Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection Review

Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is a package of the four Bubsy mascot platform games, and their different ports. The first game is Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, originally for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. There’s also a “Japanese 16-bit version. The second game is Bubsy II, for the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and original Game Boy. Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales is an Atari Jaguar exclusive. And, finally, Bubsy 3D is a PS1 exclusive. Bubsy 3D also has a “Refurbished Edition” made specifically for Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection. Limited Run has made another amazing retro collection, so read-on to find out if the Bubsy series might be for you.

The first game in Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind. It’s a 2D platformer that plays somewhere between a Mario game and a Sonic game. There’s an emphasis on running incredibly fast, though Bubsy doesn’t get nearly as much speed as Sonic does. There are only face buttons for jump and glide. Shoulder buttons can be used to move the camera a bit from left to right. Enemies and collectables are laid out to guide Bubsy where he should move and jump. There are yarn balls to collect, which give an extra life for every 500. Exclamation marks can also be collected, but they don’t have any function other than points for bragging rights.

Bubsy in 2D

The Sega Genesis version has a start menu not found in the Super Nintendo version. It lets the player change controls, change audio, and look at dev credits. None of those options are very important, with the Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection package having its own options. But there’s also an option to play 2 player, as well as enter passwords. Both of these are very welcome features that make the Genesis version the superior version. The Japanese version is identical to the Super Nintendo version, just with Japanese text.

Unfortunately, Bubsy in Claw Encounters of the Furred Kind is almost unplayable by today’s standards because Bubsy has one hit deaths. This completely disincentivizes playing fast, and makes the game way too difficult. The rewind feature isn’t enough to fix this deep gameplay flaw. The screen also moves around in a jarring way. This can be adjusted with the shoulder buttons, but I could see some players getting headaches from trying to put up with the camera flying all over the place.

Bubsy II Improvements

The second game in Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is Bubsy II. Thankfully it improves upon a lot of the issues of the first game. The base gameplay is exactly the same, but now the player takes 3 hits before death. This makes things a bit better, but the unfair difficulty and camera issues are still present. There is much more gameplay variety in Bubsy II, with sections featuring different gameplay styles. Bubsy can also choose which levels he wants to play, so the game is much less linear.

The Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis versions of Bubsy II are very similar. They have some menu differences, but the gameplay experience is the same. The Game Boy version is very different, although it’s a total demake of the same game. The graphical downgrade is expected, but Bubsy has an awful floaty jump that takes away all the sense of speed the regular versions are going for. There’s no reason to play the Game Boy version of Bubsy II other than curiosity.

Atari Jaguar

The third game in Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales. Although its box art is similar to Bubsy II, this is a completely different game. Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales goes back to the linear level structure of Bubsy in Claw Encounters of the Furred Kind. But it has graphics similar to something one might expect on a system like the 3DO. The visuals are a mix of 2D sprites and faux 3D backgrounds. The result is uglier than the original game, so this Jaguar exclusive feels like a real backwards step.

The fourth, and final game in Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is the infamous Bubsy 3D. For those who don’t know, Bubsy 3D was in development before Mario 64 released and standardized 3D gameplay. Visually, it looks on par with Star Fox for the Super Nintendo. The environments are vacant and mostly made of abstract shapes. And the controls are just plain bizarre. They’re an odd version of tank controls that use all the face buttons, the shoulder buttons, and the d-pad. I get that Bubsy 3D was a very early 3D game that was trying to invent the wheel. But most players are going to struggle with Bubsy 3D being anything more than a curiosity.

Bubsy in 3D

Bubsy 3D Refurbished adds analogue controls to Bubsy 3D, and makes it totally playable! Bubsy can move with the left joystick, and the camera can be controlled with the right joystick. Bubsy 3D still has shades of the momentum-based running in the 2D games, so it plays a bit slippery. Bubsy always feels like he’s in an ice level. This is still the same Bubsy 3D that has bland environments and basic gameplay, but the Refurbished Edition makes Bubsy 3D totally playable for anyone who wants to give it a real try in 2025.

Pressing R3 in any game brings up a universal Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection overlay menu. This lets the player change options like screen size, filters, and borders. As well as choose whether or not to give Bubsy a speed boost in the 2D titles. The player can save and load save states at any time, as well as reset or quit. Pressing L2 and R2 at the same time activates a rewind feature in every game.

Gorgeous Remaster

The remastered graphics and music in Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection are excellent. The 2D games look as crisp as one would hope. They have large, beautiful spites, and constant squash and stretch animations. Bubsy 3D is sharpened up, and given widescreen support in the Refurbished Edition. Bubsy 3D is a pretty ugly game. It looks like an early 3D PS1 platformer. But the 2D titles look fantastic. The music in all the games is much better than I thought it would be, and has a classic 16-bit era platformer charm I really appreciated.

Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection has a “Meowseum” option in the main menu. It’s an archive of Bubsy related material. There is an extensive amount of art, including advertising art, box art, and general official art. The Meowseum has full manual scans for each game, which are always greatly appreciated. There’s a merchandise section, which contains magazine coverage, two full comic books, and photos of physical merch.

Deep Meowseum

The videos section of the Meowseum is worth the price of admission alone. There are two long interviews with two developers, broken into different chapter questions. For those curious about that Japanese version of the first Bubsy game, there’s a featurette about the localization. There’s the original press preview build video of Bubsy 3D. And, finally, there is a full pilot episode of a 1993 TV series that never came to fruition. The main menu also has a jukebox with all the songs from every game, called “Mewsic”. All of these extras are an incredibly impressive collection. The comics and cartoon pilot are especially interesting and add incredible value for Bubsy fans.

The Bubsy series gets by on Looney Tunes style visuals, and 90s ‘tude charm. And even those aspects won’t be for everyone. Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is a package of three below-average 2D mascot platformers, and one very early 3D platformer. They’re not good games, and they haven’t aged well. But Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is an incredibly loving and complete package of everything Bubsy. Anyone with nostalgic love for this series will be over the moon. I just don’t think Bubsy’s gonna make any new fans any time soon.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***