In 1993, Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind came out on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This was during the animal mascot craze that raged throughout the 90s, started by Sonic the Hedgehog’s wild success, and every publisher was quick to throw their hat into the ring. What made Bubsy so special? Anyone who grew up playing his games will tell you they were chaotic, headache-inducing experiences where nothing ever fit together. Bubsy’s defining characteristic was that he could talk, and for a 16-bit game, that was a novelty. After a failed animated TV show pilot and Bubsy 3D dooming the franchise, Acclaim’s mascot became the butt of gamer jokes – yet this wasn’t the end of Bubsy. A Bubsy revival began with The Woolies Strike Back in 2017 and an auto-runner in 2019. Everyone hated them. After two strikes, could Bubsy 4D be the bobcat’s Hail Mary? What could possibly go wrong? Surprisingly…not a lot.
Banjo, Spyro, Mega Man, Earthworm Jim, Sly Cooper, Gex, and Conker… They all died, yet Bubsy has lived on. The story should have been a meta reflection on what it means to be a marketable mascot who’s past their prime and never caught on. A premise that reimagines Bubsy as a strung-out has-been, desperately clinging to the days when he was forced into the spotlight and convinced himself he was truly loved, despite being nothing more than a manufactured, astroturfed product. This would have probably been too deep a concept and would have gone over most people’s heads, but it is funny to think about. Instead, Bubsy 4D is a very standard Bubsy-like story with some self-aware humour fueled by decades of memes.
The actual story of Bubsy 4D revolves around cybernetic sheep that harnessed the power of alien Woolie technology and have stolen the golden fleece. Bubsy’s niece and nephew aren’t having it and pressure their reluctant uncle to chase the Baabots across three planets and bully them into submission, while collecting as much yarn along the way. It’s a prototypical excuse plot to foster some 3D platforming, collecting, and challenging physics-based action with some self-deprecating humour thrown in and impressive callbacks to some extremely crusty Bubsy references. Surprisingly, despite it being called “4D”, there is no time travel like in Bubsy II.
The humour and dialogue are a lot cornier than expected. Especially since the way the internet has had its way with Bubsy over the past 30 years, there was room for better puns and gags. However, it also could be argued that the flat attempts at humour are on-brand for the bobcat. Probably the funniest gag in Bubsy 4D is that the blueprint collectables resemble rolls of toilet paper, which makes it look very funny when the hero tries to pose stylishly when they’re collected. Probably unintentional, but this is Bubsy: take the laughs wherever possible.
Anyone who played the original Bubsy might remember that he had distinct handling and weight to his controls. Once he gained momentum, Bubsy could be as fast as Sonic. The real issue was always the level design, not accounting for the absurd air-time and the screen crunch that made it impossible to see what was ahead. 4D builds on Bubsy’s momentum-based controls and incorporates the skill ceiling of Super Mario 64, resulting in a surprisingly deep and complex 3D platformer. He has a lunge with contextual auto-targeting, can double jump, boasts his signature gliding ability, wall jump, and, to Bubsy’s shock and everyone else’s, can inflate himself into a ball.
Bubsy’s moveset can be chained together in conjunction with his ball form to achieve some impressive feats of mobility. The levels are fairly long and festooned with yarn balls to seek, but after doing a laid-back tour to collect everything, it’s worth trying the speed run challenges. The range of movement and flexibility with the mechanics fosters impressive stunts and makes seemingly impossible speed runs more feasible than they seem. While this may sound like a backhanded compliment, this is the best controls Bubsy has ever had. Bubsy’s fluent handling is actually far better than most 3D platformers available now. It’s nice to see him come so far and finally be in a good game.
Like any platformer, level design is where things can go wrong. Funnily enough, Bubsy 4D brings back a lot of esoteric references from past games and finds a way to make them work. Little details like the design of cars, the way certain spike platforms work, and even visual touches like long, winding half-pipes reminiscent of the old water slides from the first game. Even the yarn trees are here. The lengthy and flowing doily highway is a deep cut reference that only the most die-hard Bubsy heads would get. The developers went the extra mile, adding a variety of death animations, and if Bubsy is sporting the low-poly skin from Bubsy 3D, the old FMV death clips play in their low-res glory.
The biggest problem with Bubsy 4D‘s stages is that there aren’t enough of them. Unfortunately, it’s a short game that takes roughly five hours to work through all of its challenges. There are only three themed worlds with 15 stages between them all, making each theme feel spread thin. It’s appreciated that the developers dug deep to make some impressive 3D interpretations of stages inspired by Bubsy’s past, but it would’ve been great to see some new ideas.
Sometimes the levels look ugly and chaotically thrown together, but this is very much on-brand for the character’s world. It’s made in Unity, and it looks like it. The lighting feels a bit too flat, creating a confusing sense of space and making some objects lose their grounding. Apart from some of the stages looking a little garish, the character models look pretty good, and Bubsy himself is expressively animated and given a voice that isn’t annoying. Granted, the script that the voice actor has to work with isn’t the best, but the performer is giving it his all and does a great job embodying his sarcasm and dim-witted obliviousness.
For some reason, the music is excellent. There was no reason for a Bubsy game to feature such a catchy, enjoyable, jazzy soundtrack, but it’s an absolute blessing. It’s definitely a far cry from the overly cartoony, maddening jauntiness of past games that seemed to mock players.
