show that are faithfully recreated, including Springfield Cemetery, Moe's Tavern, Krustyland, and even The Nuclear Power Plant. Although The Simpsons does offer a two-player mode, Konami unfortunately removed the "team play" feature that had new attack modes when two players teamed up (e.g. Bart could hop onto Homer's shoulders, and Marge and Homer can tumble together like a human cartwheel). However, there are still so many creative weapons scattered around the place (my favorites being the slingshot and snowball), as well as food and other items, that gameplay is always refreshing. Overall, this is a great game based on the show, and a must-play for every Simpsons and brawler fan. Just be wary of very difficult end-level bosses. Two thumbs up!