Tiny Toon Adventures

"Don't Go Looney. Go Tiny"

Released in 1991, the dying days of the NES, Tiny Toon Adventures was a NES game based on a cartoon of the same name. In the cartoon, the characters were all basically kid-versions of their Looney Toons counterparts and attended a school to teach them to become cartoon characters. In 1991, Konami releiased this game to market on the cartoon.

That said, here's another review in my recent string of reviewing old school video games.
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Review
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The Story: Buster Bunny is kickin' it at home when he finds out that Montana Max, the rich spoiled kid of the Tiny Toons cartoon, has kidnapped Babs Bunny for one reason or another. So of course Buster sets out with three other famous Tiny Toon characters--Plucky, Dizzy, and Furball--to save her.

The story actually isn't much to be said about, as we've seen it before and we've seen it since (Mainly the Mario games). There's really nothing that stands out about it.

The Gameplay: Another seemingly rip-off of the Mario games. Tiny Toon Adventures is a platformer in the same vein of the Mario games. You move to the right, and jump on top of enemies' heads to defeat them. Much like the Mario games, you can only take one hit before being killed, or two if you get the power-up. In this game, the floating heart found in a balloon. Again, nothing special about this as we've all seen it before and since.

The Music: In this case, I'll compare the music to other games based on cartoons, namely Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unlike most others, Konami actually used an instrumental version of the Tiny Toon Adventures theme song throughout the game and not just some random music. So this does stand out for me with the game. Definite plus.

The Characters: You have four characters from the cartoon to choose from to play as: Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck, Dizzy Devil, and Furball. Each have their own pros the others don't. Buster can jump the highest, Plucky can swim the best, Dizzy can hurt enemies by spinning around (also making him invunerable for a short time), and Furball can climb on walls. This is another plus I believe that does stand out while playing.

Though you are often provided a suggestion as to which character to take at the beginning of the level, you can select one of the three side characters. One character usually works best for each level. You start out each level as Buster, but if you find the balloon with the star, you can switch to the chosen character.

Difficulty: This game's target audience was obviously fans of Tiny Toons, so generally it was meant for kids. The difficulty isn't too harsh, but I remember as a kid I was never able to beat the second boss (though now I can). I would say in terms of this, it's definetely near the lower-median of difficult NES games. After almost twenty years, I own several NES games that I have never even seen the second half the game, even today. So of the games I own, this is also stand-outish.

My Two Cents: While nothing special, it is fun for what it's worth. It's just an average game with an average storyline based on a cartoon that was silly enough. I would only suggest playing the game if you like platformers and want something new from the standard old-school Mario or a fan of the cartoon.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/07