Developer: Kemco Publisher: Kemco Release: 9/90 Genre: Platformer
I dreaded most licensed games on the NES. Acclaim/LJN was largely responsible for making me realize video games could be bad as they butchered one license after another. But there were a few shining beacons during that period. Sega and Capcom routinely churned out video game gold with Disney properties and made some of the best games of their era. Unfortunately the Looney Tunes were not so lucky, especially on the NES. The few Warner Bros. games for the system were dire and Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout is among that number.
It is Bugs Bunny’s 50th Birthday and he has been invited to a party in his honor. But his fellow Tunes did not receive an invitation and out of jealousy they will do everything in their power to keep Bugs from reaching his party.
On the surface, it looks like a kid-friendly mix of Super Mario Bros. and Adventure Island, but beneath the Looney Tunes license lies a generic, overly easy platformer that doesn’t quite live up to Bugs Bunny’s legacy. There are some slight differences however. Bugs does not bounce on heads; instead he smashes enemies with a mallet. It can also break blocks and function as a makeshift see saw when necessary. Carrots litter every level. However rather than awarding extra lives every 100 gives a chance to play one of many minigames after each level.
My disappointment with Birthday Blowout is not that it is a simple platformer. It is that it does not do enough to distinguish itself from the pack. The game’s premise would have you think there will be cameos from the star studded cast at every turn. But outside of boss battles you will not see the characters you more than likely bought the game for. Instead you face odd enemies like walking milk cartons, exploding clocks, and guys with hammers for heads. This is disappointing as the Looney Tunes universe is rich with characters they could have pulled from to liven up the game. Take away the license and it could pass for any of the generic tripe that clogs the system’s library. It reminds me of the first Ninja Turtles game in that regard.
It is obvious this one is for younger gamers. As such it is insanely easy. It is incredibly easy to earn extra lives. The bingo game you play after every level only challenges you to match three numbers in a row for a 1-up. If you match five you get ten which is insane. This is so simple that by the game’s midpoint I had over fifty lives! This allows plenty of room for mistakes, not that the platforming is ever hard. Even your life bar is generous. Despite being a mere three hearts you can take 3-4 hits before losing one. There is nothing wrong with making an accessible game of course but they could have been a little less lenient in my opinion. I finished this in one sitting back in the day in less than an hour and never touched it again.
As if the lacking level design were not bad enough this is also an exceptionally ugly game. The game is lacking in detail but also has performance problems. It seems to be running at 30fps rather than the standard 60. This results in choppy animation and jerky scrolling. The bad scrolling also affects the control as there is noticeable input lag. The game slows to a crawl when only a few enemies are on screen which is often which makes it feel like it running in permanent slow motion. For such an understated title it is embarrassing.
In Closing
It is hard to find anything good about Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout. This is the definition of a generic licensed platformer. It is playable, but uninspired. The game does not do anything particularly wrong; it’s just painfully average, offering little reason to revisit it outside of nostalgia or curiosity. For such a simple game to have technical issues that affect gameplay is shameful to be honest. But let us be honest: even if those issues did not exist there is no reason to play this over the many better options available. If you like the Looney Tunes that much go watch reruns of the cartoons.
