Bubsy - Your opinions

[doctorclu]

Bravo!! That was some amazing jumping. (yesterday when you said you could jump to the 5th cloud I was going to ask you to "hop to it") Anyway impressive. The only thing to try now is to see if we hit an invisible cloud somewhere above that last cloud. You've tried straight up and to the right, now try straight up, or up and to the left.

 

The map does look like there is enough ceiling left on top of that room if only we could get on top of it.

[+jeremiahjt]

If you look at the map with the clouds showing, you can see the secret room to the left of the turret has what looks like a cloud touching it at the bottom right corner. Using that as a guide I know how to get to the secret room to the left.

 

 

 

 

You get to it by going through one of the teleport doors in the level.

 

I still don't know how to get to the other room. I found three doors in the main part of the level: two are at the bottom of the level that let you skip a little bit of the level and the one in the second turret that is guarded by a knight leads to the secret room on the left. After I cleared the secret room out I cloud jumped to the right secret room to see if it still had stuff in it. I thought it might be some copy or mirror of the other room, but it still had stuff in it.

[+jeremiahjt]

Actually looking at the map again, the room on the right has a teleport door in it also. I counted all the doors in the map and I came up with 5. If each door only leads to another door then there should always be an even number of doors. So my guess is that the programmers forgot to put in the corresponding door. Of course there is a chance the other door is hidden and you have to find it or that there is a secret to getting one of the other doors to take you to there instead of where it normally goes.

[doctorclu]

Well definitely looking that way. I am still not writing off the fact that there seems to be some space on the map to be on top of that room. I still hold out some hope for that.

[doctorclu]

* * * * * * CORRECTION * * * * *

BTW on the level maps, I have one correction to make. Just switch the map for level 7 with 9. Those two got swapped around somehow. Sorry about that.

[Robert R]

After months of being busy with other things I got the urge to set back up the Jaguar yesterday. I managed to get mostly through Bubsy. Hansel and Gretel kicked me around pretty good.

 

Tonight I played the game all the way through... twice.

 

Started realizing that the Jaguar Bubsy game engine has basically all that you would want for a Bubsy (original) game.

 

Most of the animations are there.

You have enemies that throw things being the snakes throwing eggs on Bubsy 3 (what I call the Jag game) and Whoolies throwing pastries on Bubsy 1.

 

You have enemies that drop things (Vultures on Bubsy 3, Birds on Bubsy 1).

 

You have the ability to push an object, though I have yet to find where that works in Bubsy 3.

 

Youn have things that spring you up (like the tents in Bubsy 3 in the Ali Baba levels, vs the trees in the beginning of Bubsy 1).

 

You also have something like the man hole covers that fly up for a second like in Bubsy 1, for Bubsy 3 that would be the bottle tops in levels 13-15.

 

I believe most of the dying sequences are there.

 

Now if I could figure out how the boundaries work on the Bubsy in game map works, and later decompile Bubsy 1, we might be able to get some of the detail in a Jag Bubsy 1 game.

 

Fun to day dream. I just like the sharp feel of the Jaguar Bubsy game engine over the other Bubsy game engines. Playing the alternate maps would be fun.

 

Need to start digging through the decompile of Jag Bubsy again and see what is possible.

 

I have noticed some additional differences between the original Bubsy and Fractured Furry Tales.

Death animations: FFT lacks Bubsy flying around like a deflating balloon when popped, and doesn't have any occasions for when he would wave bye-bye before falling off the bottom of the screen or getting flattened by an enemy. In fact, it seems the vast majority of deaths in FFT seem to be "getting popped", especially if you go up into an enemy. In Claws Encounters, that would usually result in Bubsy knocked out flat on his back accompanied by a cuckoo sound (which you don't hear anywhere in FFT). If you fall from a great enough height to get Bubsy flattened into a furry pancake in FFT, he gets up, but doesn't walk off the screen with his middle expanding and contracting like an accordion and making accordion sounds like in Claws Encounters (even though that animation is shown in a couple of the chapter screens in FFT!). Also, if Bubsy gets hit by a projectile in mid-air, the screen abruptly changes when he touches the ground in FFT, while you see him shatter into pieces in Claws Encounters. If Bubsy does fall into deep water, you do hear a splash in Claws Encounters, but no splash in FFT, though both drowning animations are present in both.

 

Speaking of missing sounds, if Bubsy does have occasion to knock on your screen, you can't hear him asking "Hello?" in FFT like you hear in Claws Encounters. Nor do you hear him utter a "Yipe!" or "Yow!" when balancing precariously on an edge. It would be nice if FFT had kept those little sounds.

