Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle
System: NES
Release Date: August 1989
Developer: Kemco
Publisher: Kemco*Seika
Genre: Puzzle
Looney Toons was always a very popular intellectual property and Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle is the first title on the NES. You star as Bugs Bunny and you’re on a mission to save Honey Bunny from the titular Crazy Castle. You have to collect all the carrots in each of the 60 levels in order to save your girl and escape together.
It’s not as easy as collecting carrots, as those rascals Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Wile E. Coyote, and Yosemite Sam are actively trying to stop you from reaching your goal. Bugs walks with the d-pad and can climb up and walk down stairs. There are also doors that can be entered to go up and down floors. Later levels introduce pipes that you can enter as if your name was Mario. There are special No Carrot levels that if you succeed you gain three lives, but if you lose, you’re sent back three levels. Avoiding your enemies might not always be easy, but you do have some weapons at your disposal to aid you.
Bugs can pick up and use a boxing glove with the A Button, which knocks out an enemy that it comes into contact with. There is also a flask of magic carrot juice which makes Bugs invincible for a short time. On many levels there are also objects, like safes, crates, and weights, that can be pushed into the rascals or dropped from a height onto them. When you make it to the end, you save Honey Bunny and loop back to the beginning.
Graphics: 1.5
Sprites aren’t particularly big, but you can tell what they all are.
Sound: 1.5
The music isn’t anything overly great, but at least they have percussion along with the melody.
Gameplay: 1.0
The gameplay is barren and Bugs often keeps moving for several frames after you stop pressing the d-pad.
Difficulty: 2.0
Poor movement controls will lead to deaths that shouldn’t have otherwise happened. You do get a free life and a password after each level, so you should be able to get through the game if you give it the time.
Fun Factor: 1.0
There is a low level hum of fun inside the Crazy Castle.
Overall Grade: 1.4
Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle earns a D+. If you’re a fan of the Looney Toons property, you might get a bit of enjoyment out of it.