Game:

Bubsy II (1994)

Duration: 5:28

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Bubsy II is a well-meaning, but (imo) mediocre successor to the first Bubsy which is less of a platformer and more of an exercise in frustration. In this game, Bubsy goes to take his niece and nephew to a new historical theme park which just opened up, known as the Amazatorium, which uses state-of-the-art technology to recreate times and places in history. However, unbeknowst to Bubsy, the amazatorium is actually stealing pieces of history and putting them on display. Bubsy loses his two relatives at the park and ends up getting embroiled in Oinker P. Hamm's schemes. You have to stop him and get out of the Amazatorium.

To its credit, the game attempts to improve on the original formula in several ways. There are three mini-games, new levels (with the interesting element of altering the levels and their layout depending on which wings of the Amazatorium you choose), multiplayer features, new gadgets Bubsy can use (like the Nerf Ballzooka, Bombs, Diving Suit, and Black Hole), and he doesn't die in one hit from most things anymore. There is also the interesting "trading cards" system where you can buy and sell items you have to alter your experience, such as trading extra lives for more Ballzooka ammo (they can also be gained on stages).

The downside? The game has even more traps, a lot more enemies, more awkward level designs now with more objectives like finding switches or flying a plane, mostly terrible random music, and an erratic, choppy framerate. If these things were fixed, Bubsy II would have been a worthy successor to the original game and perhaps improved Bubsy's image, but instead it excels in some areas while compromising others. This is a video of the first level. Enjoy.