As I've related in the past, I grew up a poor kid, who didn't get a Nintendo Entertainment System until late 1990, as an early birthday present. My NES system came with the infamous Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo cartridge, which of course I played the ever loving shit out of (IE as much as my grandmother would let me). In the handful of months between when I got my NES early, as an incentive to be more focused about doing homework (I was allowed to play only if I got it done), and Christmas, I actually did get at least a couple of other games, including another Zapper shooting game called To The Earth, and one that would become an instant favorite, Arkista's Ring.
But thanks to our fairly close proximity to an "All the Best Video" store, which was obviously one of my favorite places growing up, we also rented a fair few games too, just trying out what was on the system. In the future, I will have to write up a piece on the now mostly lost glory of rental stores and game rentals. But for now, sufficed to say, in that same span of time, I was allowed on some weekends, to pick out a game to try. And I want to say that, as I recall, I gravitated early on, to a game based on Bugs Bunny, one of my childhood heroes.
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| One of my earliest game rentals. |
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| THREE Sylvesters, now THAT'S trouble! |
That game, as seen above, was called The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle. Though I wouldn't know this for many years, it was originally released in Japan on the Famicom, as simply Roger Rabbit, the first video game to be based off of that amazing piece of late 80s cinema. Not having the Roger license in North America, however, Kemco decided to tweak the graphics a bit, and released it as a Bugs Bunny game instead.
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| The Roger Rabbit original. |
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| Mickey Mouse on Game Boy. |
As you can see, the Roger-based Famicom game and the Bugs Bunny game I rented, are basically the same. Roger's sprite was swapped out for Bugs, and the Weasels from the movie, were instead turned into multi-colored Sylvesters. He would be joined by other Looney Tunes favorites, such as Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and Yosemite Sam. The complicated and interesting nature of game licenses doesn't merely stop with Roger and Bugs, however. In Japan, Kemco continued the series on Game Boy as Mickey Mouse games. But they didn't have the Mickey license for NA, so again, they became multiple Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle installments in the States instead. But to go ever FURTHER, what was known as Mickey Mouse II on Game Boy in Japan, was Bugs Bunny in America, and a game based on the character Hugo, over in Europe. Not only that, but for extra fun, what was known in Japan on Game Boy as Mickey Mouse IV: The Magical Labyrinth, in America became based on The Real Ghostbusters, and in Europe, on the beloved cat Garfield! That might well be the only time in gaming history, certainly that I know of, where a video game series featured six (ultimately seven if you count a Woody Woodpecker game on Game Boy Advance) different licensed properties across its games.
I can't say for 100% certain, but I vaguely remember beating this game, probably the first such rental that I beat. Which is no small feat, considering the game has, as I recall, around 50 stages of gradually increased difficulty. The game itself, regardless of incarnation, revolves around simplistic arcade style action, wherein you have to collect all of a certain item in a given stage, and then reach the exit, without getting caught by the baddies. In Roger Rabbit, you had to collect hearts. In the Bugs game I played, you have to collect, naturally, carrots. In the later games on Game Boy, regardless of character/region, you instead have to collect keys. But all in all, the Crazy Castle games are, in this man's opinion, good simple fun. I am most nostalgic for the first Bugs game I rented, of course, but I would say any of them, with perhaps the exception of the Woody game on GBA, are well worth checking out.
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| Mickey Mouse |
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| Kid Klown |
As a quick aside, this tangled Crazy Castle series, also had a spin-off of sorts. Originally released in Japan as a Famicom sequel to the first two Game Boy Mickey Mouse games, this spin-off was called Mickey III: Balloon Dreams. In it, Minnie has been kidnapped by an evil sorcerer, and with the aid of some awesome magic balloon abilities, you have to go save her. In all honesty, it would have been pretty great if they had managed to release this as a Mickey game in America, because as Mickey games go, it's one of the best. But, their Mickey license remained Japan-Only, so for the NA release, they transformed the game into a vehicle for a brand new, Kemco original character, known as Kid Klown! This too was a childhood game rental for me, quite some time later, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed, and wish I had owned back then. It, like the game I'm actually here to talk about today, is one of my top favorite NES games.
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| One of the greatest stars of animation, ever. |
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| The Evolution of Bugs Bunny. |
As fortune would have it, while the original Crazy Castle game was released in 1989, 1990 happened to be the 50th birthday of Bugs Bunny himself. Technically speaking, as you can see above, a white rabbit, sometimes referred to as "Happy Rabbit", essentially a prototype version of Bugs, was first featured in the Porky Pig short "Porky's Hair Hunt". A goofier looking, gray rabbit with black-tipped ears, would appear in a couple of early Elmer Fudd cartoons. But what is considered to be the first "Official" Bugs Bunny cartoon, was released in 1940, called "A Wild Hare". This was the first time Bugs had his now infamous look, and the first cartoon in which his well-known personality was truly on display.
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| That wascally wabbit! |
To capitalize on this monumental anniversary, Kemco made a new game, technically unrelated to the Crazy Castle franchise. In this particular case, the game released in all regions basically the exact same, and it was dubbed The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout (or Happy Birthday Bugs in Japan). The game's plot, in fact, was based around Bugs' birthday, and it was, for its time, strongly promoted with the anniversary tie-in.
