Bubsy the Bobcat, an infamous mascot from the 90s, isn’t known for being the star of good games. In fact, I think the damn thing’s notoriety has only grown over the years, as some kind of punchline for the desperate attempt to capitalize on Sonic the Hedgehog‘s fame. That led to (terrible) modern sequels being developed over the past few years, as well as the release of a full-fledged compilation of his entire gaming catalogue, Bubsy 3D included. I still don’t understand how the Bubsy franchise is still seen as commercially viable in this day and age, and/or if there’s a certain demographic that actually cherishes that silly cat in somewhat unironical way.

At the very least, I thought I knew what to expect from a Bubsy game. It’d be silly, it’d feature one-liners, and it would suck. That was the law of nature, something as set in stone as death and taxes. But Atari and developer Fabraz have decided to mess with the foundations of reality as we know it. They have just released Bubsy 4D… and it’s proof that nothing is sacred anymore. Bubsy is now the protagonist of a good game. And I still don’t know how to process this information.

These controls are shockingly smooth. Now that was something I wasn’t expecting.

Now, let me be clear that we’re not talking about the next Banjo-Kazooie or Astro Bot. Bubsy 4D is a really competent, well-made game, but it still suffers from the fact that its protagonist is a black hole of charisma. But I won’t lie: its controls are great, its movement is incredibly fluid, and its presentation isn’t half-bad. In fact, even though, as per the mandatory rules of the series it’s based on, the titular bobcat is still spitting out drastically unfunny puns and jokes, he doesn’t do so THAT often.

In fact, Bubsy 4D is very aware of how unloved its protagonist is. His niece thinks he’s cringe. The villains have never heard of him before, and doubt he can rescue the sheer amount of golden fleece they have stolen from him. No one in the entire game thinks Bubsy is a big deal, and that might actually be one of the funniest aspects of this game as a whole. It’s just the right amount of self-deprecation without ever feeling tiresome. Furthermore, considering how actually good the jazz-inspired soundtrack is, I can’t even recommend playing this game on mute.

You can actually unlock the character model from Bubsy 3D as a playable skin. Nightmare fuel, without a doubt.

As mentioned above, it’s the gameplay that carries Bubsy 4D. Fabraz are known for making some pretty good platformers, be them 2D (Slime-San) or 3D (Demon Tides) – Atari wasn’t fooling around when enlisting them with the development of their game. They weren’t aiming for a meme game, they wanted something that played well enough, in spite of the franchise. Bubsy leans heavily on the fact he’s a feline, therefore nimble: sure, he still has his utterly pointless glide mechanic, but the main focus of Bubsy 4D is combining his fast movement with a pounce, which launches him forward, giving him momentum and speed. You can combine the pounce with a double jump, for instance, letting you cover gigantic distances in the air.

Bubsy can also turn into a ball, for some reason. Turning into a ball is helpful during highway-esque sections, as you can accelerate like a lunatic. You can also fit into tube-shaped tunnels, and even be fired from a cannon. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever; in fact, it feels completely pointless and out of character. But from a gameplay standpoint, in a game all about momentum, it works.

Bubsy can turn into a ball, and roll at crazy speeds. It makes no sense whatsoever, but the sensation of speed is actually on point.

In essence, Bubsy 4D is a traditional 3D platformer in which each level has a beginning and an endgoal. Reaching the golden fleece is the main objective of each level, but there are 150 balls of yarn, as well as extra collectibles scattered around each of them. The game doesn’t want you to focus that much on completing each course as quickly as possible, despite giving you a completion time when you beat them; since there aren’t that many levels to begin with, Bubsy 4D wants you to explore each nook and cranny of each level, ensuring that you can collect the many items used in the main hub’s shop. You can purchase new moves for Bubsy, as well as different skins – one of which actually being the maligned character model from Bubsy 3D.

As the kids would say, Bubsy’s got no rizz.

Of course, this is far from being a perfect game: the camera is very wonky, and can actually compromise some jumps during specific sections. As previously mentioned, the game isn’t very long, but I suppose you shouldn’t expect much from a title that costs a mere 20 bucks to begin with. Finally, the visuals are just decent. The game boasts a pseudo-anime art style, which doesn’t fit in at all with the dumb 90s cartoon looks Bubsy is known for, but I guess it’s quite competent at the end of the day. Again, nothing egregious, there’s nothing in Bubsy 4D that I’d call a dealbreaker or a major flaw. It’s competent, never managing to truly impress me (with the exception of the fact that a Bubsy game is finally alright), but rarely infuriating me. Well, one-liners aside, of course.

A summary of my reaction when I realized Bubsy 4D is actually good.

Bubsy 4D is indeed one of the biggest surprises of the year, not because it’s a masterpiece or anything, but solely due to the fact that it is a Bubsy game that doesn’t suck. Atari and Fabraz weren’t messing around with this project: they knew the franchise sucked, yet they were dead set on proving the world that you can, in fact, make a decent entry in the series, with somewhat decent production values and actually pretty good controls. It’s not perfect, its protagonist is still an insufferable twerp, but it is what it is: a good game that just so happens to star Bubsy the freaking Bobcat. There must be a god after all.

Bubsy 4D is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC, Switch and Switch 2.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Bubsy 4D was provided by the publisher.