This homage to The Simpsons: Hit & Run is 2024’s funniest game

Even if a video game is only a mild success these days, it feels like a sequel is almost always in the cards. Even more niche titles like Frostpunk, Steamworld Heist, and GreedFall get the franchise treatment in 2024. That makes it all the more surprising when a company never capitalizes on a classic game’s success. It’s by that token that I’ve always been shocked that The Simpsons: Hit & Run never got a follow-up.

Released in 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube, Hit & Run is the best Simpsons game out there next to its arcade beat ’em up. The chaotic follow-up toThe Simpsons: Road Rage took a page out of Grand Theft Auto’s playbook to create the closest thing we’ve ever had to an open-world version of Springfield. Though a sequel was in development once upon a time, that never came to fruition. And with no modern remaster or ports available, there’s no way for modern audiences to experience it legally.

Thankfully, its spirit lives on in Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip. Released last week on PC, the indie charmer is a bite-sized open-world game in the vein of A Short Hike or Little Kitty, Big City. Players take on the role of Tiny Terry, an oddball kid who gets a job driving a car one summer. His parents, who are away on vacation, want him to spend the long months maturing and learning responsibility, but Terry has a different idea in mind.

He wants to go to space.

What ensues is a hilarious — and chaotic– little coming of age story. The adventure begins when Terry gets his job and immediately declares that he’s not going to do it (a Steam achievement quickly confirms that). Instead, he uses his yellow work car to explore a miniature open city looking for collectible junk that can be used to upgrade his car’s turbo boost. Getting enough boost power will allow him to drive up a towering statue in the center of town … which happens to be a functional ramp to the stars.