Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure

"Who actually likes Dr. Splicer?"

Great a machine as the Sega Megadrive/Genesis was and still is, it never really made great results of games based on popular franchises, such as Tiny Toon Adventures. This is easily the worst TTA title I've played, a series which usually spanned quite good games, coming from dedicated developers like Konami. "Buster's Hidden Treasure" seemed to get lost in the mix somehow. The lack of an interesting premise dooms it from the start, but the gameplay certainly doesn't help.

This is the only Tiny Toon Adventures game ever not to include an opening storyline, so I had to read up to know exactly what the plot is. Basically, Montana Max is looking for a treasure and has hired a mad scientist, Dr Splicer, to enslave all of Buster's friends. Naturally, Buster arrives on the scene to stop the misdeeds, far from Montana Max's base. The graphics are pretty acceptable and the varied stage themes are done good justice. Character animations are pretty basic and unvaried, though. The music is, mostly, rather annoying. It's strange how with the Sonic games, the music is beautiful, but on some other games like this one, the result is often very screechy and annoying.

The control system is rather awkward as well. There is no run button, but the longer a time Buster walks, the faster he goes. The jumps are very clumsy - during a short jump, there is no momentum to speak of, thus violating one of the very principle rules of animation. If you jump low, you go down as soon as you let go of the jump button. Thus, you'll always hold the button down to jump as high as you can, which isn't that high. There is no attack for Buster apart from jumping on enemies' heads, which can be tricky due to the jumps. If you collect a hidden Little Beeper card, you can call on him to zoom by and eliminate all enemies in his path. However, since enemies rarely occur more than one in a screen, this was an underdeveloped feature to say the least. Fortunately, though, Buster can jump off walls, and this is easy to pull off, often saving you grief.

Each level's goal is to find Dodo the bird. Usually he's at the end of a level, but sometimes you have to find him. Challenge shouldn't worry you in this case - actually, you have nothing to say at all in the matter, as there is only one difficulty level, and the options screen is pretty bare. Most enemies take one hit to defeat (whereas SNES's Buster Busts Loose has tougher enemies from very early into the game). They range from the popular rats to cousins of the wolverine from "Buster and the Wolverine" to alligator, fish and many others, so they are a varied bunch. The game very conveniently has life hearts lying around for you if you get hit by an enemy, which is very easy. However, for some reason, tin cans lying on the ground will knock you down every time you cross over them, though thankfully without costing you energy. Even in your brief spells of invincibility, you will trip over one. Extra lives are a rare treat indeed - despite the numerous carrots around and the reset carrot meter when you reach 50 carrots, that will not gain you an extra life, making the carrot-collecting feel like a pointless chore. Most of the game is rather standard fare - grass world, forest world, lava world, but in a very good way. The game's layout is super-annoying - each leg of the journey has 3-4 levels, before a boss fight. The level layout is so similar in each level of a particular leg, if becomes dreary after a short while.

What really showcases the game's mediocrity, however, is the boss premise. Tiny Toon Adventures has always allowed for a host of interesting boss characters (let's forget the original NES game here). And what do Konami do? They give us the same boss, over and over again! And not a potentially-great boss such as Arnold the Pit Bull (who doesn't even appear during the entire game - BOO!) or the aforementioned wolverine. No, instead we have to put up with Dr Splicer, a virtually unheard-of character which I have no interest in fighting over and over again. Thus, the game gains a very big minus from the fans of the series.

However good or bad Buster's Hidden Treasure ever gets, it can't escape the lukewarm atmosphere it gives. There's very little difference in play between worlds, if any at all. Buster Busts Loose delighted in different elements between levels, even if the game's all-platform, not to mention a host of bonus games. BHT has none of the character that the Tiny Toon Adventures series is so famous for. But even a mediocre game can get away with it if it just includes all our famous characters, and this game falls flat on its face in that area as well. You mostly see other major/semi-major characters as zombies. I don't mind going through level after level if I know I'm gonna be rewarded with some good boss fights.

It feels like barely any effort at all was spent on this project. Or rather, that it was all invested into the background department. One area of the game that was definitely cared to is in its length and diversity of levels. Yes, they may be generic but they do put a beautiful twist on it, and there sure are a lot of levels, so this game won't be over in a hurry like Buster Busts Loose. Personally, though, I prefer a short game with a lot of meat on its bones to a long game that feels very unrewarding. I confess myself disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/02/09

Game Release: Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure (US, 1993)