In the lead-up to the May 1995 release of the Saturn in North America, it became clear that there would be no Sonic game to push sales of the new console. At this time in videogame history, mascots were strong sales and brand drivers, so SEGA of America considered their options. American software house Realtime Associates’ character Bug was an option, as were SEGA’s own Astal and Sir Tongara Pepperouchau of Clockwork Knight fame. Ultimately Bug the character was selected, perhaps because Bug! the game best exemplified the new gaming experiences that the Saturn made possible.
Bug! was penned as a launch title, and although plans for the surprise May release of the Saturn were never shared with Realtime Associates, the game was scheduled to be finished in May regardless. Whether it actually hit store shelves on 11 May 1995 or appeared a few days afterwards is a detail lost to the tides of time*. Suffice it to say that the game released right around the North American launch. The game also debuted in Europe on 15 September 1995, and lastly in Japan on 8 December 1995.
Save for a few obscure efforts, 3D platformers did not exist at this point in videogame history; Realtime Associates had to break new ground with Bug!. The approach was to take a traditional 2D side-scroller that would feel familiar to gamers and literally inject a third dimension into the formula. The resulting paradigm was what the developer called a quad-scroller: an on-rails platformer that added a third axis to Bug’s possible movements. Although billed as a 3D game at the time, that is a somewhat generous description. Bug can move left or right, or into the foreground or background – but not diagonally, and due to level design, not with the type of freedom one would expect of a 3D platformer. Most of Bug’s travels took him across linear paths that simply used four cardinal directions rather than two. It would be more accurate to call Bug! a 2.75D game, as it used the third dimension relatively superficially.
Visually, the game is simple at first glance. Bug! is relatively bereft of flashy effects and eye-popping features; instead, it is solid and consistent. The paths Bug must travel are blocky, linear constructs, with a sometimes-animated 2D background and a perspective-shifting ‘floor’. There are no curves or hills in the paths – At best, Bug traverses slopes that are always flat-sided polygons. Still, the developers managed an impressive variety of terrain considering these limitations, and especially as the player progresses further into the worlds of Bug!, more and more sprite work – branches, shrubs, pillars – dresses the polygonal landscapes. There is definitely a certain charm to the way the game presents. Realtime Associates were partial to the goofy, Saturday morning cartoon-style look and associated humor, and this fondness certainly made its’ way into Bug!’s soul. The textures covering the polygons are simple and cleanly drawn, so you never get noticeable pixelization as sections of the level zoom in. The colors used are relatively uniform and vivid just as a cartoon would be; consequently, they have aged better than most early polygon-based games. Bug, all enemies, and basically everything other than the 3D paths themselves are cartoony sprites. They animate well and have a respectable amount of frames. The cartoon style can really be felt in the various characters that populate bug-land – from sombrero-wearing snakes that, naturally, toss their hats at you like boomerangs (ho ho!) to frogs with bug swatters for tongues (ha ha!) to bees with aviator caps and the number 52 on their sides (bee-52 bombers… see the humor?), it’s all there. The humor and style is perhaps most reminiscent of Earthworm Jim, at least conceptually.
Similarly to the graphics, the story of Bug! is also standard Saturday morning fare. Bug is an aspiring movie star that has just signed to act in not one but six movies, to be shot consecutively all in one day, because reasons! The game is divided into six worlds that are further sub-divided into three levels apiece, with a boss fight rounding each world out. As Bug completes a world (i.e., a movie he is shooting), a short FMV sequence plays as the aspiring actor walks off one sound stage set and onto the next. The FMV sequences are a little bit on the slow side, but they are a nice touch that lends good transitions between levels. They also blend really well with the look of the actual levels, which is not common for games from that time period. The villain of the game / movies, ‘bitchy’ Queen Cadavra (so-named on the back of the North American box – odd, for a 1995 videogame), is a rotund Daddy (mommy?) Long Legs whose lips are devil-red and who’s living la vida loca. Ahem! She captures members of Bug’s family, presumably for later consumption (spiders catch and eat bugs, after all), and as Bug completes worlds and dispatches their bosses, he frees them one by one.
