Simpsons: Hit & Run Is Stuck in Rights Limbo — This Gorgeous Futurama Conversion Mod Is the Next Best Thing
It’s blowing up — and even Hit & Run’s OG lead designer has taken notice.
Simpsons: Hit & Run is still trapped in early-2000s console purgatory, but the mod scene refuses to let it die. Case in point: someone finally did the obvious and turned it into a Futurama game, and yes, it looks exactly like the thing your brain has been quietly wishing for.
So, what is it?
A team of modders calling themselves Slurm Team dropped a launch trailer and a playable demo for their total conversion, Futurama: Hit & Run, today. It basically reskins and rebuilds Hit & Run into New New York, with the vibe and detail of the show dialed way up. The trailer leans hard on those unmistakable bells from the Futurama theme while Fry tears around the city.
- Fry is your guy: running, jumping, and driving all over New New York
- Locations include the streets, rooftops, and the sewers
- Professor Farnsworth pops up, idling around like he is about to hand you a mission
The trailer did numbers fast and even pulled in a nod from a familiar name: the original lead designer of Hit & Run saw it and chimed in.
"As the lead designer of the original game, I can only say... this looks awesome! I want to play it."
- Joe McGinn
How to play it
The demo is up on Mod Bakery, but there is a catch: you need a copy of the original The Simpsons: Hit & Run to run it. If you have the game, you are good to go.
Why this stings (and why mods like this exist)
There is still no official way to play Hit & Run on modern platforms. The original shipped on OG Xbox and PS2 and never got a proper re-release. Part of the problem is the rights spaghetti: the game was published by Vivendi, Vivendi got folded into Activision, and Activision is now under Microsoft. Meanwhile Disney owns The Simpsons as an IP. Put all that together and it is not obvious who controls the publishing rights to this specific game, which keeps any remaster or port stuck in limbo.
To make it more maddening, a developer from the team has said they were positioned to make three sequels without paying extra for the license, but someone at the publisher pulled the plug. So yeah, the alternate universe where this series kept going has been haunting fans for years.
Until someone untangles that mess, this Futurama overhaul is the closest thing to a new Hit & Run we are getting. And honestly? It looks like a blast.