Adventures of Yogi Bear

The Game

The Adventures of Yogi Bear was released for SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive in 1994, and is the first game in the series so far to go by three different names in the three different regions it released in. The Adventures of Yogi Bear in North America, Yogi Bear's Cartoon Capers in Europe, and just Yogi Bear in Japan. The second game in a row to be based on a much older cartoon property (this one even older than the last originally appearing in 1958) and once again they chose a platformer as the way to show the world what Yogi was all about.

The game was developed by Blue Turtle and this was the last game they ever developed, the game before was Magic Boy for various platforms and that was the first game they ever developed. They are credited on some other games, but only as a company that worked on graphics and programming, not as sole developers.

Yogi was published by three different companies in the three different regions it released in. Cybersoft in the United States, Empire Interactive in Europe, and Magifact in Japan.

Cybersoft published 6 games on the SNES with their last in 1995 being a game called Air cavalry. Magifact published 3 games, this one and two Japanese only Super Famicom games. Empire Interactive are the standout name here, a much more well known name once again starting in the late 80s with home computer systems, before diving into the home console market publishing this game in European regions, then jumping straight back to home computer releases and not really touching consoles again until much later on with a couple of Dreamcast releases, some PS2, Gameboy Advance, and their last game was Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams on the DS in 2008.

Gameplay

The game is a very simple platformer which I imagine was aimed at young children, while there were several different Yogi Bear shows, there didn't seem to be any new shows broadcast around this time, so I did think it was an odd game to aim at young children, but then again I remember Yogi Bear growing up so I imagine it was one of those shows that was continually shown with reruns, parents owning VHS tapes and playing them for their kids, so it does make some sense.

The problem with aiming it at small children is the game can be very frustrating, it's not hard, not really, but there are some things that get annoying. The biggest problem the game has is the developers must have taken a look at Sonic the Hedgehog and thought "Yogi Bear is the perfect mascot for a Sonic like game on the SNES" The levels are large, multi levelled areas, with multiple ways of reaching the goal, just like Sonic. Yogi moves really quickly, just like Sonic. You even finish the level by running past a sign that starts spinning, just like Sonic. Sounds cool right? The problem is, with Sonic you can move really quickly, and be in an attacking state, wrapped up in a ball you fly along and kill enemies in your way, not so with Yogi, he flies along but has to jump on enemies heads like Mario. Not only that but in Sonic, if you do hit something you lose your rings, but you can collect some and as long as you have at least one you're on your way again. Yogi has a health bar, represented by a cake, and health is very few and far between to collect, so the speed, mixed with a lack of easy attacking, and easily losing health, doesn't make it very Sonic like at all!

Adding to that, when you do get hit there's huge knock back, and no invincibility frames, so it's easy to get caught in a loop of death with no way out, or get knocked back into an instant death hole.

With all of that said, the game is fine, you move through a map of Jellystone Park, each area has 4 levels to complete before you move on, the levels do all look very much the same and they do outstay their welcome by the time you get to the fourth, but they're varied enough. You have the ice level, the woodland level, a mine level (complete with mine cart for the second game in a row), a water level, and a construction site level. The mine cart sections only have you ducking obstacles, no jumping in and out of carts like there was in Rocky & Bullwinkle, and in the water level there's an otter, or beaver, or something, that you jump on that flies along the surface of the water before launching you onto the next platform (and annoyingly sometimes directly into an enemy)

While the levels do have variety, having to do 4 of them in a row before seeing the next one does slow that down a bit, which is a shame. There are no bosses, no real challenge besides the mechanics of the game, but for some reason I thought I might just see something more so I stuck with it.

Graphics

The graphics are the stand out here, visually it looks weirdly smooth, the sprites aren't pixelly like you'd expect, and while they don't look outstanding by any means, the smoothness is a nice change from the previous games, the animations are all fluid, the game runs at a nice fps, and the different levels look varied enough when you do eventually see them despite the fact they are fairly basic.

The enemy variety isn't great though, the ones that are there look good, there's even hedgehog that rolls into a ball toward you, I wonder why they did that! When I finished the Ice level with pairs of rabbits hopping towards you, birds flying down at you, skunks, hedgehogs, and groups of ferrets that move far too quickly and were the cause of a huge amount of health loss for me, I moved into the mine level and saw a nice change in enemy sprites, moles wearing mining helmets, dwarf miners, bats, but then when moving on to the next level I was back to rabbits, and skunks, and they just pretty much stayed until the end. Right up until the construction site and there are still rabbits coming at me. It's weird because they also had pneumatic drills and builders, but they just kept reusing the animals over and over rather than adding a few new ones to the mix.

The thing that annoyed me most about the graphics is unfortunately the thing that probably looked the best. The final level uses some nice (in theory) parallax scrolling, with some of the construction site being in the foreground. Problem is it means you can't see much of the background at all. Platforms to land on, enemies, even Yogi himself are all obscured by the foreground making the level even more frustrating than the ones that came before it!

