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 Bucky O’Hare’s life began as a comic book
character in the mid 80’s comic anthology Echo of Futurepast. The anthology ran for six issues and
one assumed that that would be the end of the plucky green hare named
Bucky. Well, in the wake of the
early 90’s world domination by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, other
people naturally decided to pull somewhat violent comic book animals out
of the woodwork. In 1991/92
Project Bucky O’Hare was launched.
There was a cartoon, a line of action figures and of course the
almighty Nintendo game.
Unfortunately for Bucky, the cartoon only lasted 13 episodes, the
toy line was cancelled after the first wave and the video game passed
largely unnoticed. Today there
remain a few fervent fans out there who maintain that the series was a
lost classic – I’ll take their word on it. Having never seen the cartoon, read the
comic books or played with the toys, the rest of my review will be
focusing on Konami’s solid NES release.
In Bucky O’Hare you star as a green hare who must save his four
sidekicks that have been captured by the evil toads and are being stowed
on four different planets. You may
save your comrades in any order and after you have reunited with your
pals you must take on the dreaded toads on their home turf. Each character has a different special
ability and all of the characters are important at different points in
the final stage. You can switch
between characters at any time once you have saved them and will need to
do so often.
The gameplay is that of a regular
platformer in the style of Mega Man. You walk around each stage shooting bad
guys and avoiding spikes and other pitfalls. In fact this game has a lot in common
with Mega Man. First off, you get to choose the order
that you take on each planet and if one is too difficult you can always
try a different planet and save the tough one for later. Secondly, you gain new weapons with
each new character just as Mega Man does after conquering each boss. The games also share a similar style in
that you run around and shoot enemies while losing health when you get
shot, but in the end you usually die by touching spikes or falling into
pits – which makes your health bar rarely relevant. Expect to die early and often in this
game as each stage is made up of many tricky spots that take a few lives
to figure out. The good news is
that you have unlimited continues because you will need them to make it
to the end.
Positives:
 There really isn’t anything great about
this game but there also isn’t anything terrible either. The controls are OK, the music is
pretty good, the graphics are fine and the entire game plays like a
second-rate Mega Man. I like how you can choose the order of
your stages and how each new character adds a special skill to your
repertoire. While there are
certain parts throughout the game where each character is needed, there
are many ways to defeat a boss.
Usually one character can beat the end guy quickest but many of
them have the ability to defeat each boss.
Glaring
Negatives:
Like I said above, there really
isn’t anything terrible about this game.
I would have preferred if the controls were tighter because the
programmers created lots of very difficult jumps. I would say that the challenge level is
insane but since you get unlimited lives you should have no problem
mastering the game over a few days.
Graphics
and Sound: Fine
The graphics are decent but
nothing spectacular for 1992.
Konami made sure this game passed their usual high standards but
the graphics certainly don’t pop out at you. You get four different styles of
terrain as each planet has its own theme. The music is appropriate for a
tense world-jumping platformer. Each
planet has its own tune so by the time you get sick of one you will be
moving on to a different song.
Some of the music is similar to The Goonies II, which makes sense since that is also a Konami
release.
Gameplay
and Controls: Decent
I like any game that copies the
gameplay style of Mega Man but
I would have preferred if the controls were on par with that series as
well. They aren’t horrendous but
they could definitely have been improved upon. Because Bucky is so large there are
parts that look like spikes are running right through his head but he’s
actually not taking damage. This
is important because at first I thought the spikes would kill me where I
was standing so I kept dying trying to avoid that spot.
 Features: 2
difficulty levels
You can type in “HARD!” as your
password to play on the more difficult mode. I took a pass on that option but I’m
glad it’s available.
Fun?: For
a little while
This is another one that you will
enjoy while you are beating it but once you’ve finished the game you won’t
feel much like replaying it.
Challenge:
Tough
If you want to beat this game on
one life it will take a lot of practice.
If you don’t mind using continues like they are going out of style
then the game becomes very beatable.
Gamers who are weak at games with lots of jumps probably will find
this game more frustrating than fun.
Replay:
Not Much
Once you beat this game I can’t
imagine wanting to play it anymore.
2
Player: None
Nope.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
They’ve got ‘em all at
www.nintendoage.com
Bottom Line: For Mega Man die-hards
If you are a huge Bucky O’Hare
fan then this game is a no-brainer.
Any fans of Mega Man style
platformers will probably enjoy it as well. The rest of you will be able to find
plenty of other NES games that are better than this one.
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