Bubsy The Bobcat Was Basically A Brittle Sonic Who Just Couldn’t Stop Dying

It occurs to me that I may write about Sonic the Hedgehog a little too often. Just look at my DS track record! But can you really blame me? Sonic’s “cooler-than-thou” attitude just can’t be found in his contemporaries. Mario’s particular style of mustache makes him a too much of an adult to be hip and Link, well, his devotion to Hyrule is commendable, but he’s more stalwart than smooth (and maybe it’s time for him to put his feet up for a bit). Is it possible then to manually engineer a character to be as cool as our blue buddy? Maybe so.

In 1993, Accolade Studio launched its own anthropomorphic icon on SNES and Sega Genesis with Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind: a cocky, slightly oblivious orange bobcat. Bubsy wasn’t as quick as Sonic, nor as earnest as Mario or Link, and yet for reasons only sociologists can figure, the franchise managed to stick around 21 years his debut with 2017’s Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back being the last offering. However, Claws Encounters itself seems to be a source of polarization as it’s been both passionately hailed and heckled by its player base, and as I’m sure you’ve already guessed, I fall into that latter category.

I don’t know, Bubsy just rubbed me the wrong way from the start. Now, before you say something like, “You’re just biased, you Sonic shill, you!”. Eh, maybe a bit, but that didn’t stop me from sinking a significant amount of hours into Bubsy. In fact, my younger brother and I rented it multiple times from our local Blockbuster with the same result occurring with each run-through. Something felt forced. Bubsy was like the new kid in a school full of gaming legends who constantly told you he was awesome and actually wore an “I’m Awesome” t-shirt to remind you. Maybe it was the smug smirk on his face. Or his glib quips. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a bobcat wearing clothes. Whatever the case, Bubsy’s very persona smacked of thirsty desperation, which, even at 9 years old, gave me a bad taste in my mouth. All personality conflicts aside, the gameplay was a whole other story.

RELATED: Sweet Lord, Sonic Origins’ Game Gear Ports Are A Hot Mess

There’s a good chance that if Accolade had carefully planned and sweated bullets over Bubsy’s game design as they did with the creation of their titular cat, it may have been an enjoyable game. Seriously, that’s a heartfelt and generous statement. I’m a reasonable guy who can put his differences with main characters aside if the game is awesome enough. Sadly, it wasn’t.

For one, everything kills Bubsy. Everything. Each platforming level is stuffed to the brim with the most innocuously fatal elements you’ve ever seen. Simply touching the following banal items will instantly kill this bobcat: an egg from an overhead bird, that same bird, waste-high water, a gumball, a wheel of cheese, a hot dog. See what I mean? It’s like Bubsy was the inspiration for Samuel L. Jackson’s feeble character in Unbreakable. Also, falling from a moderate height, slipping on a banana peel or running too fast and hitting the side of a house will send you to Bobcat Heaven quick fast. Funnily enough, while it sucked to die in so many ridiculous ways, Accolade made sure to create an individual animation custom-tailored for each fatality. Maybe they should’ve put their efforts into making him less vulnerable in the first place? Just a thought.

All dumb deaths aside, another common gripe was the game’s shoddy screen work, especially when it came to Bubsy’s suspect running abilities. During the levels, the camera shakes in areas like you’re watching a documentary, but then there are other times when you can get your bobcat running up to some pretty high (though not quite Sonic-esque) speeds. However, as we’re aware of Bubsy’s…fragile condition, you’d think that Accolade would try to diminish the risk of death by at least having the screen be a few steps ahead of you. Nope. The bobcat runs so fast that the screen is constantly playing catch-up, which often lands you smack into some unseen objects and subsequently in the grave.

If these issues don’t seem problematic to you, then join the club. Despite all the aforementioned blemishes, Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind was considered a hit and due to its popularity, a sequel was spawned just a year later. However, that’s where the honeymoon ended. Bubsy 2 not only lacked a creative name like its predecessor, but is said to have taken a left turn from the original formula. In an interview with charmingly old-school Sega site Sega-16, Bubsy’s creator Mike Berlyn, he and Accolade had a falling-out before work on the sequel had started, resulting in his absence from the project and, instead, a team without a clue. In Berlyn’s own words, “the project was given to someone who hated the character, and you can see the result.” Ouch.

Years later, Accolade still continued to whip its dead bobcat into the ground with a truly abominable 3D game for Playstation, an animated TV show and several latter-day attempts at reboots. All that being said, Bubsy’s story may sound a bit tragic, especially since Berlyn was cut out at the height of his creation’s prime and could only sit back and watch the franchise take a nosedive, but don’t feel too bad about this tenacious feline. The fact that I’m writing about this guy 30 years after the fact means that he must’ve done something right. True, he may not be as quick on his feet like the Blue Blur, but thanks to some surreal efforts from superfans and 90s aficionados, Bubsy has a few more lives up his white sleeves.

NEXT: A Black Flag Remake Shouldn’t Be An Assassin’s Creed Game