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Bubsy. If there is any name that brings dread and hatred to gamers, it’s Bubsy. In the entire history of gaming, I don’t think there’s any series that has as much undeserved hatred as the Bubsy series. Ever since I can remember, I’ve seen nothing but negativity and vitriol towards this series: From AVGN to JonTron to even Top Ten lists of the Worst anything, it seems Bubsy was destined to be the internet’s punching bag. And yet? Yet, there still seems to be a fan base, as evident by the upcoming release of Bubsy 4D and the release of the topic for this review: Bubsy In: The Purr-Fect Collection, the latest collection release from Limited Run Games and Atari. Now, I have never played any of these games before this collection came out. Heck, I never knew of their existence until the rise of sites like YouTube and the early days of game reviewers, as well as sites like GameTrailers, so back then? The most I knew about the series was that they were bad. Yet, in the back of my mind, I always wanted to try these games and actually see if they were terrible or not as bad as people made them out to be. Well, after finally trying the games for myself, I can safely and quite honestly say: These are not terrible and I don’t think they are deserving of their infamous reputation. In fact, I actually really liked the games and think they might be actual hidden gems.
“What Could Paw-ssibly Go Wrong?”
But before we get to the games, let’s talk about the collection first cause this is, quite frankly, one of the best collections I’ve seen in a while. Outside of the main three games, including both the Genesis and Game Boy ports of Bubsy II, you also get the Atari Jaguar exclusive ‘Bubsy In Fractured Furry Tales’ (I just realized they missed out on calling it Fractured Furry Tails) as well as the Japanese version of the first game. All the games include a helpful rewind feature, the ability to make save states, as well as cheats and other customization options like custom borders, scan lines, and, in the case of Bubsy 3D, native widescreen support and a Refurbished Edition which I’ll touch on when we discuss the games themselves. Also included is a music player allowing you to listen to all the in-game music, as well as a museum…sorry Meowseum where you can see design documents, manuals, comics, advertisements, and the box arts, as well as interviews with the creators of the game and the original 1993 pilot for the proposed Bubsy TV series. I gotta say I was loving looking through the archives as I was always big into learning what goes on behind the scenes of my favorite media, especially as a kid growing up with the likes of the old show Movie Magic, so being able to see old documents as well as the box arts for these games is a huge treat. I also want to mention the Bubsy plush that was apparently sold back in the day for not only being actually pretty cute, but something I actually wouldn’t mind owning…to the point where I’m sorely tempted to start scrounging eBay for it. The interviews are also a joy to watch and I do like how the creators admit the games’ faults but still show they enjoyed working on it and, to me, that’s the mark of a great artist: Admitting there’s fault in your work but you still enjoyed working on it. But that’s just the dessert and, seeing as we skipped the main course, aka the games, let’s dive into the games and actually answer the burning question: Do they deserve the hate?
Bubsy
Our journey begins with Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind. Released for the SNES and Genesis, as well as a less than stellar Windows port that I didn’t know existed until I began researching for this review, you control the titular white shirt wearing bobcat himself Bubsy as you traverse sixteen levels while you fight against the Woolies to take back the Earth’s yarn supply. Right out of the gate, I was instantly surprised by the movement controls. Unlike most platformers of the era, this game takes some inspiration from the Sonic series. That is you don’t just simply have one speed but, rather, you pick up speed as you move, like Sonic. This took a bit to get used to and I did have a few unintended deaths thanks to the movement and due to Bubsy only being able to take one hit of damage before losing a life. But, after messing around in the starting area, I got quickly accustomed to the controls and was able to play the game like any other game. He also has the ability to float…which makes me question his physiology, as well as who his parents were cause I’m pretty sure a bobcat can’t float from up high. If they can and this is the first I’m learning about it? Then the animal kingdom is even more wild than I originally thought and Jack Hannah owes me an explanation. Weird biology aside, you can also find various T-shirts that’ll either grant you an extra life or invincibility, the latter being extremely helpful in some situations, alongside secret areas filled with more yarn balls to collect. Another part that also surprised me was that the game has fall damage, to a point. Now, I knew about this prior to playing the game but what confused me was just how it worked. There were times where I fell and received no damage while, other times, Bubsy would either shatter or straight up melt into a puddle from falling. That is something I have to praise this game for and that is the unique death animations, as well as Bubsy’s little quips. Truth be told, I actually don’t mind Bubsy’s quips in this game as it adds to the charm and overall Saturday morning cartoon feel to the whole game. I should also mention the included Japanese version of the game called Yamaneko Bubsy no Daibouken (I’m so glad I don’t do video reviews cause I would’ve butchered that name). Outside of Bubsy now being labeled as a Mountain Cat rather than a bobcat, the other changes are minor like Bubsy speaking Japanese and localization of text, but I also noticed that the game feels slightly easier. Not by much, just slightly. Overall, not a bad start to the series!
