DAY 109 / GAME 109
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure
Back when I first had my Sega Genesis, I didn't have the wonder that is the internet. So, trying to figure out what is a good game to buy wasn't easy. A few of my friends had subscriptions to EGM or Nintendo Power magazines and that was really the only way to have any insight into what was coming and what was worth buying.
I never got into magazines though. I once bought a book that covered a ton of Sega Genesis games, but it was pretty out of date. Magazines were always full of ads and I always loathed ads, even though I was about 13 at the time. So when it came to buying games, I typically bought into IPs that were familiar. So even though they weren't always the most amazing games in the world, I usually ended up with a game with content I enjoyed nonetheless.
In the 16-bit era, side scrollers were king. Like FPS games now, it was a tried and true game platform that was easy to market. And so, there were a ton of great properties from the mid-90's that ended up as side scrolling platformers. Aladdin, Lion King, Alien 3, Tazmania, the Simpsons, Batman, Ninja Turtles and Mickey Mouse to name a few. Now, at the time, I was a huge Looney Tunes fan. I used to tape episodes off of the Bravo network so I had a huge VHS tape full for anytime I was in the mood. In the early 90's WB released Tiny Toon Adventures, which was a newer, modern take on the whole Bugs Bunny property. It did real well and from there we saw more of these modernized WB kids shows, like Tazmania and Animaniacs. I loved Tiny Toons. It really inspired me to draw and I used to spend a ton of time breaking down and drawing all the characters fairly on model if I remember correctly. So, where I'm going with all this, is that when the first Tiny Toon's video game was released on the Sega Genesis, I immediately jumped on it.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure was unique to the Sega Genesis. The Super Nintendo ended up with a completely different, albeit equally cool game Buster Busts Loose!. Both were developed by Konami, which explains the quality, but both were totally different. The SNES game was more difficult, but shorter overall and somewhat more linear in fashion. The Sega Genesis game contained considerably more levels and had a Super Mario World style map where all your levels were all laid out and with that you could return to any you've completed.
Konami did a great job of capturing the show's personality. At least so far as I remember it. (It was 21 years ago.) Pretty much every character is represented in the game and represented quite well (for a 16-bit game). As you made your way through the game you encountered everyone from Plucky Duck, Hampton, Dizzy, Calamity Coyote and even Gogo Dodo. Most of those you encounter you actually run into as boss fights as they've been controlled with brainwashing helmets and you have to free them to continue. The final boss fights have you in a race to escape Elmyra and a battle with Montana Max in a big mech suit. There's even a bizarre set of bonus stages that take place Gogo Dodo's weird Wackyland.
Buster's Hidden Treasure ended up as a pretty good buy considering at the time it was really just a crapshoot and I got lucky. It was a real blend of Mario and Sonic, with the character of the series and enough uniqueness as a side scroller to set itself apart from the rest. It's been a long time since I've played this game and writing this reminds me I should bust it out again sometime for a go.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure
Back when I first had my Sega Genesis, I didn't have the wonder that is the internet. So, trying to figure out what is a good game to buy wasn't easy. A few of my friends had subscriptions to EGM or Nintendo Power magazines and that was really the only way to have any insight into what was coming and what was worth buying. I never got into magazines though. I once bought a book that covered a ton of Sega Genesis games, but it was pretty out of date. Magazines were always full of ads and I always loathed ads, even though I was about 13 at the time. So when it came to buying games, I typically bought into IPs that were familiar. So even though they weren't always the most amazing games in the world, I usually ended up with a game with content I enjoyed nonetheless.
In the 16-bit era, side scrollers were king. Like FPS games now, it was a tried and true game platform that was easy to market. And so, there were a ton of great properties from the mid-90's that ended up as side scrolling platformers. Aladdin, Lion King, Alien 3, Tazmania, the Simpsons, Batman, Ninja Turtles and Mickey Mouse to name a few. Now, at the time, I was a huge Looney Tunes fan. I used to tape episodes off of the Bravo network so I had a huge VHS tape full for anytime I was in the mood. In the early 90's WB released Tiny Toon Adventures, which was a newer, modern take on the whole Bugs Bunny property. It did real well and from there we saw more of these modernized WB kids shows, like Tazmania and Animaniacs. I loved Tiny Toons. It really inspired me to draw and I used to spend a ton of time breaking down and drawing all the characters fairly on model if I remember correctly. So, where I'm going with all this, is that when the first Tiny Toon's video game was released on the Sega Genesis, I immediately jumped on it. Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure was unique to the Sega Genesis. The Super Nintendo ended up with a completely different, albeit equally cool game Buster Busts Loose!. Both were developed by Konami, which explains the quality, but both were totally different. The SNES game was more difficult, but shorter overall and somewhat more linear in fashion. The Sega Genesis game contained considerably more levels and had a Super Mario World style map where all your levels were all laid out and with that you could return to any you've completed. Konami did a great job of capturing the show's personality. At least so far as I remember it. (It was 21 years ago.) Pretty much every character is represented in the game and represented quite well (for a 16-bit game). As you made your way through the game you encountered everyone from Plucky Duck, Hampton, Dizzy, Calamity Coyote and even Gogo Dodo. Most of those you encounter you actually run into as boss fights as they've been controlled with brainwashing helmets and you have to free them to continue. The final boss fights have you in a race to escape Elmyra and a battle with Montana Max in a big mech suit. There's even a bizarre set of bonus stages that take place Gogo Dodo's weird Wackyland. Buster's Hidden Treasure ended up as a pretty good buy considering at the time it was really just a crapshoot and I got lucky. It was a real blend of Mario and Sonic, with the character of the series and enough uniqueness as a side scroller to set itself apart from the rest. It's been a long time since I've played this game and writing this reminds me I should bust it out again sometime for a go.
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