Bucky O’Hare was one of my favorite cartoons growing up, which is surprising as it only lasted one season. But that one season was extremely cool in my eyes. It’s also one of the reasons why I hated going to Church on Sundays but that’s neither here nor there. It is pretty amazing just how much merchandise was created for Bucky O’Hare considering it wasn’t all that popular in all its forms. I guess you should never underestimate just how marketable anthropomorphic animals can be.
At this point I’m sure many of you are wondering why you should care about Bucky O’ Hare. I’ll give you the short version; kick ass NES action platformer from Konami based on the cartoon which is based on a short lived comic series. This is Konami firing on all cylinders and one of the system’s best games in my opinion.
It would be easy to view Bucky O’Hare as Konami’s take on Mega Man initially. With its free stage select it bares that out. But in actuality this is more like an advanced version of their own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Although you begin with Bucky every planet adds another character to your crew. Each crew member comes with their own weapon and special ability, making them distinct. Blinky can destroy ice and stone and also fly briefly. Deadeye can climb walls and has a spread gun. Bucky has a rapid fire cannon and can charge up a super jump, Willy has a charge shot, and Jenny has a controllable projectile. Although everyone shares one life bar there special meters can be powered up separately. This makes everyone worth using unlike that title where Michaelangelo and Raphael were useless.
But first you have to find them. You can tackle the first four planets in order to rescue your crew. Technically not; Blinky is required for the blue planet but the point still stands. Each world is themed, such as the icy blue planet and lava of the red planet with obstacles to match. The worlds are massive, with each stage divided into multiple acts. Some even stretch out to as many as eight or nine! It sounds like a lot but in actuality each is pretty short. The great thing about so many acts is their diversity. A given stage can span destroying ice blocks to create a path, hopping from snake to snake over a frozen lake, and even surviving an all-out assault on a thin sheet of ice. There are definite shades of Mega Man besides the stage select but Bucky O’Hare is still its own game.
Once you’ve assembled the crew there is a pretty sharp spike in difficulty. In the toad ship you must rescue the crew members once again. While it isn’t outright required making use of their special abilities is extremely handy in dealing with these more challenging segments. Blinky is the best choice in dealing with the dark sections of stage 7 for instance. The boss battles are taken up a notch as well and incredibly satisfying to endure once you learn their patterns. It isn’t all great however. The game has an over reliance on instant death mechanics that are easily missed. There are a large number of cheap hits that are unavoidable although to the game’s credit health power-ups are plentiful. I’m also not a fan of the damage sponge bosses. But those are ultimately smaller issues in such a high quality game and not game breaking.
Bucky O’Hare was one of Konami’s last NES releases in the US. As such it is easily in the running as one of the best looking games for the system overall. Most levels feature a generous amount of parallax scrolling, often two layers deep. The game pushes a ton of sprites on screen with minimal slowdown which is feat in itself. The planet hopping trip gives the game a great deal of variety in terms of environments as well. What is probably the most impressive aspect of the game is its attention to detail. Most of its backdrops are bustling with activity, be it raging fire, erupting volcanoes, and fleets of ships passing by. It’s pretty incredible to watch. And the game has a fantastic soundtrack to boot. While this wasn’t their swan song on the NES Konami went above and beyond in delivering such an amazing game.
In Closing
Despite its quality Bucky O’ Hare still flies under the radar. Konami went through a heavy licensed game phase toward the end of their NES output. This is easily one of the greatest NES games of all time in my opinion and the best of that bunch.
