The Simpsons: Bart vs. The Juggernauts

In The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Juggernauts, the player controls cartoon character Bart Simpson from the animated television series The Simpsons. He is participating in a weekly game show called Juggernauts USA, based on the television program American Gladiators,[3][4] in which he has to run through obstacle courses, battle huge muscle-bound "juggernauts", and do various other challenges.[5] There are a total of seven challenges[4] that change from week to week. To make it onto the next week's episode of Juggernauts USA and avoid being eliminated, Bart must collect a certain amount of money from the challenges.[5]

Each of the four levels of The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Juggernauts are made up of an episode of the game show Juggernauts USA. Every challenge is based on a character from The Simpsons. For example, there is one challenge in which Bart has to run an obstacle course in Apu's Kwik-E-Mart store.[5] Another one is Dr. Marvin Monroe's "Hop, Skip and Fry", in which Bart jumps on a floor of tiles that randomly shifts from being safe to electrifying.[4] The others include basketball, skateboarding, a juggernaut fighting match, and a match of shoving at Moe's Tavern.[6] The characters Kent Brockman and Marvin Monroe are the game show's commentators; after the completion of a challenge they comment on Bart's performance.[4]

The game was developed by Imagineering and published by Acclaim.[5] It was released in 1992 for the handheld console Game Boy.[5]

The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Juggernauts received average reviews from critics.[6] UGO Networks commented that the game is "actually a pretty original idea with some decent gameplay and mix of genres — easily one of the better Simpsons Game Boy adventures," concluding that "it was all right; nothing stellar, but good enough."[6] Nintendo Power gave the game a 3.35/5 rating,[7] while Matt Williamson of Rocky Mountain News gave it a B- grade, commenting: "a hysterical sendup of the American Gladiators. Nice action sequences."[8]

In 2009, 1UP.com editor Bob Mackey reviewed the game in 1UP's official Retro Gaming Blog. He wrote that "Some of the events—out of seven total—are actually pretty entertaining; Dr. Marvin Monroe's Hop, Skip and Fry [...] could actually be updated for a more fleshed-out Xbox Live Arcade game. But the fighting-based mini-games throw a wrench in the works by leaving too much entirely up to chance and the limited controls of the Game Boy [...]. In what may be one of its few saving graces, Juggernauts unexpectedly captures a little of the Simpsons' written humor with its post-game commentary by Kent Brockman and Dr. Marvin Monroe. I wasn't exactly crying with laughter, but I actually got a few chuckles out of Monroe's psychobabble overanalysis of Bart's performance."[4]

• The Simpsons: Bart vs. The Juggernauts at MobyGames