Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind

Publisher: Accolade
Developer: Solid State
Release Date: May 1993

This franchise gets a lot of hate in retrospect, mostly because of the 3D sequel that was later released for the Playstation, but the original game was actually not so bad.

While it seems ridiculous now, Bubsy was one of the more hyped 3rd party games of 1993. It appeared in the midst of the "animals with attitude" craze initiated by Sonic the Hedgehog, and was a dyed-in-the-wool imitation, from the smart-aleck main character, to the open, multi-tiered level designs, to the game's pacing and physics. In fact Bubsy was regarded by some onlookers at the time as potentially being the Super Nintendo's answer to Sonic. Though it was later released for Genesis as well, the SNES version came out first because of an Accolade lawsuit with Sega at the time.

I bought into the hype completely and remember purchasing Bubsy as summer vacation began in 1993. Though I was disappointed that it was not quite as fast as Sonic, I wasn't displeased altogether. Bubsy is definitely in the upper echelon of 16-bit platformers. Though it doesn't do anything groundbreaking, the levels are huge and challenging, with lots of items to collect, and the graphics and sound are above average for the period. Bubsy was certainly hefty for a platformer of that era, weighing in at 16 megabits, and was packed with colorful animations and the sound samples of famed voice actor Rob Paulsen to give the Bubsy Bobcat character life. Since at the time the only other games of that size were usually fighting game conversions like Street Fighter II, notice was attracted for that fact alone.

Bubsy generally received positive reviews and was successful enough to merit a disappointing sequel released a year later. Accolade, which had re-branded itself upon Bubsy's launch as offering "Games With Personality," obviously had big things planned and intended the series as a flagship for the company. A cartoon pilot was actually made, a special edition was produced for Windows PC, and a next-generation sequel was licensed for the Atari Jaguar. Poor follow-ups however ultimately doomed the franchise to obscurity as the 32-bit era dawned, but it will always be infamous for the failings of its final installment, Bubsy 3D.

Brandish

Publisher: Koei
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Release Date: February 1995

Brandish is a game which is misunderstood, but which can be rewarding for fans of its genre. It is a quirky, hardcore dungeon crawler produced by the dungeon crawler specialists at Nihon Falcom, makers of such games as Legacy of the Wizard and Faxanadu for NES, as well as the Ys series. It was also one of the last games published on the Super NES in North America by Koei, which was better known at the time for its strategic military simulations than for its RPG and adventure games. Because of its hardcore focus and late release, Brandish is thus a game often overlooked by Super Nintendo fans.

The story of Brandish is basic, and a mere pretense for you to be thrown to the bowels of a winding dungeon. In the midst of battle, your hero Varik and his nemesis, the iron bikini-clad magician Alexis, together stumble into a hole in the ground, which conveniently sends them deep into the underworld. Now Varik must explore and fight his way out of an ancient underground ruins from which no one before has escaped, all while avoiding capture by Alexis, who wants Varik's scalp for allegedly killing her master.

Brandish does an outstanding job of relaying the hopelessness of your situation. You and Alexis were not the first people to fall into this bizarre pit, and you periodically encounter others who have long retired in their aspirations to escape. The fighting is real-time and the usual methods of grinding and leveling up apply here. Treasures, confusing paths, puzzles, false walls, and traps abound, as you creep your way up the floors towards daylight. Inventory management is also a key, as you have only limited slots for storing items, and weapons must be collected liberally because they break after a certain number of usages.

For most players, the biggest turnoff will be the game's method of scrolling. Pressing left or right on the D-pad does not move your character, but rather rotates the maze 90 degrees in that direction. The reason for this is to provide a pseudo first-person vantage point which allows you to see around walls. Unfortunately it's not a smooth rotation, but rather an instant 90 degree jolt, so it can cause disorientation and frustration for new players.

Also, the graphics and sound are quite poor, particularly for a late-generation Super Nintendo game, presenting further reason for casual players to reject the game upon sight. Players willing to stick with Brandish and forgive its quirks however will discover one of the most addicting and atmospheric dungeon-crawlers on the system.

Three sequels to Brandish were released for the Japanese PC platforms. The first one, Brandish 2: The Planet Buster, was later ported to Super Famicom, but was never released outside of Japan.