For some reason, SuperPod Game Club played Bubsy 3D for August's game-of-the-month. Released in 1996 for the PS1, Bubsy 3D is universally known as one of the worst games ever made. Being the bobcat's transition into the world of 3D platforming, this game pretty much put the nail in the coffin for the series until it was revived in 2017 with Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back.
Is Bubsy 3D really that bad? What does everyone hate about it? Why doesn't he shut the hell up? These answers and more in this month's issue of SuperPod Game Club.
Make sure to come back next month for September's game *squints at page* Kris Kross: Make My Video on SegaCD. Truly wild times we're living in. Make sure to hit the button below if you're interested in joining SuperPod Game Club!
Thrak: Bubsy 3D is possibly the worst game I've ever beaten. It's so crazy to think this team thought they had something special before they saw Mario 64, like who thought this was ok? I know expectations were different in the mid-90s but man, this game fucking blows. It controls like shit, looks like shit, plays like shit, unfair as fuck enemies, awful level design, terrible sound design and you don't even feel happy when you beat it. Thing is, if they tweaked a couple of things it would be forgettable at best, but alas Bubsy 3D has earned its reputation as one of the worst games of all time. Usually those games are either funny bad or just nothing that special, but Bubsy, oh he is special indeed. Check him into the special zone. That said, I'm looking forward to Bubsy 4D.
Bill: Oh Bubsy 3D where do I begin? I have a bit of a weird relationship with this game as in a lot of ways I'm actually a big fan of the games developer Eidetic (or Bend Studio as they are known now) and as a result I've tended to look at this game a bit less harshly over the years. But now that I've recently revisited the game i have to say, what was I thinking? Upon my first replay of this game in over a decade, I was shocked to find just how rough this game is overall with its extremely sluggish controls, obnoxious audio, and general poor performance. The games levels are an absolute slog to get through with haphazard design and horrendous enemy placement that leaves you in a constant state of frustrated/infuriated. I will say one aspect that made my experience even more of a chore then needed was my games constant crashing when playing on official hardware, which i cant 100% blame on the game, but it definitely didn't help. All in all Bubsy 3D was a very not fun experience, with its only real saving grace being that its creator going on to work for Sony creating iconic games like Syphon Filter, Uncharted Golden Abyss, and Days Gone, a bit of a silver lining if anything else.
Tony: I’m going to start this off with a formal apology to Sonic 06. Last June I went around calling it the worst game I have ever played, a completely broken piece of trash that had almost no redeeming quality and I believe I also referred to it as a literal nightmare of poor game design. Looking back I feel like maybe I was being a bit too harsh, because Bubsy 3D makes Sonic 06 look like a god damn flawless masterpiece in comparison. At the very least with Sonic 06 there is potentially a good game buried beneath all of the mountain of bugs and jank, while Bubsy 3D has absolutely zero redeeming qualities no matter how you look at it. Also, fuck this game for making me sound like a Sonic 06 apologist.
Bubsy 3D is just atrocious when it comes to graphics, gameplay, level design and sound design. It is a literal attack on all of your senses and an absolutely miserable experience from start to finish. Now I know someone out there is probably saying “Well, it was good for the time” and to them I say no it was not. Sure, the game received some positive reviews from gaming magazines at the time, but I have no doubt in my mind those reviews were greatly influenced by the publisher, because there is no way in hell anyone in their right mind would say that Bubsy 3D was “one of the sleeper hits of 1996” with a straight face.
Want to know what else came out in 1996? Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Resident Evil, NiGHTS into Dreams, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario 64. You know, games that were good, did something to help push gaming forward (if not completely revolutionize their respective genres) and are still playable even all these years later. Would anyone reading this seriously consider adding Bubsy 3D to that banger of a list? If so, show yourselves and leave a comment below you cowards.
Oh I guess I should talk actually about Busby 3D in this, my Bubsy 3D review. The game controls are awful and make Bubsy very hard to control. Jumping causes the camera to swing overhead, which in turn makes platforming and landing on enemies unnecessarily frustrating. Bubsy’s voice is grating and never shuts up with his supid oneliners. Simply looking at the game hurt my eyes both due it just being genuinely ugly and the terrible frame rate. I know there’s an upcoming rerelease that fixes the way Bubsy controls, but unless they completely reworked the game from the ground up, I highly doubt that one bandaid will do much to make the game enjoyable to play.
I could probably go on, but I feel like I’ve already put more effort into this than the game actually deserves. So that’s it, that’s my review.
Steve: When this game came up on the Super-Game-Club, an anecdote was brought up about how the devs saw Super Mario 64 at E3 and realized they were outclassed in every way, and that's why we're supposed to give games like this a chance. After all, everybody gave it their best effort, right? Not everyone can be Nintendo. Many franchise favorites suffered on the road to E3. (RIP Earthworm Jim)
Well, you could have fooled me, Accolade, because it really felt like they made this game to show just how much contempt they really had for the players. Your mascot was already considered good for a rental at best by the public at large. Why take this seriously? From the beginning Bubsy points out an arrow to guide the player, then pats the devs on the back. “Aren't these game designers wonderful???” Well, no, and you all knew it because you don't even bother to roll credits at the end of this jaunt where I press buttons, and sometimes Bubsy will do what I ask. You all knew what you did. Or couldn't be bothered to do, that they had to go back in to “fix things” for the collection says more than Bubsy ever can.
Good thing he's a cartoon.
