Bubsy Two-Fur

Bubsy In Claws Encounters Of The Furred Kind

This was originally posted on the 2nd of January, 2024, in this Twitter thread.

Honestly, I don't think this game is that terrible. In fact, I actually find it to be quite charming (albeit flawed).

The game is just oozing with creativity in a lot of places. For example, I like how instead of just staying static, a lot of the wool balls bounce around. It adds a lot of life to something really basic.

Probably the most standout example of Bubsy's quirkiness though is the momentum physics. The momentum isn't too complicated to get a grasp on, but it's also still nuanced enough to make Bubsy feel versatile.The aerial momentum feels especially strange to control, however I don't actually mind it.

I think the game's biggest flaw is the camera. I don't mind having to stop and look around for enemies, but what I do mind is how a lot of extremely feasible jumps are just not visible because the camera is so zoomed in. There are some moments where you totally just have to trial and error because an enemy from far off-screen will throw a projectile you couldn't see coming. I'd say the screen crunch gets especially bad in the 3rd and 4th worlds.

The other major fuck up I think the game has is its lack of a health system. Earlier in the game it's not so bad because there's a lot of checkpoints, but once the checkpoints become sparse, getting hit at all becomes a pretty big setback.

Another thing I don't like how some of the bosses constantly spawn enemies.

To close off, this game is why I like Bubsy more than just ironically, but I wouldn't call this game particularly great from a gameplay standpoint.

Bubsy II

This was originally posted on the 4th of January, 2024, in this Twitter thread.

I think this game holds up better than the original. The new health system, refined movement, and items are all pretty nice additions. Due to the health and item mechanics, it's a heck of a lot easier than the original. For some reason though, the stage hazards still insta-kill you.

While I think they're nice additions regardless, I don't think the items were super well balanced amongst themselves. I spent most of my money on Smart Bombs and Extra Lives because I felt they were way more worth my money than the other items.

I thought it was pretty weird how the game was split up into East Wing and West Wing. If I had to guess, it was maybe done to help the game's pacing. Or perhaps it was to make the game feeI twice as big as other games. Regardless, I had to beat the game twice, once on each wing, in order to play all the levels.

As for the level designs, I think they're a step up from the original, although I don't really like how they're more mazelike.

For anyone curious on how much easier Bubsy II is, the furthest I've gotten in Bubsy 1 before running out of Continues was Chapter 11 of 16, while in Bubsy II I was able to beat the game without using Continues, with 70 lives remaining.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I really dislike the adaptive music thing. I'm usually not a fan of adaptive music since it usually coincides with forgettable music, but in Bubsy II, the adaptive music is just really jarring.

Bubsy Two-Fur

This was originally posted on the 4th of January, 2024, in this Twitter thread.

Steam

Y'all ever hear people say "______ should just slap their roms onto an emulator and call it a day". Well, this is exactly that.

I'm not particularly surprised or upset, but still, it's unfortunate that this pack only includes the SNES versions of both games. It's also unfortunate that they didn't bother including manuals for either game. I think Bubsy II especially ends up being really strange when you don't read the manual first, because without it you have like no context on what's happening. Plus, I think Bubsy I and II just have entertaining manuals in general.