Welcome to the cartridge archive, the show dedicated to chronicling the complete Nintendo 64
library one cartridge at a time.
I’m Adam and I’m Jamie.
Each episode we pull another game from the shelf and explore its impact on the Nintendo 64’s
history, from beloved classics and hidden gems to forgotten curiosities and infamous disasters.
No cartridge is left behind.
Along the way we’ll examine each game’s story, development, legacy, collector value,
and the impact it left on the Nintendo 64 library as a whole.
And then we will put it through the rigorous and totally patented 64 point inspection to
determine whether it has what it takes to become certified 64.
So prestigious.
Indeed, so welcome back.
We are here with another episode.
We’re excited to keep this podcast rolling.
Thank you so much for everyone who has downloaded our initial launch episodes and all the awesome
feedback, kind words, and follows we’ve been getting.
It’s been terrific and obviously this is going to be a work in progress.
We’re going to learn by doing.
But yeah, the initial reception has been really great and yeah, just can’t thank you enough
for all the kind words.
Yeah, and thanks for folks joining us on the Discord.
If you have not joined us yet, we’ll have details in the show notes and at the end of the
show as well.
We had a couple of people guess about this one.
We had put out a clue that there was some buzz around this game recently and we had some
pretty good guesses, but no one quite nailed it on this one.
And so we’re going to go ahead and get into this one.
And let you know what it actually was.
If you didn’t look at the album, or the name of this podcast episode anyway.
That’s true.
But yeah, let’s start off this episode with the history lesson and then we’ll get into
it.
In the fall of 1998, moviegoers were introduced to two different takes on life in the insect
world, almost simultaneously.
Dreamworks released Antz, its first ever animated feature just seven weeks before Pixar debuted
A Bug’s Life.
Despite coming from rival studios, both films, told stories of unlikely insect heroes standing
against overwhelming odds.
But movies weren’t the only form of insect entertainment that year.
Release the very same day as A Bug’s Life on November 25, 1998, Buck Bumble offered Nintendo
64 owners a very different vision of life as a bug set in the then futuristic year of
2010, a chemical accident in London mutates a faction of insects known as the herd who set
out to eliminate ordinary insects and take over the world.
Humanity is blissfully unaware of the bug battles unfolding all around them, leaving
one unlikely hero to stop the invasion, Buck Bumble, a cybernetically enhanced bee armed
with rockets, lasers and the determination to take on an entire insect army.
For Argonaut Software, the British studio whose technical expertise and Super FX chip helped
Nintendo bring the original star Fox to life on the Super Nintendo.
And whose 1997 title, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, had sold over 3 million copies on PlayStation,
Buck Bumble became their next opportunity to showcase their knack for creating 3D worlds.
The game was also backed by Ubisoft and was just the second of 13 titles the company would
ultimately go on to publish for the Nintendo 64.
Unlike many action games of the era, Buck Bumble gave players complete freedom in all directions
through large fully 3D environments, turning each mission into a blend of aerial combat, exploration
and boss encounters.
The game also featured two player multiplayer, including a standard deathmatch mode and the
surprisingly inventive Buzzball mode, a frantic take on soccer, where players attempted
to score on the opposing goal by firing rockets and lasers at the ball and each other.
Argonaut also focused heavily on support for the Nintendo 64’s Rumble Pack, even partnering
with peripheral manufacturer JoyTech to produce a distinctive black and yellow striped
Rumble Pack, sometimes jokingly called the Bumble Pack, bundled with the game by some
European retailers.
So it was not an officially licensed accessory, it remains one of the more unusual pieces of
Nintendo 64 memorabilia.
Completing the game’s unusual premise was an equally unconventional soundtrack.
Composer Justin Sharvona opted to style the music in the then emerging UK electronic
genre known as Speed Garage, believing it was a better fit for the futuristic setting
and action-packed gameplay than the more common techno and house music of the day.
The result was one of the Nintendo 64’s most iconic title themes, an energetic opening
track that has arguably become more famous than the game itself.
In the decade since release, the soundtrack is taken on life of its own.
Millions of listeners have discovered it online, introducing an entirely new generation to
Buck Bumble’s unmistakable opening theme.
The soundtrack arrived on streaming services in 2024 where it continues to attract tens
of thousands of monthly listeners, helping transform Buck Bumble from a long, forgotten, mid-generation
curiosity into one of Nintendo 64’s most enduring cult classics.
