Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break: Splitting Hares

Year of Release: 1992
Publisher: Konami

The 90s are still alive and kicking in terms of media and reboots. As of this writing, Animaniacs was revived by Hulu and has offered a decent continuation of the classic series. One month prior to Animaniacs' relaunch, it was announced that the predecessor to Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, was also being revived for a new animated series airing on Cartoon Network and HBOMax. So with the revival of the Spielberg cartoon era underway, I've been rewatching Tiny Toon Adventures as well as collecting many of the games based on the series. It's kind of a surprising list of games stretching into the mid-2000s, over a decade after Tiny Toon ended. But the best run for the franchise came during the show's heyday with their partnership with Konami. 

For the uninitiated, Tiny Toon Adventures was an animated series from 1990-1994 and had Steven Spielberg as its executive producer. The series followed a new generation of Looney Tunes characters known as the Tiny Toons as they deal with the wacky world of the 1990s. The cast of characters included Buster and Babs Bunny (no relation), Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig, Elmyra Duff, Montana Max, Furrball, Dizzy Devil and many more. The show proved a huge success and would kick of a strong decade for Warner Bros. animation with its follow up Animaniacs being an even bigger success.

Konami's importance in the 80s and 90s can't be understated. Not just for their own franchises like Contra and Castlevania, but, much like Capcom, being great at making licensed games. Successful arcade games based on The Simpsons and X-Men. A great handling of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license, as well as some really good Batman games. But Tiny Toon Adventures gets a bit overlooked in that department. Konami would end up making Tiny Toons games for NES, Genesis, SNES and Game Boy. A total of ten games would be released over each system from 1991 to 1994. I'll be covering most of them over time, but today we'll look at the first Game Boy outing, 1992's Babs' Big Break. 

The plot of the game is nothing too incredible. Babs Bunny dreams of being a star and heads off to find her big break. Buster, Plucky and Hamton follow her, while also dealing with many hazards and enemies. You can switch between Buster, Plucky and Hamton at any time by pausing. Their basic abilities don't change from character to character, but each character has their own weapon, which can be collected throughout the levels. By pressing B, you'll use the weapon. Carrots are Buster's and he throws them similar to the axe weapon from Castlevania. Plucky uses pineapples which are tossed at a diagonal angle and bounce. Hamton's is the most useful, being a watermelon that will roll forward, taking out whatever is in its way. Otherwise, all three characters play the same regardless and can stomp on enemies in similar fashion.

This game, more than any other Tiny Toons game, feels the most Mario inspired. Gameplay consists of walking from left to right, usually stomping on enemies. There are blocks everywhere that contain items like more weapons, health, an extra heart or invincibility, only instead of hitting under, you hit on top. And levels are scattered with diamonds in a manner similar to coins. These can be used for three things. Betting for items and 1ups in a racing game (don't pick Little Beeper unless you have great finger speed), or a whack-a-mole game called Montana Mash, or collecting 500 jewels to pay Montana Max to save the theatre Babs arrives at. Although, doing so won't change the outcome of the game, you'll have to face him in the final boss battle regardless.

There are four levels to the game. Each are somewhat lengthy, but not too long thankfully. Each stage will require you to find another Tiny Toon to help you progress. These being Dizzy Devil, Furrball, Fifi and Shirley. They'll help you progress to the second half of the level. Each stage ends with a boss, these being Dizzy Devil (yes he's a boss too), Arnold the Pit Bull, a knight enemy, a bike level where you avoid Elmyra, and finally a fight with Montana Max. Their patterns are easy to learn so it's not hard to beat them. Although some hit detection issues with the Monty fight made that one annoying. Beat those and you finish the game. 

The biggest downside I'd give to this game is that it is super easy. Perhaps the easiest of the Tiny Toon games. The Japanese version features a hard mode that is unlocked via a password, but no such luck in other ports of the game. Graphically the game looks really good with the characters looking like their animated counterpart, giving a strong enough sense of Tiny Toons on the go. Sound is okay at best, a lot of the music feels mediocre and the game's take on the Tiny Toon Adventures theme is pretty weak. It'll sound better in the Game Boy games that follow. 

Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break is just okay. Nothing to rush out and play, but if you're looking for a simple platformer to breeze through, it's as decent a time as any. It does handle the Tiny Toons license well and will please fans in that regard. It's not all that loony, but still fine. B-.