"I'm sorry Willem, but your game of the show at Gamescom was what?"
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/hands-on-preview/72194/bubsy-4d-hands-on-preview-gamescom-2025
There was a little sparkle in the eye of Atari CEO Wade Rosen when I asked him why the company was so keen on reviving the Bubsy franchise. Indeed, the announcement last year when Atari managed to buy back the rights to this much maligned bobcat got quite a bit of traction in mainstream media even. Almost a month after those rights were obtained, developer Fabraz, known for Slime-San and Demon Turf, had an accepted pitch and started work on Bubsy 4D. I’ve played a lot of games at Gamescom this year. From AAA to indie and a lot in between. It was more than once that I was sitting behind a screen playing a demo for an upcoming game and thought to myself: “I’d be playing Busby 4D now”. What has this world come to?
For those unaware, during the platformer mascot wars of the 80’s and 90’s, Bubsy was already a bit of an odd duck out. Wanting to resemble more Sonic than Mario, with that classic 90’s edge, his 2D platformer games were pretty decent, but not something that really stood out among the crowd. Then Bubsy 3D released and pretty much killed the character with a game that was simply too ambitious for its time. Bubsy 4D is direct follow-up, in which his old enemies the Woolies are taken over by aliens. The game acknowledges not just the fraught history of the bobcat, but even puts its focus on the extended cast of characters that accompany Bubsy including Terry and Terri, Virgil Reality and Arnold Armadillo. The game is fully voiced and honestly, the actors are doing a really good job bringing the tongue-in-cheek nature of the series to the forefront. With the 3D cell-shaded style it really makes the game feel like a cartoon come to life.
What might be even harder to believe is that the game controls really really well. Bubsy’s moveset has been refined and expanded for the 3D levels you’ll travel through. The best comparison would be like a level from Super Mario 3D World, or Super Mario Galaxy. Levels are pretty well confined, but leave plenty of room for small exploration. There are multiple goals aside from getting to the end, like reaching the end of the stage in a set time limit and collecting all the balls of yarn (150) within the stage. Bubsy has a double jump, can wall jump, slightly claw up and down walls, float around for a bit and even transform himself into a large ball to roll down slopes and gain momentum. Within less than 5 minutes I was already combining all these techniques to make my way through the stage and having a blast. The key movement mechanic is a pounce, similar to what Cat Mario would do in Bowser’s Fury. You can launch yourself at a downward diagonal angle and use it to cross wide gaps or get yourself close enough to latch onto a ledge. It became second nature to my time with the game and it just felt great as this little tool to course correct myself if I’ve missed a jump. The game is pretty generous in that regard and it didn’t feel like there was a singular correct path I could’ve taken. Along the way you can collect small secrets and collectibles that unlock new outfits for Bubsy.
Bubsy 4D feels like a genuine revival of the 3D licensed platformer, but with a certain amount of polish that was often too much to ask for back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Fabraz seems to have boiled down Bubsy to his essentials, and just made it a really solid platformer. The idea that the game has a more limited scope and can probably be finished in under 10 hours excites me even more. Yes really, Bubsy 4D is possibly one of the best games I’ve played at Gamescom this year and I still don’t know how to feel about that. The game is set to arrive in the first half of 2026 and frankly I’m ready to mark my calendar for it. There’s nothing that could possibly go wrong with these expectations right?
Topic: Bubsy 4D (Hands-on Preview) - Gamescom 2025 (Read 137 times)
