Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage (SNES) Review

Received: February 3rd, 2011 / Written: March 17th-25th, 2016
Published on: March 26th, 2016

Alternate Title: Bakkusu Banī Hachamecha Daibōken [|O|]

Year: 1993 | Developed by: Viacom New Media | Published by: Sunsoft

Hello everyone, StarBoy91 here; passionate about video games, big retrophile, and fan of all things 16-bit.  Who didn't love watching Looney Tunes growing up, what with the funny slapstick and comedic writing not to mention the colorful cast of characters, and still likes them now?  =D  No character was more synonymous with this series than the one and only Bugs Bunny.

Images from Wikipedia

Although he originally made his first (prototype) appearance in the 1938 short "Porky's Hare Hunt" (as Happy Rabbit), it wasn't until 1940's "A Wild Hare" with Elmer Fudd as the hunter in the Merrie Melodie series that the sly, conniving Bugs would officially make his debut courtesy of the late animator Tex Avery (voiced by the late Mel Blanc).  The gist of this character is that he sneakily and cleverly had a knack at fooling, tricking, and/or manipulating those unfortunate enough to cross his path (the sole exception being the tortoise in the Tortoise and the Hare-themed shorts).  Basically Bugs was an animated equivalent of a troll... which I know does not exactly sound like a positive trait in the off-chance you've never seen a Bugs Bunny short before, but in the context of these episodes he's actually a sorta likable kind of troll (a rare exception) and quite funny.  =D  =|  I'm not really selling this to the uninitiated, am I?

Images from Wikipedia

Since his official inception he has become one of the most iconic animated characters of all time, appearing in various franchises, video games, merchandising, cameos (one memorable one opposite Mickey Mouse in Who Framed Roger Rabbit), TV shows and spin-offs, and Bugs Bunny even got his Hollywood Walk of Fame star.  Movie-wise he (and the rest of the Looney Tunes cast) appeared in Joe Dytka's second (and final) theatrical film Space Jam starring alongside Michael Jordan (as himself in live action) in 1996 (becoming the highest grossing basketball movie of all time) and in Joe Dante's box office flop Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003 (with Brendan Fraser and Steve Martin).  While neither film was a hit with critics, both have garnered a bit of a following after the fact.

Looney Tunes distributor Warner Bros. had hoped that if the latter film did really good that they would begin a "revitalized franchise of Looney Tunes media and products".  Things did not go that way, for instead the studio planned to retcon the series in the form of Loonatics Unleashed (which I'm not familiar with), the polarizing The Looney Tunes Show (which The Weekenders creator Doug Langdale was involved as a writer for an episode, among other writers), and very recently the flash animated short series Wabbit.

8/7/22 Update: I deleted my negative thoughts on the show Wabbit and any reference and/or shade I threw at it in my blog before this, I feel it took up too much of this review and in hindsight I feel those were very unnecessary

We're not here for Wabbit though, we're here for Viacom New Media's Bakkusu Banī Hachamecha Daibōken (which translates to "Bugs Bunny's Insane Great Adventure") which came out in Japan in June 1993, or as it got known as when released in February 1994 and September 1994 in North America and Europe respectively: Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage.

Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage was one of several Nintendo 16-bit Looney Tunes licenses made under the Sunsoft name during the early half of the '90s (before the company struggled from bankruptcy).  This platformer (or its subtitle, anyway) is loosely based on the 1955 "Rabbit Rampage" short where the theme was literally animator versus creation, the creation being Bugs whom the antagonistic animator has got at his mercy, which means plenty of comedic possibilities.  And the game follows a similar theme, but with a few key differences (the animator is not Elmer Fudd this time).  Of note on the cover is that it tells you plain and clear that it is 12 MegaBits; this disclaimer was so important

that they copy-pasted the whole cover art on to the NTSC cart.  I don't get it, was 12 MegaBits really that big of a deal over 16?  o_O

"What's up, Doc?"

So after the title appears you get to see a visual representation of what your controls are and what buttons you need to use to utilize them.  Bugs Bunny can move around, duck, slide down thin platforms or holes by holding down and pressing B, jump with the B button (altitude depends on how lightly or hard you push the button), pounce on enemies and bounce off items by pressing B while in midair, throwing a regular pie at enemies with the Y button, kicking enemies with the X button, and every now and then you'll stumble across Acme items you can use to aid you and/or hinder your foes with the A button (some items have a high throw, low throw, or a normal throw) which you can toggle between with the left and right shoulder buttons (and like Contra III: The Alien Wars you can even do that while the game is paused, which is very convenient).