The renewed interest ultimately culminated in the game receiving a physical re-release
by retro console manufacturer Mad Retro in July of 2026.
However, a memorable theme song can only carry a game so far, so while we bump to the base,
it’s time to see if the game is as enjoyable as the music.
Today on the cartridge archive, Buck Bumble.
Terrific.
All right, so yeah, Buck Bumble.
I am excited to dig into this game.
What with it getting its new re-release by Mad Retro coming out on official, well, officially
unofficial cartridge hardware.
I think this is going to be a great game to get into and a big entry point for a lot of
people playing this game for the first time.
So for those of you who want to know what was on the back of the original box, here’s
the back of box quote for Buck Bumble.
The herd, an evil band of vicious mutant insectoids, is attacking and exterminating Earth’s
native insects.
Only Buck Bumble, the baddest bee in the hive, and the world’s most advanced cyborg insect,
can save the day.
Bee prepared.
Protect the insect world by blowing away terrifying attack wasps and kilopas in 20 unearthly 3D
environments, use bug cybernetic implants and deadly weapons to unmask the power behind
the herd.
See a wild new world through an insect’s eyes, discover hidden areas, secret powers, and
surprises.
Feel the buzz with RumblePack trademark play.
Multiplayer death matches, experience complete 360 degree movement in totally real time 3D.
Wow.
Quite the selling point, yeah?
I got I got to tell you and I almost I almost laughed when you said baddest bee in the
hive.
I’m glad we have separate tracks so they didn’t bleed in.
I personally enjoyed just the name kilopas.
I’m not entirely sure why that became a thing, but you know, here we are.
Yeah, it’s a it’s a weird, a weird game.
It’s I do I do want to say I do take issue that it says see a new world through the eyes
of an insect or through an insect’s eyes rather because it’s not a first person game.
It’s a you see it through the eyes of a camera that follows behind an insect for most of
the game.
That’s true.
I mean, you can switch to a first person mode, but I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s
impossible to fly around, but as we will get into when we talk about this in the inspection,
being impossible to fly around is kind of a big part of this game.
So for sure.
But yeah, interesting storyline on this one with the I think it’s set.
What was it that you said is like the distant year, yeah, 2010.
So all the way in the future there in said in London and due to a chemical leak, we’ve
got these kilopas and friends running around, but Buck Bumble who seems to be the only bee
in the game conveniently also the toughest being the non-existent hive is also cybernetically
enhanced.
So I don’t know who’s cybernetically enhancing him.
I’m not entirely sure what normal bees look like in this game.
And we’ve got the wasps, but I think there actually was a little bit more backstory to it.
He was part of some sort of fighting military syndicate paramilitary thing.
And I think they’re who outfitted him.
If I remember right from the it wasn’t referenced very overtly, but there was like a very
quick blurb I think in the manual that he was like a fighter pilot type guy.
And so those folks helped get him prepared for this or something like that.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
Unfortunately with these games when you don’t have the instruction manual, a lot of the back
story and the setup does get lost, which is a big difference between games that are
main nowadays because obviously manuals are a thing in the past, which does make the game
developers have to actually incorporate their storyline into the game regarding any details
that otherwise they might have just been able to put in extra material.
So here we go.
I found it.
It was called project buck, which you know, and it was a top top secret insect military
project.
That’s really all they said.
Well, it’s so secret that nobody knows who the heck this character is.
That’s right.
All right.
All right.
Well, I think we should probably just dive right in and start our 64 point inspection.
It is.
It’s time for the 64 point inspection.
This is a carefully crafted evaluation designed to judge every Nintendo 64 game through
a series of 10 tests for each test will present evidence make our cases and put it to a vote
if the game passes the test.
It earns 10 points.
If it fails, it earns none.
And if opinions are split, then the game is awarded five points.
Any game that earns 64 or more points passes the inspection and receives our coveted certified
64 seal of approval.
So with that said, let’s start the inspection.
All right.
Test number one, the memory pack test.
I’m sure there was something.
Oh, yeah.
Now I remember.
Is this game still remember today or has it faded into obscurity with the average gamer
recognize it in a modern day?
I think, yeah, I think for the most part, I don’t think it was the most popular game back in
the day, but it’s gotten re-releases as we’ll talk about here a couple categories down.
