Bubsy The Bobcat, the mascot for games developer Accolade, is returning for the first time in 21 years in a new game for Playstation 4 and Steam called Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back. Weirdly there is no Xbox One announcement and no explanation as to why this is a thing.
“Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is an all new Bubsy adventure featuring Bubsy in a bevy of exotic locations as he travels the planet looking for the beloved Golden Fleece,” Accolade said in a press release today. “Bubsy must use all of his classic moves and a few new ones to dodge and out bobcat a battalion of Woolies, sharks and bess, not mention the gnarliest UFO bosses to ever grace a Bubsy adventure.” Accolade also said that this new game will mark the return for Accolade as a brand.
Accolade also released a one on one interview with the actual character Bubsy The BobCat that you can read in full here.
While we here at The Outerhaven are excited to see the return of one of gaming’s more well known (if only for the wrong reasons) 90s gaming characters, a lot of other websites have not been as accommodating. Destructoid published the news of the Bobcat’s return as such: “This year *would* give us a new Bubsy game, wouldn’t it?” where they practically gave it all of sweet fuck all attention while panning the game having 100 newly recorded voice lines. Another site, PC Gamer, phrased the upcoming relaunch in the following negative context:
As we approach the end of days, it’s only natural for humankind to pore over its achievements, taking stock of what was good and what was bad. Nostalgia is a powerful sedative after all, but with the news that Bubsy is getting a reboot – maybe it’ll be a powerful annoyance too.
Ok, they do mention that they were not a fan of the original 16 bit games nor the re-released Steam versions. In regards to the platforms that Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is announced on, they mistakenly left the Playstation 4 version off their news post; so we can forgive them for their un-researched post and opinions.
But the cream of the crop for hating the announcement of Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back on goes to Kotaku, who posted the news as an article entitled “Nobody Wanted This, But Bubsy Is Officially Coming Back“. I’m sorry, but in a world where we have more first person grey and brown shooter than we can shake a stick at, I personally as excited to see the return of a platforming game like Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back.
As you can see from the tweet above, Accolade is going full ham with the return of Bubsy. Aside from the aforementioned one on one interview they released today, they have given Bubsy an in-character twitter account, much like SEGA does with Sonic The Hedgehog, who was a rival for Bubsy back in the 90s.
Speaking of Twitter, the reactions have been mixed, from those following anti-gaming websites like Kotaku, Destructoid and others in their negativity to people being excited (as they should be) for the return of Bubsy.
#Bubsy is getting a new game. This guy on YouTube summarizes it perfectly: pic.twitter.com/CRQUaTobJx
— RGX 🌟 (@RGXSuperSonic) June 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheStolken/status/872921856864636928
https://twitter.com/hassimer/status/872895869095256064
So excited to hear there's a new Bubsy game!#Bubsy #BubsytheBobcat #videogames
— DuctileCreations (@Ducttapedynamo) June 8, 2017
Well I don't need to see anything new at E3, I've already got everything I ever wanted now. https://t.co/0dTggB7k8K
— Jiggsy (@jiggsy) June 8, 2017
Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back will release Fall 2017 for Playstation 4 & Steam. Welcome back Bubsy, we still love you!