Bubsy II
Next in the collection is Bubsy II and, in my research, I was surprised to see this one garnered the best reviews of the franchise and I can honestly see why. Unlike the first game, this one plays like a typical mascot platformer for the time and Bubsy is pretty easy to control this time as he has one speed instead of what he had in the last game. The difficulty seems lowered, as well, as Bubsy can now take three hits instead of one, making survival a bit more fair but the game is still challenging at parts. Thankfully, there are band-aids you can collect to restore your fine furried body back to its lovely self if you get hit, so death really isn’t an issue here. Also, unlike the last game, Bubsy doesn’t have to just jump on enemies to eliminate them as Bubsy can now pick up a weapon to use and I swear this is the most 90’s inclusion I’ve ever seen: Bubsy can acquire a Nerf Ballzooka. Yes, THAT Nerf Ballzooka. When fired, it turns enemies into cards which can be traded in at the store after a level is complete for ammo for the Ballzooka, extra lives, and more. The gun does take a few seconds to “charge” up before it can fire (I don’t know how the gun works in real life cause I never owned one), so it’s best to time your shots carefully. The biggest change from the first game to this title is that it’s now non-linear. You start in a hub of sorts called the Amazatorium and you choose what level you go to in order to stop the villain, Oinker P. Hamm, from stealing historical events. Yes, not items, actual events (move over, Carmen SanDiego). These levels are very varied, ranging from a medieval setting called Hamalot to a music themed stage to even outer space itself and every level is given some actually punny names…though, come on. Star Wreck? That one could’ve been slightly better. In short, this is an improvement over the original game and I do agree with the reviews that this entry is a better Bubsby game. But if I may say so? I feel the included Genesis version is the superior version over the SNES, mostly regarding smoother controls and a cleaner artstyle. The SNES version is good and I did enjoy playing it, but I felt the Genesis was the better one in this case. Plus, for some reason, the SNES’ graphics were a bit rough on the eyes for some reason.
But, before we move on to the more famous entry, there are two games in this collection that I’m going to say I personally thought were the worst. The first being the Game Boy port of Bubsy II and it’s telling that even the developers thought so as there’s a 200 point Xbox achievement that’s labeled “I’m So Sorry”. While it does follow the same beats as the console version, this game suffers from terrible graphics, even for a Game Boy, poor controls, and nasty music that I had no idea a Game Boy could even produce. While it’s great this is included, I’d recommend skipping this title, unless you want that 200g Achievement. The other title is Bubsy In Fractured Furry Tales, which is the third entry of the franchise and the series sole release on the Atari Jaguar. Graphically, it looks good and I do like the idea of the game, which is Bubsy traveling to Fairytale land to restore balance, but the issues are the controls and overall difficulty. For one, the controls just fell off and I never was able to get full grasp on them. They weren’t broken or anything, but they just felt off. Like there was a slight delay in doing anything. For two, the difficulty feels all over the place, as I, no matter what I did, I always got hit by an enemy and had to hit rewind just to avoid getting hit (Yeah, this is another One-Hit, Your Dead entry), especially with the wasps in the first level. I’ll be honest, I didn’t end up playing this one fully as I just wasn’t having fun with this one so, like the Game Boy entry, I’d recommend skipping this one. Still, it was nice being able to play a Jaguar game finally, so there’s a bit of positivity in this title!
Bubsy Is 3D In Furbitten Planet
Now, it’s time to talk about the more infamous entry of the series and the one people instantly associate with Bubsy: Bubsy 3D or Bubsy Is 3D In Furbitten Planet. Yes, the game with the rather infamous Gold X Award from PSExtreme magazine back in the day and the game that pretty much cemented the series as being forever labeled as one of the worst series ever. Well, me being me, I went into the game with an open mind and after playing it for a bit? I sincerely have to say this: I actually like Bubsy 3D. I’m not kidding, this is honestly a fun title. The basic premise is that Bubsy is trapped on the planet Rayon, home of the Woolies from the past games, and has to collect atoms and parts of a rocket ship to return to Earth. The plot is stupidly simple and won’t win any awards for originality but it does its job at giving the player a reason to be collecting items and exploring the eighteen levels, which is both easy and slightly difficult, due to the way Bubsy moves, which I’ll touch on in a second. As for the levels, they are a bit repetitive in terms of look and designs, but I did actually like the artstyle. I dunno, it gave it this minimalistic, almost creepy feeling, to the game, almost making it a pseudo-horror game in a way. This goes double for the three underwater sections and, surprisingly, these aren’t terrible to navigate and I got a bit of a chuckle over Bubsy’s diving helmet. It may be me, but it reminded me of the old school Cylons from the old and only Battlestar Galactica series (there are no others), minus the red light and cool voice. I will admit these sections did have a few elements I was not enjoying, namely the few enemies that seem to instantly make a beeline towards you if you’re even within a sneezing distance from them. Also, I wasn’t a fan of how slow Bubsy swam at first but once I found the speed button, that issue went away.