I think we’ll get into the soundtrack being fairly popular.
I think this game is remembered pretty well.
Yeah.
I think time has been very kind to it.
For sure, it does get remembered.
I don’t think it gets remembered for all the reasons that the developers would actually like
it to, you know, their game so much.
But, you know, the buzz, har har, about this game, particularly the soundtrack, this game
is salient.
People know this game.
They recognize this one.
And the fact that it’s a unique Nintendo 64 title as well, I think it often gets lumped
in when you’re talking about the library as a whole.
So I would have to pass this one.
All right.
That’s a yes and a yes.
I’d say that’s a pass.
Moving on to test number two, the rumble pack test.
This is the rumble pack.
The coolest cinematic gaming experience there is.
Does this game really take advantage of what made the Nintendo 64 unique for player multiplayer,
analog controls, accessories, and other signature N64 featured?
Yeah.
I think this one does.
I think it’s, we talked about in the history lesson that they were so focused on getting
the rumble pack in front of people and having that be a highlight of this game that they
even had their own rumble pack available in Europe.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I mean, they did take advantage of some of the other things like the 3D movement was
something that they were pushing and that’s a big part of this game.
But honestly, yeah, if you have your own rumble slash bumble pack for your game, then you’re
pretty legit as far as this test goes.
So I think you have to pass it for beta.
And I’ve only seen pictures of it, but it looks pretty cool.
I guess there were two.
One was like a plain yellow.
It wasn’t real exciting, but there was one that was striped and it’s all about the
stripy.
It’s pretty cool.
I don’t know how many of them are out there that like people could seek out because I’m sure
that many of them have gotten lost to time, but it’s pretty cool.
Maybe that’s something needs to be re-released.
So that is I think another pass.
Looking good, Buck.
All right, test number three, the expansion pack test.
That is one powerful piece of machinery.
Does this game deserve an expansion, sequel, remake, or modern successor?
Was there enough here to justify a future beyond the original cartridge?
Well, I think right off the bat, we can say yes because we know that this game just got
a re-release on Nintendo 64 replica cartridge hardware, which is pretty cool.
I got to say it’s nice to see this getting the love now and showing back up, especially
with that new console just launching or the new repo console coming out.
Yeah, I’d be interested to curious to see kind of how that works.
And I guess it’s supposed to be basically the exact same thing, but I did pre-order
an M64 from ModRetro.
I just talked myself into it and it has not reached me yet, but I hope that it does soon.
I did not pick up a copy of the game necessarily, but maybe I’ll get around to it.
But yeah, I think I’d be interested to see over time.
I don’t know that it gets the buzz.
We’re going to do that way too many times in this episode.
Never enough.
But it gets, it necessarily gets the buzz to have a modern sequel or remake.
I think it would be something of note to see how it evolved into something new, though
it’s gotten a re-release.
It doesn’t have that modern successor.
I think I’d be interested to see how that worked out.
Yeah, I think this is testing the waters, if anything.
I mean, in the twin-stick shooter world that we live in now, you could absolutely apply
this IP and make a pretty killer title out of it.
So I think there’s definitely enough to warrant a true sequel and the fact that it’s getting
this re-release as well, I think this is an absolute pass.
I like that you use the word “killer” there because I’m thinking Buck Bumble 2: Killer Bees.
I mean, somebody reach out to us and send us like 20 bucks for saying that because, you
know, it would, I mean, it writes itself, but we beat you to it in theory.
But yeah, I agree.
That’s a pass.
All right, Buck Bumble is racking up the point so far.
Test number four, the barrel roll test.
Do a barrel roll.
Impressive, Star Fox.
How impressive was this game for its time?
Did it push the boundaries of technology, gameplay, graphics, scale, or innovation?
So you mentioned the True 3D, which was certainly something that was a bit of a revolutionary
thing at the time, not the first game to do it, obviously not the last, but I think it was
something that was, we had a lot of games that were 3D, but true all the way 3D.
You can fly upside down.
There’s all kinds of stuff that you can do.
Really full freedom in all directions.
I think was a pretty notable thing about this game at the time.
Yeah, the environments were a little lackluster.
The more you played, you get to see a little bit of variation, but the environments didn’t
necessarily showcase the coolness of the space, the idea of the small scale in the gardens
initially was, well, it was pretty great, but you know, you’ve got a, you’ve got a draw
distance.
