There was once a time when we consistently got new video games based on The Simpsons. It was nice. Sure, not all the games were great, but hey, not every episode of Fox’s long-running animated sitcom is good, either, and I still love it. These days, we don’t get any new Simpsons games. It sucks. But whatever, The Simpsons: Hit and Run, the best Simpsons game ever made, came out years ago, and while it’s never received an official modern port, remaster, or rerelease, there are a few different ways to play this open-world classic. Some are better than others. All of them are a little tricky, but worth it.
The best way to play The Simpsons: Hit and Run
By far the best way to enjoy The Simpsons: Hit and Run in 2026 is by using Donut Team’s fantastic custom PC launcher. Donut Team is a group of modders who have spent over a decade making it easy to play the crappy PC port of The Simpsons: Hit and Run on modern computers while also adding new features, mod support, bug fixes, and much, much more.
But, there’s one caveat here that needs to be addressed: You are going to have to find a copy of The Simpsons: Hit and Run on PC. This isn’t easy or cheap, with sealed box copies of the game’s PC version being sold on sites like eBay for over $70 or more. There might be other ways to find a copy of Hit and Run online that will work perfectly with Donut Team’s launcher, but I won’t be linking you to that stuff here. You all know how to use the internet and probably track down a copy of a long-out-of-print PC game that many consider abandonware. I’ll just go over here, shuffle these papers, and look the other way.
Regardless of how you got your copy of The Simpsons: Hit and Run installed on your PC, that’s all you need to make the modded launcher work. Go download it from the modder’s official site, install it, point it to your installation file of Hit and Run, and boom, you are playing the best Simpsons game ever with modern controller support, improved visuals, and plenty of bug fixes. Pretty cool!
If you want to expand the game further, you can then hop over to Donut Team’s large selection of Hit and Run mods. These add new vehicles, characters, missions, features, and much more to the classic open-world game. Someone has even ported the map from The Simpsons: Road Rage (a less good Crazy Taxi clone) into Hit and Run complete with new missions. Or you can just turn Hit and Run into a Futurama game. Wild stuff.
How to play The Simpsons: Hit and Run on Steam Deck
Oh, but wait, it gets better! Donut Team’s launcher and mods work on Steam Deck. I won’t even pretend that you can use a real disc version of the game on Steam Deck, but again, you are clever and will figure that out. Anyway, as shown in this video, you can get Simpsons: Hit and Run working on Steam Deck using Donut Team’s tools, and it’s awesome. It isn’t as easy as just downloading it off Steam, though. You’ll have to tinker with desktop mode and move files between folders. But it is worth it. So worth it.
I’ve had Hit and Run installed on my Deck for like two years now, and let me tell you, it’s so nice. Being able to boot up the game anytime and anywhere I want on a device like the Steam Deck is like having an old friend I can run to whenever my day gets rough. And the game looks great and runs well on the device out of the box. With some extra tweaking, however, you can make it even better. And yes, you can get mods working on Steam Deck, too, but again, you’ll have to do some tweaking and desktop-mode shenanigans.
Playing The Simpsons: Hit and Run via emulation
Perhaps you want a more console-like, classic experience. Well, lucky for you, The Simpsons: Hit and Run is super easy to emulate via PCXS2 or Dolphin. Once again, I trust you are ripping your own discs and playing a legal copy, of course.
Anyway, playing Hit and Run via emulation comes with some limitations to how crisp it can look, and you don’t get all the cool quality-of-life mods and tweaks found in the updated, fan-developed PC port we talked about above. But you do get a more classic experience that will likely line up closer to what you remember from when you first played the game back on the PlayStation 2 or GameCube. These days, with Donut Team’s tools becoming so good, most people who replay the game on PC don’t emulate anymore, but hey, I’m not your dad. If you want to relive your past, emulate away.
The worst way to play The Simpsons: Hit and Run
I own a copy of The Simpsons: Hit and Run on PS2. (Not my original copy. That’s long gone.) The thing is, I’ve never played my copy because I own a powerful PC and Steam Deck, and it’s much easier and nicer playing the game on those platforms than on original hardware. There’s really no benefit to playing the game this way, unless you are speedrunning it on console.
Lugging out an old PlayStation 2, finding a copy of the game that works, hooking it all up, and playing Hit and Run on an OG console might be a fun way to relive some nostalgic memories. Perhaps order a pizza and call over some friends for a late-night gaming session. Beyond that, I’m not sure there’s much reason in 2026 to jump through the hoops needed to play The Simpsons: Hit and Run on original hardware when you look at all the other, better ways to play it.
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