This game had serious potential. I really like the level design, and the music was surprisingly good, including some very competent bluegrass in levels 10-12. What it needed, and badly needed, were two things: tighter controls, and at least 3 HP instead of 1 per life. If you had the ability to soak a couple of hits, and put Bubsy squarely where you wanted him, this would have been one of the top 20 platformers of the SNES era.

Thanks much! And for anyone interested in more Game Quickies, the guys over at RetrowareTV do them all the time - including ones from the Happy Video Game Nerd, Gaming Historian, and Goemon047 from Let's Get! // end plug

Thank You!!! I was a little kid at the time but I have fond memories of Bubsy, and it's sad to hear people hate on it so much!

The first Bubsy is probably my favorite side scroller of all time. I never played the other ones.

I got the hidden 'huge tracks of land' gag :) (for those who are Python fans)

Pushed back to June, but I'm releasing a few shorter videos like this in the meantime to keep everyone calm. ;)

This shows how extreme other reviewers are on KZfaq, everyone is angry, and are the most critical and negative people.. I never thought this game was as bad as some people made out to be, yes the 3d one was garbage but the others weren't. I admit they were hard, and very frustrating, but they weren't the worst games alive.. I think it's bitch move to view old games by today's standards, and make fun of the 'tude' that existed back in the day and forget that some games were never intended to be for adults back then, and neither are they now... Roo is more honest and real than people like JonTron, whose channel is to shit on games that were bad back then by viewing them by today's standards

well... BUBSY'S BACK BABYYYY!!!

As always, good stuff Roo. I remember playing Bubsy and enjoying it. As you said it wasn't mind blowing, but hate never came into my head when playing the game. It seems the older we get the more critical we become of the games we hated and more nostalgic about the games we loved.

Its confirmed that there is a Bubsy game coming out on Halloween for the PS4 and Steam called 'The Woolies Strike Back'

i LOVE how you threw the Yarn at the Kitty and he was like -_- /Sigh...

I'll confess to enjoying Bubsy 2 as a child. The funny thing is, I play Bubsy before I even knew what Sonic was.

the description shoud lbe "Roo from clan of the grey wolf throws his hat into the game quickie ring with one of the most infamous platformers ever created!" still my all tiem favourite reviewer man.

I loved the first couple Bubsy games when I was younger. Haven't had a chance to play them in ages, though. Some day I'll have to hunt down copies.

Totally a death stare - I woke him up at 2 am for that shot.

2:04 Cat: why the hell did you throw a yarn ball at my face?

I love how at 2:04 your cat just looks at the yarn ball and stares at u thinking "What the heck is this thing?" Ur cat is also kinda cute...

He's done several dragon quests in his 16-bit gems series.

This is a wonderful review. I could never understand the hate that the first Bubsy got. I personally enjoyed it a lot growing up. I used to play this with a friend and we'd switch after every life. Needless to say we were switching back and forth quite a bit. The game does have a ridiculous sense of speed though and its very easy to find yourself zooming across the screen out of control if you're not careful

Oh no worries. I'm quite familiar with all of their work with Game Quickies as well. Just as enjoyable of course. But hey, now that you bring it up, gonna have to watch them all again!

I've had this for the snes back in the late 90s. I loved back then. When I played the ps1 game, I was very disappointed.

Honestly, I never did have any malice toward the 2-D Bubsy titles. I always knew they were decent platformers and I can never hate a game (Or games) for being decent. Looking forward to more of these game quickies Roo!

4:33 The Wild West level. I never got past it. Even getting there at all was an achievement for me.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?! I nearly died laughing at how terrible the 5 sec clip was

Thank you man.. I played Bubsy years back, and while it needed a adjusted Health system (and the Deaths were funny to look at) there wasn't really anything else BAD about it

the original Bubsy game was almost perfect, the only real problem was those one hit deaths no matter how many balls of wool you got, you always died. You can see they were trying to go with a Sonic style of gameplay, but just failed with the one hit deaths as well as the falling from too high places was inconsistent in places. But still way better than the 3D Bubsy game that was an utter rushed 3D half finished mess.

I suspect that the people who made Earthworm Jim had a greater love for the medium than the makers of Bubsy. In their later games, you can see a genuine passion for video games. Games like MDK and the outstanding Sacrifice could not have been made by people looking for a quick cash in (considering how risky and commercially unviable they were). Still, I agree, Bubsy was by no means a bad game, in fact I liked it, but it was not great.

