Bubsy II

[Melf]

Sonic the Hedgehog ushered in a new age of mascots with attitude, and the world has yet to fully recover. One of the more guilty parties is Bubsy, Accolade's pantless bobcat. In a total of two underwhelming adventures on the Genesis, he singlehandedly showed us why cash-run mascots are the work of the devil. Read the review (http://www.sega-16.com/Bubsy%20II%20review.htm) of his second outing for more of the sorry details.

[Drixxel]

I managed to really enjoy the original Bubsy, but I simply can't deny Bubsy II its mediocrity. A franchise is one thing, but a mascot.. ARRGG

[Genesis Knight]

A friend has the original Bubsy, so I can vouch for its infinite crappiness. The experience of dying are over and over and over is what keeps me from II.

[tim333]

Trust me, II is a lot better than the first one. As I said in my review, though, it's still pretty uninspired.

[Genesis Knight]

So neither are really worth the effort of tracking them down and dishing out the money.

[tim333]

Right.

[Drixxel]

C'mon, Bubsy 1 isn't that terrible of a game. Sure, you'll suffer from frequent deaths if you're unfamiliar with the enemy placement in the levels and/or the game's inertia-based control, but once you get the hang of it, Bubsy's really not that challenging. I can see why people dislike it I suppose, but I played that game extensively when I was younger and to this day pop 'er in and enjoy it from time to time. If you think Bubsy 1 is freakshow of slaughter, you should make it a personal crusade to obliterate every last copy of Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales for the Atari Jaguar, for it is one of the most heinous, sloppy, and unfair platformers to ever be vomitted upon the gaming populace. Once you're done with that, go after Bubsy 3D... please.

So, err.. in summary, I think maybe everyone has been a little unjust towards Bubsy 1. But maybe I am beyond all hope. You still have one fan, Bubsy!... Bobcat forever!...

[Genesis Knight]

Wow. That almost brought me to tears. Almost.

But seriously, some of my worst Genny memories are the final level of Bubsy 1.

[Drixxel]

Oh yes, the game is endowed with the powers of Satan from time to time, and Bubsy is ever so fragile. The last level of the game on the Woolie spaceship, with all of its teleporting around, surprising enemy locations, and sanity blasting final boss, is a premium example of that combo. Ah well.. the journey up to that point is a-okay in my books.

[Melf]

I simply refuse to trust a feline that doesn't wear pants. It's worked for me thus far. :P

[Genesis Knight]

I never ever saw the final boss. Threw the cart at my friend first.

"I simply refuse to trust a feline that doesn't wear pants. It's worked for me thus far."

Sigged.

[Drixxel]

But.. but.. what about "America's Funniest Feline," Garfield?! What about his antics..!? I mean, he's told constantly not to eat John's food, but then, (get this).. he does! I hope that gives you a taste of the good life your prejudices have robbed you of, Melf.

[Genesis Knight]

:lol:

[tim333]

I seem to remember enjoying the Bubsy games when I was a kid - I guess I was too young to know any better. The first game is awful, and the second, while having some enjoyable things in it, gets boring after a while.

Actually, what makes the first game so terrible, for me, isn't the incredibly cheap deaths (although they sure help), it's actually the worst jump control I've ever seen in a commercially released platformer game. When I jump, Bubsy actually moves backwards. Backwards! This, to me, is a game-breaking problem.

[Genesis Knight]

The physics were awful.

[Drixxel]

I prefer to think of them as "unique."

[Genesis Knight]

Uniquely annoying.

[tim333]

Zing!

[Drixxel]

...Bubsy 1 is good! Good, I say!

[Dartagnan1083]

I think a 5 is far too generous.

I've played the original (heck, I even have a copy)
but I've beaten the sequel (euro version) and think it's inferior.

You're essentially playing the same 5-6 levels and fighting the same boss 5-6 times.
At least levels changed in the original.

[Genesis Knight]

"...Bubsy 1 is good! Good, I say!"

Sigged.

[tim333]

To me, Bubsy I was so unplayable I wondered if my cart was defective. I got some enjoyment out of the sequel, though, and a 5 seemed fair to me.

[Dartagnan1083]

well it was your review, so that gives you the freedom to flip us the bird and give a 6 if you want.

I was just giving my opinion.
that's all ;)

[16bitter]

I remember Bubsy as a good platformer, but Bubsy 2... :shock: :lol:


Didn't it have the same five ugly levels repeating themselves over and over again? My memory may be faulty because I only rented it once and, because of what I recall as the lazy repetitious structure, can't remember how far I got.

