By Wewewi

Hey there, apologies for the late reply!

"Your conclusion and the last paragraph in it implied that this collection is only for those who were stuck playing Bubsy as kids because their parents weren't savvy enough to realize it was a terrible game."

Yes, sometimes I can (and do) embellish an article for the sake of humour and whimsy, and entertainment purposes. The notion of a kid hoping for Mario World and getting Bubsy is humorous enough, and considering the collection is scoring a four I didn't feel too bad about giving it a fun send-off.

"But we're talking about 20 years worth of games, and dismissing western-developed ones is incredibly narrow-minded. "

Oh, not at all. You've misinterpreted the parameters somewhat. Yes, Japan absolutely killed in the 80s and 90s and only lost their ground considerably when things went cinematic in the 00s (Hollywood-stylisation naturally wasn't their forte). Of course I'm not dismissing the Jeff Minters and Peter Molyneuxs of the world, but we need to look within the space of 2D action for an overall appraisal of east versus west. For every Flashback there was also a Chakan, and for every Mortal Kombat there was a Rise of the Robots. Japan had stinkers, and I've probably played most of them, but the historical library of today demonstrates a markedly stronger success rate in this field. I always like to throw the McDonald's game into the ring for this comparison: Treasure's Mcdonald's Land Adventure versus Mick & Mack Global Gladiators.

Anyway, it's not too much of an issue here, was just a contrasting observation really.

"Lastly, the Bubsy games weren't developed by just one team, so it's not as simple as a group of people being (comically) inept at their jobs and somehow lucking into success. Moreover, every bad game has a story behind its development. For instance, Fractured Furry Tales started off as a port of Encounters, but the devs wanted to try to make an original game instead. I'm genuinely curious if the collection addresses any of this, and your review didn't answer that for me."

Well it did address and answer all of that; it got a four. I'm not sure which of any individual was or wasn't inept at their job, but the finished product is lacklustre, and in some places I'd stretch to "comically inept", especially where Bubsy 3D is concerned. I'm still completely bewildered as to how the series held on so long or had so many entries, considering the quality of output, so "lucking into success" isn't too far off the mark in my opinion.

I try to limit reviews as near enough to 1200 words as that's kind of a sweet spot for readability. There are quite a few games in here to detail, so things like production backstories can't always make the cut unfortunately.

Hope this clears things up!

By Tom-Massey

Reading through some of your comments here, it does seem like you're acting in good faith and not just trashing the games and the collection outright. That said, your response to me still leaves a lot to be desired.

Your conclusion and the last paragraph in it implied that this collection is only for those who were stuck playing Bubsy as kids because their parents weren't savvy enough to realize it was a terrible game. That's not only insulting, it's simply untrue. Also, if you meant that in jest, it didn't come across that way given the tone of the rest of your article.

That's probably why your comment about western developers rubbed me the wrong way too. I love Mario and Sonic, and I'm not going to pretend other Japanese companies like Capcom and Konami didn't also have excellent pedigrees when it came to platformers. But we're talking about 20 years worth of games, and dismissing western-developed ones is incredibly narrow-minded. (You're also ignoring all of the terrible stuff that came out of Japan.)

Is Pitfall not a good game? What about Jumpman and Miner 2049er? Wasn't Prince of Persia and Another World ground-breaking for their time? Did you forget about Crash, Spyro, and Tomb Raider too? There were also licensed games that were well received. (Alien 3 comes to mind.)

Lastly, the Bubsy games weren't developed by just one team, so it's not as simple as a group of people being (comically) inept at their jobs and somehow lucking into success. Moreover, every bad game has a story behind its development. For instance, Fractured Furry Tales started off as a port of Encounters, but the devs wanted to try to make an original game instead. I'm genuinely curious if the collection addresses any of this, and your review didn't answer that for me.

By KainXavier

By TYRANACLES

...yeah. I'm not sure we were even in disagreement. Unsure what you're getting at here.

@The_Top_Loader

No it's all good, just retro chat really. He's a famously divisive character as are the games. Sometimes I get the impression people enjoy them because they're rough, and it's more about the vibe and personality of the thing. I didn't struggle with them all too much though. Well, maybe the second one. The maze structure is just infuriatingly lazy design work!

By Tom-Massey