♫ You spin my head right round right round when
you go down, when you go down down ♪

There is also a twirl maneuver which will render you invincible towards all who dare approach you by just holding down the Y and X buttons together as you move left and right--the downside is that the longer you do it your carroty health slowly gets drained in the process, so only do this sparingly or as a last resort.  When you press Select at the title screen you're brought to the options screen where you can adjust your controls, enter the training screen to accommodate yourself with the controls, turn the music on or off, as well as set your life count between anywhere from one to ten; I highly suggest that any time you start the game you begin with ten lives.  Trust me; the continues are few and far between.

Why is Bugs' post-2015 show even called Wabbit
anyway?  Did Elmer Fudd make the deciding vote?  o,O
Despite not even appearing in it?

Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage is largely an open-ended platformer (with only a handful of stages being straightforward and/or just plain small) where the main objective is to reach the goal of the stage, mostly culminating in a boss fight.  Obviously getting to that point will not be so simple as your path will be full of obstacles comprising of the Goofy Gophers, hunting dogs that box, cowboys and Indians, Marvin the Martian and his alien cronies, robots, and a legion of black cats among others.

The "pies" have it!

Luckily along the way you'll come across a slew of Acme products which Bugs can use against his enemies or use for his benefit.  Each stage has got items that exclusively pertain to those stages alone (white paint for the penultimate stage, anvils for the third stage, toy tanks for the seventh stage, et al), but the common ones you'll more likely come across are pies, sticks of dynamite, bullseyes for which will make something bad happen to the unfortunate enemy who steps into it, and of course checkpoints which you can place during any part of the stage so that way you'll resume progress from that portion of the stage when you lose a life.  Along the way are also small carrots that will replenish a bit of your health, which helps while you still have the opportunity (I'll elaborate on that soon).  =)

Yes, game, I know I have yet to talk about
Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, don't remind me  -_-

Bugs Buggy's Nintendo 16-bit foray looks absolutely spectacular, as Viacom New Media have spectacularly managed to replicate the look and feel of the Looney Tunes source material; kudos!  =D  The game cleverly begins with the landscapes and backgrounds being painted by brush strokes, and on the whole its snowy landscape is gorgeous (with layers of mountains in the backdrop; this game is perfect for Winter fare).  The sixth stage with the Tazmanian Devil has got great foliage, and the fifth stage that takes place in space looks mesmerizing with the constantly moving planet in the background.  Its sense of detail is cool, and there are numerous instances of parallax scrolling; some obvious (the mountains of the first stage, the craters of the fifth stages, and green leaves of the sixth stage) and others much more subtle (the floor of the second stage and the ground of the third stage) which augments Rabbit Rampage's sense of depth.  =)  And it's awfully nice to see cameos from various Looney Tunes alumni (sometimes in the audience and sometimes battling against you).

Squawks!  You have a mohawk on you... and
look more two-dimensional somehow  o.o

Bugs Bunny and gang look as good in their Nintendo 16-bit format as they did in the original Looney Tunes, and that's a good thing.  =)  Bugs has got solid jumping and ducking animation, as well as fluid walking animation; when he's in his idle position he's got some personality, and any time he gets hit, squished, shrunk, transformed, or even gets defeated he does so with an incredulous reaction.  There's something darkly funny about seeing the main character literally being erased when he bites it on the ground.  XD  The rest of the cast has got solid animation and for the most part have a fitting color palette; Elmer Fudd looks and animates greatly, Yosemite Sam riding on a giant dragon looks cool, Toro is imposing when he charges after you (but looks stunned when smashing against an anvil or wall), Witch Hazel's brief appearances are a joy to behold as she whizzes by on broomstick, and the Tazmanian Devil animates solidly.  Most of the enemies you face have got incredulous reactions upon being defeated and or hit, and they are glorious.  =D