 

In Claws Encounters, every level has some way for Bubsy to leap very high into the air, while such high leaps are only possible on a few levels in Fractured Furry Tales - the tents and soda bottle tops cited. And I haven't found anything Bubsy can push in FFT like some of the crates in the desert levels of Claws Encounters. In FFT, if you go in one door, then go back into the door you come out of, you'll end up back at the first door every time. In Claws Encounters, that is frequently not the case, sending you to a third door, and going into one of the doors will get you to a secret cave for some bonus balls and other items. No such secret stashes in FFT. And while some Woolies will generate Cheese Wheels of Doom and roll them at Bubsy in Claws Encounters, the closest thing to that in FFT are the pies of the pie throwing machines in Chapters 13-15. The cheese wheels will let you bounce high in Claws Encounters, enabling big combo pounce chains, while you don't bounce off the pies at all in FFT. Nevertheless, I did find one big combination pounce I could do in Fractured Furry Tales:

 

 

A few other differences I noticed: in Claws Encounters it seems that the early levels at least are set up to actually reward some all-out "BANZAI!!!" Kamikaze flying leaps, with enemies placed just right to yield some pounce combos if you go all-out. That is much riskier in FFT. You have some water slides in Claws Encounters, which can give occasion for a drenched, miserable-looking Bubsy to shake the water off his fur with a growl, then proudly smile at drying himself off that way, only to then look perplexed when his fur frizzes up to yield the ultimate bad-hair day. (I'd bet on one of the female members of the team like Cynthia Kirkpatrick having come up with that one.) That's a humorous sequence that's missing from FFT. You get a change in the background music when you get a shadow-Bubsy or super-Bubsy shirt in Claws Encounters, helping you get a sense of when those power-up shirts are about to run out, which would be really nice to have in FFT. Ditto with the change of background music you get when facing the bosses in Claws Encounters, but not in FFT. Maybe there were memory limitations for the Jaguar limiting what could be included from the original version. But a couple things FFT has that Claws Encounters doesn't are the bees/hornets that will charge at you when they see you, and handles dying with more than 81 lives properly.

 

Having gotten pretty darn good at Claws Encounters helped greatly with Fractured Furry Tales. Even so, the charging hornets took quite a bit of getting used to. While I have managed to play each of the chapters of Claws Encounters to purr-fection at least once, so far I have only managed to play chapter 9 of FFT to purr-fection (getting every ball and shirt and enemy, all on one life). Fractured Furry Tales is definitely a step up in difficulty and a challenge, but a very satisfying challenge to beat.

[doctorclu]

Wow. Very cool on being able to make the large combo at the beginning. I was always able to do a series of triple pops at the beginning, but neat to see the whole stream of them can be combined. With the first invulnerability shirt I am usually able to sweep the upper level, down the well, along the whole line of enemies, and sometimes even take out the bee just before triggering the unlock on top of the mushroom. That one make a good run as well.

 

But for me out of all the Bubsy games I have liked the zippiness of the Jaguar version the best.

[AtariMagic!]

It didn't have the personality of sonic, but was very fun on the Jaguar IMHO

[doctorclu]

It didn't have the personality of sonic, but was very fun on the Jaguar IMHO

 

LOL you know, the fact that Bubsy was created on the heels of Sonic I guess it deserves that. Bout to say you don't hear people say "Well Jumpman is no Donkey Kong, but I like it" but well, I guess the corolation is not that close.

 

Glad you liked it though. What did you like about it?

 

For me it was the colors. After playing Cybermorph, Aliens vs Predator and Tempest 2K Bubsy showed me the colors the Jaguar could do, or at least more variety.

 

After that, the animations were funny I thought.

[sh3-rg]

AtariMagic! looks to have been banned, Doc

[+Stephen]

AtariMagic! looks to have been banned, Doc

I miss all the drama - why was he banned?

[doctorclu]

I miss all the drama - why was he banned?

 

Huh? Well no drama in this forum, so I have no idea.

[Austin]

Huh? Well no drama in this forum, so I have no idea.

 

He may have been an ass, seems to be a bunch of people getting the axe for that reason lately (or I can at least only guess that is the reason). I don't remember exactly though. The search function won't find his posts since he is banned. Now I'm genuinely curious!

[sh3-rg]

Seems it was Fernando again on his 4th or 5th account.