Bug!’s music is entirely appropriate for the game. Catchy and upbeat in places, the use of a jazz style works very well. In other sections of the game, the music is very minimal, which again doesn’t feel out of place. There is nothing particularly memorable about the soundtrack – it is competent at what it sets out to do. The same can be said about the sound effects. The sound of cymbals or whoopie cushions as Bug jumps on foes is goofy and fun, and perfectly in line with the feeling the game attempts to weave.
Additionally, there are one-liners in the game that Bug throws out. Ahhhhh, the one liners. Completely cheesy, they are repeated just enough to take them form ‘wow, neat 32-bit addition!’ to ‘ugh, take me back to 16-bit land!’. Yes, slightly grating at times. ‘Kiss these antennas goodbye’ and especially ‘OK Mr. Hot Shot Gamesplayer, now what?’ have a way of encouraging the player to search for the option to turn them off. Fortunately, light on options as Bug! is, the ability to toggle the voices on and off is available.
Still, the entire package comes together quite nicely as the player is treated to varied and well-animated cartoony sprites, catchy if not memorable music, ACME-style sound effects all wrapped in vividly colored levels that whilst don’t do anything too new, do a nice job of staying clean and consistent.
This brings us to how Bug! plays. In short, the game plays relatively well, though it is not without its’ flaws. The game is a long and hard journey.
The core gameplay is simple enough – guide Bug through the three-dimensional levels in search of the ‘bug stop’ – a bus stop of sorts which ends the level and whisks Bug onto the next. On your quest, you will negotiate various jumps, traps, moving platforms, and of course, enemies. The enemies typically patrol a set area, and are varied in strength, speed and size. Some actively attack you whilst others just get in your way as they go on about their business, but they are usually dispatched in the same manner – jumping on their heads, which registers a hit. In the early goings, enemies can only handle one hit but as the adventure progresses, several hits are required to vanquish them. Bug scores points each time he lands a hit, and if the player keeps the jump button depressed, Bug rebounds high into the air. It is possible to start a chain of successive hits, which yield higher and higher scores per hit until Bug returns to the ground and the counter resets. A really interesting mechanic requiring skill to pull off successfully! The problem? It’s not clear whether the game actually keeps track of the score from these hits at all. What a shame, as the multiplier aspect could really have been exploited to give the game an interesting scoring edge. However, the player is best advised to practice this jumping / bouncing skill regardless, as in later levels, certain bonus and secret areas are only accessible by exploiting this mechanic.
Speaking of secrets, as with any good platformer, the game is filled with bonus stages. For one, there are golden coins hidden in the levels for Bug to find, usually at the end of obscure or particularly difficult branches in the main path. Once Bug finds a coin, he can use it to pay for a ride at what can only be described as a public suction tube. These tubes are scattered through the game and are manned by Daddy O’Longlegs – Queen Cadavra’s only surviving ex – who accepts your coin and gives you the suction ride. You can’t make this stuff up folks, and yet it works…
The bonus levels are a variety of short mini-games all aimed at collecting golden award trophies. Collect 10 trophies and it’s an extra life for you! One hit however, and the stage ends. Generally speaking, mini-games are meant to be a short, fun distraction from the main game, yet these are remarkably difficult and can be a point of frustration with the game. Taking the extra time to acquire a golden coin then trekking to a suck-tube only to reach a one-hit-wonder bonus stage that can be over in seconds is not a good script for a fun time.
Littering the levels are blue crystals that Bug is tasked with collecting, to be cashed in at the conclusion of the level. They’re exchanged for dollars that represent the movie’s gross take. This is the only score that the game keeps, and it carries forward from one level to the next. It’s clever, really: the more you explore each level, the better the ‘movie’ performs at the box office. Lastly, collecting 100 or more of the crystals in every level of any given world will initiate the Dragonfly Express, a bonus level consisting of Bug riding a dragonfly in 3rd person vaguely reminiscent of Panzer Dragoon. Whereas the suck-tube mini-games are far too difficult, the Dragonfly Express is really well done.
There are several power-ups our green hero can collect to aid him in his quest, some permanent and some temporary. Pick up the Zap Cap for the ability to zap enemies up-close without the need to stomp on them, or briefly turn invincible (Bug is temporarily replaced by a Stunt Bug – clever); these are our momentary upgrades. Alternately we have the permanent Spit Wad on tap, available in four different varieties, for those juicier moments that call for a more oral touch. Holy heck, what did I just write?? But yes – Bug spits out different colored goo which deals a small amount of damage to anything in its’ path. These power-ups are not required for progress but they do make certain sections easier to complete. Aside from these, Bug will occasionally come across a health-replenishing can of soda (BUUUGG JUIIIICE!), blue heart crystals (replenish one hit worth of damage) or a larger, pink crystal (worth five blue crystals).
