For nearly three decades, Bubsy's last major venture into 3D has remained one of gaming's most talked-about—and debated—platformers. Now, with Bubsy 4D, developer Fabraz and Atari are giving the wisecracking bobcat another shot at the third dimension, blending modern platforming design with playful nods to the character's unconventional history.
We sat down with Fabian Rastorfer, Founder and Lead Designer at Fabraz, to discuss the inspiration behind Bubsy 4D, the challenges of revisiting one of gaming's most infamous sequels, the creation of Hairball Mode, the game's unique worlds, and why the team believes Bubsy deserves a fresh look from today's players.
From speedrunning surprises to fourth-wall-breaking humor, Fabian shares an inside look at how Bubsy 4D came together—and what the future could hold for everyone's favorite bobcat.
○ The original idea to bring Bubsy back in 3D came from Atari when they were looking for the right studio to tackle the task! It was because of that initial idea that they approached us, as we've had experience in the field with Demon Turf. (And were also in the middle of developing Demon Tides.)
It made complete sense to us as it was more exciting to announce a 3D Platformer, and felt more bold to directly tie it as a sequel to the infamous Bubsy 3D.
○ Honestly? We looked at it entirely objectively. We played the game with no preconceived notions and formed our own opinions on it. (Which were that as a maso-core platformer with save states it can actually be quite entertaining.)
Of course we immediately clocked why it didn't land well with the public due to the tank controls and more minimalist art style. But after doing more extensive research we also learned why these mistakes were made: Development started BEFORE Mario 64. Before Nintendo literally invented what the standards for a 3D Platformer are going to be.
So considering all of that, I think Bubsy 3D is a fascinating experiment to break in a brand new genre. Did it entirely succeed in that? No, but it's still incredibly interesting and admirable.
○ It was an idea I've had in my pocket for a while and I finally saw the opportunity to implement it with Bubsy 4D. It felt right both thematically and mechanically! Like, of course this weird anthropomorphic bobcat can also puff up into a giant hairball right? And the first Bubsy was trying to be a Sonic-like, so of course a form that allows you to go fast feels right too. And, most importantly, in a way that doesn't feel like it's aping Sonic's mechanics but instead approaches the sense of speed in a different, novel way.
○ We wanted to create themes that aren't the standard "grass world", "ice world", "lava world" etc. and once we established the head of the villains are trying to turn everything organic into the inorganic these new planet themes fell into place. Wooltopia in particularly was chosen as the first planet because the cloth designs allowed us to make floors of quilts mimicking Bubsy 3D's checkerboard patterns. We tried to add a lot of nods like that!
○ What's more iconic about Bubsy 3D than its tank controls, right? It also allowed us to inject more meta humor with Bubsy directly acknowledging if it gets turned on or off. We've seen a lot of players really enjoy this kind of stuff!
I think what might be funniest of all though, is the fact that playing the game in tank controls is surprisingly viable! Makes for a good challenge run.
○ With each game we like to push ourselves! Explore new avenues, learn from past mistakes and acquire new skills! So in a way we carry every of our games, and the knowledge we've gained with them, into the next game!
○ A lot of the meta humor happens more during gameplay and in menus, where he's always present. In the story we otherwise also heavily rely on the extending cast to ground him as a character.
We spent a lot of time figuring out how he talks and acts, now that he's a slightly more aged up B-list actor. This impacted how his friends & family treat him, how they interact with each other... There's a lot we could still explore there in terms of long-term character growth.
○ Sabaku, our concept artist, was initially inspired by one of the enemies in Bubsy called Lamb-Bo. Which was basically a sheep with a gun! From that idea we talked about how we can inject a new twist to the recurring villains, the Woolies, and eventually figured out this new story.
Woolies want fleece. Fleece is made of wool. Woolies steal the sheep but the sheep enslave their masters through robotic enhancements. Badabing, badaboom, we've got exactly the kind of silly narrative required in a mascot platformer like this.
We're really happy how many people are making fanart of the BaaBots and BaaBosses! I want to see even more! Show me your best Baarbee, Baartholomeo and Baaptiste!
○ One core philosophy we apply to all of our games is the following: Everything you collect can be used for something useful. You won't find a game of ours where this isn't true. Collecting for the sake of collecting ain't enough for us!
So we added costumes and ability upgrades as suitable rewards.
○ It already is one of our most spedrun games ever! Some of the runs I've seen are INCREDIBLE and use tech we absolutely did not intend. But when we brought up the ability to patch it out we were passionately told not to by our community, so we won't! Very hopeful to see this game at a GDQ someday!
○ We worked with him before (he was DK in Demon Turf/Tides) and just knew he would bring the right energy. He was immediately down and working with him was a breeze. Fun fact, a lot of his adlibs made it into the game!
○ Oh yeah. We had two jokes cut due to age ratings concerns. One was particularly funny, rest in peace for what could have been... But the age rating police never gave it a chance.
○ They basically gave us full creative control! The project itself was run under a tight budget and timeline but we're really proud of what we were able to make and Atari backed us up from beginning to end! It was a blast to work on.
○ That it's silly to hate a character just because that became the popular internet meme. The late Michael Berlyn loved his bobcat and if you look closely you can really see that in the previous games. Especially in Bubsy 1 and Bubsy 3D.
We saw it, and we tried to amplify it. Bubsy is someone we care about now and we hope you do too.
○ Sure! But who knows what the future holds. Perhaps there's more Bubsy 4D yet to Come!!!!