Ducking down helps here

The music in Rabbit Rampage is very well-composed and at times very catchy; not only do they suitably blend in to their respective backgrounds, but they sound like they would fit perfectly in a Looney Tunes short.  =)  A couple of familiar themes are used (the cue from the beginning of the shorts playing appropriately enough during the title and the "That's All Folks!" cue playing after you either got a game over or beat the game proper), but everything else is brand new.  Some really good examples are the fun saloon theme, the laidback and playful dark forest theme, the fittingly operatic space theme (with a brief "Also Sprach Zarathustra" interlude at the start), and the very bouncy and jazzy theme during the penultimate stage.  Each stage starts off with a brief interlude that is only heard the moment you start that stage, meaning that any time you die (on the ground) the music will start again from the meaty portion of it all; but if you lose a life by falling offscreen the music will just keep on playing, which I'm okay with.  =)  What I'm less okay with is the fact that this is not only one of those games where the music just stops the moment you pause it... but it's also one of those games where after you unpause it the music starts all over again!  >_<

"Here's a drink, on the house!"
"Thanks!"  =D

This is also a big problem on account of the fact that if you stick around the stage long enough you'll notice that the songs are actually a lot longer than you initially believe them to be, which is absolutely infuriating as an audiophile.  So you mean to tell me that in-game I have to basically stay alive and/or do nothing in order to hear the whole song before it loops again?  Freakin' A, Viacom New Media; you didn't have the decency to add a sound test to this, only have the option to turn the music on or off?  D=<  *sigh*  Thank God for YouTube.  The sound effects are well-chosen and have that Looney Tunes spirit, such as the splat of the pie sound and the exaggerated squishing sound, and it's pretty cool how there are soundbytes from the show; namely Bugs Bunny's trademark "What's up, Doc?" and "Yipe!", Elmer Fudd's laugh, and even Marvin the Martian's "BOOM!" at certain points.  =)

Sooo much spatial depth

Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage is a bit on the challenging side as far as its one and only difficulty is concerned; it's not a one hit and you die affair like Xandra no Daibōken is, but regardless there is a lot of challenge to overcome here.  So when you start each stage you have the opportunity to get all these Acme products that would help you on your way as well as small bits of carrots that would replenish your health... the catch is that should you lose a life and replay from where you started or from the last checkpoint and you went to the exact spots where the items were, they'll no longer be there.  Basically once you get these items in a particular stage that's the only time you ever do so in the same playthrough; tough love.  Basically when you find these items you should use them (the important ones, anyway) wisely (if you want to, anyway), namely the checkpoint arrow.

Lord Hater and Emperor Awesome aren't the
bad neighbors, post-2015 Bugs and snooty silver
eyebrowed tech savvy Wile E. Coyote are!  D=
Yep, that's a thing

There are various ways to deal in enemies; whether it be by kicking them, throwing the normal pie at them, pouncing on them, twirling towards them, or even executing an Acme product against them.  It is best to exercise caution for if you're not careful you are going to die, especially since the moment you touch these carrots you won't do so a second time; there's no timer, so you can take as much time as you want.  That said, even if you are at your most careful a lot of the time it's hard to get by without receiving some damage once or twice due to the way the game was structured (especially by the Tazmanian Devil), but it is possible to get by with a little perseverance.  At the end of each stage you're treated to something you should not be subject to in a game like this: a freakin' rating system!  -_-  Why are these necessary?  Is reducing one's self-confidence that big a goal for the developers, considering that a lot of the time you'll receive bad ratings here such as "Southern Fried Rabbit" (unless you somehow beat any stage in a single life)?  This condescension is further exacerbated by an equally condescending cue that plays during this screen, and to add insult to injury it also plays during the credits.  Yeah, that was worth the experience, thanks!  =P

Oh, that Taz, falling for someone who's not his wife  =D

The major goal when it comes to most boss fights is to hit them as many times as needed until they bite it; in most platformers if you lose during the boss battle you have to start said battle from the start.  Here in Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage it's a strange case as... okay, say that you were battling the tall lumbering cowpoke during the second stage and only needed three hits to take him down, but you died; you go back all the way to the boss fight after the fact (preferably from a nearby checkpoint you set up), and he's over with after having dished the three remaining hits to him.  This both benefits and damages the game as a result: it benefits it in that it reduces a bit of challenge and frustration from it, but at the same time it damages it as it ends up cheapening the experience somewhat.  On the other hand, I'm grateful there's some form of leniency, otherwise the frustration factor would've been immensely higher than it already is and the game would've been less manageable.  The main exceptions are the bosses during the third, eighth, and final stages as they essentially are one big boss fight.

You're in deep ice now!

