Update 2025/05/07
So below when covering the upcoming Bubsy Collection re-release, I made mention that the Jaguar version was missing - at the time and on the Steam page, there was no mention of said release at all, however as per the revealed list here - https://www.gematsu.com/2025/05/bubsy-in-the-purrfect-collection-games-list-announced
With this news, I must now state that my feelings are more happy/applaud worthy for the new set's re-release and would like it to be noted that my prior comments and opinions come from the perspective of the information we had pre-26 April 2025.
Now, lets begin:
Media in history has always had a rocky journey when it comes to preservation – for every piece of media, there’s a ton of things that have been lost in time or remain locked in whomever happens to own the IP’s vault.
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| "To get to some of these you'd need to go through so many death traps" |
With movies and TV shows, this prolonged for a long time , as late as the 70s. And why? Companies just did not think these were meant for longevity enjoyment.
I bring this up as comparatively, Video Games are really young when it comes to different forms of mediums and as such, for decades many companies did not see the importance in preserving these titles beyond their initial release. Beyond that, they also didn’t see the point in having them be accessible long after the initial release occurred – one could argue this extends to who actually partook in watching these features theatrically as, going to the movies was something the more financially well off could do as opposed to being something everyone partakes in.
With movies and shows, it was losing film reels or master tapes and needing to develop the technology to transfer them to other formats to help with preservation. With video games, we have emulation and programs created that allow these games to run on newer machinery they were never initially designed for. It doesn’t help like how so many film reels originally were lost in time for one reason or another, many games have long since lost their source files, meaning you’d have to do the equivalent of pulling the footage from a VHS tape. But with that comparison that also means that a lot of bugs or imperfections may seep through unless you truly dedicate yourself to looking into it and we’ve seen a rise in that with different types of programming aimed to get the game as is without necessarily needing to rely on emulation. Be it decompilations, recompilations, porting assets that were ripped or finding those imperfections and sorting them out.
And like with movies, ya gotta preserve both the good, the bad and the garbage – something that some publications haven’t realized yet.
With companies leaning back on older titles, since everything has at least one fan or can garner interest – be it for actually being a good game or garbage so abysmal you can’t help but stare in surprise.
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| "Yeah ya see that? That's a Superman 64, it crashed head on into Postal 3. The car is busted but I can't help but stare in awe" |
Often when people ask for re-releases of certain games, they’re ones that have garnered a following or a big positive response out of people that wish to own a copy in some legitimate form. More than understanding as owning an official product feels different from any other release, but in the age of ironically doing things, we have companies putting out not so beloved titles and often people that go all about game preservation, suddenly start to change their tune.
“OH SO THE TRASH GAME CAN BE RELEASED BUT NOT THIS GEM PEOPLE ONLINE BEEN PRAISING?”
The sentiment itself does have some validity behind it – after all why can’t we see certain titles re-released when it’s more than viable? But to dismiss the idea that bad titles can also be re-released effectively contradicts anyone who keeps campaigning for game preservation or availability.
Ya gotta take the good with the bad.
With that out the way, why don’t we take a look at some panned titles, see if the release does anything different or if it’s broken outta the box
So admittedly this recent re-release was what spawned my interest in this topic. Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing needs no introduction, it’s the only truck racing game that allows you to reach the speed of light
You could slap it on Steam or any digital storefront, nothing really needed. People will eat it up for memetic reasons
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| "EVEN ME!" |
But the people at Margarite Entertainment did something unexpected…..they actually put effort into the re-release…..
A brand new launcher had been created to help load up this cavalcade of incompetence, this morgue of creativity, this shovel that has wear.
And it’s trash too!
You boot it up and you have a custom made installer that -----
Yeah I appreciate the effort but dear god is this terrible, half the image is cut off, the text is basic arial styled font and it’s unclear just what the hell is this thing installing - especially since the game WILL run without the installer being complete - it really seems it’s just to unlock achievements…
Which okay, sure, something about Big Rigs having a piss easy achievement run feels very in character
The developers even fixed some issues, like surprise surprise, the original Big Rigs didn’t have a proper framerate capper. They put one as a patch and the previous broken level is working once more - granted this was an issue that was also surprisingly patched out during the day too
Look I could do a review of Big Rigs but…do I really have to? The game has its infamy for being a bug filled mess where the developers didn’t have the basic realization to code actual collision detection.
