The Simpsons: Hit & Run was the favorite game of an entire generation of players. Many wondered why they never got The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2. Thanks to a recent interview designer Joe McGinn gave to Game Media, we now know that there was a sequel in the works shortly after the launch of the first game.

Gamers and non-gamers loved The Simpsons: Hit & Run. It was one of those rare titles that many people of a certain generation played at one point, even if they didn’t game much in general. The team behind the game was working on prototypes, and the sequel game was set to enter full production. Unfortunately, they never got very far before EA won the rights to The Simpsons Movie game. Was The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2 worth sacrificing for The Simpsons Game?

The Simpsons Game was a solid title, but since the game, EA has arguably let the console gaming of The Simpsons go to waste. They have been capitalizing on the mobile market with The Simpsons: Tapped Out, which was released in 2013. The Simpsons Game was released worldwide in November of 2007, and features an original storyline written by writers from the show.

The game’s biggest criticisms were aimed at its short length and poor camera system. It also had a sequel planned – titled The Simpsons Game 2 – which was canceled in 2011 to make room for other projects.

Mario Party-Style Simpsons game?

Last year an E3 2019 Coliseum live stream had The Simpsons series producers Matt Selman and J. Stewart Burns talk about how they considered developing a Mario Party-style Simpsons game. The project turned out to be too ambitious. It could’ve supposedly taken over 20 years to develop all of the party games, so they canceled the title.

During the live stream, Burns said that the producers are always thinking about how they could make more Simpsons titles.

The Simpsons: Hit and Run 2 wishlist

It would seem to be in the best interest of EA to make a new title for The Simpsons to be released for console. Liam Robertson, known as “Game History Guy” on YouTube, revealed that the sequel planned for The Simpsons: Hit & Run was going to be bigger and better than the first game. It was set to be an even more finely tuned Simpsons version of GTA than the first game. 17 years after the release of The Simpsons: Hit & Run, there are still people itching for a sequel to the game.

In an ideal world, what would that sequel have? If I could think of the perfect scenario for this game, I would say that it should have individualized storylines for each member of the Simpsons family. The game would allow players to switch back and forth between characters to complete their personal tasks.

The original game also was built to run in a circle. If you went one direction for long enough, you would come back to where you started. A new game would benefit from having an open-world concept that allows players to run through the streets of Springfield with more freedom.

The game should also reflect the animation currently being used for the show to better tie it in. Bringing on writers from the show like they did with The Simpsons Game would also help to keep authentic storylines that make sense for the characters.

There are 22 games based on The Simpsons, and the last release of one was 2013. If there was ever a need for an addition to a franchise, this would be it.