2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

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Suplexmachine1
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby Suplexmachine1 » May 7th, 2012, 2:41 pm

"The stages consist of whatever random garbage the designers could pull out of their butts..."

You say that like it's a bad thing!  Can't really fault them for that.  For example, the Earthworm Jim series did the same thing.  One level, "ISO 9000", has an office theme full of filing cabinets, paperwork flying all over the place, and paper shredders.  Random as heck.  Then there's "Level Ate" which is food themed: BBQ grills, hamburger paddies, bacon, eggs, forks, etc.  Again, completely random.  Same goes for the "Band Land" levels in Rayman, which come completely out of left field and make no sense featuring musical instruments floating in the sky.

Not that I like Bubsy; Earthworm Jim is on a completely different level!  But you can't hold random level design against Bubsy when games given excellent scores (Earthworm Jim) are not faulted for it.  Lots of games feature completely random themed levels from one to the next.

Along with "whatever random garbage the designers could pull out of their butts"...the "poopy-flavored lollipop"...metaphor was quite juvenile potty humor as well.  Humorous to a 10 year-old.  Makes the review less professional, but hey, that's never what you've really been going for in all of these years of reviewing games, I suppose, so no biggie.

I agree with the Hardball reviews though.  They're decent baseball games, but neither can touch Sports Talk Baseball.
Thanks for the reviews...

darkrage61
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby darkrage61 » May 7th, 2012, 3:13 pm

I for one enjoyed the off-kilter stage designs of Bubsy, i'll admit that it is sometimes way too easy to die, but once you learn the best routes to take, it's fairly easy, if you try Grand Tour though, you better have a photographic memory.  The game also becomes easier if you use collect cards and use them to buy a nerf gun or smart bomb.


soporj1
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby soporj1 » May 7th, 2012, 3:18 pm

[QUOTE=Suplexmachine]Makes the review less professional, but hey, that's never what you've really been going for in all of these years of reviewing games, I suppose, so no biggie.
[/QUOTE]

Oh, the irony.

Suplexmachine1
Posts: 88
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby Suplexmachine1 » May 7th, 2012, 4:38 pm

[QUOTE=soporj][QUOTE=Suplexmachine]Makes the review less professional, but hey, that's never what you've really been going for in all of these years of reviewing games, I suppose, so no biggie.
[/QUOTE]

Oh, the irony.
[/QUOTE]

I do not claim to be a professional message board commentator. 

Burk1
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby Burk1 » May 7th, 2012, 9:44 pm

So, was there ever a good Bubsy game?If not, why did they keep making them. I am being serious, because it seems ( I have never played one personally) that these games are more than just bad,they are really terrible.What other series gets 4 games when universally panned?

Rev1
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby Rev1 » May 7th, 2012, 10:54 pm

I'm honestly not sure if Bubsy was universally panned at the time (at least not the first game). I checked wikipedia (because we all know it is always 100% right) and it mentioned that the game was aggressively advertised at the time, and received average review scores (around 70%) once it was released. It wasn't until years later that people realized the game sucked and started panning it. I remember I really liked the game as a kid but honestly I didn't have much else to compare the game too. I had played Sonic 2 to death but didn't know about all the good games to draw comparisons from.

I'm not sure about this but the game probably sold somewhat well since it was so heavily advertised (plus it probably wouldn't have had a sequel if it was a commercial failure). Since it was a lot harder to obtain reviews in a timely fashion in the early 90's people probably just bought the game expecting a solid platformer like the advertisements claimed.

Paul1231
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby Paul1231 » May 7th, 2012, 11:09 pm

[QUOTE=Rev]
I'm not sure about this but the game probably sold somewhat well since it was so heavily advertised (plus it probably wouldn't have had a sequel if it was a commercial failure). Since it was a lot harder to obtain reviews in a timely fashion in the early 90's people probably just bought the game expecting a solid platformer like the advertisements claimed.
[/QUOTE]

There's your answer right there.  Like I said earlier, back then I assumed that all games were good in their own way, and that some just really didn't fit my personal tastes.  It never occurred to me as a kid that a company would actually put out a really BAD game...

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VideoGameCritic
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 7th, 2012, 11:54 pm

I think Rev and Paul hit the nail on the head.  I remember Bubsy was actually on the cover of Electronic Gaming Monthly!   Platformers with furry characters were all the rage after Sonic hit the scene, so the original Bubsy probably sold fairly well, which is how Bubsy 2 was justified.  Of course, hindsight is 20/20, which is why reviews you see on this site may drastically vary from those you read in 1994.

MarchingBand1
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby MarchingBand1 » May 8th, 2012, 7:02 am

I got Bubsy 1 for the SNES as a kid, and I loved playing that game.  I was really young and didn't know it was heavily marketed.  I should really check it out again.

Also, that Bubsy II review gets an A+ for the phrase "poopy-flavored lollipop".

mbd361
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2012/5/6: Genesis: Bubsy 2, Hardball 94, Hardball 95

Postby mbd361 » May 8th, 2012, 10:51 am

It must not be easy to design a platformer that is both fast-paced _and_ playable.

Playing mediocre ripoffs such as "Bubsy" will make you appreciate the genius of the original Sega Genesis "Sonic" series even more. Has there ever been a good "Sonic" clone?




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