"10 years... and it's STILL fun today!!!"

Tiny Toon Adventures - Montana's Movie Madness was one of the MANY games that the popular Warner Bros. cartoon series spawned, and after 10 years its still safe to say that it was among the better ones. The improvement from the previous Game Boy episode, Babs' Big Break, was quite impressing, and most importantly, this game needs no comparisons to its predecessor to be massively enjoyed.

STORY: 7
Very original and suitably toony and a little looney (ah, nostalgia strikes... sorry). Montana Max, the omnipresent bad guy of the series (even though he really ain't much more of a problem child), used some of his huge amount of money to open a new movie theater in Acme Acres. This might seem strange for his behaviour, but here's what it's all at: Max will only show movies in which he stars as the hero of the day, while Buster Bunny is displayed as the villain. All of the Tiny Toon characters have been invited to the inauguration of the movie theater, so now Buster, to save his good reputation, has to jump inside every one of the movies (there are 4 in the game) to change the plot and emerge triumphant! I must admit that such a plot was one of the aspects that encouraged me to buy this game back then, so the mark has to be positive. Well done, Konami!

GAMEPLAY: 8
You play as Buster Bunny, making your way through a total of 5 levels, each of which is divided into smaller sections (much like the first Tiny Toon Game Boy adventure). Basically you get all your standard platforming duties, such as disposing of baddies, jumping over chasms and assorted hazards, collect cool items, etc.; what makes this game so good is the quality of the action itself. This game plays like a dream, everything in it is very easy to understand and perform; of course this isn't saying that the game is incredibly easy, oh no... you may finish the first movie pretty quickly, but from the second movie on things get harder... and I mean really harder! Luckily, the game's relatively simple structure makes things a bit easier: as I said each level is divided into smaller section, the last of which will feature the mandatory boss battle (the boss is always Max, his appearance adjusted to the mood of the movie); when you lose a life, you'll only have to restart from the beginning of the last sub-level you visited. This feature also makes the exploration of the stages a lot more comfortable and enjoyable.
There are also cool sub-games that you'll get to play between one level and another, and mind you, these are not only funny, but very useful, as winning will earn you a continue (and you'll soon find out how precious these can be...)!
Speaking of the levels: you start in a Western movie, pretty straightforward and perfect for becoming familiar with the game; secondly comes a Samurai movie, where things start to get a lot trickier as you face hard jumps and booby traps; next a Future movie, in which you'll take a funny but dangerous walk through a futuristic city (astonishing revelation, huh?) and a ride on a rocket which I hate with a passion (don't worry, it's not like Battletoads, but it still can pull a lot of curses out of your mouth) before you make your way to a kind of factory full of hazards and dangerous stuff; finally, a Monster movie, set in a spooky mansion, not as hard as you could expect if it wasn't for the ''rising water'' sections (get there and you'll see what I mean).
Is it over? NO! Now that you have cleared all the movies, you still have to make your way through Acme Studios, crossing the sets of the movies you just completed, before you can engage the final battle with Max and his monster camera. A lot of stuff to do, and it's well worth playing it all!

CONTROLS: 8
This game plays like a dream, really. The controls are very responsive and Buster's moves are effective and quick to master. You'll be merrily travelling through the levels without a second thought on what buttons you should press.
So... why don't I give it a 10? And why didn't I give a 10 to the gameplay too? Here's the deal: I told you I hate the rocket ride in the Future level, and this is for a reasonable reason (excuse this horrid sentence, but I just couldn't came up with anything as effective!): controlling the rocket is HARD... because you see, your rocket doesn't fly, it just jumps, and you'll have to cross a lot of dangerous gaps, which is hard enough since the thing is obviously fast... but you also have to calculate the height of the jumps very well, because should you bash into a wall, which here means slightly touching it, you'll instantly die! Man, this part of the game is a pain, really...
The other part of the controls I'm not very fond of is the Tug-Of-War sub-game, as you have to press A and B alternately to increase the power while pulling on the rope with the Control Pad... fact is, you must press A and B EXTREMELY fast for your power to rise up, but with another button to take care of it gets nearly impossible!
Oh well... nobody's perfect.

GRAPHICS: 8
Pretty impressive for a Game Boy. The sprites are reasonably large and very detailed, and animated very well. All of the Tiny Toons characters are the carbon copies of their cartoon counterparts, and generally all of the graphic department has retained the ''toony'' feeling, which fits the game really well.

SOUND: 7
''We're tiny, we're toony, we're all a little looney..'' Yes, the tv series theme is there, and along with it some other tunes to provide the needed ambience to the game. The sound effects are ok, and there seem to be many of them... good job again.

LASTABILITY AND REPLAY VALUE: 8
Make no mistake: you won't finish this game on the way back home from the shop where you just bought it. And once you finish the game... he he, you still have to finish it with the harder level setting, which is EVEN harder (maybe a bit too much at times)! And after all this is a very enjoyable game which you'll find yourself playing pretty often if you have the chance to... don't hesitate to get your hands on it!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/03, Updated 06/02/03