"The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle" (Game Boy)

The first game to start Bugs Bunny's series of games. A Lode Runner-type of game with catchy music, but an enormous amount of levels to plow through.

I can't deny the fact that I've been a huge fan of Bugs Bunny et al since I was a kid. A neat little game featuring my favorite cartoon character couldn't be too much of a factor, since I think this is one of those short, casual games that's quick enough to beat, right? Oh man....

This casual game features a mind-numbing eighty (80) levels of increasing difficulty! If we were still in the nineties, I reckon no kid/adult would be able to beat the entire game without the aid of an AC adapter for their Game Boy, nor would they likely to beat the game in one sitting on a handy-dandy Super Game Boy. Why so many levels? Is it that easy? Or did the developers not know what else to include in?

It's games like these where the delay of the controls may be crucial in some parts of the game, where you get used to the awful movements of Bugs. It's a platformer game where your job is to collect all the carrots in each castle room while avoiding enemies such as Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote. You can knock them out using any items of attack, from boxing gloves you can throw to water buckets you can kick. The good thing about knocking the enemies out is they don't re-spawn, so that should make things slightly easier. The behavior of the enemies vary from stage to stage, but the one you ought to knock out, first hand, would have to be Daffy Duck. While the AI falls under an algorithmic pattern, these enemies do know your moves and your whereabouts, so proceed with caution. The music is repetitive and forgettable. It's just your typical video game music—one of those tracks you can live without.

The most interesting thing about this game? If you lose a life, you not only can play the level again with the remaining lives you have, but there's a VIDEO option. This option allows you to replay the level recorded from your previous play. I don't play very many modern games, as they're too realistic for me, but I'm willing to bet not many games today have this replay feature. Some may say it's a waste but for those who livestream their gameplays may find this a cool feature. Nevertheless, it's an amazing option from the developers to include such a thing. The replay option is there in case you need to remind yourself how to get the carrots in spots you fear you may be stuck in, so it does help in a way.

Possibly the biggest catch is Bugs Bunny can't jump, so you must navigate logically where you won't get stuck in a spot forgetting to reach for the last carrot. (If you've ever played the NES game Gyromite, it's very much similar to that style of play.) The number of carrots in the room also vary but there are at least 6 to 8 carrots in each room. Some rooms are easier and quicker to finish than others, but being that there's 80 of them, I lost track and don't remember which are the easiest ones. I mean, gosh, eighty rooms (levels) makes this a very tall castle to clear out just to save Honey Bunny. Like I said, it's not that bad of a game, just extremely tedious.

If you do need a break while playing, and I recommend you do anyway, the game uses a four-digit password system which is great. Lot of these older games require passwords that are so long, you may as well start from the beginning (you know what I'm talking about). With that in place, be ready for a long haul in defeating this game entirely.

If you have the instruction manual to go with this game, on page 6, it says you must complete "sixty levels." WRONG! It's eighty levels, so whoever wrote the manual got it wrong....or never played the game.

The ending? I have no words; Watch it yourself as I recorded the video below from my personal gameplay:



"Congraturations"? Why....thank you; Yes, I am "good player."

While it isn't such a hard game, it just takes too long. Plus, we didn't get to see Bugs Bunny get with Honey Bunny. Does this mean that the game has to be beaten twice? If so, I don't have time to do so. (If you do, be our guest.) Other than that, wonky AI, so-so controls and bland music makes this an alright game to play. Unless you're a huge fan of Bugs Bunny, like I was, then give this a try. Otherwise, it's alright but you won't miss too much.

Kris Caballero

Founder and operator of KCU Network, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog created back in late 2005. Despite publishing articles and reviews from time to time for the network's website, Kris enjoys studying the sciences, namely Math, playing old video/DOS games, reading non-fiction books and listening to sports radio.

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