Cover of the Game Boy version
The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, known in Japan as Roger Rabbit (ロジャーラビット?), is a 1989 action puzzle video game developed by Kemco for the NES. It was also released for the Game Boy in Japan as Mickey Mouse (ミッキーマウス?) and in North America as the same name as the North American NES release. It is the first game in Kemco's Crazy Castle series. Three different versions starred three different cartoon characters: Bugs Bunny, and Disney's Roger Rabbit and Mickey Mouse, and were first released in 1989. The object of the game is to guide Bugs through a series of rooms collecting carrots. However, four rascals are guarding the castle: Sylvester, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, and Wile E. Coyote. An early beta version of the game shows the working title as Bugs Bunny Fun House.
Gameplay[]
While presented in a side-scroller format, Crazy Castle differed from standard side-scrollers such as Super Mario Bros. in that Bugs Bunny did not have a jump function; therefore, only by taking different routes could Bugs avoid enemies. Some of the levels had boxing gloves, invincibility potions, safes, crates, flower pots, or ten-pound weights that could be used against the enemies in the game. As a result, the game had a "puzzle-solving" atmosphere.
As most NES game cartridges lacked the ability to save, passwords are used to start at a certain level in this game.
Development[]
The North American and European NES games were modified versions of the Japan-exclusive Famicom title, Roger Rabbit. All of the characters are taken from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and hearts are collected. At the time of the game's initial Japanese release, Capcom held exclusive rights to develop and publish Disney video games outside Japan, hence Roger Rabbit was edited into The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle for an international release. At the time that the Game Boy version went into development, Kemco's license to Who Framed Roger Rabbit in Japan had expired, but they held the rights to other Disney properties within this region, thus the game was released as Mickey Mouse.
Playthrough[]