Yeah, from what you've read you're probably guessing that Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage is a very flawed platformer, and it is by all counts.  But that in no way necessarily means that it's a bad game; sure, it can often be frustrating but when you've got control of it then it can be plenty of fun too.  =)  It's got solid enough controls when you've got a hold of them, and it looks and feels like an interactive episode of the Looney Tunes (right down to that quirky charm), which I don't think was an easy task for Viacom New Media, but they did it!  I found out about this game several years ago online and remember being curious about it (not just on account that it was a Bugs Bunny game on the SNES, but also on account that I still loved the character at the time), and I didn't think of ordering it on eBay until very early 2011; it was a very cold February day when I picked it up in CIB condition in the mail (I can still feel the cold chills around me).  Personally on the whole I think it's good, not great; I didn't expect much but to have fun with it, and I felt that Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage delivered in that regard quite decently.  =)

"Yipe!"  8{

Something I applaud Viacom New Media for is the neat way they preserved the shorts' humor and transitioned them to video game format, with the impeccable comedic timing and funny facial reactions from both Bugs and his enemies (especially when Bugs gawks at the towering figure before him in the second stage).  XD  It's also brimming with charm and personality; the stages each have titles that make sense in the context of the stage but in the outset is deliberately inconsistent.  For example: the first stage is called "Level 1.1", and once you're finished with that you get to the second stage, as "Level 1.2" humorously switches up and becomes "Level 2.1".  =D  The fifth stage that takes place in outer space is called "Level 2001" (is it not obvious why?), and the penultimate stage with all the black cats (including Sylvester) is christened "Level 13" (why do people always presume thirteen to be an unlucky number?).  The best part is the final stage where its title is formatted in such an unceremonious way compared to the titles of all its preceding areas that I can't help but find funny!  I love it!  XD

Most gamers would probably clamor Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! as the superior bunny-centric Nintendo 16-bit platformer, and I'll concede that Konami's fun licensed game is more polished in terms of structure and is less frustrating to play, but I personally felt that Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage has the edge over that game... if only 'cause this game has ten stages and Buster Busts Loose! has only six, not to mention that this is one of several Looney Tunes platformers on the system while the aforementioned game is the only Tiny Toon Adventures platformer available on the SFC/SNES.  Doesn't mean I don't like it, just wish there was more.  <=)

I'll say this much: Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage was more fun and satisfying for me as someone who loved watching Looney Tunes growing up than Riedel Software Production's Tom and Jerry on the SNES, which was a disappointingly dull and underwhelmingly boring mediocre not to mention sorry excuse of a license lacking any of the humor and charm of the cat and mouse series I loved watching growing up (and still largely enjoy today... the good ones, anyway).  ={

And since I'm bringing up rodent-starring platformers: Ocean's Euro platformer Mr. Nutz is so awesomely underrated, and genuinely awesome, and so much fun, and one of my favorite Nintendo 16-bit platformers of all time!!!  =D  ...it really needs more love.

How rude of Bugs to interrupt the Goofy Gophers'
"You Like/I Like" music video  =P

If you're a fan of platformers on the Nintendo 16-bit console then Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage will decently fit that bill as it's largely fun to play.  If you're a fan of Looney Tunes (or Bugs Bunny in general) you'll be very satisfied with Viacom New Media's game as it does the license justice.  If you're looking for the best game in the genre you'll have to look elsewhere, but if you're looking for a challenging platformer then you're looking in the right direction; it's just going to be frustrating sometimes.  It's admittedly not quite as accessible or as polished as Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! or Mr. Nutz and it's not for everyone, but on its own merits Bugs Bunny's 16-bit foray on the SFC/SNES is good (at times frustrating) fifty-sixty minute fun while it lasts.  =)


My Personal Score: 7.5/10

<( ^o^)^TO EACH THEIR OWN^(^o^ )>

P.S. I recently saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the first time, and I thought it was fun John Hughes fare (I just wish it wasn't shot in CinemaScope, because CinemaScope + TV = pan-and-scan, and I hate pan-and-scan; which is why I watched it on a widescreen DVD).  =)  That museum scene was amazing, and Jeffrey Jones was hilarious!

 

P.S. 2 My birthday's in less than two weeks and I haven't even started my 2016 video game birthday review yet.  '__'  *sigh*

 

P.S. 3 Often times I question if I'm a good reviewer.  I wish I knew.  T_T

 

Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.  Happy Easter and take care!  =)

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Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage may be flawed, but at least it's not Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions flawed.

"You're despicable!"