If you’ve been frequenting the internet of late, you’ve likely come across an appropriately ridiculous meme. No, not VRChat’s somewhat controversial Ugandan Knuckles, but classic Simpsons reference Steamed Hams.
They might not be Steamed Hams, but they’re probably still good – check out our list of the best PC games.
Steamed Hams started life as a skit from the 1996 Simpsons episode ‘22 short films about Springfield’, in which the action largely departs from the Simpsons themselves to tell a series of quick stories about the residents of their hometown. In the original clip, which you can watch above, Principal Skinner’s attempts to treat Superintendent Chalmers to an “unforgettable luncheon” go awry, and he has to act quickly to save the situation.
While the clip has been a popular Simpsons meme for several years, in recent months its reach has grown, spawning a wide variety of edits, many of which have been posted on YouTube. Notable amongst them are Runescape, Hotline Miami, and Metal Gear Solid versions of the skit.
Not content with simply re-hashing the joke, two game creators have made their own versions. ‘Steamed Hams but it’s a Visual Novel Made Entirely with Stock Art’, is, as the name suggests, a simple visual novel depicting Skinner and Chalmers as generic anime boys, hosted on Newgrounds.
The second version, Steamed Hams but it’s a playable 2D indie game, is a pixel-art recreation of the scene, and actually allows for some significant interaction. The game, which was developed by Daniel ‘MonsterJail’ McFarline and which you can download on itch.io (not Steam, because “it’s obviously been grilled”), allows you to choose between six different endings. You can watch a full playthrough in the video embedded below.