Sound and Music

The sound effects were what you'd expect from a cartoon based game, similar to others I've played, plenty of whizzes and bangs and pops when you're jumping on enemies heads or flying along on the back of an otter, the noise Yogi makes when you get hit is etched into my brain now though, it was just a constant, repeated noise, no variation, and it would happen over and over. When the game starts up Yogi speaks briefly, and they managed to get the voice sounding really clear, which is a lot better than a lot of digitised voices I've heard in SNES games.

Similar situation with the music, it's what you'd expect, it's nothing standout and nothing I'd listen to outside of the game, but each area has distinct music that separates it from the others, what I've noticed is the tracks are quite long, and they do feel like they loop, or at least the core melody loops, so if you take some time on a level it does get repetitive. But that's kids TV for you I suppose!

The People

This might be the smallest game I've played so far in terms of people working on it, the programmer was Nick Pavis who ended up programming on a bunch of Star Wars games including Knights of the Old Republic II.

The graphics were done by Leigh Christian who had previously worked on a load of Dizzy games for home computer systems, did art and modelling for FIFA Street and FIFA Street 2, then dropped off the radar in 2010 after working on a DS game called Sushi Go Round.

George Villiers did the music, and including this game he only worked on 4 games, none of them stand out.

The games design was done by Martin Wakeley, this was his first game and he went straight on to Diddy Kong Racing after this, then Blast Corps, Jetforce Gemini, I'm guessing he ended up working for Rare, he also worked on Donkey Kong Land on the Game Boy, and was credited on Yooka Replayee under Playtonic Games.

Very small selection of people, but Martin jumping straight into Rare after this might have been the best business decision in the history of business decisions.

Box art

Two different boxes again, and the front of the US box is by far the better of the two, the art is nice, it depicts things that could actually happen in the game and is relevant, and I prefer the black surround to the blue. The PAL version has an image that doesn't reflect the game at all, it shows Boo Boo who isn't in the game at all besides a picture at the end, and a park ranger chasing them, which again doesn't happen in the game at all. US box wins the front.

Back of the US box and we have our usual four pictures laid out in that typical two up two down way, the story explanation is there, simple and tells you exactly what the game is about. On to the bullet points:

• Fast paced excitement with wild beaver surfing and mine cart riding. - Oh it's a beaver! Yeah this is all true, excitement might be a bit of a push but I'll let it slide.

• Beautifully animated multi-layered parallax scrolling. - Again, true, the animations are nice beautiful might be a bit of a stretch, and there's only the one level with parallax scrolling and it made it a nightmare. Technically true, but with a whisper of misleading

• Cool Yogi music. - I mean, it's fine yeah, weird thing to push on the back of a box though.

• Five different areas at the park to explore. - This is true.

• Yogi's mission will challenge even the most skilled game players. - Nah, even without save states, the frustrating parts don't make the game challenging, just annoying.

The PAL back gives us 6 screenshots! This is rare, and more bullet points!

• Over 20 exciting and taking levels. - I think you'll find there are exactly 20 levels.

• Raccoons, gophers, porcupines, leaping salmon, and skunks all spell trouble for Yogi. - Oh it was a porcupine, no trademark infringement here then!

• Each level contains over 200 screens of action. - I can't get my head around this at all, do they mean level as in the world that has 4 levels in it? Even so it's smooth scrolling, there aren't any "screens of action" it's all one screen until you get to the end. Genuinely no clue what they're trying to say here but it's 100% false.

• More than 300 frames of animation. - I am not diving deep enough to dispute this. Sure, I'll take that.

I think I need to give two ratings here because the back is so different in each region. The US gets my rating of - Mostly accurate. They embellish a couple of things, but it's mostly okay.

The PAL box gets my rating of - Untrue. Simply because of that 200 screens thing, it's just completely false and doesn't represent the type of game properly at all! Also the front was misleading as well.

The Press

Games World: The Magazine:

Hey, hey, hey! Yogi is starring in his very own Super Nintendo game and it's a bundle of fun. The basic idea is a simple one – Yogi runs along the level picking up clocks for time and picnic baskets for bonuses. There ate lots of horrid creatures about to get in our hero's way and each hit makes Yogi lose a piece of scrummy cake. It's fast and frantic but falls down a in the lastability stakes. Fans of Yogi will love him though!

84/100

GamePro:

Still, Yogi's game is worth renting, even if you beat it fairly quickly. It's as enjoyable as a picnic in the park.

3.5/5

Video Games & Computer Entertainment:

If you've ever enjoyed one of those corny Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the '60's. Yogi Bear will be a pleasant (and challenging) time-killer.

7/10

Game Players:

I really wanted to like Yogi Bear, with the smooth, colorful graphics and sharp looking Yogi. But it just wasn't enough to make up for the repetitive, unoriginal gameplay that makes Yogi a well-done copycat, nothing more.

68/100

Electronic Gaming Monthly:

Cartoony and cute, graphics are the highlight of this cartoon-character-gone-to-video-game cart. The levels are huge, but the run-and-jump-grab-the-items gameplay gets monotonous rather quickly. There are some great sound effects, though, and younger kids will probably take to this game faster than older gamers will.

31/50