And for some reason it’s a game they’d rip off and asset swap into some car racer - and in a surprise case of Margarite putting effort in, this asset swap version is bundled with the game ala free DLC.
I commend Margarite’s efforts here and I am curious as to what they may put out next - and I hope that when we get to them putting out actual good games too, the same effort is put there too
Also thanks for thanking specific community users for pointing out issues, even if it means ya basically gotta say “Sex Saved Big Rigs”
Oh boy so this is a fun one. Postal 3 since its initial release was part of that era where PC games would come out on digital platforms only. Gone was the physical age, so surely digitsl trash can never be delisted?
Wellllll that’s not quite true. With the digital age of course came new types of DRM copy protection, mostly online based. Problem with online servers is that after a while they don’t function since companies go defunct and things just become incompatible.
"So you’re telling me my legally obtained copy of a game no longer legally works. If video games can hit a retirement age, then I expect their pension to be my refund."
Postal 3 itself was already a broken mess of a game - right down to having a grenade bug that could crash the entire game. So really , broken DRM is essentially taking a cracked up skeleton and chucking it around
Because of the fact Postal 3 hadn’t been maintained by an actual developer since 2012, Valve delisted it in 2022.
But note that I said Valve did - a DRM free platform by the name of the Zoom-Platform (who so often gets mistakened for the video conference site “Not that Zoom” may as well be its motto) - put out a re-release of the game. A DRM free one and had worked on bugs to amend the hiccups that the game had.
Running with Scissors - the franchise IP holder - worked with the Zoom-Platform in bringing Postal 3 back, with said fixes to the Steam storefront and as such the game is back for any curious person to purchase and for Running with Scissors to milk another decade’s worth of Postal 3 jokes.
Again, Postal 3’s infamous nature is something that would make a full review redundant. So the best way I can sum up my experience is that the game was such a dreadful, miserable experience. Controlling the Postal Dude and attacking enemies was the most unsatisfying experience I’ve had in gaming to the point that you could call it depression in game form - the fact that it ran better at launch than the fairly recently released Postal 4 really helps soldify 3’s depressing existence. It earns its spot as a miserable dull title whose sharp edged humor feels like a dulled blade wielded by a broke individual.
On the plus side, they sure got a damn good voice actor to play the character here and it’s especially vindicating that he was brought back for a good Postal game - see Brain Damaged.
Lets see, maybe we can get something a bit more mainstream, something that was supposed to be a big deal but ended up flopping worse than a beached whale-----
Daikatana is a classic tale of what happens when an element of a creative force that changed the landscape of PC gaming ends up going nuclear, with the radiated mess being an ambitious, bug filled, narratively broken game that kept jumping between game engines and design ideas faster than a swinger going speed dating. Initially developed by Ion Storm and released in 2000, after being ripped apart by critics on PC and a failed attempt to amend some of the issues with the Nintendo 64 version … - I mean kudos they removed the stupid partner AI - the title would see a re-release in October 2013 by Square Enix, after aquiring Eidos and its rights.
My guess for the re-release was Square wanting to get money on the backlog of franchises they were now saddled with since, there was no way they were going to remotely even attempt to follow up such a flop - which is a shame, I do believe companies should look into the possibility of making good version of bad games rather than ironically bad follow ups, there’s just nothing charming when you’re deliberately trying to make a mess.
There’s nothing really one can say about this re-release, it was plopped on Steam with no real features or edits, the epitome of a lazy release unlike the previous two trashed titles that at the very least had the companies handling the official releases give a smidgen of care in touching these games up. That said Daikatana does have a slew of mods that people passionate about the game, or rather, in the what could’ve been that make for a far more pleasant experience. Maybe it’d be worth visiting down the line - after all talking about a fixed Daikatana wouldn’t really match this article’s MO about trash being re-released
That said, do want to highlight the GBC game that’s unfortunately never been re-released outside of John Romero’s site - a surprisingly good Zelda clone that never left Europe and Japan.
Lets see if we can go over at least one more critically maligned title that’s seeing a re-release…..
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| "Oh...no..." |
There we go………….
If I’m going to talk about infamous or badly received games, there is no way I can’t touch on something like Bubsy the Bobcat. A franchise that at its best received a mixed critical reaction and at it’s worse is considered one of the worst platforming experiences in the genre. Bubsy’s ability to keep coming back in one form or another is an impressive accomplishment that many of his peers from the 90s have not been able to pull off and that does deserve a level of respect.
