Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sufferin' Succotash

The Looney Tunes are a force to be reckoned with. They've been around for decades, they adorn everything from lunchboxes to briefs, and their mere presence sells millions. So what happens when a great sport gets mixed with a great franchise?

Looney Tunes B-Ball is a SNES game by Sunsoft. It stars Bugs Bunny and other major Looney Tunes characters as they play the great american sport of Basketball. At first glance, it's kind of like NBA Jam. Everything is 2-on-2, there are special moves, and (most importantly) you can beat each other up. But after you play it for a short while, you realize it's much better than NBA Jam.

First of all, the game employs various items. Items cost money, but conveniently placed gems appear randomly on the court, letting you earn up money to use your items. Some of the less expensive ones include a cream pie, which stuns your opponent, and a time bomb, which you can pass to the other team. One of the expensive items in Vegas, which turns the scoreboard into a slot machine. If you make your next shot, the slots stop, and if you're lucky you can get 2x, 3x, or even 5x what the basket would have been worth by itself. Awesome.

But the action doesn't stop there. The game lets you enter cheat codes mid-game. So you can do funny things like cause an earthquake, reduce gravity, or extend the game clock. You can even morph into any character you want, causing some seriously crazy scenarios. Plus, to help you figure out what the codes are, the game has a Code Hunt, which lets you push buttons and find out the codes you want to know. Incredible.

If you thought the fun stopped there, you're dumb and wrong. Looney Tunes B-Ball is one of the few SNES games to use the multi-tap, which lets four players play at the same time. This can also make for some extremely fun times. On one memorable occasion, my brother and I played against my other brother and my cousin. Since we knew all the codes, it was a good win. The other team was rated PG-13 for language that night. Hilarious.

In short, the game is amazing. It's one of those games that's fun by yourself, fun with friends, and never loses its savor. If I was stranded on an island and I could pick 5 games, Looney Tunes B-Ball would be one of them. It's hard to find, but if you can get your hands on it, it's totally worth the time, money, and effort. I mean honestly, what other game lets you slap Taz in the face and get away with it?

Pros:
  • Well drawn, well designed gameplay and design
  • Faithful to the Looney Tunes spirit
  • Endless replay value
Cons:
  • Bugs and Taz get annoying sometimes
  • That's about it
This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

3 comments:

Rachel said...

Whoa!! A 10/10, that's awesome :) I wondered when I would see a game rated 10/10. Looney Toons B-Ball is a good pick :) I'm so glad you taught me how to play this game. It's really fun to play with you, even though I'm horrible. You make up for my horrible shots by making all of your shots. I guess I'll just have to keep practicing with you :) I'm happy you were finally able to get this game. I think the wait was worth it though. It's a fun game :)

Devin said...

Wow. You really hit the nail on the head this time. This game is absolutely incredible! It really bothers me that not very many people know about it. Because let's face it: this game is the total shiznit!

Devin said...

Oh, and one more thing. This game is abso-friggin'-lutely hilarious! I mean, you can practically see the anger well up in the faces of your opponents as you stuff their shots until their shotclock runs out of time over and over again or when you slap them in the face so many times their only defense is to turn on every cheat code available just to stay away from your deadly hands. I can't count how many times I've played this game. Probably more times than I've had haircuts in my life. And that's something to sneeze at.