What could possibly go wrong?! Again?!
A little over a year ago, we talked about Bubsy. To make a long story short, this is a solid example of a game that I enjoyed growing up and that I will always love, even if I can see now that it wasn’t especially good. The Bubsy in my mind is a wonderful thing and will always be that way.
The mid-90s saw a rash of “cool and sassy animal platformers” thanks to the popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog. In Sonic‘s case, it more or less built a genre I like to call “Games Played By Kids Who Asked Their Parents for the Game with the Sassy Animal, but Should’ve Been More Specific.” There are a surprising number of these – there’s Aero the Acro-Bat, Radical Rex, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, Gex (a game about a gecko), and, of course, Bubsy. He’s a silly bobcat who makes wisecracks and runs around. Got it? Cool.
This week’s game, Bubsy II, was released in late 1994, about a month after the release of Sonic & Knuckles, for a bit of perspective. Despite the original’s success, they used an entirely new development team for the sequel, which led to a handful of differences. Bubsy still cracks jokes, runs fast, and lacks pants, but not everything is the same as the original.
First, the improvements – a big one right off the bat is that Bubsy has 3 hit points per life now, a very welcome addition to a game where bad guys can appear out of nowhere. game adds a few different features and play styles. Each level has a hidden mini-game or two, which are mildly enjoyable diversions. One such game has you launch frogs into the air to land on…things?
Some levels, as well as mini-games, play like a shoot ’em up instead of a platformer, putting Bubsy in the cockpit of a spaceship:
Perhaps the biggest (and maybe best) difference is that the game is no longer linear – there are a few ‘sections’ of the game world that can be completed in any order, and the levels within each section can also be done in whatever order you like. This is pretty nice, as it’s great to be able to check out any level you want from the get-go. The levels are decently varied as well, in both difficulty and visual style. Each section also has a boss level, which is usually expectedly silly.
Okay, so those are the “improvements” – let’s talk about the rest. The controls feel clunkier to me, though this may just be a case of my familiarity with the original. They’re certainly “tighter” in some sense, though I found them quite difficult to get used to. I popped in my copy of the first Bubsy to make sure I wasn’t just misremembering, but no – it’s very different.
Second, and this is a harder one to explain, but it just doesn’t feel quite like a Bubsy game. It’s all still weird and colorful and packed with goofy enemies, but there are a handful of little things that add up to a different experience. The jokes aren’t as abundant or as clever. The platforming and exploring feels more tedious. It may not seem like a huge deal, but the game’s collectibles have been changed from yarn balls to marbles, ostensibly for story reasons. I really don’t know why this one irks me, but it does – “yarn + bobcat” makes sense and feels like a big part of the game’s identity. “Yarn + marbles” just…doesn’t make any sense. I know they’re both just Collectible Round Things, but dang it it’s not the same.
Last, and certainly not least, is something that didn’t change. Even as a fan, I feel like Bubsy is a series that can’t quite decide what it wants to be. You’ve got a character that can run very fast and make big dynamic jumps, but the game’s level design encourages you to be more thoughtful and deliberate when moving. Those things aren’t especially conducive to death-defying leaps or running around with abandon, and either of those actions can lead you right into the path of an enemy you didn’t know was there.
For better or worse, Bubsy II dares to expand on its predecessor, and it misses as much as it hits. If you liked the first game, or enjoy the character or whatever, this one is certainly worth checking out. If you didn’t like the first game, this one isn’t going to change your mind. Even as a big fan of the original, I had a hard time looking past the game’s issues, despite the games being relatively similar. Maybe this one really is just worse.
Or, perhaps, I just didn’t spend enough time growing up with it.
Our next game is a late 90s sports classic that seems to have come up on the Retro Roulette wheel at an apropos time. You’ll see what I mean text.