Each level is massive and very diverse in its’ layout, structure, and traps. The variety on display is commendable; Bug is asked to negotiate moving platforms, spike traps, multiple paths, and even some sections where he climbs walls vertically, affording the overhead perspective. In later levels, Bug can jump onto the ceilings of certain paths and move upside-down, or use a giant rubber band to catapult himself onto further sections of the level. This variety is coupled with an artistic consistency through the game. Being one of the Saturn’s first titles, Bug! is visually simple, yet that simplicity allows for a really solid design and a plethora of little touches and details that help bring the levels to life. There is a certain charm to the game that has helped it age gracefully.
Ultimately however, it must be acknowledged that Bug! is a difficult platformer with several significant flaws that keep it from being great.
Firstly, the game is paced in a yin-yang manner. Bug can plod along at a leisurely pace, but there are sections that require light-speed reactions and razor precision. Reasonable in the first world, this dichotomy ramps up very quickly afterwards until the intervals between slow & steady and don’t-stop-‘till-you-drop are very small. Enemies often jump out so swiftly that Bug hardly has enough time to avoid taking damage. Moving platforms shift lightning-fast in some cases.
Additionally, many such sections are one-time trials – meaning, if Bug misses a jump or a turn, there is no way to recover and a different path must be taken. This is especially true with bonus paths and secret areas; many golden coins and suck-tubes are missed forever this way. Completionists, you have been warned. Now, a difficult game done in ‘correctly’ can be immensely satisfying. Rayman, another 1995 Saturn title, is a difficult game. The difference between Rayman and Bug!’s difficulty is that the player always feels in control with Rayman, whilst in Bug!, the feeling of cheap hits and deaths prevails. Rayman challenges the player to improve their mastery of the controls as they progress; Bug! distills the experience to memorization more so than one of honing skills.
Difficulty is not a reason to overly criticize a game, however Bug! certainly takes it to an extreme. In our exclusive interview with Realtime Associates’ President and CEO, Mr. David Warhol revealed that all of their play-testing was done by expert gamers who did nothing but play this game for weeks on end, and eventually got extremely good at it. His one regret is that the game is consequently not as accessible as it should be, and he would change that if he could.
There is a minor camera problem which hampers the gameplay as well. Generally, the camera displays a sort of 65/35 ratio: Bug is situated such that he sees 65% of the screen ahead of him and 35% behind. This works fine until the player turns and reverses course, because it takes the camera a short while to adjust. This has the effect of drastically reducing the player’s field of sight, usually at very inopportune times. Remember those enemies that can come out of nowhere? In these camera-delay instances, the player has even less real estate to see in front of them, brief as it is before the camera catches up. This also impacts platforming. Occasionally Bug finds himself on a small platform and needs to judge a jump in the opposite direction… the screen is centered so that this becomes needlessly impossible. This is a case where a widescreen mode would have been extremely welcome!
Each level, beginning with the very first, is HUGE. Are you a completionist intent on grabbing every blue crystal and golden coin before hitting the Bug Stop? Good luck… Insectia, the very first world, will take an hour to fully complete not only because each level is so large, but also due to the vast amount of back-tracking that will need to be done in order to grab everything. Multiply this by six levels, and a solid day is required to fully play this game through from beginning to end. Expert, minimalist playthroughs clock in at roughly two hours – this is without dying, avoiding all bonus levels, and by only taking the most expedient way through each level. Most of us will require quite a bit more time.
I’ll donate! … absolutely interested!
We asked Mr. David Warhol, President and CEO of Realtime Associates and Executive Producer on the Bug games, about Kickstarting Bug Three! for SEGA Saturn.
As was the norm with platforming games of the era, the game lacks a save feature, which is a real missed opportunity. With the new Saturn technology hosting the game, a save feature could have been easily implemented and would have done absolute wonders for its’ accessibility. Sadly, it was not meant to be… although a pseudo level select code does exist. The game creates a small save file in the Saturn’s memory that keeps track of how far the player has progressed in the game. By pressing up then start at the title screen, the player is shown a continue-type screen where they can resume from any previously visited world. Additionally there is a secret code that can be input to warp up or down a single level at a time. The entire affair is a very strange implementation of a save file / level select concept.
