Noise Land Video Arcade

Noise Land Video Arcade
One of the many looks of the Arcade.
Years active	?-Present
Number of games	2-3 dozen?
Located	U. S. A.
Status	Active

Background[]

The Simpsons is the longest running animated comedy series of all time, debuting in 1989 and is slated to continue its run until at least the year 2021. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield, where the majority of its residents are yellow-skinned and have four fingers on each hand. It is named after the Simpsons family of the husband and wife team of Homer and Marge and their three children of Lisa (smart), Bart (below average student and troublemaker) and baby Maggie, plus many other characters and events that are intertwined with their lives are also showcased.

The Noise Land Video Arcade in Springfield has been shown in several episodes during the years, along with also appearing in the theatrically-released The Simpsons Movie.

The arcade, patrons and employees[]

One of the employees of the arcade was Jeremy Freedman, a character who has been seen throughout the years in various dead-end jobs on the show. The arcade has been shown to under surveillance by at least two employees who listen in on conversations and home in on any patrons who state they are out of money. If this happens, Code Red is instigated and the broke clients are escorted out. A Donkey Kong mascot has also been seen outside the facility promoting it, appearing once in an early episode, but then years later on "The Springfield Files", a sign tells of meeting the mascot that Friday. However, due to not drawing any attention, he is smoking a cigarette, and one of the employees, Raphael, says that he is no longer a draw, so Kong throws a barrel at him.

An unnamed, wisecracking employee has manned the change booth, who was seen in the "Moaning Lisa" episode, as Homer was tired of being berated by Bart for constantly losing the home port of the Super Slugfest game. Homer said he needed quarters to do his laundry, which the employee didn’t believe. When Homer asked where the “boxing game” was and the employee directed him to it, he told Homer he actually would be better off doing his laundry after all, due to the huge crowd of children around the machine, one of which told Homer of the kid currently playing it (named Howard) of all the victories he had scored on just one quarter. Once Howard beat his current opponent and asked who was next, Homer had to convince Howard to train him in his unbeatable skills. Howard only accepted if Homer would bark like a dog, which he did. Later, Howard informed Homer that it looked like he was out of quarters, which Homer replied it was okay due to the lesson he would soon be teaching Bart with his newly-learned skills that he was about to use for the home version of the game.

During the "Boy Scoutz 'n the Hood" episode, Bart is seen playing the Panamanian Strongman game. When he complains to his friend Milhouse Van Houten after his game ends that he's out of money, this alerts two arcade employees in a back room to activate Code Red and Freedman asks them to leave. In the "Bart Gets an 'F'" episode, Bart is seen playing the Escape from Grandma’s House game. In "The War of the Simpsons" episode, Bart made Grampa Simpson (Homer’s father) chauffeur them to Krusty Burger, a local hangout, and then to the Arcade. In the "Flanders Failed" episode, Bart started taking up karate, but the class wasn’t what he thought it would be, so he played the karate-themed Touch of Death video game at the Arcade instead as he cut class. In "The Real Housewives of Fat Tony" episode, Homer, Bart and Lisa were waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles to get Homer's driving license renewed. Bart spotted the Noise Land Arcade across the street, which prompted Homer to leave Bart and Lisa in the DMV line and go there himself. This wasted Bart and Lisa's last day of summer vacation. It was also revealed in this episode that birthday parties could be held at the arcade.

In The Simpsons Movie, due to Springfield becoming the most polluted city in the country, a dome was placed over the town, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the area. As the days wore on with supplies dwindling and stress mounting, the residents trashed the majority of Springfield, including the Arcade. However, the Arcade was seen in later television episodes, indicating it, as well as the town, was rebuilt.

Most of the kids in Springfield have visited the Arcade throughout the years.

Prominent games[]

Several games were shown briefly during various episodes.

