A very dedicated fan has taken it upon themselves to create a remaster mod for The Simpsons: Hit & Run, but the most impressive thing is that they have hand-drawn all of the cutscenes as well, and they look unbelievable. This isn’t the first time that a modder has experimented with this classic though, but it might be the best one yet.
The name of the fan is El Gato Del Tejado (well, that’s his YouTube name anyway) and they have videoed all their progress so far and uploaded it onto the platform. The video shows the complications that occur when remastering a near two-decade-old game on your lonesome – a tricky task, we’re sure. The biggest issue that faced Mr. El Gato came when trying to develop the cutscenes, cutscenes that are in 3D in the 2003 original.
Mr. El Gato said in the video that “I would love to see the cutscenes of Hit & Run with current 3D technology like in the Crash Bandicoot remake or Battle for Bikini Bottom. I don’t have much experience in 3D animation, so it’s better to choose 2D.”
The mysterious YouTube user tried to explain that they attempted to use rotoscoping – a technique used by animators to trace over footage frame by frame – but this only really worked for the game’s backgrounds and couldn’t be used for the characters themselves. So, the decision was made to draw them by hand, this means that instead of the 3D style used in the game, the new cutscenes will be far more reminiscent of what you would see in The Simpsons series. You can take a look at El Gato’s drawings here.
El Gato will also be updating the original 3D look of the game, including new textures and adjusting certain character models that give them a more modern look. Everyone knows that this won’t be a quick turnaround, and El Gato hasn’t offered a timescale as of yet, but going off what we’ve seen so far, the results will be pretty magnificent. If you want to help fund the project then El Gato has opened up a Patreon that you can willingly donate to.
