The Simpsons has been on the air for 486 episodes in 22 seasons and the show shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. But in the classic years of The Simpsons, just before Bart faced Space Mutants on the NES, we got the classic arcade game we called The Simpsons Arcade Game. It was a side-scrolling beat-em ‘up where Mr. Burns and Smithers steal a diamond and when they run into The Simpsons, the diamond falls into Maggie’s mouth leading Smithers and Burns to kidnap Maggie. The Simpsons must rescue Maggie by beating up everyone who stands in their way. With the classic X-Men game on XBLA, surely this could lead to further old Konami arcade games to come there too.

What should change:

Drop-in/drop-out online co-op – When you can’t have the home arcade experience of four people around one side with a Simpsons member to themselves, having online co-op will solve the problem. You’ll be able to control Bart with his skateboard while someone jumps in as Lisa with her skipping rope in a matter of seconds in the game.

Widescreen mode – While changing the graphics and giving them an HD face-look might not be the best idea, making the graphics smoother and more fitting to your widescreen television would benefit greatly. The backgrounds of Springfield would pop out more and look way more animated then ever before.

What should stay the same:

The gameplay – A good beat-em ‘up has always done well on Xbox Live Arcade. From classics like X-Men to recent hits like Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim players just love to button mash. The Simpsons Arcade is no different. With Homer punching guys to Marge using a vacuum cleaner and Bart and Lisa using child toys to take out the hired goons of Burns.

The humor – Since the game came out during the show’s second season in 1991, the humor to some might have not aged as well or is a little too old-fashioned for people who didn’t watch the show during its inception. But all the classics of “Ay Carumba” to Smithers not being yellow originally are all there and should be intact for historical sense.

Why it would succeed:

The Simpsons are one of the most iconic families in pop-culture, and having this classic game from arcades in the confines of your home would be excellent. The 4-player co-op would inspire great brawls and the mini-games between levels would add a great deal of competition. This game is still better than pretty much all of the Simpsons games in the catalog so why not have one of the best ones ever? It would be so S-M-R-T…I mean S-M-A-R-T.