But remember I mentioned that the controls were odd for a game like this? Yeah, this is where most of the complaints originate from. So, unlike most 3D platformers at the time like Super Mario 64, Bubsy controls are more akin to pseudo-tank controls, like you’d see in the early Resident Evil, with a slight mix of the returning Sonic Speed from past games. In fact, I’m really reminded of the controls for Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire, which is another game I enjoyed but will admit the controls took some getting used to. Yes, you could argue that this is clunky, but I honestly thought they were fine. In fact, after taking the time to mess around with them in the first level’s opening section, I was able to get used to them rather quickly. There were spots where they did become slightly janky, but the ever present Rewind Feature helped mitigate that so the frustration was, by my count, only a fraction of a second. Maybe a millisecond, depending on the area. One thing I actually really appreciated was how, whenever you made a jump, the camera went to a top-down perspective to help gauge your landing, which was a huge help, especially when jumping on enemies to smoosh them. I’ll even admit the swimming controls were fine here as well, which is something early 3D titles did struggle with at times. Where I will say the game does falter just a bit is with the enemies. The main enemies, the woolies, I was easily able to make out and, like past games, you defeat them by jumping on their heads Mario style or by shooting them with an atom if you have the right power up. Yes, power ups return and they are very helpful. Alongside the aforementioned atom blaster (Which, here’s a tip: Don’t hold that button for too long), you also get both Invisibility and Invincibility, the former is good for avoiding enemies and the latter for taking out enemies via running into them. That last one was a blessing in some levels as there were some enemies I will freely admit didn’t look like enemies and looked more like level props until I got hit by them. One particular one being this lightning bolt thing that you can’t avoid whatsoever, leading you to either find a Invincibility or Atom Blaster power-up to take it out. Now, I’ll give myself the benefit of a doubt here and say I was just used to where games with a cartoon style had silly looking props that littered the landscape that caused no damage to the player, so I was probably thinking the same here. But, sometimes that wasn’t the case and I ended up having to rewind to avoid said prop. I’ll also admit that Bubsy’s voice here isn’t the best but it’s not the worst either. Yeah, he does repeat some one-liners and there is a bit of annoyance to it, but it was never to the point where I wanted to outright mute the audio. Believe me, having played games and seen cartoons with even more annoying voice acting, this was, quite truthfully, refreshing. Lastly, and this one is slightly more on the embarrassing side, I couldn’t figure out how to fight the first boss as they were too high for Bubsy’s jump apex to reach. But, thanks to a trip to the in-game manual (I was reading it for fun), I found how to defeat them and the boss ended up being pretty easy! Same with the second boss which I’m proud to say I figured out what to do on my first try just by observing what’s going on in the stage. Despite those little nitpicks, and the landscape not being the most creative despite me enjoying the minimalistic look, I have to admit something: I honestly had a lot of fun with Bubsy 3D and I personally don’t think this is deserving of the title of ‘Worst Game Ever’. Yes, the game isn’t perfect but what game is? Even my favorite games of all time like Starship Titanic and Earth Defense Force 2025 I can point out little flaws in them that prevent them from being completely perfect. What it comes down to is that I really enjoyed this game and I don’t think it deserved all the hate, but I can also see why many don’t care for this game in the slightest. BUT, if you don’t want to play this particular version, then the collection also includes a special Refurbished Edition (spelled just like that) that adds analogue controls, making the game a bit more playable and slightly easier. Though, I will say I did miss the instant Jump camera as that did make some sections easier and truth be told? I kinda like the old version just a bit more. That’s not to say the Refurbished Edition is bad, I just prefer the OG one.
“This drink, I like it! Another!”
If you can’t tell by now, I actually really enjoyed my time with the games, sans the Game Boy port of Bubsy II and the Jaguar game. I can see the parts of the games that resulted in their negative reception but, personally? None of that really deterred my enjoyment. The whole time I was playing the games, I honestly was having the most fun and was reminded of my youth; sitting on the floor in front of my old TV, playing video games without a care in the world. I mean I can still get that nowadays with newer AAA games like Crime Boss: Rockay City and the latest Painkiller, but there is something about older titles that scratches a special itch that even the latest AAA releases can’t scratch. It’s why I always seem to find myself returning to this era of gaming and, also, longing to see more games from this era make a return. To me, that is what makes these Bubsy games fun for me and why I really enjoyed playing them: They remind me of simpler times in the world of gaming. I also have to thank both Atari and Limited Run Games for bringing this series back and preserving it for all to play…and also for tempting me to do that eBay search for that Bubsy plush, along with that one t-shirt they sold back in the day.
