So, my birthday is February 10th. Of course I posted about this in various online chats I was in, which led to someone I know on the How Long to Beat discord posted a single image and a joke that "here's a game you should play! ;)"

https://i.imgur.com/3kxNFxv.jpg

So once I looked at How Long to beat and saw it was like a 2 hour game I had to do it. And that's why I downloaded and played The Bugs Bunny Birthdat Blowout in 2023 of all things. So, what are my thoughts? Well, it isn't a horrible game, just one with some critical flaws that make it wear thin despite the modest playtime. The ol' Bugs Birthday Bashorama is pretty much what you'd expect from the NES in that it is a sidescrolling platformer, with one button to attack and another to jump. Six levels with four stages each. Basic stuff. Bugs controls...fine enough, not the tightest platformer ever but far from the worst, although the game's low framerate makes it sometimes feel less responsive than you'd like. I think the bigger issue comes from Bugs' hammer attack, which simply has too little range, and a bit of a windup to it. The end result is that trying to hit enemies WITHOUT getting hit yourself is frustrating, fortunately the only enemies you usually need to kill basically don't attack except by moving. But it does get pretty silly when you hammer a frog and its sprite just teleports forward and then it keeps jumping and hits you. Or lands in front of you and you're back to square one.

This game's difficulty is at war with itself, although it lands squarely in the "very easy" category. The way it gets there is mildly frustrating, in that the game is full of a lot of "Gotcha!" trickery (platforms that disappear under you being the biggest ones, with at least one required blind drop into a pit area that lands you on one and means you WILL die if you don't know to jump instantly, but also hidden enemies or the like), but when you aren't getting had the jumps are fairly reasonable and the game is mostly timing based and very easy. This is especially true because the game showers you with extra lives via the (pretty random, admittedly) bonus games (I even got a +50 lives near the end!), so you get some serious trial-and-error gameplay going on! It's far from the worst you'll get on the NES, but it does get tiring by the end of the game.

Let's talk about something good, if not fully utilized given it is a random liscensed game from 1990. I think the idea of this game's collectible, the carrots, turning into platforms for you to use after collecting them is an interesting design space. You do get some tricky jumps where you have to jump to collect them, land back onto the main stage and then use them, but they're rather few and far in between. I could totally see some modern 2D platformer use them well though, like hidden secret paths only done by backtracking after grabbing collectibles, or mix and matching it with stuff like crumbling platforms (I was shocked this game never did it) or moving platforms or whatever. It did make me think about the level design in a different way than a lot of games, so good on it. Also while the gotchas wear thin, they DO feel like they really fit the tone of Looney Tunes and Bugs in specific.

Why does this game have so many bosses when it reuses them so much? Daffy is a boss in EVERY world and like every time he is PATHETICALLY easy that's actually hilarious but also not good gameplay. You fight Elmer Fudd like three times. The fight does not change any time. The final boss is the only one who uses a truly different strategy, although Pepe le Pew is at least a bit unique. If you can't make unique bosses, at least scale them back a little bit to avoid the endless repition.

Anyway this game's plot is David Fincher's The Game so that obviously gives it an extra half star-

Reviewed on Feb 11, 2023


6 Comments


1 year ago

Apologies, but I'm obligated to send you this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1WDAV9FQC8

1 year ago

lmao love it

Funny for you to post that one specifically because I helped a friend make a Yzma & Kronk set in Make Your Move (Smash Bros moveset theorycrafting contest). Not one of our best but it was funny.

1 year ago

Every single boss fight with Daffy has a RABBIT SEASON sign on the stage that you can stand on and in one of them the only way to actually beat Daffy is to stand on top of it to get to the stage finishing carrot. They know what they did.

1 year ago

You talking about theorycrafting a Yzma and Kronk smash bros move set is the reason I wish I could like comments on reviews, fuckin' hell. I love it.

1 year ago

It's far from me or my joint partner Slavic's best work but here's a link to it if you want: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cZplTtGFTUSiTqgfAY_xNAxFcwjD6sIxWND6h1kmBMg/edit

We have a whole thread that's open for people to participate if they want, although right now we're voting on the contest that just ended. I could show that too if people really wanted lol

1 year ago

At long last, my long history of pitching the same youtube link to Emperor's New Groove Birthday Song to everyone announcing their birthday has finally beared fruit, and it's a charming as all hell write up of a Smash Bros move set to Kronk/Yzma that's written completely in-character.

God, I love this site sometimes.