The only thing that slightly saved it, in a schlocky B-movie way, was playing it with another person. Running artound the level like a chicken with your head cut off while the other player shot the Nerf gun didn't seem that lacking in entertainment but, then again, maybe I'm a retard. Certainly there wasn't 50 bucks worth of entertainment, but I managed to wring some out of that rental which is more than I can say for quite a few others.

[Foodlebunny]

I was overcome with a fit of masochistic nostalgia, so I thought I'd see if Bubsy was still being discussed on the web. And it is! And some people said Bubsy II was only mediocre. That was so much nicer than the magazine that used the word "sucked" five times in their review when it was first released. I'm glad that some enjoyed it; know why the complainers complain. I think some are chalking up flaws to corporate lust for money. That wasn't it. It was sheer buffoonery during the production process. Now you know.

(I had nothing to do with the Atari version.)

- One of the Bubsy production team

[StRiDA CoL]

Come on guys

I may be new to this forum but,

BUBSY 1 WASENT THAT TERRRIBLE

it did have cheap deaths but so did Contra:hard corps (awesome run n gun) and people like that game

Bubsy 3/5
good graphics and sound and music
but chaep deaths

[Drixxel]

I was overcome with a fit of masochistic nostalgia, so I thought I'd see if Bubsy was still being discussed on the web. And it is! And some people said Bubsy II was only mediocre. That was so much nicer than the magazine that used the word "sucked" five times in their review when it was first released. I'm glad that some enjoyed it; know why the complainers complain. I think some are chalking up flaws to corporate lust for money. That wasn't it. It was sheer buffoonery during the production process. Now you know.

(I had nothing to do with the Atari version.)

- One of the Bubsy production team

Well cool. It's always interesting to hear from the people behind the games.. and if you were one of the righteous chaps who worked on the original Bubsy, I salute you.

[16bitter]

I concur. Also, what were you guys smoking while making Bubsy II? I assume it was good? What are the prices like?

[j_factor]

I still think Bubsy 2 wasn't nearly as bad as the first. The first one had terrible controls, and stupid deaths.

[Drixxel]

Bubsy 2 is such a bland, boring game though.. at least Bubsy 1 has a certain charm and variety.

[j_factor]

Bubsy 2 is such a bland, boring game though.. at least Bubsy 1 has a certain charm and variety.

I agree that Bubsy 2 is bland, but bland isn't as bad as overtly pissing me off. :P

[Drixxel]

Haha, fair enough.

...why the hell did Accolade feel they needed a mascot, anyway? And good lord, why did they stick with one that was so universally loathed as my most trusted bobcat? I mean, I'm as much a fan of Bubsy 1 as any chemically imbalanced youth of the '90s could be, but the rest of the franchise is a steamy heap o' turd that if anything only spattered the face of gaming with rich feces. That's it, a planned expedition into the past to erase Bubsy from history is the only true solution. The bad far overwhelms the good!

"The '90s need your help!™"

[Foodlebunny]

Bubsy 1 was a people killer. I can't even list how many it drove to madness or at least, I assume that's why folks went running down the halls tearing their hair out and screaming of bats, and then nice men came and took them away to live somewhere quiet and pleasant.

Bubsy 2 lost Scott Williamson on programming, which was a mistake. While he was a pain in the butt in some ways, who isn't? Bubsy 2 had two new programmers, and it showed. There was no way to test a level's game play until they chose to incorporate changes, which they wouldn't do for several days, being busy with other parts of the code. On Bubsy 1, incorporating enemies and rewards in a level was an overnight process, so the levels were played and played and played, with adjustments happening each day. Bubsy 2, the levels were laid out with a best guess with how they'd play, but there was little to no time to adjust and tweak to get just the right bounce and feel. The mini-games disappointed me most. They should have been short, sweet, and simple but I find them to be mainly frustrating in their mechanics. Bubsy 2 also managed to drive several members of the production team completely crazy. I think that having "What could possibly go wrong?" as a slogan was a mistake from the start. Tempting fate is always risky.

RE: smokables. I would not say that was much of an influence, but I will say the Bubsy design team was thrown out of several local restaurants for having too good a time for too long, and also for doodling on the table cloths.

Ah, well. The poor little Bubster had his moments. The art in Bubsy 2 is my favorite, the game play in Bubsy 1. My favorite Bubsy production moment was seeing the first prototype Bubsy stuffed toy that came back from Korea. There were some slight variations from the sketches. For one, the exclamation mark on his T-shirt was upside down. For another, his eyes had a glazed, demonic look, much like Chucky right before a kill, and his head fur was attached in mangy patches, as though someone had been gnawing at it. All stood in slience wondering what to say till one of the artists exclaimed, "Look! It's Chernobyl Bubsy!"

