Game culture: Simpsons gag on Waterworld is now a real game

Does anyone remember the 10th episode of The Simpsons Season 8? Fox Mulder and Dana Scully come to Springfield in this episode called The Springfield Files.

There, the two agents want to question Homer, who claims to have seen an alien. The content of the episode is actually only secondary to this news. Instead, the focus is on a very specific gag: The episode shows Millhouse standing in front of an arcade machine for the then incredibly expensive film Waterworld – and that’s exactly what has now become a real game.

A Simpsons gag becomes a real game

In order for Millhouse to be able to use the machine, it requires 40 quarters from him, but that doesn’t get him very far. He can only walk a few steps before it’s game over. In order to be able to continue playing, another 40 quarters are due. The scene, which is not even 20 seconds long, can be seen here in the original:

For the Twitter user and indie developer Macaw45 this scene was reason enough to turn the game into reality. Kevin Costner’s Waterworld was born based on a Simpsons gag.

The difference? Macaw45’s implementation is much more extensive. More precisely, it includes several levels, boss fights and numerous secrets. In addition, the entire project is free: You can easily download Waterworld via itch.io download. A small donation can also be sent to the developer as an option.