Bug! set out to be a launch game that showed off the capabilities of the Saturn. In that respect it largely succeeded, even if it didn’t take advantage of nearly everything the Saturn had to offer. Without a doubt, Bug! was next-generation gaming – the humble Genesis could never run a game like Bug! However, rarely do launch titles end up being the very best games a system will ever have, and Bug! is no exception. Yet, despite all the flaws examined here, the game ends up growing on you in a sublime sort of way. Playing it, you’ll be frustrated by the difficulty, annoyed by the cheap deaths, and exasperated by the one-liners, but you’ll be pulled to give it just one more try. The faux-3D’s simplicity is appealing, as are the game’s vivid colors and the Saturday morning cartoon vibe thru ought. The game never takes itself too seriously and dishes out enough humor and fun to outweigh its’ shortcomings by a kilometer (note to self… use Imperial, next time. Metric sounds dumb). This isn’t the Saturn’s best platformer by a long shot, but it’s a surprisingly solid game that no Saturn connoisseur should be without.
Shiro Challenges
OK Mr. Hot Shot Gamesplayer, try these challenges:
- Where possible (it isn’t possible in every level), collect every single blue crystal. This is satisfying to accomplish, in a painful sort of way.
- String together enough hits to belt out several 1000 point banners in succession against a swarm of enemies. Now this is satisfying!
- Play this game with the original American controller – the game rarely uses the shoulder buttons, and the d-pad is easier on the thumb than the Japanese-style controller.
- Find Sonic the Hedgehog. He is hidden in the game!
Most of all, enjoy your time with Bug!
Saturn programming in the Early Days
Saturn hardware was not quite finalized when development on Bug! commenced, and there were no reliable software tools for the team to work with. What tools existed were badly translated and difficult to get to grips with. The team, therefore, coded the entire game in ASM (assembly) on one SH2 chip, meaning they got very close to the Saturn’s metal. This also meant that the game is relatively ‘lean’, and difficult for emulators to handle correctly. Running in SSF for example, the backgrounds flicker and don’t always display properly. When coding 1996’s Bug Too!, the team had the opportunity to switch to using C compiler, and had to decide whether to use C or to simply take their existing Bug! Code and build upon it. Ultimately, the team decided to use C as it was easier to work with and to maintain.
The Bug! Demos
Along with Panzer Dragoon, Bug! received the demo disc treatment upon the machine’s North American launch. Exclusive to North America, the Bug! playable preview is a chance to play a level of Quaria (underwater world), Reptilia (desert world) or the Dragonfly Express. Interestingly, there were two label variants of the demo released. The first had a black CD label just like the full retail game, whilst the second print had a green disc label. The game content on the discs is identical.
Killer Apps and the Hedgehog Connection
By late 1994 the MegaDrive was fading fast in the land of the rising sun. Thoroughly outsold by both Nintendo’s Super NES and the Nippon Electric Company (NEC)’s PC Engine, SEGA needed a new piece of hardware to excite Japanese gamers and rejuvenate sales. Enter the SEGA Saturn.
The Saturn’s November 1994 launch in Japan was a big success. Set to compete against aging 16-bit machines and forthcoming 32-bit contenders alike, the Saturn had one exclusive ace up its’ sleeve – Virtua Fighter. Freshly converted from the arcade, Virtua Fighter sold nearly 1:1 with the console. The resultant sales helped usher in the next generation of gaming in Japan and propelled the Saturn ahead of the PlayStation, which had launched within days of SEGA’s machine. Pleased with the Saturn’s domestic success but fearful of Sony’s prospects in foreign markets, SEGA of Japan President Hayao Nakayama decided to take the fight directly to Sony and ordered the immediate release of the Saturn in Western territories.
Despite severely lacking technical polish, Virtua Fighter showed that a killer app will go a long, long way in setting a new machine up for commercial success. Much how Sonic moved Genesis units in the West, Virtua Fighter ensured Saturn sold at a brisk pace in Japan. Indeed, the Saturn held – or remained tied for – the #1 spot in Japan for well over half its’ retail life. Much of that can be attributed to the strong start Virtua Fighter had facilitated.
