I’m not sure what rock I’ve been living under all this time, but clearly it’s been missing Bubsy, and in several dimensions.
Bubsy 4D is the comeback game of a series that dates back to the early 90’s on the Super Nintendo. This was around the time when Mega Man was still pumping out sequels, as well as the beginning of the X series. Platformers seemed to reign supreme in this era of gaming and for good reason: Us kids loved it and it didn’t take a lot to keep us entertained for hours. I have never played Bubsy or even heard of the series before attending PAX East, but Danreb insisted I try it out as someone with new eyes on the next installment of this long-lasting and (so it seems) beloved character.
I played just the tutorial level to test it out and was immediately charmed by the art style. Am I aware of Bubsy and his character? No, but he seems like the fun guy at parties. Anyhoo, the demo gave me the scope of the land. Blocks and buildings. My instincts told me I was going to do a lot of jumping and the game proceeded to instruct me how to double jump. What I found fun about this was pressing A twice, which let me jump higher and control the trajectory of where I can land. Jumping in this game feels rather “floaty”.
Keep rollin, rollin, rollin, Bubsy.
In a crazy turn of events, one of the developers heard me say that and mentioned they want to avoid the “floaty” feel. As someone who is not a dev, this was surprising to hear since the game involves a lot of jumping around. I’ve also just played several Halo games back to back in recent months, so in my world this is actually a good thing. I suppose this would depend on who’s playing and if they like the way moving around actually feels.
In true platformer fashion, you have floating boxes that are too far so you have to glide towards. To do this I had to do my double jump while moving forward and hold LT to turn on Bubsy’s glide pose, which is an oddly, funny looking full extension of all his limbs. The tutorial has enough to let you play around to test the waters of these two mechanics together. It doesn’t make you do the same objective over and over, and moves Bubsy onto the next stage, something I really appreciated and kept me engaged.
Onward to pouncing and ricocheting, aka the section where I went a little crazy with the button mashing. In this stage there are pin heads that change color as you get closer. Once they do, you’ll want to jump and hit the RT button to pull a hard pounce off the pin, throwing Bubsy into the air for an extra boost in height and speed. This move set can be chaotic for me (in a good way) since I love to get a bit trigger-happy when given a mechanic that launches me from point A to point B fast. It can assure you all: it’s actually great and adds a lot more to the game’s fun. My only complaint so far is the use of triggers and bumpers for so many of Bubsy’s moves. But this seems like an easy fix, as I can most likely change the button commands to something else in the settings.
The art style makes it feel like you’re playing in a Saturday morning cartoon.
As the tutorial progressed, it was time to put all my A Button and RT pressing to the test. Longer glides, bigger jumps, more precise pouncing and ricocheting. All this while Bubsy is making silly remarks regarding the level and everything you’re doing. I do, in fact, agree with him that making litter boxes a checkpoint was a brilliant idea. Making a good platformer game seems like an easy concept on paper, but to take simple movements, like jumping and bouncing, while still keeping players interested in what they’re doing, and making them want to continue playing, is the end goal and I think Bubsy 4D really will be able to hit that mark on keeping people interested.
As my demo neared its end, it introduced me to a few more mechanics, like inflating Bubsy into a big ball by pressing LT. This stage is very bowl-shaped and lets me traverse this area via rolling and bouncing. There’s a tunnel I travel through, and to pick up the pace, I hit forward, and Bubsy starts hightailing out of there. Very dangerous if you’re going through a tunnel with no “ceiling”, but awesome for the sheer silliness of it all.
I get to a ramp and in Hairball form and launch myself as hard as I can to another area with what appear to be scratch posts. Hitting A while in this mode lets me bounce off these posts and continuously hitting A causes a pinball effect if you’re near enough objects to bounce off. It’s curtains for Bubsy as my final tunnel approaches and I reach the end of the tutorial level with one last bounce as a hairball at a speed of Mach 10.
Why does he look like he’s going to ask me about my cars extended warranty?
To be totally honest, I thoroughly had a blast playing this demo. I didn’t take time to go into the settings to change a few button inputs, and since almost all demos at events like PAX use Xbox controllers, inputs I’m not the most familiar with, but the gameplay isn’t the most complicated to figure out, even without your preferred controller of choice. From what I did see with a few cut scenes before the tutorial began, the other set of characters and overall world of Bubsy 4D looks like a colorful cartoon turned into 3D land without looking too jarring.
Considering the fact Bubsy started as a 2D game, it’s awesome to see that a studio still believed in an older IP and loved it enough to bring it back. You can tell it’s made with a lot of love from people who believe in the series. It’s very hard not to have fun while playing, and with his fourth wall-breaking attitude, I think Bubsy 4D is definitely ready for modern-day gaming. Another reminder that I have never touched a Bubsy game in my life so it was a pleasant surprise to find a game with so much history that I also really enjoyed at PAX like this.
Make sure to wishlist Bubsy 4D on Steam and try out the demo if you can! The game comes out on May 22, 2026 and for practically every console on the market, like Switch 1 and 2, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox ONE, Xbox X|S, PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
I’m not sure what rock I’ve been living under all this time, but clearly it’s been missing Bubsy, and in several dimensions. Bubsy 4D is the comeback game of a series that dates back to the early 90’s on the…
I’m not sure what rock I’ve been living under all this time, but clearly it’s been missing Bubsy, and in several dimensions.
