The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout

"Kind of strange, but it's probably one of My favorite NES games."

Introduction: Bugs Bunnies' Birthday blow out is probably the best ''Loony toons'' game I've ever played. I doubt that many people have ever even heard of it.. But there doing them self an injustice if there avoiding it. It's just My opinion, but this game is good just because the fun value alone.

Graphics: Not good. There fuzzy, and the worse thing about the game is how the screen scrolls. It 'jerks', instead of scrolling smoothly, and it can get a little annoying and perhaps eye-straining 'till you get used to it. (if you can.)

Play Control: Definitely not as good as it could have been, but the play control in Birthday blow out presents no fundamental play control problems, and your'll get used to it quickly.

Music: Each World in the game has it's own music theme that plays through all the levels of the particular world. Needless to say, it repeats a lot, but I never found it too annoying.

Sound Effects Everything ordinary. Nothing extraordinary. Just what you'd expect from a typical NES platformer.

Story: Bugs Bunny has been invited to his 50th Birthday, but the other Loony Toons character's are out to stop him on his way to the party.. No, it's probably not going to win any rewards, but your expectations couldn't have been set that high for a bugs bunny story line..

Gameplay: Birthday Blow out has six World's with around five levels in each. The goal of each level is to make it to the giant carrot to finish the level. It's usually guarded by a boss, which your'll either have to avoid, or fight. Your weapon is an over-sized hammer used to smash enemies. You can jump on most enemies' heads and ride them with out harm, then hit them with they least expect it. Through out the game you collect carrots. At the end of each level you can use the carrots to pay to play a bonus game that can earn you tons of lifes. The bonus game is either a ''3 in a row'' style game of luck, or a pop a mole contest. Most of the levels are nicely layed out, and are pretty large and open, allowing you to chart your own route to the finish area.. of course, exploring everything is sure to reward you with more carrots. Each World has it's own theme, like a forest and a haunted cave.

Challenge: Birthday Blow-out isn't really hard.. Mainly because the game rewards you with tons of extra lifes.. Your'll loose plenty of 'em, but they just keep coming because the bonus games are so easy to win at. With all the extras, the game is easy to beat. It's still fun, though.

Replay Value: The game is always fun to come back to, no matter how many times I beat it.. There's really no secrets to find, but you can see how many lifes you can total up for an extra challenge.

Score Chart:
Graphics: 4 / 10
Play Control: 6 / 10
Music: 6 / 10
Sound Effects: 5 / 10
Story: 4 / 10
Gameplay: 8 / 10
Challenge: 5 / 10
Replay Value: 7 / 10
Overall: 9 / 10

Final Word:: There's something about Birthday Blow-out that makes it fun long after the time you complete it. For pure classic gaming fun, you should get a lot of simple enjoyment out of it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/19/03