Few things were more unexpected back in 2017 than Accolade's revival of their long-dormant Bubsy franchise. It seemed poised to have everything work out for it though, with modern day internet/meme culture's willingness to embrace anything weird, ridiculous, or "cringe" ensuring it garnered a sort of pseudo-ironic pre-release buzz. When The Woolies Strike Back ended up being just as bad as anything else the orange bobcat had been in however, it appeared highly unlikely he'd be getting another shot at redemption. Which may explain why this even MORE surprising follow-up launched without any noticeable fanfare or marketing. A shame really, because it's a genuine and massive improvement on previous installments.

The number one complaint I see people have with this is that it's an auto-runner instead of a traditional platformer. Considering these are the exact same people who will tell you Bubsy was never in a good traditional platformer anyways, to me it's a complaint that just looks really stupid. It gets the basics right and having been made by the creators of the Bit.Trip Runner series it even does that thing where everything you interact with adds to the background music in some way. While Accolade was willing to hire another talented studio to take the reigns, they were apparently once again uninterested in giving the project much financial support, forcing the team to resort to a Kickstarter campaign to actually finish developing it. Still, Choice Provisions was able to squeeze a decent amount of content out of its 3 worlds with 10 levels a piece (including bosses) by incorporating multiple playable characters. Completing a stage with each of whom will grant you a medal which can be used to unlock later areas.

The first two play basically the same way only with slightly different movesets, while the third turns things into a side-scrolling space shooter and the fourth is locked away in bonus stages that act as throwbacks to the ones in old-school Sonic titles. All of them work well and are legitimately enjoyable, with the only real issue I encountered being some difficulty in judging exactly how much distance a jump would cover without a little trial and error given how the screen advances automatically as you do. Yet, with death ultimately amounting to nothing it never became too frustrating a process. Bubsy still can't get boss battles right though, as the three encounters here are genuinely terrible.

Overall, Paws on Fire! might just catch you off guard with how much you'll end up liking it. It's not a mind-blowing experience, but is genuinely competent, fun, and amusing in a way the brand simply hasn't ever been in the past before. So it's admittedly kind of heartbreaking that this is most likely the talkative feline's last outing, as next to nobody has played or in all seriousness truly knows it exists in the first place. If that does turn out to be the case, at least he'll go out on something of a high note. It may have taken 26 years, but Bubsy has finally starred in a good game!

7.5/10

I really wanted to like this game more than I did because the amount of care and fan service that went into this, despite being part of a franchise that doesn't seem to have any fans, is astounding. This game is chocked full of references and characters from everything that made this franchise so... well, hated. Of course, they brought back the Woolies from Bubsy I and The Woolies Strike Back, but they also brought back some more obscure characters. For instance, Oinker, the main vilian from Bubsy II is back, as well as Arnold the Armadillo and Terry and Terri. They even brought in Virgil as a playable character, whose only appearance was in the animated pilot. I should also mention that Virgil's collectibles have a strong resemblance to the collectibles in Bubsy 3-D.

So why did I not like this game as much as the other Bubsy games I have played? This game is not a platformer, but a runner. While there have been some runners that I have really enjoyed such as Jetpack Joyride and Flash Gordon, I just felt like each level in this game didn't offer enough variety to make it consistently interesting. There are 30 levels for each of the three characters (Bubsy, Woolie, and Virgil) and an additional 30 bonus levels for Arnold the Armadillo that are unlocked by collecting all three pieces of the Arnold Medallion with all three characters within a specific level. Each level plays significantly different depending on which character you select. Bubsy relies more on floating and pouncing, Virgil relies on double jumps and ducking, and the Woolie just turns the level into a scrolling shooter. The Arnold bonus levels are kind of like the special stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but with poor controls that take some getting use to. If you hit right, he sometimes stops halfway up the side and you have to hit left to continue going up, causing you to miss precious crystals. I didn't figure out until I got to the final world that you should be moving him by sliding your finger around the D-Pad. It is also of note that all four characters have collectibles that can be collected to purchase alternate costumes.

If you are playing to increase your score on the leaderboard, you can rack up the points by staying airborne and not dying. This not only increases your score, but will increase a meter that will set Bubsy on fire (which is a good thing) and make Virgil and Woolie glow. You can also increase your score by defeating enemies and collecting yarn balls.

Like in Woolies Strike Back, the music is pleasant, but not very memorable. The boss fights are fun, but not as challenging as the previous game (except for maybe the second boss). It certainly isn't a bad game, but I just felt the entire time that I’d rather be playing a Bubsy platformer.


I have never played Bubsy 3-D, but I would be open to it if I stumbled upon it for cheap, nor Fractured Fairy Tales because who the hell has an Atari Jaguar?