I remember liking this game at the time, had nice graphics and nice details like Bubsy knoking on the TV if you leave him idle enough time. I was really amazed back then but was a hard as balls game and because of the always moving camera was hard to land on some places and was full of cheap deaths. But we were such a graphic whores back then that we didn't really mind, games like this one were really true next gen and games like Mario World or Earthbound looked like something almost taken from the NES or the Master System. It´s funny how "bad graphics" of that time aged better than the most cutting edge ones as they are looked as an art form.

Cool, thanks! Btw, ever thought of doing a 16 bit gems on Tales of Phantasia? It's an awesome JRPG with gread story, combat is super fun and never feels repetative, and the Tales series in it self is just super awesome with tons of cameos from other Namco games or franchises.

Loved this review! I always thought Bubsy got a bad rap. I never knew about the playstation game. I picked up and enjoyed for several weekends the genesis game. I even have the list of passwords somewhere. Once you stop that tendency to run thourgh the game, and start being careful, you can enjoy the game.. I didn't even know it was a bad game. I would even call Bubsy a good game, worth playing if you like platformers. Definately no Aladin, Sonice, or Mario, but still pretty good. Didn't even know it was a bad game until the internet.

Calling any Bubsy game a 'gem' is like calling cardboard 'food.'

Holy crap, Bubsy is a friggin cat? In all these years I thought he was a squirrel (based on the cover)

This and Jon Tron's video on the Bubsy series are probably the best criticisms I've seen for the game.

I can agree that Bubsy isn't a gem in any way, but still. I had alot of fun playing this with my parents as a kid, and in the end, that's what games are about.

I think that yours are the reviews I like the most, and I don't think I've said this before so.. yeah, thanks for keeping up the good work :)

Sounds and music were much better on the Genesis. O.o Also I had no idea there was a third one... Wow. I truly Do believe this game is a gem because of its level design and unique character. It's inherent difficulty is actually one of its greatest aspects as well.

Just wondering... you're going to be reviewing Dragon Quest I-III (Which are all 8-bit games), and you're considering Mother 3, which is a 32-bit game. You mentioned in one of the Echo Screen Lives that you plan on ''reformatting ClanOfTheGrayWolf.'' Does this mean that this series will branch off to being about hidden gems from all generations, not just the 16-bit era. Because that would absolutely fantastic!

I covered and reviewed this game in 2009 and ClayoftheGrayWolf has no idea who the heck I am.

Heh heh, thanks dude. I'll seeya at Conbravo this year by the way and I'll bring Ninja Spirit for ya to sign.

"huge tracks of land" Monty Python reference, Roo?

No mention of Rob Paulsen? The voice behind Bubsy... Yakko Warner, Original Raphael, Antoine Fox (Sonic Sat AM) Top 10 ALL TIME voice actor... Arguably in the top 5.

@Epic Satellite "By no means is Bubsy a gem."

Bubsy 3D's greatness is just beyond human comprehension. You'll see transhumans or the Singularity will enjoy it.

The reason I was so disappointed with this game was due to the hype. Magazines at the time like EGM played it up like it was going to be the next big thing along the lines of Sonic and Mario which left me feeling genuinely let down upon its release.

You know, I saw this game at a local used Book/electronics store.I didn't buy it because of it's bad rep. But, you've actually made me actually want to buy it. lol

I never played the 1st game but I did rent the 2ed one # of times and recall it being mindless fun

Do one of these videos for total recall on the nes

Has 16-bit gems been put on hold, or have they been moved somewhere else. I've not seen a new episode in ages.

I liked the first Bubsy on the SNES

Jontrons review tells only the negative parts of the game but don't truly criticizes it as he mainly do so for entertainment, while Roo gives it a honest review, stating that YES it is not a great game BUT it has SOME worth which gets smothered over by Bubsy 3D. Jontron is great in making us laugh as he suffers horrible games, and his Bubsy review is in my opinion one of his most funniest episodes but i do think as a honest review Roo is the winner.

Please do Bubsy 2! It's one of my favourite SNES games!

You could of at least mentioned that Bubsy was voice by Rob Paulsen a voice acting vet best known for Yakko Warner, Raphael and P.J. Pete.

I am actually going to try Bubsy now

Sounds about right... who do I send the royalty check to?

Everytime any of my friends say "Derp, game X is terrible", i let them play bubsy 3D.

I actually liked this Bubsy game when I was young... I loved cats so it helped ;)

How could You call bubsy a GEM?! It's an abomination!

What are your thoughts on the 2nd Bubsy game? That game was so weird.

