[h1][i]“Who's bad? 🎤”[/i]
~MJ[/h1]
Despite Bubsy having a very bad rep nowadays, my memories of the series are actually quite fond. Why? Because back in the day, I only played the first two games. Which were... pretty wannabe, sure, but still, far from being terrible. Long story short, Accolade wanted to join the big guys and get their own mascot. Michael Berlyn (of Infocom fame) gave 'em a bobcat. Who just gotta go fast. And if you smell Sonic, yes, the original Bubsy was no more than a Sonic rip-off. The hedgehog became a bobcat, rings were turned into wool, but all in all, it was the same thing. And it's not like they tried to hide it or somethin' – lots of things were taken as is (take that carnival level, for example). Still, it wasn't just a quick money grab (like, say, the original Giana Sisters game). Accolade really did try. Lots of mistakes were made, though. For example, despite the fact that Bubsy himself was designed for running, the levels just didn't give him enough space. And since, unlike Sonic, Bubsy used to die from just one hit/touch (think Sonic who was constantly on zero rings)? Let's just say it wasn't nearly as fun as it was supposed to be.
Now, the second game tried to fix all that. It tried to distinguish itself from Sonic by making levels more labyrinth-like (it was one of those things where we were supposed to walk around and look for switches), while also learning from the previous game's mistakes by adding a proper health meter. Was it great? Again, no. The problem with Bubsy II was that Accolade tried to add too much stuff and, as a result, ended up in a “quantity over quality” situation. Non-linear gameplay (we were free to choose our route through the world map and even customize the game's duration), mini-games that were accessible from hidden entrances, SHMUP levels... Like I said, too much stuff to provide real quality. The worst enemy of Bubsy II was its ambition. But it wasn't bad.
What was bad was its Game Boy version. While being visually recognizable, it felt [i]extremely[/i] rough and (especially in its second half) downright unfinished. Ever played one of those unreleased prototypes from Hidden Palace? That was it. Yet it wasn't a prototype, but a proper commercial product. They really did try to take Bubsy II as is and put it on the Game Boy. Which was an obvious mistake (remember, Bubsy II was complicated enough even by SNES/Genesis standards). So yeah, it sucked.
The Jaguar game, which was licensed to the creators of Daemonsgate and The Humans through Atari, was better, but... let's just say Imagitec Design was forced to return to the series' roots (originally, Bubsy in: Fractured Furry Tales was planned as an enhanced remake of the very first Bubsy game, because that's what the deal was – to license some Accolade titles to Atari in order to save the Jaguar) a-a-and we've got one-hit deaths again. Which only got worse thanks to weird hitboxes, a strict timer, and levels that (like in Bubsy II) wanted you to constantly look for the hidden switches. It wasn't the worst thing ever, but personally, I'll take the original Bubsy over it any time.
Now, the real infamy comes, of course, from Bubsy 3D. Which is actually quite easy to excuse nowadays, thanks to how its development started in times when Super Mario 64 (which pioneered the whole 3D platforming thing) wasn't even a thing. But at its release? It was one heck of a disaster. Partially thanks to SONY who didn't inform Accolade that the retail version of their PlayStation hardware (Bubsy 3D was supposed to be one of them fancy PlayStation titles) would have significantly less RAM than the dev kit (only 2 MB against 8 in the dev kit). So... yeah. We've got terrible tank controls because Accolade didn't know better, we've got awful levels thanks to how lots of time was wasted just to reduce the original, much bigger ones (in order to fit the retail hardware), while the camera... let's just say even SM64 had a terrible camera. Thanks to all that, Bubsy 3D ended up being the series' killer, and it's thanks to it that even those who never played Bubsy games know that the pantsless bobcat means bad news. It means that it's finally time for us to talk about The Purrfect Collection.
And you know what? I had a ba-a-ad feeling about this. I mean, come on. It's from Limited Run Games, who previously released that terrible, [i]terrible[/i] Jurassic Park collection. Count me surprised. Because the Bubsy collection? It's exactly the opposite. Let's ask ourselves a question. What do we want from this kind of releases? First, we want 'em to be as complete as possible. And while it was easy to forgive, say, The Cowabunga Collection for not having PC titles, the Jurassic Park collection felt weird by not including The Lost World for Genesis and Game Gear. Then, we want quality-of-life features. Some will say that those are just cheats, but you know what? Gimme cheats, too. Because why the heck not. Make things as accessible as possible and make sure it's not just ROMs and a free emulator (like in the Two-Fur release). Finally, we want extras to give the release a museum feeling. Does the Bubsy collection have all that? Yep. Is it perfect (or should I say Purrfect), though? As sad as it is, no.
What I absolutely loved here is the fact that, unlike Two-Fur, the collection includes both SNES [i]and[/i] Genesis versions of the first two games (while not looking as good, the Genesis versions were actually superior thanks to how there were no slowdowns). They also included the Japanese version of the first Bubsy for SNES (Super Famicom). Which had a Japanese dub. What I didn't like is the lack of the enhanced PC port. And yes, the first Bubsy had an enhanced version for Windows with better graphics, difficulties, multiplayer (hotseat only, but still) and even an unlockable animated feature. Collect all the TVs in the game and you'll be able to see the pilot episode of the cancelled animation show. Like I said, though, that version isn't included. The animated pilot is, though.
So, let's take a moment and praise the extras here. The animated pilot, lots of the video interviews, and even some dude talking about the Japanese translation I mentioned in detail. Scans (with companies’ logos removed, though) and mini-comics are included. No new gameplay modes like in those juicy Mega Man releases from CAPCOM, though, but still, it's [i]much[/i] more than you can expect from the LRG.
And you know what? It's even better than that. Because, aside from the other things, this collection comes with an exclusive re-release of Bubsy 3D. The idea was to save the game by giving it proper controls. With camera movement and stuff (no more tank controls or forced camera). Did it help? Did it save Bubsy 3D? Well, not completely, since the game is still… whatever it is and they didn't fix bugs (for example, on the Daze of Thunder level where you need to jump from one moving shuttle to another, you may still need to utilize the infinite jump glitch in order to progress), but yes, it did help. You ever wanted to beat Bubsy 3D? This is the way. The original version is also included. Only the original US one (in Europe, the save feature was replaced with passwords, which was a very weird downgrade back then), but it's there.
So… yeah. Count me surprised, but The Purrfect Collection, while not being Purrfect, is… kinda awesome, really. My biggest complaint is the QoL features. Those are there, but… the rewind feature feels more like glorified save states (the game just gives you a bunch of states to choose from), cheats may work incorrectly (or not work at all in some cases), etc. Emulation is also buggy (The Purrfect Collection relies on LRG's own in-house engine called Carbon that acts as an emulation wrapper), and some games, for example, may start running too fast all of the sudden. All in all, though, The Purrfect Collection is good and if you want some Bubsy in your life – go get it.
