Welcome to the inaugural post of what I hope to make a regular Monday feature. Underrated looks at titles that probably flew below the radar of most gamers. Titles that sold poorly or were generally under appreciated for one reason or another. The first game I'll be looking at takes us back, back to an older simpler time when systems were still measured by their bits and Nintendo promoted all 64 of theirs. I'm talking of course about the Nintendo 64 and the title Buck Bumble. You've probably never heard of it.
Buck Bumble, a flying shooter, was a first generation N64 title developed by Argonaut and published by UbiSoft. Previously, Argonaut had worked on another shooter for Nintendo that became a bit more popular: Star Fox. Unlike Star Fox, where all levels were limited to narrow corridors, Buck Bumble was fully free roaming with reasonably large levels. Unfortunately, this was the era when large areas meant lots of fog to hide graphical pop in and Buck's world was perpetually boxed in by walls of mist.
The visuals in general were very simple and rather ugly, but they served their purpose. It wasn't the graphics that would leave the first lasting impression on me, however. It was the title song.
Best title music Ever, seriously. I would just sit and listen to this loop a few times before playing the game. Alas, the pure awesome that was the title theme didn't carry over into the game itself, which had a one trick soundtrack that basically filled the aural space and nothing more.
Sights and sounds aside, Buck Bumble was a pretty fun game. I still own it which means it's withstood the test of time for me and I still play it. One of the things I liked most about this game was the theme it explored. Flight based shooters are as old as dirt but the vast majority of them involve high tech ships and space. Buck Bumble starred a cyberneticaly enhanced bee and explored the small scale world of the back yard. Instead of facing off against giant alien mutant insects, you fought alien mutant insects that were actually insect sized. It was an interesting world to explore and I'd love to see the idea revisited in either a sequel or fresh game. At the moment, though, it seems the closest we'll get to a new game sharing Buck's perspective is the up and coming Deadly Creatures.
Personally, I'd rather hang with Buck. The biggedy bee had a lot more charm.
Related Links:
Fun Fact: Dylan Cuthbert - The Genre Masher
Why Am I Playing This: Star Fox Assault
Trailer Review: The Conduit