That was not the version that was put into production. :-)

[Foodlebunny]

Haha, fair enough.

...why the hell did Accolade feel they needed a mascot, anyway? And good lord, why did they stick with one that was so universally loathed as my most trusted bobcat? I mean, I'm as much a fan of Bubsy 1 as any chemically imbalanced youth of the '90s could be, but the rest of the franchise is a steamy heap o' turd that if anything only spattered the face of gaming with rich feces. That's it, a planned expedition into the past to erase Bubsy from history is the only true solution. The bad far overwhelms the good!

"The '90s need your help!™"

Thanks, a lot. Sigh. Another few months with a therapist, and I should be able to go back outdoors again...

[Drixxel]

I can't speak for the other dudes here, but I'd be very interested to hear more about the madness during the development of Bubsy 1 and 2. If you'd be willing, Foodlebunny, your Accolade tales would make an intriguing article for this site, and it might even help the masses understand the sordid truths behind that ol' bobcat.

Did you work on any other games besides Bubsy 1 and 2, Foodlebunny?

[j_factor]

We should turn Foodlebunny's testimony into an interview article on the site. This is pretty interesting.

[16bitter]

I liked Bubsy 1 a hell of alot. I thought it was a pretty nice game in amongst the glut of 2D mascot platformers during the time -- I definitely thought it was a cut above.

Which is what made all the sequels so painfully pathetic. I have some vague, disturbing memories of Bubsy 3D. *shudder*

[Foodlebunny]

We should turn Foodlebunny's testimony into an interview article on the site. This is pretty interesting.

Interesting is one word for it. For me, it's memories like entering the testing room at 3am to find the two leads asleep on the floor. They'd been working for over 48 hours straight and even strong young men in their twenties will pass out from exhaustion at some point.

The day we released it, I was in the elevator with both programmers, the lead testers, and the art director. Everyone was silent and most were slumped against a wall for support. Looking into their haggard faces, I suddenly realized where I'd seen people look like that before -- in pictures of POWs taken after years of physical abuse. We were all suffering from the later stages of long-term sleep deprivation. It's really a miracle no one physically collapsed but more than one really did emotionally breakdown in the weeks that followed.

That was the real problem with Bubsy 2, and the real problem with most games that wind up hitting the shelves even though they are not all they were meant to be -- production pressures. The game *must* be released in time for Christmas, or the media and gamers believe it is turning into vaporware, and the market position gets taken by games that did release on schedule. Releasing a game in February is not considered the savviest of sales moves, though I think a it's a mistake to put a timely release above releasing a good game.

Bubsy 2 could have been the game it should have been, but it would have taken giving the entire team two weeks off to sleep and become human again, then perhaps another four months -- at best -- to completely fix the mechanics of Bubsy's motion through space so it was as lively as Bubsy 1. Tweaking enemy and reward placement, and adjusting flight path through the levels could have been done concurrently, until it damn well was fun.

But it could never happen. It wasn't even proposed. The expense of production was already outrageous, especially by Accolade's standards. Game studios are not movie studios and, at the time, having a high six-digit budget was already enough to put a serious financial dent in the company's assests. Asking another four months would have been out of the question, and getting the team to work on it another four months, when all were as burnt as burnt can be would have caused a riot. Delaying twenty-four hours to fix a fatal bug caused several department heads to have fits, as it was.

That's life in the gaming world. I think that's why some of the best, breakaway games are generated by a single visionary. When you know just what you want to accomplish, and it's a labor of love so you put all the time into it needs, you can produce something truly spectacular. Then take it to a publisher. Or so it seems to me.

[GeckoYamori]

Thanks for the insight, I don't think I'll have to worry much about the quality of Duke Nukem Forever anymore :)

[Foodlebunny]

Thanks for the insight, I don't think I'll have to worry much about the quality of Duke Nukem Forever anymore :)

:lol: There are limits. You do want to release a game while the operating system that plays it still exists.

[ary incorparated]

here in the dutch we saved a name for someone taht once wanted to sell that game in a gameshop,we call him Buttspleet 2 that means Butt string.This sucks really hard also does my english a bit.

[ary incorparated]

BTW i never passed out i had a few days sleep to short,one time i hadnt slept for 3 days in a row making homework,I was working at A eletronic company and i still was a bit wake at the last day,dont know how i survived that but i did.