Escape From Grandma's House I-III–Bart is seen playing the original game during the "Bart Gets an 'F'" episode. The first and second game is seen during "Moaning Lisa", and Escape From Grandma's House III: The Great Thanksgiving Disaster appears during "The Bart Book" episode.
Fruit Shoot–Bart and Homer are seen playing this game during "The Book Job" episode. The two are talking to each other in code, as Homer tries to convince Bart to join with him to group-write a children's fantasy novel. At the end of the game, when Bart is asked to enter his name for the high score, he writes "I'm in".
Kevin Costner's Waterworld–known for the real-life movie’s huge budget at the time of release, this video game was no different, costing 40 quarters ($10 U. S.) to play, which the player could take a couple of steps at the beginning, then the game would end and ask for more money to be deposited so play could continue.
Larry the Looter–shown in play at another arcade, being the Wall E. Weasel's (see Trivia section below).
Pack Rat–this game, along with Pack Rat II, have been shown at the arcade.
Panamanian Strongman–Bart is seen playing this game real briefly during the "Boy Scoutz 'n the Hood" episode, where his Strongman is like King Kong at the top of a building. Bart performs the wrong move and the Strongman falls to his death, causing the game to end, which a likeliness of U. S. President George Bush appears and states that "winners don’t use drugs".
Super Slugfest–Shown during the "Moaning Lisa" episode, this is a one-on-one violent boxing game where a boxer can knock the other's head off, killing him and ending the round and/or game. Homer learns tips from local champ Howard, which in turn led Homer to severely improve on the home version of the game the next time he played Bart.

Known games, video[]

All games are fictitious and run on quarters.

Aloen
Catakiller 2
Click Clack
Dance Fever '97
Dougie Houser: The Game
Eat My Shorts
Escape From Grandma's House
Escape from Grandma's House II
Escape From Grandma's House III: The Great Thanksgiving Disaster
Freeway!
Fruit Shoot
Futurama
Itchy vs. Scratchy
Kevin Costner's Waterworld
Krusty's Carnival of Kash
Larry the Looter
My Dinner with Andre
Nuclear Winter
Nurse
Pack Rat
Pack Rat II
Panamanian Strongman
Prince of Persia:Beverly Hills
Robert Goulet Destroyer
Satan's Funhouse
Shark Bait
Smite of the Bumble Bee
Super Slugfest
Terminator
Time Waster
Touch of Death
Triangle Wars
View Master

(others)[]

Air Hockey
Basketball skill game
Skee-ball

Trivia[]

It is assumed that the arcade is very prosperous, as its entrance, if not its entire building has changed many times over the years.
Several games shown have ties with The Simpsons, such as Eat My Shorts, which is a saying that Bart has stated many times during the years when disgusted. Futurama was another animated sitcom produced by the same real-life studio. Itchy vs. Scratchy is in regards to the fictitious, violent Itchy and Scratchy cartoon show that has been seen on The Simpsons for many years (which is a favorite of Bart’s). Krusty's Carnival of Kash is in regards to local legend Krusty the Clown character.
The Noise Land Video Arcade is one of several standalone arcades or entertainment centers that included game rooms in their setup that has been shown on The Simpsons over the years. Other arcades/centers shown in various episodes also include Wall E. Weasel's (where Larry the Looter was also seen and played), Family Fun Center, Captain Blip's Zapateria (which Triangle Wars was also seen at this arcade), Elm Street Video Arcade, Testoster-Zone and the Zip Zap and 'Za Pizza Arcade.
Larry the Looter was made into a real-life flash game by GumpyFunction with similar graphics and game mechanics as depicted in the "Radio Bart" episode.
In the "Boy Scoutz ‘n the Hood" episode, Bart and Milhouse Van Houten are shown real briefly in the arcade’s roped-off V. I. P. section, along with a butler (see Gallery below). However, this occurred during a sugar rush when Bart and Van Houten downed a Super Slurp-E made of 100% corn syrup from the local Qwik-E-Mart convenience store, so this area could have just been a hallucination.
The similarly-named Pack Rat was an actual video game by Atari. Another real life game of theirs, Asteroids, was also shown during an episode, which Homer proclaimed "I love you, Atari." Prince of Persia was also a real life game released on multiple platforms, along with the similarly-named Freeway for the Atari 2600.
In the "Today, I Am a Clown" episode, it is shown that at some point Homer took Santa's Little Helper, their dog, to a prostitute so it can copulate with the prostitute's dog before Helper got neutered. Homer then asks the prostitute if they could play air hockey at the Arcade. She agreed, but for "$350 an hour". This has been the only time during the entire series (as of 2019) that air hockey was mentioned and shown.
The Arcade was also shown in the following real-life video games available on various platforms over the years: The Simpsons Road Rage, The Simpsons: Hit and Run, The Simpsons Game, The Simpsons: Tapped Out and The Simpsons arcade game.

Gallery[]

This arcade was featured in June, 2016.