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"It's Rabbit Season on the Game Gear"

After the Road Runner's less than stellar performance on the Game Gear in Desert Speedtrap, I was leery of even trying this game. I was right to be cautious. Bugs Bunny's debut appearance on the Game Gear is about as dismal as Road Runner's.

Much like Desert Speedtrap, this game was pretty much doomed to failure upon its conception. While a game starring Bugs Bunny may seem like a good idea at first glance, it's really counterproductive to the dynamic at work in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales... It's all the same. Ten minute sagas of the little guy with limited resources prevailing against another guy who often has nearly unlimited resources. An analogy of the small businessman in America prevailing against the overwhelming odds of corporate big business. The little guy has a track record here of almost always prevailing when the nasty predator tries to do him in (hunter, coyote, cat, etc). Bugs and his "little guy" buddies often prevail by magical means; and sometimes they emerge victorious by proxy of their opponent's limited intelligence, using the dumb guy's lack of smarts against him. The message here is usually clear. While often missing that left turn at Albuquerque, the little guy still emerges ahead of the competition. A rally call for the small businessman to "Hang in there! We're rootin' for ya, buddy!"

When we examine the dynamic at work in the cartoons, we can easily arrive at the conclusion that a game such as this was doomed to failure the moment it was conceived. We have to confront the inevitability that we, the players, may not be able to outwit the bad guys as cleverly or nonchalantly as Bugs does in his cartoons. Watching Bugs get killed here and eventually arrive at a "Game Over" is painful in light of everything that he stands for.

But my little analysis of a doomed cartoon-to-game conversion isn't what pulls this game down into that nether realm several miles past Mediocrity. It doesn't need my help to get blown to bits by Elmer Fudd's hunting rifle. It does that quite nicely on its own.

This platforming action game is somewhat convoluted. Bugs has a different goal for each level as he runs around and tries to outwit his pursuers through several different Looney Tunes episodes. In the forest, he has to get Daffy Duck to chase him and change the signs from "Rabbit Season" to "Duck Season". Bugs can't change the signs himself. He has to make sure that Daffy follows him. The bumbling duck changes the signs as he runs past them. There are some other creatures who try to get in Bugs' way, but I'm hard-pressed to make out what they are, what with the poor graphical quality. Change all the signs, and Elmer Fudd will shoot Daffy in typical style.

In ancient Rome, Bugs has to avoid a hungry lion who's chasing him in an arena, grab dynamite from balloons floating above, and direct his slow descent so that he lands on one of the four areas of weak ground to open up a hole. Each hole leads to an underground area with lions prowling back and forth through various areas. Bugs has to activate switches to open gates, lure the lions into cages, hit other switches that close the cage doors, and collect the parts to build a lion cage in the arena above. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the game. It's four levels in one.

Upon arriving at a medieval world, Bugs has to find a sword so that he can defeat the Black Knight and his dragon. This segment of the game is a maze of rooms linked by doorways, with knights and dragons prowling about the castle.

An Arabian world has three levels where Bugs has to navigate through various areas filled with bad guys and defeat three bosses to get a magic lamp and summon a Genie. There are magic carpets you can ride across hazards and abysses, and numerous crazy characters to contend with.

Bugs then visits a haunted house, running from a mad scientist and his monster. He has to traverse four levels here, finding keys to unlock doors while avoiding or dealing with a variety of creepy characters.

Finally, he takes a rocket ship to Mars, where he finds himself confronting Marvin The Martian. There are a couple of brief levels where Bugs flies around in a small flying saucer and shoots enemies that get in his way, then he has to turn the tables on Marvin in a manner typical of the cartoons.

Some of the levels are timed. If Bugs doesn't finish before the timer counts down, he loses a life. In some levels, he gets "carrot weapons" that he can throw at enemy characters. He can also jump on the bad guys, but many of them take more than one hit to get rid of. The health power-up, a staple of side-scrolling platformer games, takes the form of canned carrots that replenish his health bar.

Unfortunately, none of this is presented all that well. Level designs aren't all that interesting, on the whole. Many of the levels are rather short. They're nowhere near as lengthy as those in Desert Speedtrap or other Game Gear titles. Enemy characters and hazards are usually plentiful, though. They're waiting on every platform, through every door, and around every corner. The forest segment and lion arena are probably the best parts of the game.

The controls here aren't quite as bad as those encountered in Desert Speedtrap. While Bugs is about as over-responsive as Road Runner is, he's much easier to control while jumping. However, the slightest touch of the directional pad will send him sliding forward. He slides around throughout this game. While the graphic sometimes shows him running, he's usually sliding along the floor. And it feels like he's sliding on ice the whole time. He starts moving, sliding in the direction you want him to go, then he slides to a halt shortly after you let go of the directional pad. Because Bugs moves so fast, he slides right through enemy characters that were off-screen and suddenly showed up on-screen. This is one of those games where your character flashes when he hits an enemy, and he can run right through them. He falls off small platforms at the slightest touch of the controls. In short, he moves too fast for his own good, and he's over-responsive. This is a detriment to the game-play on those levels where he has to ride moving platforms over abysses and hazards.

Visually, this game is below par. While appropriately cartoony, the environments don't look as good as those in Desert Speedtrap. They're not sharply drawn. Neither are the characters. Bugs, Daffy, Yosemite Sam, and the rest of our cast are small, and all suffer from quirky movements. If I didn't already know who these guys are, I might be hard-pressed to recognize some of them. Yosemite Sam in particular looks terrible here. As mentioned, Bugs flashes when he runs into an enemy. Between all that flashing and the poor animations, it's hard to get a good look at what's going on here. Some of the lions and other characters flicker a bit while they're prowling back and forth. The visuals in this game are quite poor.

Background music is appropriate, although repetitive. You'll hear the same theme play throughout most of the levels. A couple levels have different themes, but it's mostly this one theme replaying throughout the game. This music is a collage of music from the Looney Tunes cartoons. Sound effects are sparse. There's no effect for when Bugs runs into a poorly drawn enemy or hazard. What, why's he flashing? Oh, I get it. He's running (or rather, sliding) along a path covered with hot stones. Now why's he flashing? Oh, some spikes popped out of the floor several paces back. What few effects we do get are for Bugs' "carrot weapons", picking up a health power-up, and dying. That's pretty much it. They're standard Game Gear fare, as far as effects go.

This game is dismal. It improved my appreciation a bit for Desert Speedtrap. While the Road Runner suffers from a terrible control department (which by itself is enough to drag down what could have been a decent game), Bugs finds himself hamstrung by just about everything. Over-responsive controls, poor visuals, poor effects, repetitive music, uninteresting level design... This game is somewhat easier than Desert Speedtrap, but that doesn't necessarily make it better. While I appreciate the effort to translate the gags of the original cartoons into a game, it could have been much better presented and designed. This is a dreadful performance for Bugs Bunny.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 02/24/05, Updated 08/15/11

Game Release: Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble (US, 1996)