Bubsy in: Fractured Furry Tales is a game developed by Imagitec Design and published by Atari under license from Accolade. The game was released on December 9, 1994. It's the third game in the Bubsy series, and the only one released exclusively for the Atari Jaguar.
The received mixed reception since its release. While some critics praised the game's graphics, music and difficulty, others panned the controls, camera, level design, voice acting and personality of the main character. Reviewers also criticized the game for its lack of use of the hardware and compared it to the previous 16-bit iterations. By April 1, 1995, the game has sold less than 9,000 copies though it is unknown how many were sold in total during its lifetime. The series continued with Bubsy 3D, which was released in 1996 for the PlayStation
Plot[]
The fairy tales on the world have suddenly become altered after Mother Goose, who maintained peace and balance throughout them on Fairytaleland, was captured by both Hansel and Gretel, leading to the appearance of creatures that corrupted these stories. As a result, Bubsy sets out to stop the creatures and antagonists of the now-altered stories in order to protect the kids from their current state. After Bubsy defeats both Hansel and Gretel as well as freeing Mother Goose from her captivity, all of the stories in Fairytaleland revert to normal and the creatures disappear afterwards, with Bubsy deciding on what is next for him.
Gameplay[]
The game plays very similar to the first two games in the Bubsy series, Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind and Bubsy 2. The game plays as a 2D sidescrolling platformer. While the goal is still to maneuver Bubsy through the level to the end, this game emphasizes more puzzle elements such as flipping switches and complicated level design.
As the game's title suggests, the levels are themed after fairy tales, such as Alice in Wonderland, Jack and the Beanstalk, Ali Baba, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Hansel & Gretel. In the game, all of the fairy tales have been corrupted, and Bubsy is tasked to fix them, and protect the children of the world from them.
The game featured a password feature, allowing the player to revisit any level already completed.
Development[]
Map of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea levels. Picture by Faran Thomason.
On November 11, 1993 Atari and Accolade jointly announced a licensing agreement where Atari would publish 5 titles by Accolade for Jaguar by fall 1994: Al Michaels Announces HardBall III, Brett Hull Hockey, Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, Charles Barkley Basketball (same game as Barkley Shut Up and Jam! for SNES and Genesis), Jack Nicklaus' Power Challenge Golf (later: Jack Nicklaus Cyber Golf for Jaguar CD)
Faran Thomason reviews the Genie boss sprite during development.
The only project to see official release was the above mentioned Bubsy game, using the source code of Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind with new story, enemies and levels. The only other title later found by Jaguar collectors was Brett Hull. Both projects were headed by producer, Faran Thomason.
Game producer of Fractured Furry Tales, Faran Thomason mentioned in an interview that while most of the foundation work was complete in porting the Sega Genesis code to the Jaguar, Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind was already an old game on the market. It was decided to stir up interest in the new market would require a new storyline, enemies, and bosses to fight.
Levels[]
The game has a very linear level structure similar to the first game which all has different fairytale theme. Each theme has a total of three levels which has a boss at the end of the chapter. Once, the boss is defeated, Bubsy will move on to the next world of the game.
| Theme | Levels |
|---|---|
| Alice in Wonderland | |
| Jack and the Beanstalk | |
| Aladdin/Ali Baba and the Three Thieves | |
| Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea | |
| Hansel and Gretel |
Merchandise[]
In an interview with producer Faran Thomason it was mentioned the marketing and production budget was fairly limited. Because of the limited budget there was not any shirt promotions as seen with Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind or Bubsy 2.
Quotes[]
Unlike other games in the franchise, Fractured Furry Tales only had a few voice clips that would play at the level introduction screen. These would repeat, and some originated from the previous installment.
"Oh, sure, let's all torture the Bubster!"
"Pilot's license? What for?"
"Who do I look like, Flubber?!"
"Keep it up, just keep it up!"
"Nothing can stop me now!"
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The title itself is a word play in reference to "Fractured Fairy Tales", a segment from the animated television series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends.
- The book Inside Electronic Game Design by Arnie Katz, tells that 50,000 copies were sold the first 6 months of release, with only 60,000 being produced.
- The reason for the difficulty of Fractured Furry Tales was related by Faran Thomason to be due to the extreme difficulty of video games in the mid-ninties that the play testers were accustomed to.
- Bubsy Fractured Furry Tales was developed by Atari while Bubsy 2 was developed by Accolade. While there was some awareness of changes of Bubsy, such as the Nerf gun and multiple hits, Fractured Furry Tales was too far into development to make such changes.
- Most of the programming was completed by programmer, Andrew Seed
- Source code places the Hansel and Gretel Level as world 3, Alice in Wonderland as World 5, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves as world 1. In final production, Alice in Wonderland was made World 1, Ali Baba became world 3, and Hansel and Gretel became world 5.
- The woman in the cage at the end of Hansel and Gretel was originally referred to as "The Witch" which was later changed to Mother Goose.
- In the source code for the Hansel and Gretel level the boss drop cherry bombs on Bubsy which pop as they hit the ground or Bubsy. In the remarks it is said to the rest of the development team "No smutty comments please" as some Atari execs might review the code later.
- In the original design of the Jack and the Beanstalk levels there was originally a design for a bean pod which would explode if approached too closely. This enemy was later scrapped.
- In the original Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind the exclamation Point on Bubsy's shirt was red for first player or green for second player. This feature was not activated in the porting the Genesis code to the Jaguar platform. The result was the yellow exclamation mark which was actually a null color.
- All of Bubsy's character animations were ported from the Genesis to the Jaguar. Also included was the pushing animation, which is not used in Fractured Furry Tales.
- The password system uses letter in the US and European version, while the Japanese version uses numbers.
- Of all the Bubsy media thus far (excluding The Purrfect Collection due to its status as an interactive documentary based on real world history), Fractured Furry Tales features humans the most prominently. The Woolies Strike Back also has some humans in its promotional material and background elements, but they are not prominent.
See also[]
External Links[]
| 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 in: the Purrfect Collection. | ||