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| If only he knew... |
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| It's a trap! |
This game was an early rental for me as well, as I guess I must've been on a Bugs kick. And I must admit, that while I enjoyed Crazy Castle, I instantly loved Birthday Blowout much more. A side-scrolling platformer, you play Bugs, who has received a mysterious invitation to a party. Little does he know, that it was sent by his fellow Looney Tunes stars, who apparently are jealous that he is so popular and gets all the fame. So to GET to this party, he has to traverse what turn out to be vast lands, including rolling hills, scorching deserts, haunted caves, and even a live volcano!
The basic gameplay is still pretty simple, but more involved than that of Crazy Castle. As Bugs, you can run and jump, staples of the platformer genre. In fact, being a rabbit, Bugs can jump fairly high, in comparison to most other such games. As his method of defending himself from the variety of traps and monsters that have been set against him, he employs the use of a rather sizable gray mallet, which you use to bonk enemies, and smash blocks in your way. As a kid, I found the block smashing to be rather fun, and even imagined that Bugs' day job must be some sort of construction (or in this case demolition) worker.
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| Remember this guy? |
Another focus of the game, like Crazy Castle but not, is collecting carrots. In this game's case, you collect them for use in the between-level bonus games. In point of fact, this game can be rather generous with the extra lives, IF you're good at collecting carrots, and if you don't just completely suck (or not touch the controller at all), during the bonus games. The most typical bonus stage you get, is a kind of number match game, that is, frankly, nigh-impossible to actually get the numbers you want, due to them cycling by at ridiculous speed. So it's more of a game of chance.
At the end of every world, however, you get the bonus game seen above. It stars the lesser known "Willie the Weasel" character, featured in a few Foghorn Leghorn shorts, and it's basically Whack-a-Mole. You have much more control over whether you get 1-Ups or not, as you have to whack as many Willies as you can within a given time limit. If you reach the next required number whacked, you continue on. I always found this bonus both fun, and a bit frustrating, as sometimes the Willies will psych you out and not actually pop up when you think they will.
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| Cowabunga, dudes! |
The game features six worlds, each with four stages, for a total of twenty four levels. These include grassy hills, a desert, a fiery mountain, haunted caverns, a wild jungle, and finally, an ancient (super dangerous) temple. Each level features an end boss, which happens to be one of your fellow Looney Tunes "friends". The most common is Bugs' friend/rival Daffy Duck, though he is also by far the easiest. I guess ol' Daffy's heart just isn't really in it, as his "fights" require you to avoid him, while getting to a giant carrot that turns into a hot air balloon. In a few of these, it really requires no effort to avoid him, whatsoever. But to be fair, Daffy is also the only boss you can't hit, either.
On the other hand, all of the game's OTHER bosses, feature actual fights, where you have to avoid their attacks, whilst bashing them with your giant hammer. These bosses include: Tweety Bird, Sylvester J. Cat and his son Junior, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Lepew, and Yosemite Sam. At the end of the game, the final boss is none other than the Tasmanian Devil himself, who instead of employing his trademark spin attack on you, he throws...footballs? Very slow motion footballs. While none of the game's bosses are SUPER hard, the fact is, getting through that last Temple level is actually fairly challenging. And beating Taz once you get to him, is not. That is, unless you're super low on hearts, thanks to the damn level prior to him.
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| Someone forgot to color Bugs in! |
When I rented this game all those years ago, I didn't beat it, though I did enjoy it. I don't think I LOVED it at the time, certainly nowhere near the level of Super Mario Bros., or even Arkista's Ring. But I did enjoy it. So when Christmas 1990 came along, and I got that glorious big brown box, filled with Nintendo goodies, I was rather pleased to find that one of the three games inside, was none other than good ol' Bugs Bunny. Unfortunately for Bugs at the time, not only had I recently played it, but it was also far overshadowed by the MAIN event of that box, the game that would become my instant childhood obsession for years, and still remains my favorite game of all time to this day: Super Mario Bros. 3. But once the initial "HOLY SHIT I OWN MARIO 3" shine toned down a little, I went back to Bugs, and eventually beat that bad boy too!
For some reason, amongst so-called "Retro Gamers", Kemco games, especially Kemco NES games, seem to get a bit of a bum rap. But to me, they produced some genuine gems on that console, two of which, Kid Klown and this, being probably two of my favorite games of all time. Birthday Blowout is a bright, cheerful, fun game, with bouncy tunes and solid gameplay. The game isn't a nail-biter by any means, in fact like Kid Klown, I'd say much of it goes along at a somewhat leisurely pace. But that's OK, because to me that is part of their appeal. Bugs certainly presents challenge, but it isn't so hard it makes you want to throw anything across the room. It's not so long a game that it gets tiresome, but it also has enough meat on them bones, and enough variety (including the bonus games), that there is plenty to come back to. If you've never given this Looney Tunes classic a whirl, I highly suggest you do so, because in this man's humble opinion, it is one of the better games on the system. Certainly one of the best Looney Tunes games ever crafted, I think.
If you'd like to see the game in action, and don't mind some spicy, goofball commentary (and colorful language), then I'd also suggest you watch my recent playthrough, over on the Retro Revelations Youtube channel! Until next time, T-t-t-t-that's All, Folks!