[sh3-rg]

[dupe post]

[boxesofgame]

Well I'm quite a fan of bubsy, but I don't like Bubsy II or Bubsy 3D.

 

I could have much to share on these forums, but i think I am being pre-judged.

It's a shame.

 

Why can't a bubsy fan talk about bubsy, share scores and experiences? Because people are being unpleasant, they're not setting a good standard.

Edited January 26, 2013 by boxesofgame

[doctorclu]

Since I honestly have not idea about the unpleasantness (nor do I care) share away!!

 

When it comes to Bubsy I have, and have tried, all the Bubsy games out there. I specifically bought a SNES, Genesis, Playstation, and a Gameboy Pocket just for Bubsy. I don't have a setup ready for the Super Bubsy game, but I have a few laptops with Win98 on them so that would not be too hard.

 

And naturally I have Bubsy and the Jaguar where it all started for me. While I can enjoy the various games (and no doubt the first Bubsy was the best balance of creativity and playability) the Jaguar version is to me tips the scale to being perhaps less creative (compared to the first Bubsy) but more replayable.

 

And I think it is due to the Jaguar's responsiveness graphics-wise and the mod music engine used in the game.

 

Anyway, what were your thoughts on Bubsy in the Jaguar and other versions? (general question for boxesofgame but for all others here)

[Drixxel]

Anyway, what were your thoughts on Bubsy in the Jaguar and other versions? (general question for boxesofgame but for all others here)

 

Overall, I'm pro Bubsy. Claws Encounters on the SNES was my first experience with the series and it remains to this day one of my favourite platformers. The first Bubsy is a surprisingly replayable game, IMO, and quite fun to boot up and zip through for even a few minutes here or there. The colourful backgrounds, sprawling levels and zany tunes struck a chord with me when I played the game as a wee lad, and as far as animal mascots were concerned, I thought Bubsy had some appeal (even if I didn't really understand the game's pop culture references at the time). I can appreciate why Bubsy is loathed by some -- the collisions are definitely a bit wonky and the touchy jumping physics take a certain amount of patience to overcome. It's the sort of game that honestly may be easier to warm up to as a kid when free time and focus are more readily available.

 

The Jaguar version, by comparison, feels rather unfinished to me. It needs more of everything to be a complete game, testing not the least of all. My hopes were high after an extensive screenshot-laden preview that appeared in GameFan, but in play, FFT isn't all there.

 

Years ago, a member of the Bubsy dev team posted a bit about their experiences working on the first two games over at Sega-16, which I found fascinating. Clicky to check out the full thread.

 

Bubsy 1 was a people killer. I can't even list how many it drove to madness or at least, I assume that's why folks went running down the halls tearing their hair out and screaming of bats, and then nice men came and took them away to live somewhere quiet and pleasant.

 

Bubsy 2 lost Scott Williamson on programming, which was a mistake. While he was a pain in the butt in some ways, who isn't? Bubsy 2 had two new programmers, and it showed. There was no way to test a level's game play until they chose to incorporate changes, which they wouldn't do for several days, being busy with other parts of the code. On Bubsy 1, incorporating enemies and rewards in a level was an overnight process, so the levels were played and played and played, with adjustments happening each day. Bubsy 2, the levels were laid out with a best guess with how they'd play, but there was little to no time to adjust and tweak to get just the right bounce and feel. The mini-games disappointed me most. They should have been short, sweet, and simple but I find them to be mainly frustrating in their mechanics. Bubsy 2 also managed to drive several members of the production team completely crazy. I think that having "What could possibly go wrong?" as a slogan was a mistake from the start. Tempting fate is always risky.

 

RE: smokables. I would not say that was much of an influence, but I will say the Bubsy design team was thrown out of several local restaurants for having too good a time for too long, and also for doodling on the table cloths.

 

Ah, well. The poor little Bubster had his moments. The art in Bubsy 2 is my favorite, the game play in Bubsy 1. My favorite Bubsy production moment was seeing the first prototype Bubsy stuffed toy that came back from Korea. There were some slight variations from the sketches. For one, the exclamation mark on his T-shirt was upside down. For another, his eyes had a glazed, demonic look, much like Chucky right before a kill, and his head fur was attached in mangy patches, as though someone had been gnawing at it. All stood in slience wondering what to say till one of the artists exclaimed, "Look! It's Chernobyl Bubsy!"

 

That was not the version that was put into production. :-)

[kid_vidiot]

can you guys expand on the differences between the first bubsy for the snes vs. the genesis?

