Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind

Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind is the first instalment of the Bubsy franchise, developed by Accolade.

The plot revolves around wool-loving aliens, called "Woolies", invading Earth to steal every yarn ball they can find. Since Bubsy loves these as well and has accumulated a hefty number, he feels it to be his job to stop them and protect his stash.

The game was aggressively marketed and managed to get hype behind its name, though upon release, was deemed an average experience.
Nevertheless, its gimmicks caught people's attention, leading to a sequel.

It was released in 1993 for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, re-released on PC under the title "Super Bubsy" in 1996, and again in the Bubsy Two-Fur compilation on December 17, 2015.

Development

Bubsy 1 - USA Magazine ad — Magazine ad.

Bubsy 1 Promotion — Promotion page in Electronics Boutique's magazine.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 041 December 1992 — Game preview in Electronic Gaming Monthly.

After Accolade's game designer, Michael Berlyn, had grown weary of the text adventure genre he'd previously kept himself busy with, he became inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog and wished to take a shot at creating a platformer game.

Director John Skeel stated in an interview that the intention was to create a game as fast as Sonic and as deep as Mario, where they planned for it to be easy to play, but hard to master. Development of Bubsy I began in 1991, and was intended to star an existing brand. In order to cut on costs, Berlyn designed an original character, who would also function as Accolade's mascot.
Bubsy's appearance came with little to no forethought; and his species, gender, and overall appearance differed greatly in early concept images. One consistent feature were his shoes, though these were omitted in the end as to further differentiate the character from the popular Sonic.

John Skeel had difficulty finding a good voice for Bubsy, but eventually received Brian Silva's voice tapes. When Skeel sped up his recordings, he enjoyed the "Looney Tunes-eque" tone and wanted him to represent the character. Some time later, Silva shared the rest of his portfolio, and the artwork included earned him the additional job of sprite and background artist.

Bubsy's catchphrase, "What could possibly go wrong?", was derived from an in-joke among the development team; of which the meetings could be described as "casual and funny".

Beckett Gladney and Ken Macklin created the backgrounds and character animations respectively, whereafter a group named "Solid Software" realized them for the Super Nintendo.
One of the in-game hazards being entertained around this time was catnip that would drive Bubsy crazy, but this was replaced by banana peels because of Nintendo's censorship policies; as catnip was considered similar to drugs.

In December of 1992, children who resided near Accolade's headquarters in San Jose, California, were invited to test the game and comment on its aspects. Their suggestion to add more secret paths was picked up, resulting to the underground tube ways in level 1. The Sega Genesis version, which development started off with, was to be released shortly after, but Accolade experienced legal troubles with Sega, resulting in a delay.

In the end, both versions were released concurrently, and looked and sounded almost identical.

The game's Japanese release came with many changes. It was titled Yamaneko Bubsy no Daibōken (やまねこ Bubsy の大冒険), meaning "Wildcat Bubsy's Great Adventure", and the level titles refer to films and elements from Japanese culture. Bubsy's voice clips were also redubbed, but it's not been documented who voiced him.

Super Bubsy

Some time after November 4, 1996, the game was ported to Windows 95 under the title "Super Bubsy".

The graphics were upscaled somewhat -with new sprite work by Phillip Vaughan- and a slightly altered copy of the Bubsy cartoon pilot was included on the disk, which could be accessed when collecting 20 television sets within the game.
Development took place from "01/04/1995" through "11/04/1996", according to the time stamps of the disk files.

Other differences from the original instalment include a booming voice narrating each level name, 3D cutscenes, and Bubsy's quotes during the loading screens being randomly picked.
Although 50 quotes are found on the disk, only 12 appear in-game. It's unknown why this is.

Desert Fox Bubsy

Some time after May 8, 1997, the Super Bubsy version was re-released by the Swiss publisher, WG Verlag & Lizenzen AG, under the title "Desert Fox Bubsy".

This version targeted European countries; and multi-languaged descriptions were included on the back cover, where the German translation spoke of a different title altogether: "Desert Cat Bubsy". Despite the overall name change, the menu screen is the same as the original and announced the game as "Super Bubsy".

Desert Fox Bubsy contains the same time-stamped files as the PC version, though comes with a 1997 eCatalog from WG Verlag & Lizenzen AG. It had many contemporary Accolade games listed, such as Star Control 3, Jack Nicklaus 4, HardBall 5, and Bubsy 3D.

Gameplay

The game is linear and requires the player to navigate Bubsy from beginning to the end of the level. The option to collect yarn balls and fight enemies is optional and only to score points.

Bubsy can walk, sprint, duck, jump, and glide, but is infamous for dying easily. For example, dropping from a relatively short height and bumping into objects while on a banana peel is insta-death, and he cannot fall in water. His only means to kill an enemy is to jump on their head.
The differing ways Bubsy can die are accompanied with their own piece of animation, and the overall game mimics the feel of a classic cartoon show.

Each area consists out of three chapters, and the game ends with a boss battle with Queen Poly and Ester.

Levels

Area 1: Village

Area 2: The Fair

Area 3: The Wild West

Area 4: Canada

Area 5: The Jungle

Area 6: The Woolie Spaceship

Chapter Sixteen: A Farewell to Woolies

Quotes

Every new level starts with a black title screen and Bubsy making a relevant remark. Below are his quotes in chronological order, provided by Brian Silva:

(Click "Expand" to see)>

"What could possibly go wrong?"
"Did.. I mention I don't like heights?"
"More like 'A Bridge Too Short'!"
"Hey, whatever blows your hair back."
"Hey, I thought I saw Elvis back there!"
"Shouldn't that be.. "fearless"? Uh-oh.."
"Well, it worked for Clint."
"Go ahead, make my day!"
"My contract does not mention pain!"
"Yeah, I didn't like this stuff!"
"Next time, I get a stunt cat."
"Is there a veterinarian in the audience?"
"That's it, I'm outta here, you can't make me."
"Want to give up show business?"
"Somebody dial 911!"
"Wow, are you still playing this thing?"

Gallery

Cartridges and Covers

General Artwork

Comic

The short story that was included with the game's manual.

Trivia

The game's title is a reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The password system uses letter in the US and European version, while the Japanese version uses numbers.

Bubsy Games
Consoles/PC		Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind - Yamaneko Bubsy no Daibouken - Bubsy II - Bubsy in: Fractured Furry Tales - Bubsy 3D - Bubsy Two-Fur - Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back - Bubsy: Paws on Fire!
Handheld		Bubsy II
Cancelled		Bubsy 3
Miscellaneous		Prototypes

Bubsy Bobcat Wiki