#84 Bounty Bob Strikes Back

Posted: 29th June 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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344th played so far

Bounty Bob Strikes Back Box Scan (Front)Genre: Platform
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1984
Developer: Big Five Software
Publisher: Big Five Software

First, a quick admission: we found out, after we started this game, that it’s a sequel to another game on the list, Miner 2049er.

Both games are fairly old platformers – one that looks fairly interchangable with many of the others so far. We’ll see.

Our Thoughts

To be honest, Bounty Bob didn’t strike a chord with us as much as we wanted. The basic concepts of the game are ones we’ll see elsewhere – having to cover each part of the floor is reminiscent of Q*Bert, while the platform layout is very similar to Donkey Kong.

What might not have helped is that the controls felt really awkward. It took us a little while to work them out anyway (the usual old game syndrome), but even after that it was tricky. The main problem (when we played) is that the control over jumping isn’t that great, making it difficult to plan them, with a fall and death likely to result and no real way to prevent that other than, seemingly, luck. We didn’t manage to get past the first three or four platforms – the later levels (from what we saw) only required more precision, not something we’d get any time soon.

While the enemies (luckily) stay dead after being killed, even if you lose a life, the only way you can is by grabbing weapons, which only last a short while (lengthened, we believe, by killing enemies, but it’s tough to keep up).

The game is aimed at the early generations of consoles, and it shows in the relatively simple graphics and sounds. To be honest, for me it’s part of what makes the game less accessible. I just couldn’t get into it.

Final Thoughts

If we did not think much of Bounty Bob Strikes Back we are left to wonder at how our playthrough of the original game is going to go. If you really want to see how this game plays there are many good playthrough videos on YouTube which show players who have the patience to truly master this game. Unlike us who are counting down until 350.

  1. […] not actually related, looks similar to Manic Miner, the predecessor of the not-that-interesting Bounty Bob Strikes Back. The point here appears to be to collect eggs instead of walking over floors and collect eggs. […]

  2. […] has been a while since I’ve played Bounty Bob Strikes Back, the sequel to this game. It was a charming but essentially outdated game at the time I played […]