[doctorclu]

can you guys expand on the differences between the first bubsy for the snes vs. the genesis?

 

Thought Robert R would have expounded more on this, but oh well.

 

Between the SNES and Genesis versions I think I liked the SNES slightly more. But they are a LOT alike.

To me the music and sound of the SNES was slightly better though.

[Austin]

The Jaguar version, by comparison, feels rather unfinished to me. It needs more of everything to be a complete game, testing not the least of all. My hopes were high after an extensive screenshot-laden preview that appeared in GameFan, but in play, FFT isn't all there.

 

This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. The Jaguar game is the only one I have personally had experience playing, and I just could not get into it (this is after a few hours of play, mind you). The first level alone is entirely too large for its own good, and confusing as hell. It definitely wasn't thought out all that well.

 

After a serious attempt with it in the Jag High Score Club, I just decided it wasn't for me. I generally try to give most games an honest effort and the benefit of the doubt, even if I've played it multiple times before, but Jag Bubsy is one I don't ever plan on revisiting again.

 

One of these days I will get around to playing the original on the Genesis or SNES though. It sounds like a much more well-rounded game and I might actually enjoy it.

[+atari2600land]

I can't beat the first level of Bubsy Jaguar. So I hate it.

[ACrystal2011]

When it comes to Bubsy I have, and have tried, all the Bubsy games out there. I specifically bought a SNES, Genesis, Playstation, and a Gameboy Pocket just for Bubsy. I don't have a setup ready for the Super Bubsy game, but I have a few laptops with Win98 on them so that would not be too hard.

 

Bubsys on gameboy? Dont have that one

[solidcorp]

can you guys expand on the differences between the first bubsy for the snes vs. the genesis?

 

Bubsy was designed and started independently at Accolade on the Sega Genesis, the SNES port began very early in the project. Shortly thereafter, Accolade became involved in a lawsuit with Sega that resulted in the Genesis project being injuncted (legally halted) and the SNES became the lead SKU for the remainder of the game. As Bubsy SNES was nearing completion the lawsuit was resolved and work on the Sega Genesis project was to resume internally at Accolade but the resources were not available, so the SNES team ported SNES Bubsy to the Sega Genesis - in 13 weeks. The Genesis is a complete and direct line by line 65816 to 68000 assembly language port of the SNES code. The game was designed to use colors, character, and sprite graphics in a way that was friendly to both systems. The SNES has superior sound hardware which supported sampled sound where the Genesis uses mainly synthesized music. There were a few technical things in the SNES version that were technically difficult to do on the Genesis; mid screen palette changes for the water led to some graphics artifacts, and scanline by scanline translations for the screen flip, train background parallax, and credit screen, etc. were a tad more challenging.

 

I know this because I wrote Bubsy. I left Atari in 1992 to start SOLID Corp. and the first game development deal I landed was the SNES (and later, Genesis) versions of Bubsy (Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, I had nothing to do with the games that came later). I still have all the development tools, source code, and artwork. Much of my Bubsy memorabilia (t-shirts, glasses, buttons, pins, magazines...) is carefully, though unceremoniously preserved in these boxes alongside those scrolls which are literally the blueprints to Bubsy. They are four foot by fifteen-twenty foot scrolls of hand drawn designs for all the levels:

 

 

Working on Bubsy was a fantastic experience. I loved working with John Skeel (producer), Mike Berlyn (designer), and Becket Gladney (lead artist). To answer the main question of this thread itself, there are things I like and things I don't about Bubsy: I liked the theme, art style, the character the personality and most of the mechanics, but I agree with some posts that it was too easy to build up a lot of speed and get blindsided with one hit kills. I also absolutely HATE the door maze puzzle in the carnival level, I bet that is a stopper that prevents a lot of people from progressing in the game.

 

Here is an interesting factoid/egg-ish bit of trivia: Do you know how when you complete a level you see the digits of the code scrambling before they settle on the screen? Those are actually all the codes to all the levels of the game scrolling by. The idea was that if you finish the first level and record that screen with a VCR (hahaha yea, VCR), then play it back frame by frame you could get the codes.

 

Here are the Genesis credits:

 

SOLID Corp. is still alive and well, I just finished the successful Star Castle 2600 Kickstarter project with it.

 

Do you have any other questions?

 

D. Scott Williamson

Edited February 17, 2013 by solidcorp

[sh3-rg]

Do you have any other questions?

 

I have one - do you know how excited doctorclu is going to be when he reads this?