If it’s true that cats have nine lives, Bubsy the Bobcat’s only got a couple more left to get things right. His debut game was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time with just enough quality and marketing spend to score a sales hit, and his various owners have sporadically been chasing that dragon ever since. A deeply flawed direct sequel, a baffling exclusive for the Jaguar of all things, a rightly-maligned ambitious attempt to take the character into 3D, a 2.5D attempt to return to form where you could constantly feel the (lack of) budget, and an auto-runner paint a picture of Bubsy where only two things are consistent: Bubsy is obnoxious, and no one quite knows what to do with him.
His current owner, Atari, has decided to follow in the footsteps of the last two games to some extent. Specifically, the idea is to pair the IP with a credentialed indie developer and let them apply their specific talents towards making a decent Bubsy game. The Woolies Strike Back was done by Black Forest Games of The Great Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, and Paws on Fire was handled by Bit.Trip Runner’s Choice Provisions. In both cases, what resulted was a game that felt very similar to the developers’ previous efforts in their respective genres, but dressed up with Bubsy’s style and, to be frank, not as good.
Well, here’s Bubsy 4D. It’s developed by Fabraz, who has made some very good 3D platformers with its Demon Turf/Tides series. And indeed, it’s not hard to see a lot of those games in Bubsy 4D. Bubsy’s moveset, like that of Beebz, is versatile and practically built to be exploited by speedrunners looking to cut every corner possible. The level designs are less concerned with being plausible places and more with presenting interesting platforming challenges. There are hidden collectibles to find in each stage and medals to earn by beating target times. Bubsy feels good to control, and in the moments when everything clicks, it’s some of the finest 3D platforming around.
On the other hand, some of the less great elements from those games are here too. You really have to babysit the camera at times. The combat, such as it is, is clearly an afterthought and not much fun at all. If you’re not busting out the speedrunning tricks to make shortcuts, the levels are probably a bit too long and meandering. If you are busting out said tricks, the game ends really quickly. Bubsy 4D also brings in some new issues of its own. The hairball move, which sees Bubsy turn into a Sonic-like rolling ball, is frequently required and prone to some seriously annoying behavior. Bubsy has toned down his annoying personality quite a bit from previous appearances, but in exchange, his supporting cast is completely obnoxious.
The level designs feel a bit weird in Bubsy 4D. It’s as though they’re segmented into little spaces and connected together with tubes, roads, or ramps to give the furball move more purpose. They feel too abstract, and it’s wild how much of each level you can skip once you learn some of the speedrunning techniques. It comes off as though they were first designed around the golden speedrunner route and then had chunks arbitrarily added to them so that the more casual player had things to do. I was annoyed or bored almost as often as I was excited or engaged. Some gimmicks were definitely worse than others, though. The cannons were almost always a pain. I also did not enjoy sections where the furball move had to be used with very little margin for error. It’s just too flaky for that.
Bubsy 4D is also shorter than you might expect. The whole game consists of three worlds, each with its own distinctive visual theme, and each of those worlds has five levels. One of those five is a boss level, and is considerably smaller in scope than the others. Each level contains 150 yarn balls and a target time that will reward you with a medal for beating it. Non-boss levels also each have one hidden blueprint you can find. The yarn balls are used to buy new outfits for Bubsy, while the blueprints unlock new moves and abilities. Collected goodies persist on replays, and you won’t be able to collect everything and nab the speedrun medal in one go, so you’re going to be playing each stage at least twice.
Still, this adds up to a rather brief affair. I was actually shocked when the game ended, because it felt more like I was at a halfway point than the conclusion. Even going back to clean everything out only extended the experience by a little. For those familiar with other games from Fabraz, Bubsy 4D is closer to Demon Turf: Neon Splash in length than Demon Turf or Demon Tides. Indeed, if you’re coming in with that prior Fabraz experience and don’t take too long getting acclimated to the few gameplay differences here, you could probably roll the credits on Bubsy 4D in well under an hour.
The collectibles at least offer some fun rewards. Some of the new outfits are a little dull, but having things like the original Bubsy outfit, the Bubsy 3D look, and near-nude (but safely mosaic’d) “Hedgehog” Bubsy in there is certainly amusing. The unlockable moves and abilities augment the gameplay in various ways without breaking it, giving you things like an extra hit, furball drifting, or some very Mario-esque special jumps. You can toggle them on or off once you’ve unlocked them, so if you don’t feel like using them, you don’t have to.
Bubsy 4D also has to grapple with another big part of Bubsy’s legacy, namely the humor. I can happily report that Bubsy hasn’t been this minimally annoying since his debut game, though he has a few quips that repeat a little too often for my liking. His voice actor isn’t grating, and I think that was the right call. There’s some referential humor in here, but it spends even more time cracking wise about the reputation of Bubsy and his franchise. Maybe a little too much? Like, Bubsy, my man, have a little more self-confidence. You don’t have to keep reminding us about Bubsy 3D. We’re all trying to get past it, and you should too. Overall, the humor is mostly restrained here. It’s more things you might smile at than laugh at, but at least you’ll rarely be irritated.
In terms of presentation, the graphical style looks fairly good if a bit washed out color-wise. Bubsy’s redesign is solid, and the bosses have appealing designs. The music is very jazzy, and I dig it. The Nintendo Switch 2 version has a few issues even after its last-minute patch, though. Specifically, the lighting has a tendency to go goofy, flickering things on and off in a nonsensical way. I also ran into several bugs during my playthrough, mostly related to collision or the finicky camera. I also had access to the version of the game for the original Switch, and ran into fewer issues there while playing that one on the Switch 2. I imagine Atari isn’t done updating this game, so hopefully those remaining wrinkles in the Switch 2 release can be ironed out.
I can see Bubsy 4D falling either way in the end. Maybe it’s a decent foundation that the Bubsy franchise can rebuild from. The bones of a great game are here, after all. I could also easily see it ending up as another false start, abandoned in favor of slapping the character into another pre-built framework. This isn’t a bad game by any means. It’s probably one of the best in the whole series, in fact. Still, I can’t help but compare it to the other games from this developer and find that, once again, Bubsy’s take is more like a bridge too short.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Atari
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