Unfortunately, Virtua Fighter just wasn’t going to be a system seller in the West, and SEGA of America President Tom Kalinske knew it. 1994 was one of the best years for the Genesis business, and that sales trend looked set to continue into 1995. Saturn was not yet needed in America. Best to wait until interest in the Genesis began to wane, by which time more American-centric games – including a killer app appropriate for the region – would be available for a strong Saturn launch.
Nakayama did not yield. SEGA of America had no choice but to quietly – hurriedly – prepare for a May 1995 release. Sonic the Hedgehog was synonymous with SEGA, so late in 1994 SEGA of America wrote a contract with Realtime Associates to develop a fully 3D Sonic game to be ready for the launch.
Realtime began to labor away on the game. There were no tools available to the development team so all programming had to be done in assembly. What’s more, the technical manuals for the Saturn’s chipset were either very poorly translated or not translated at all. As exciting as it was to be working on what would be SEGA’s flagship title for it’s next-gen platform, development was not easy.
At some point, SEGA of Japan caught wind of their belligerent American branch’s antics in signing over the company’s star mascot to… gasp!… an American developer, and completely lost their sushi. Realtime Associates was NOT – under ANY circumstances – to make a Sonic game. Marching orders in hand, SEGA of America had to go back to Realtime. In order to salvage the progress already made, Sonic et al. were taken out of the game and replaced with an original creation. Sonic became Bug, rings became blue crystals, yellow springs became yellow mushrooms, and so on. Those gamers that swear that there are eerie similarities between Sonic and Bug! can feel vindicated; at least a fraction of what is in Bug! was intended for Mr. Sonic T. Hedgehog. Perhaps as a nod to the game’s little-known but utterly fascinating development history, Sonic makes a non-playable cameo appearance in one of the game’s special stages, where the two characters square off in a 2D race.
Although Bug! was well-received upon release, it did not have the ‘killer app’ sales impact and was not able to move Saturn units in the same way that Virtua Fighter did in Japan (or indeed, the way Sonic the Hedgehog moved Genesis consoles in the West). That’s not to say the game did not perform. Bug! ended up selling 150,000 units during 1995 and was the 2nd biggest Saturn seller in North America, behind only Daytona USA. For all the ‘what if’ scenarios that have been discussed ad infinitum with the Saturn’s western commercial performance, we can now add one more. Had it not been for internal strife between the Japanese and American divisions of SEGA, a 3D Sonic title would have been available right for the Saturn’s launch, long before gamers would get a glimpse of Super Mario 64 or Crash Bandicoot.
List of Bug’s One-Liners
Because as a hardcore Saturn fan, you NEED to know these things:
<Not to be denied!><Aaagh! Get away from me!><I got worked!><I hate that!><Hey! Watch it, buddy!><Wooooooowwww><Boo-yah!><Aaugh that’s gotta hurt!><See ya!><He shoots, he scores!><What a slopper-head (slapper-head?)><Squuish!><Swatted!><Swing and a miss!><Aargh! They got me! Ugh!><Yihh! Kiss these antennas goodbye!><Nice butt!><OK Mr. hot-shot gameplayer, now what?><Woooow, trippy!><Whew! Pull my finger!><Ohh, great!><Buzz off!><Aren’t we a little crabby?><Howdy, crab-cakes!><Dungball(?) Fiesta!><Fist fight(?)><What a fruit fly!><Ahh, grasshopper!><Help me!><Hayyyyaaaa!><Oooohhh, hurt me!><Shishkabob!><Ole!><How sweet is that?><That’s right, I’m good!><Just try and stop me!><Oh, baby!><Oh, YES!>
*The Tides of Time is a reference to the Genesis / MegaDrive game Ecco: The Tides of Time, a highly underrated underwater action / puzzle game. The Final Confrontation Rushes Forth! is a line from the opening cinema of Dragon Force, a spectacular Saturn gem.
A Saturn fan since the beginning, Peter plays Saturn almost exclusively. For Peter, Saturn represents a moment in time where 2D games were at their best, 3D was just rising, and fascinating gaming ‘firsts’ were commonplace. There are very few Saturn games that Peter cannot find some enjoyment in!
Be the first to comment