"Tiny Toon Adventures - Babs' Big Break" (Game Boy)

Nice platforming game with a moderate amount of challenge. Controls take some getting used to, but fits properly given the obstacles throughout the game.

Another Warner Bros-based game, this time featuring the classic cartoon characters from Tiny Toon Adventures! Ah yes, that catchy opening theme will sure make you hum the tune the rest of the day. This game was developed by Konami, so we can trust the fact that it's a decent game, right? It better be....

The story involves the adorable Babs Bunny who is hoping to strike stardom becoming a successful actress featured in the big stage/screen. Like those aspiring folks hoping to walk down the red carpet by moving to Hollywood, California, Babs is hopping her way to Acme Acres downtown to train and perform at the Acme Theater. However, all this isn't without obstacles to overcome, as antagonist Montana Max interferes with her life goal in hopes to purchase the theater and convert it into a "closet" to show off his money (sound like a public figure you know?). Babs' friends, Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck and Hamton team up to ward off detractors looking to stop Babs from achieving her dream. Man....what ever happened to friends who do nice things like that?

This platforming game almost runs like an RPG, as you watch/read some cut-scenes throughout the game. As the game begins, right away you notice a slight delay in the jumping and the landing. This may bother some players who are used to the intense type of platforming games, but this delay works wonders the farther you progress in the game. As for who you play as, again with those RPG-like elements, you can choose between three characters to help you out: Buster, Plucky and Hamton. With three hearts for HP and diamonds as coins, you can switch, at any time, between characters based on their attacks, agility and speed. Buster's attack uses carrots and is thrown in an arch; Plucky's attack uses pineapples and is thrown downward against the floor, bouncing upward in a 45° angle; Hamton's attack uses watermelons and is thrown down the floor, rolling like a bowling ball. Each attack style works in various situations, and sometimes you'll have to incorporate trial and error to see which character will work best. In other words, you may sacrifice some lives before going back and fighting the enemies off again.

Oh, for the enemies, once you kill them off, they don't re-spawn which should make your life a lot easier.

As you explore throughout the game, seeming it represents a style similar to Super Mario Bros, you'll enter into hollow tree trunks, which act like pipes, and you'll be given a chance to play a bonus game and win prizes. While it may seem like a distraction, it can be crucial when you're short on fruits and/or lives. The mini-games are Montana Mash, a game similar to the arcade classic Whac-A-Mole, and Race Against Toon, a simple run-to-the-finish-line game. What ever game you choose to play depends on the prizes being offered. For the race game, I like choosing Plucky Duck since I feel he runs faster, but that's just me. Defintely, being that trial and error may be needed before planning better in your line(s) of attack, racking up on extra lives will certainly help you a whole lot. From my own personal experience, the final boss fight against Montana Max requires patience, timing and getting his pattern down to a T, even if you have steady hands.

In addition to getting through the stages, you'll run into more of Babs' friends who actually help you along the way, forging paths that your own characters won't be able to get through themselves. It is required that you talk to these characters to help you out, plus it adds that cartoon episode-like scene that very much resemble the scenes from the actual cartoon series. The "support" characters that help you out are Dizzy Devil, Furrball, Fifi, Calamity Coyote and Shirley the Loon. They may not be in your party but they help you out, adding to the story of your adventure.

At the end of each stages are bosses. The first one is very easy as you just need to knock some bowls of food down for Dizzy Devil to eat until he's too full and ends up falling asleep. Other end-stage bosses include Arnold the Pit Bull, Armor and Wolverine (no, not the character from Marvel Comics). These bosses don't pose a big threat as long as you knock them out and getting their patterns of attack down. For Wolverine, however, he knocks and hurls block toward your direction and you may need some fast reflexes to dodge them.

Now to the final boss which is at Montana Max's mansion. The first part, you'd have to dive into the recessed holes and duck down to avoid getting run over by Monty's gigantic vehicle. Keep moving forward and ducking down until he crashes into his own double doors to a room where you'll have the showdown of your life.

Monty asks about the gems you've accumulated through the game, and makes a proposition: if you have at least 500 gems, he may make a deal and settle without fighting by selling the theater to you. Turns out that whether you have 500 gems or not, Monty still plans to challenge you to fight (only change is the dialogue, from Monty's yapping). After all his trash-talking, the fight begins. Monty sits on a chair that bounces on an extended cylindrical spring allowing him to move and jump back and forth. After two little jumps, Monty makes a huge leap only to land hard and make him dizzy. Your job is to attack by jumping on top of his head when he lands hard and gets dizzy. You must attack him, while avoiding his aimless bouncing around, a total of twelve (12) times before he bows out. Yeah, twelve seems like an eternity given the pace of this game, but you must keep at it and get the patterns down since losing happens very quickly, and you'll have to start the fight all over again.

The game ends with Babs talking about aiming success in being a big star. Game ends with names of cast members and credits.

There is a continue feature where you can play the entire game all over again after you defeated the first run! Playing the second time around presents a challenge: beating the game with only two hearts instead of three. Yes it's tough but it can be done, especially if you've gotten the patterns down already. Beating the game in the second run shows the same ending as when you first defeated the game, so it's no different.

I have not found a single flaw in this game that's worth mentioning, making this a great classic Game Boy game that I wished received the gold medal in being a Million-Seller Award. It's one of those games that is easy to overlook, despite that it's based off of a popular cartoon, but it does present some intense challenges even for the seasoned video gamer. I highly recommend you check this out!

I will end this review with my own personal gameplay footage using Plucky Duck to challenge Monty. Moral of the game's story: don't let some rich dude buy things off that will get in the way of your accomplishments. Sound familiar? It should. Enjoy, everyone:

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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