The biggest sint he first and second game comited was having like three bosses for the whole game. Hell the second one had only two.

I can't like this video hard enough. Finally someone gave this game a fair look rather than just "LOLSUXLIKE3D" Seriously, this is one of my childhood favorites and I still enjoy the piss out of it and part 2.

I'm surprised this isn't the subject of a 16-Bit Gems Episode.

I still have my SNES, but unfortunately this title and Link To The Past are two games I have either sold to someone or lost over the years. Bummer.

She's got HUGE....tracts of land.

i used to LOVE Bubsy as a kid!

Suggestion here: The Lost Vikings an pre-Blizzard action-puzzle game. Maybe not worthy of a 16-bits gems too, but way better than Bubsy.

yeah, that is what i think of the series (besides the 3d game) it isnt super terrible, but it isn't really anything that memorable or worth while unless you are into its no thrills design. great job on your first quickie episode.

I actually owned this game as a kid. I didn't think it was bad at all. Although I thought it got progressively less impressive at Bubsy 2.

Bought this at a flea market for 50 cents a couple months ago.

I had a lot of fun with this game as a kid and bought it after reading about it in Nintendo Power. The only headaches was the one hit kills and touchy control of his speed yet I beat it and we had a few laughs at its cheesy humor. Poor Bubster never got a good game after the 16 bit era though Lol!

So we're looking into overly disliked or overlooked 2D platformers? Rocky Rodent. Do it. Now.

Roo!!! When ya gonna do Dragon Quest? I've been waiting with abated breath for it!

I actually beated this game. One of my friends from back home had it lent it to me, and I was frustrating determined to beat the game. Not much of an ending... But at least its like the Grey Wolf says, its not that bad.

I liked Bubsy as a kid I was surprised that this was regarded as one of the worst for the system.

everyone hated bubsy for being a sonic clone, and wile he kinda is, he's not nearly as bad of one as Awesome Possum, he even faces the Evil Dr.... Machino....

Yeah, but he did say that it's by no means a gem.

I remember playing Bubsy.

What's the game at 0:09 called (the one with the guy using a flamethrower)?

How can a collection of video games be a pantheon?

I really like bubsy as kid Genesis and Atari jagwire

MAN! I fckin loved bubsy as a kid. i dont see why everyone hates it. i member when the first one came out everyone loved it. wtf happened?!

Believe it or not my mom loves this game and would always ask me if she could play it, I agree good review man...

DONT TALK TO LARRY BUNDY LIKE THAT

I was originally ripping off Irate Gamer by then I started stealing from others too like your Bubsy review. Oddly enough I was kinda positive in my review too so Roo clearly copied me first, even though he never seen my review.

I didn't know Busby was a cat till 2:03 O.o

Bubsy is bad. It's too zoomed in so you don't see what you're doing. If you jump above the screen, you're at the top of the screen and don't see where you are going and it's all too floaty. It's a fast game where you need to crawl ahead slowly and carefully.

Something I never understood about 16 and 32 bit cartriges gems is that they are not making them anymore. Why would one go out of their way to buy a game for a system that's a pretty longshot for working nowadays, and where the only person who's getting money is the store?

Yeah...proper response right there...>>

I remember playing this game because of the balls of yarn

Any chance of you reviewing mother 3?

Did he just called Bubsy good? Like, really? WTF!!

Nice Python reference.

can anybody tell me the game at 0:12? It says "We will help you" as a sprite appears to jump through a rice paper wall.......Literally, I've been trying to remember the name of that game for well over 15 years now. I originally played it at Electric Palace and had no idea it had been ported to a home console!!!!! Little help? Roo? Anybody?

I watch lots of videogame reviews. cotgw is by far the best articulated.

I loved that game, all 3 of them.

did u watch the Jon Tron review of these games?

HEY ROO this is your kat i am not amused by your yarn

unless you got stuck with it as the rate time you got to buy a game, middling games in general get far more hate than deserved, and nowadays i think we have about 20-30 middling games a year... many getting great sales and reviews, because ppl just don't hate unless it's cool to.

I can't tell if your cat is giving you the death stare at 2:07... or the omg I luv you me gusta look... O_O

I enjoyed the 2nd - though the level design is worse, almost everything else is better. Haven't played Jaguar one yet.

Whydja criticize Earthworm Jim? It was one of the more awesome "Animal mascot platformers" of the era, and its creator ,Doug TeNapel is pretty awesome (The fact that he's a creationist notwithstanding).