Honestly, if you grew up in the early 90s, you probably remember the sheer avalanche of terrible Simpsons games. It was a dark time. We had Bart failing to stop space mutants and Bart getting lost in a nightmare, and most of them were, let's be real, pretty garbage. But then there was Krusty's Super Fun House. It was different. While everything else was a clunky platformer trying to ride the coattails of Mario, this game was essentially a digital Rube Goldberg machine where you murdered rats.
It’s weirdly charming. And kind of dark if you think about it too long.
You play as Krusty the Clown, but you aren't exactly doing stand-up. Your "fun house" is infested with purple rats, and your only job is to lead these rodents to their grisly deaths. You don’t jump on them. You don't shoot them. Instead, you move blocks, set up pipes, and use fans to guide them into elaborate traps operated by the rest of the Simpson family. It’s basically Lemmings but with a clown and a lot more extermination.
The Secret History of the Rat Trap
Most people don't know this, but Krusty’s Super Fun House wasn't even supposed to be a Simpsons game. It’s actually a "reskin."
The original game was called Rat-Trap, developed by a company called Audiogenic for the Commodore 64 and Amiga. Acclaim, the kings of licensed shovelware back then, saw it and realized they could slap Krusty’s face on the main character and call it a day. It’s a classic move. They swapped out the generic pink-haired protagonist for Krusty, added some posters of Kent Brockman, and suddenly they had a hit.
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This is why the game feels so "un-Simpsons" in some ways. Why are there flying pigs? Why are there aliens shooting lasers? Why is Krusty fighting snakes in a fun house? None of it makes sense in the context of the show, but as a puzzle game, it actually works.
Versions and Where to Play
If you’re looking to revisit this, you’ve got options. But they aren't all created equal.
- The 16-Bit Titans: The SNES and Genesis versions are the ones labeled "Super." They have the best colors and the music—which is admittedly a loop of circus-techno madness—sounds the "best" here.
- The 8-Bit Ports: On the NES, Game Boy, and Game Gear, it’s just called Krusty's Fun House. These are stripped down. The levels are smaller, and the graphics are... well, they're NES graphics.
- The DOS Version: This one is a bit of a cult classic for PC gamers, though it lacks some of the console polish.
How the Puzzles Actually Work
The gameplay loop is simple but gets devious fast. Each level is a series of rooms. You enter a room, find the rats, and find the trap. The rats just walk in a straight line until they hit a wall. If they hit a wall, they turn around. That's it.
You have to be the architect of their demise. You’ll find a block, pick it up, and place it so the rat can climb a ledge. Or you’ll find a piece of a pipe and drop it into a gap so the rats don't fall into a pit. Once they reach the end of the path, a Simpson family member—Homer, Bart, or even Sideshow Mel—operates a machine to finish them off.
It gets hard. Like, "throw your controller across the room" hard.
Later levels introduce jars where you have to trap individual rats and carry them to the trap yourself. If you mess up the placement of a block and a rat falls into a permanent hole, you can’t finish the level. You have to exit, lose a life, and restart the whole room. It’s unforgiving.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Difficulty
People often say the game is "broken" because of the difficulty spikes. It’s not broken; it’s just designed with 1992 logic. Back then, games had to be hard so you wouldn't beat them in a single weekend rental from Blockbuster.
One thing that still trips people up is the health system. Krusty doesn't have a health bar on the screen. Instead, his physical appearance changes. If he starts looking tired or pouting, you’re one hit away from death. It’s a subtle touch for a 16-bit game, honestly.
The Password Problem
The game doesn't have a save battery. You get passwords. But here’s the kicker: you only get a password after clearing an entire section, which can be 10 to 15 rooms. If you’re on room 14 and you run out of lives, you’re going back to the beginning of the section. It’s a grind.
Actionable Tips for New (or Returning) Players
If you’re firing this up on an emulator or digging out your old SNES, keep these things in mind:
- Kick the lilac blocks: These often hold hidden items or open up secret areas. Don't just walk past them.
- Master the "Staircase": You can stack blocks diagonally to create a staircase for rats. This is the bread and butter of later puzzles.
- The "Joshua" Cheat: If you’re playing the SNES version and just want to see the later levels without the pain, use the password "JOSHUA." It lets you access any level and gives you infinite lives.
- Watch the Rat Traps: Each section has a different execution method. Homer fries them with electricity, while Sideshow Mel pumps them full of air until they pop. It’s morbidly creative.
Krusty's Super Fun House remains one of the few Simpsons games from that era that is actually worth playing today as a standalone puzzle experience. It’s weird, it’s frustrating, and the music will haunt your dreams, but it’s a genuine piece of gaming history that proves even a "lazy reskin" can be a solid game if the core mechanics are right.
To get the most out of it today, try playing the SNES version via an emulator with "Save States" enabled. This solves the brutal password system and lets you enjoy the puzzles without the 1992-style punishment of restarting hour-long sections.