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 Bugs
Bunny, the star of this video game, is obviously the main star of the
famous cartoon Looney Toons, created by Warner Bros. He first appeared in 1940 and has
helped Looney Tunes compete for the most famous animated crew with the
Disney troop, led by Mickey Mouse, for over 60 years.
The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle was
the very first Bugs Bunny game released on a home system and it almost
didn’t happen. The game was
originally released in Japan
on the Famicom Disk System starring Roger Rabbit with the villains being
the characters from his film Who
Framed Roger Rabbit. The music
for the game is clearly mystery music that went perfectly with the theme
of his film. For some reason it
was decided that the game should feature Bugs Bunny instead here in the
United States. Interestingly, at
the same time that the game was released in the United States, a Game Boy version was
released in Japan
starring Mickey Mouse instead of Bugs!
Man this guy can’t catch a break in Japan… The Game Boy version was popular enough
to warrant three sequels over the years with the last two finally
starring Bugs Bunny even in Japan.
This is a pretty fun puzzle type game. You star as Bugs Bunny and you
must find all eight carrots on each level while avoiding some popular
Looney Toon characters (Yosemite Sam, Sylvester the Cat, Wile E. Coyote
and Daffy Duck). The trick is that
you can’t jump at all in this game! You must go up and down stairs and tubes
to get to all your carrots and can use classic Looney Toon weapons to
kill some of your rivals. While this is quite a fun game it has some weak
points. The game control has some annoying quirks and it's definitely too
easy (then again it's a kids game).
Unfortunately, the game only has 60 levels while the Game Boy version
has 80 levels. But the interesting
thing is that the passwords work for the remaining 20 Game Boy levels on
the NES. Only four of the levels
are playable though, and they are labeled S1 through S4. These four levels are extremely hard
and once you die you are sent back to a level among the regular 60 and if
you want to play it again you must reset the game and input the password
again. Bugs Bunny would go on to
star in tons more games for various systems over the years including one
more title on the NES: The Bugs
Bunny Birthday Blowout.
 Positives:
The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle is
a pretty long game with 60 levels plus 4 secret levels. So even though the game is extremely
easy it will take you a little while to completely beat it. The four bonus levels are actually very
hard as you only get one chance and they seem to be much cheaper than the
rest of the levels. Plus, any game
with Bugs Bunny and a bunch of his Looney Toon pals has to be pretty
cool!
Glaring
Negatives:
The controls in this game are extremely annoying. Bugs always seems to take one extra
step and that will lead to the majority of your deaths. I also wish the game was a little bit
harder in a good way rather than a cheap way.
Graphics
and Sound: Pretty Good
The graphics are pretty nice, but there are only 2 different kinds of
backgrounds. Also the music is pretty cool – very reminiscent of the
mysterious music of Déjà Vu.
Gameplay
and Controls: Problematic
This is where my complaints come in. First of all once you start going
down stairs, there is no way to stop. Often this is a huge problem
because the bottom of the stairs is off-screen, so you have no way of
knowing if someone is waiting there to kill you. Also Bugs often takes
one extra step which may cause you to do something entirely unintended,
like drop off an edge onto a bad guy. Although the controls are annoying,
once you get used to them they are manageable.
Features:
Not Much
There's a nice password option. Also in the game you can get a boxing
glove and then shoot it with A. This kills whoever it hits. Also in true
Looney Toons fashion you can push anvils and plants onto enemies heads to
dispose of them.
Fun?: Some
The game is pretty fun. It's just that most of the  levels
are very similar so it can get somewhat boring after a while. Also as
mentioned above the controls can cause some frustrations.
Challenge:
Pretty Easy
The Bugs
Bunny Crazy
Castle is a pretty easy game.
There are quite a few levels (60), but most are pretty easy once you get
used to the game. The most challenging levels usually are only
challenging because enemies are unseen until you bump into them.
Replay: Some
Like all puzzle games there is some replay value. However, I would put
this on the low end of puzzle replay value.
2
Player: None
No 2 player option is available in the game, but it's fun to play with
someone else and then trade off every level.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
You can find all the NES manuals
at Nintendo
Age.
Bottom Line: Sure why not
This is basically a fun puzzle game. There isn't a lot of variety, but
each level is slightly different. This game is the most fun when played
with another player, trading off levels keeps the game from getting
boring. Plus it's always fun yelling at your partner about what a
bonehead move they just made.
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