Bubsy II is a platform video game, the sequel to Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, and the second game in the Bubsy series.[5] It was originally released by Accolade in 1994 for the Sega Genesis, Super NES, and Game Boy, and re-released for Windows through Steam on December 17, 2015.
Gameplay
The game plays very similar to the prior game in the series, as a 2D sidescrolling platformer.[5] Unlike the first game where playing through the stages is linear, in Bubsy II the player gets to choose stages.[4] The player must still maneuver Bubsy through the level through jumping and gliding, and Bubsy still collects objects, only now they’re marbles instead of yarn balls. The game features more variety than its predecessor. One new feature in the game was the ability to shoot a Nerf Ballzooka gun.[7] A multiplayer mode was added as well, where a second player could control one of Bubsy’s younger relatives.[8] Bubsy can now take three hits before losing a life.[9]
Development
Planning for the game started as early as a few months prior to the release of the first Bubsy game, with team members coming up with three possible scenarios for the game, none of them involving the first game’s antagonists “The Woolies”.[10] A pilot for an animated TV show adaptation titled What Could Possibly Go Wrong? aired on Thanksgiving Day.[11] Some characters from the TV pilot appeared in the second game.[6] The sequel moved into full production after the first game was released and was a commercial success.[5] However, a different, new development team within Accolade was responsible for making the game, without original designer Michael Berlyn‘s assistance.[5][12] Like the original, the Sega Genesis and Super NES versions are virtually identical, but the Game Boy version is drastically different, with different level designs and only black-and-white graphics, unless played on a Super Game Boy, which applied very basic coloring.[8]