Bubsy 4D is the comeback game of a series that dates back to the early 90’s on the Super Nintendo. This was around the time when Mega Man was still pumping out sequels, as well as the beginning of the X series. Platformers seemed to reign supreme in this era of gaming and for good reason: Us kids loved it and it didn’t take a lot to keep us entertained for hours. I have never played Bubsy or even heard of the series before attending PAX East, but Danreb insisted I try it out as someone with new eyes on the next installment of this long-lasting and (so it seems) beloved character.
I played just the tutorial level to test it out and was immediately charmed by the art style. Am I aware of Bubsy and his character? No, but he seems like the fun guy at parties. Anyhoo, the demo gave me the scope of the land. Blocks and buildings. My instincts told me I was going to do a lot of jumping and the game proceeded to instruct me how to double jump. What I found fun about this was pressing A twice, which let me jump higher and control the trajectory of where I can land. Jumping in this game feels rather “floaty”.
Keep rollin, rollin, rollin, Bubsy.
In a crazy turn of events, one of the developers heard me say that and mentioned they want to avoid the “floaty” feel. As someone who is not a dev, this was surprising to hear since the game involves a lot of jumping around. I’ve also just played several Halo games back to back in recent months, so in my world this is actually a good thing. I suppose this would depend on who’s playing and if they like the way moving around actually feels.
In true platformer fashion, you have floating boxes that are too far so you have to glide towards. To do this I had to do my double jump while moving forward and hold LT to turn on Bubsy’s glide pose, which is an oddly, funny looking full extension of all his limbs. The tutorial has enough to let you play around to test the waters of these two mechanics together. It doesn’t make you do the same objective over and over, and moves Bubsy onto the next stage, something I really appreciated and kept me engaged.
Onward to pouncing and ricocheting, aka the section where I went a little crazy with the button mashing. In this stage there are pin heads that change color as you get closer. Once they do, you’ll want to jump and hit the RT button to pull a hard pounce off the pin, throwing Bubsy into the air for an extra boost in height and speed. This move set can be chaotic for me (in a good way) since I love to get a bit trigger-happy when given a mechanic that launches me from point A to point B fast. It can assure you all: it’s actually great and adds a lot more to the game’s fun. My only complaint so far is the use of triggers and bumpers for so many of Bubsy’s moves. But this seems like an easy fix, as I can most likely change the button commands to something else in the settings.
The art style makes it feel like you’re playing in a Saturday morning cartoon.
As the tutorial progressed, it was time to put all my A Button and RT pressing to the test. Longer glides, bigger jumps, more precise pouncing and ricocheting. All this while Bubsy is making silly remarks regarding the level and everything you’re doing. I do, in fact, agree with him that making litter boxes a checkpoint was a brilliant idea. Making a good platformer game seems like an easy concept on paper, but to take simple movements, like jumping and bouncing, while still keeping players interested in what they’re doing, and making them want to continue playing, is the end goal and I think Bubsy 4D really will be able to hit that mark on keeping people interested.
As my demo neared its end, it introduced me to a few more mechanics, like inflating Bubsy into a big ball by pressing LT. This stage is very bowl-shaped and lets me traverse this area via rolling and bouncing. There’s a tunnel I travel through, and to pick up the pace, I hit forward, and Bubsy starts hightailing out of there. Very dangerous if you’re going through a tunnel with no “ceiling”, but awesome for the sheer silliness of it all.
I get to a ramp and in Hairball form and launch myself as hard as I can to another area with what appear to be scratch posts. Hitting A while in this mode lets me bounce off these posts and continuously hitting A causes a pinball effect if you’re near enough objects to bounce off. It’s curtains for Bubsy as my final tunnel approaches and I reach the end of the tutorial level with one last bounce as a hairball at a speed of Mach 10.
Why does he look like he’s going to ask me about my cars extended warranty?
To be totally honest, I thoroughly had a blast playing this demo. I didn’t take time to go into the settings to change a few button inputs, and since almost all demos at events like PAX use Xbox controllers, inputs I’m not the most familiar with, but the gameplay isn’t the most complicated to figure out, even without your preferred controller of choice. From what I did see with a few cut scenes before the tutorial began, the other set of characters and overall world of Bubsy 4D looks like a colorful cartoon turned into 3D land without looking too jarring.
Considering the fact Bubsy started as a 2D game, it’s awesome to see that a studio still believed in an older IP and loved it enough to bring it back. You can tell it’s made with a lot of love from people who believe in the series. It’s very hard not to have fun while playing, and with his fourth wall-breaking attitude, I think Bubsy 4D is definitely ready for modern-day gaming. Another reminder that I have never touched a Bubsy game in my life so it was a pleasant surprise to find a game with so much history that I also really enjoyed at PAX like this.
Make sure to wishlist Bubsy 4D on Steam and try out the demo if you can! The game comes out on May 22, 2026 and for practically every console on the market, like Switch 1 and 2, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox ONE, Xbox X|S, PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
by Adriana Rodriguez