And not to mention being able to see a re-release in this day and age unlike his peers.
But what makes Bubsy unique in this case is that…unlike the previous titles….this bobcat’s catalogue of mangled quality has seen a re-release TWICE.
In December 2015, the Bubsy Two Fur pack was released by Piko Interactive - a name that does carry a level of infamy in some circles depending on who you talk to, but one that has managed to garner some level of popularity with the tons of forgotten titles they’ve brought back from the ashes. With that said, as is typical with most Piko releases, Bubsy Two Fur is a collection of the first two instalments of the feline ‘s franchise bundled with a SNES emulator - particularly SNES9x - or rather it was at first bundled with SNES9x. When it came out, despite Piko getting permission from the original creator of the emulator, it turned out that the later releases done by different people, weren’t something they had gathered permission from for this commercial release.
Now to Piko’s credit, they did get to removing the code that they had used without permission
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| "Ooooohhhhhhhhh......I'm telllinggggggggg" |
This release would see an update in May 2016, now replacing the SNES9x based emulator on Mednafen.
While I do love the fact that these days companies are actually using emulators to justify re-releases, especially since most games have long lost their source code to the sands of time (and through the exchanges of many, many hands). There’s not much one can say in terms of praise other than “Hey it works”…
Especially since admittedly a number of Piko’s re-releases somehow have emulator misconfiguration issues, with the Bubsy SNES duo being no exception. Upon the Mednafen update, controller support was utterly broken - to their credit, this would be fixed with a September 2016 patch but at the same time…that’s kind of a crucial thing not to have working for a game release.
Sorta like making a house without any support beams
This is unfortunately something that does seem to pop up from time to time with some of Piko’s emulation releases, apparently for a while 40 Winks had memory card emulations issues forcing users to save ala save states.
So the effort for the re-release was there, but the stuff that got broken is such a headscratcher when it comes to quality control.
So one release down, serviceable enough right. That’s usually where it ends….welllllllllllllllllllllll
In 2024, Limited Run Games and Atari - who had recently bought the IP for their own label - announced ala copy and pasting the Gex Trilogy’s trailer that Bubsy would return in a brand new collection. And this time! It’d be coming to consoles too!
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| "NOOOOOO! BUBSY, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE COPYING THE HEDGEHOG THE HEDGEHOOOOOOOOOOG" |
Built on LRG’s Carbon Engine - which is essentially a glorified emulator but hey, a re-release is a re-release - the new set revealed that this time around they were adding more meat to the package
Now you had the Gameboy version of Bubsy 2 and Bubsy 3D!
Bubsy 3D!…..and bonus content!
Now while it remains to be seen if Bubsy 3D will receive any touch ups or will be as it was upon release back in 1996 - a visually abstract surreal experience that challenges a kindergardener’s finger painting mess on the walls, mixed in with an awful camera and really stiff controls - it is a big improvement in terms of effort being put into the re-release than its predecessor….even if for some reason the Atari Jaguar game is being neglected and is weirdly the only classic instalment of the franchise NOT in this set…for..some reason…..
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| "Now see, I like this one. It speaks to me but it tells me to abandon it. This one, this one has me invested in it's art...also this gallery really needs to do something bout the blank portraits around here" |
With companies leaning on the idea of trying to earn money on every IP they own, we can expect to see more bad titles rise from the ashes like a trash phoenix. And for that I say, perfect, lets have these games be preserved and made available. I want people to be able to purchase these titles but I also want people to learn from them.
While it is fun and all to re-release these for the novelty value, I do implore both those that play these games as well as IP holders and creatives in general. Study these games, study what makes them bad, they can be a surprising good source of inspiration.
And each time one comes out, lets go with the idea of “maybe if people care enough, we can see about taking these bad games and make them work, make a good version of them”.
In corporate terms - make a good version of a game and market it as a good version then you can get people buying the game twice!
Remember, preservation is important, making games available is as well. We gotta take the good with the bad
So next time a cynical news article bemoans the re-release of a critically maligned product, remember
They definitely suckered you into reading the article and made cash from it
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| "See, this story does indeed have a happy ending and a moral to it!" |
If you’re interested, I’ve attached links to these titles below, so feel free to check them out if you feel so inclined and if you’d like feel free to send a donation on ko-fi. This helps tremendously to support me in my endeavors.
https://ko-fi.com/stumblinmedia
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