The ire towards this game seems very misplaced. I don't think Buck Bumble is an essential game to the story of the Nintendo 64, but there are plenty of other games with flight on the Nintendo 64 that are worse. This game's presentation is the worst aspect and probably why this game is so divisive. The enemy designs fit the theme, but the game chose to focus on the worst aspects of audio/visual design from that era of the N64 (muddy semi-realistic textures, low draw distance and a D&B soundtrack that doesn't leave much to remember), and doesn't have enough variety is any of those aspects to make up for it. The soundtrack actively detracts from the game, as it's just a constant beat over very simplistic tracks otherwise.

The rest of the game is totally fine. The flight mechanics are rudimentary, but again, they could have performed a lot worse. The only time I had issues with the hit detection were with floating mines, the rest of the game was very generous towards the player in that regard. The level objectives were easy to understand and the flow of the levels was good enough to where I didn't get lost despite their vertical size. It's on the shorter side, a blind playthrough took me about three hours, but any longer and the repetitive nature of the game would have really started to drag.

Buck Bumble isn't the worst game on the console, but it's not a game to rush out and play either. It has a unique gimmick and competent execution, it just needed a few more months in the oven to progress past that.

As a huge bumbler myself, I felt inclined to play the game from which my theme song originates.

It is impressive how smooth this controls for the time, but it lacks variety in objectives and especially the music. The loops are so short that they become mind-numbing, and there's so little music, which is a surprise given how fun the menu theme is.

It honestly plays really well though, the hitboxes are generally really tight, the controller sensitivity is just right to be able to hit things consistently. It isn't perfect but the limitations feel like a part of the experience. Shame that, while the core is good, the objectives are anything but exciting.

Right about now, it's time to rock with the biggity Buck Bumble
Bump to the bump to the bump to the bass
bump to the bump to the Bumble
Bump to the bump to the bump to the bass
bump to the bump to the Bumble
Right about now, it's time to rock with the mediocre Buck Bumble
Played emulated, though I doubt that's even the problem with this game.

Buck Bumble is a bumbling mess of controls, design, and movement. While the aspect of a bee going around shooting futuristic evil wasps in a variety of low key normal areas you'd see in any suburb area is at least interesting, playing through it is a very daunting task to be had. The controls are not intuitive at all, and even near the end I was still struggling with camera issues, Buck going too fast or too slow, and aiming in general. The free range area to fly Buck in is certainly ambitious at least, but often things are hidden far too well or too hard to reach that it often gets frustrating due to the inability to shot well, and enemies killing you just way too fast. Add this with a variety of tricky flying sections, and horrible turning mechanics make for moving Buck completely unsafe. The story itself is rather barebones; acting more as a device than anything interesting.
Thankfully Buck has one great aspect to it, and that's its limited soundtrack. While a lot of songs have a funky beat to it, and honestly aren't bad to constantly listen too, the opening title theme legitimately slaps, and it makes me wish for a better game just so we can get more of these fun tracks.
Despite Bumble being quite a mess, the game has a lot of charm to it, and if it weren't for the fact it was trying to do so many things at once, it could have been a clear hidden gem of a game, but it's not. I certainly would love to see Buck Bumble return to video games more akin to a Star Fox on-rail shooter with empathize on it's soundtrack in levels, but that likely won't happen.

Jogar com uma mosca ou abelha?!
Sim, queremos.

Jogo muito bacana que marcou minha vida na época do Nintendo 64.
Zerei com a força do ódio, já que a gameplay era uma dificuldade danada.