The Simpsons' Mario Kart parody is the closest we've got to a Hit & Run sequel

28.02.2024 - 13:51 / eurogamer.net / Mario Kart / Nintendo

We're now 20 years on from the release of The Simpsons: Hit & Run and we're still without a sequel. That said, we now have a nightmarish glimpse into what could have been, perhaps, with a Mario Kart parody sequence in the latest episode of the animated series.

Episode 12 of season 35, Lisa Gets an F1, aired on 25th February, and follows Lisa as she becomes a professional kid go-kart racer whilst dealing with her anxiety stemming from Homer's dangerous driving. As Homer worries about Lisa's safety, one night he has a nightmare where he, Lisa, and a number of other children are driving in an off-kilter version of Mario Kart.

«It's me, Lisa Mario,» Lisa proclaims at the starting line of Rainbow Road, fully decked out with a blue hat, moustache, and her dress altered to look like Mario's overalls. She's joined by Ralph dressed up as Toad, Nelson tranformed into Bowser, and one of the Mackleberry twins as Princess Peach.

«Woohoo! Thanks to my papa, I'm-a risking my life,» Lisa shouts, before Milhouse sidles past her as Yoshi. Milhouse doesn't last for long however, as he's quickly blasted off the course by a blue Spiny Shell. The culprit turns out to be Homer, who's now Wario. «My-a bad-a parenting has-a led to your doom!» Homer tells Lisa with sinister laughter, before throwing a bomb at Lisa with a Wario «wah».

As Lisa falls from Rainbow Road while screaming for her life, Homer wakes up from his nightmare. «It's-a me, Wario, it's all my fault!» he shouts, adding one more «wah!» for good measure. According to Kotaku, further on in the episode Lisa says Homer is being overprotective of her because of his dream, to which Homer asks her: «What's Mario Kart?»

It's not quite the sequel to The Simpsons: Hit & Run anyone could hope for, but it's better than what we currently have (which is nothing). The Hit & Run sequel was planned to have airships and planes, according to its executive producer John Melchior, but was shelved for reasons never understood by its developers.

Given how prickly Nintendo can be with its properties, it's unlikely anyone would be able to get away with turning the short Mario Kart skit into a full game like indie developer Macaw45 did with Kevin Costner's Waterworld from the episode The Springfield Files, but it's nice to believe.