The Itchy & Scratchy Game

The Itchy & Scratchy Game is a video game developed by Bits Studios and published by Acclaim Entertainment in March 1995 for the mh:awesomegames:Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Gear. It is based on The Itchy & Scratchy Show, an in-universe cartoon show within The Simpsons that parodies Tom & Jerry, but with a mouse trying to kill the cat simply for the hell of it.

Why It Fights and Bites the Player

 * 1) The player has to play as Itchy, the show's villain as he tries to kill Scratchy, the show's victim, for no reason. Playing as Scratchy would at least add novelty to see Itchy finally receive karma.
 * 2) The cover is horrendous. It shows Scratchy having sticks of dynamite in his ears and around his throat, the latter choking him, as Itchy is about to trigger a detonator.
 * 3) The game has violence, bisection and gore, as well as a plethora of chainsaws, axes and flamethrowers, which can be disturbing to little players. The rating? KA (Kids to Adults).
 * 4) * Not to mention, in the game itself, you have to kill Scratchy for no reason at all. The rating should be T instead.
 * 5) The controls are poor for a late SNES and Game Gear game. The jumping control is hideous, Itchy doesn't jump so high at all and has little momentum, so it's boring to jump.
 * 6) The game is short, as there are only seven levels and the game can be completed under 30 minutes. Its length is similiar to Ninjabread Man, though Ninjabread Man has 3 levels instead of 7, and it also came out 10 years after this game.
 * 7) The game feels like a poor man's version of the SNES Tom & Jerry game, only more violent.
 * 8) Scratchy, who is meant to be killed by the player, has bad AI but compensates by having infinite ammo for his weapons, making him easy to beat, but annoying to fight. Plus unlike Tom, he's not even doing anything threatening, meaning the game forces the player to kill an innocent victim.
 * 9) The game is single player only, even though the whole concept of two characters fighting each other with the same weapons would be incredibly easy to add a multiplayer mode to.
 * 10) While the graphics are fine, Scratchy's sprites in the Acclaim logo look like his legs were from Parappa the Rapper.
 * 11) All you do is kill Scratchy, which is mean-spirited and boring as he did nothing to deserve it.
 * 12) The game has absolutely no story to speak of.
 * 13) There isn't even any kind of ending to speak of, it simply goes to the credits.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The soundtrack is good to listen to, mainly on SNES.
 * 2) The graphics are good, with Itchy's sprites being decent.
 * 3) There's some satisfaction in the Game Over sequence where Scratchy repeatedly hits Itchy with his hammer, which can be satisfying for those who hate Itchy and root for Scratchy.

Trivia

 * This was the last Simpsons game to be published by Acclaim Entertainment after their Simpsons license expired and Fox Interactive took the franchise to publish games since 1996.
 * A version for the mh:awesomegames:Sega Genesis was developed, but was never released, though leaked as a rom.