You’ve got to worry about and there are limitations when it comes to what the Nintendo
64 was able to do, but as far as the 3D space and the flying around, they do accomplish
quite a bit with it.
I mean, it’s frustrating in its own regard and we’ll get to that in later tests, but I
think it was impressive for the time on that regard.
But also they have a multiplayer mode called Buzzball where you have to basically shoot a large
ball that bounces around.
It’s basically Rocket League before it was Rocket League.
It’s a bit of a shot against it as far as the Rumble Pack test incorporating the four
players.
It’s a little jam of a mode and I absolutely applaud that they included it.
So I’m going to definitely say that this one gets a pass as well, despite the fact that
while the 3D was limited by the technology of its time, it wasn’t necessarily pushing the
boundaries in that regard.
I think when it comes to innovation and what they’re doing with the idea of a flying shooter
and then also incorporating that idea of flipping on its head and making it a flying shooter,
soccer game, pretty cool.
I’m impressed by that and I think that would get a point for me on that.
Yeah, and I agree.
I feel like you can, I wouldn’t necessarily say draw a straight line between that mode and
Rocket League, but there are a lot of similarities.
And that’s definitely something that was a very bold move that just kind of comes from
out of left field.
But to see now this massive franchise that is evolved from such an idea or an idea
so similar, it seems like there’s definitely had to be some inspiration there at least,
at least was the start of something.
And I think that’s really notable.
So that’s four for four so far.
That is 40 points and that’s another pass.
All right, well, get ready to pump the brakes on that one, buck, because test number five
is the joystick gymnastics test.
How well does this gameplay today?
Are the controls and cameras still enjoyable?
Or are they working against the player?
I mean, there’s no sugar coating it.
This gameplay is like a frustrating punishment more than it does as far as an engaging simulation.
Absolutely.
You die when the mission starts and you have to, if you die during the mission, it completely
starts over.
There’s no checkpoints.
You end up flying into stuff that you’re having a dog fight with more than actually hitting
it.
Sometimes that’s actually more effective than shooting things down.
In many cases, the game does not have the same thing as the game.
It does not tell you where the fights are.
So oftentimes you’re retracing and flying back to repetitive areas to try and find the
one guy you didn’t kill.
And it’s just it’s a nuisance.
And the controls, yes, yes, don’t necessarily make it all that much fun to try and accomplish.
They have power ups kind of strung throughout the scenes in order to try and guide you in
the right directions.
But once you’ve collected them, there’s no real way of knowing, oh, that’s the hill I’m
supposed to go over.
That’s the hole I’m supposed to aim for.
And it can get a little bit confusing if you’re not familiar with the world that you’re
in and or you’re remembering the one that you were just in before, which looks very similar.
And it’s just it’s frustrating.
And I think that in a modern day environment going back and playing the game, it’s hard to
sing its praises in that regard.
I think at the time we would have given it leniency because we didn’t know better, but
now I got to say this one, this is a pretty hard fail for me.
I think I’m going to agree.
I experienced so much of that I went back and played the game recently and obviously I’m going
to do that for most of these games.
I’m going to go back and play basically all of them so that I can speak to it from a modern
perspective.
And I think I ran into a lot of those same issues.
You think you’re done with a level, but that door has an open door.
It doesn’t say that you’re done and you can leave and you’re like, why?
And you just fly around until you find something because there just isn’t any real indication
of where you should be going, what you should be doing.
I, for some reason, noticed too a lot of times if the game involves flight, I do like an inverted
stick, more like flight simulator style.
And a lot of times, yeah, they do give you the option on this.
Yeah.
And a lot of times with shooters, I’ll do, I’ll do it upright, just kind of a habit I’ve
developed over the years.
I tried both and they were both bad in this game.
I figured out what I was doing.
No matter which way I decided to control it, they were both still pretty unresponsive and
just not great.
And so I’m, I’m going to have to agree the same way camera, same thing too.
I mentioned earlier, you could go first person or, or more zoomed in mode to try to aim
a little bit better, but it worked in very limited, yeah, capacity you kind of would do
that.
And you’d have to get back because you could not tell what you were doing outside of that.
Yeah, it, choose your poison, really.
Yes, I do want to fly worse or shoot worse.
You can’t do both at the same time, but this is a flying shooting game.
But you can be pretty bad at both, too.
Yeah, so, oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
So I, I’m going to agree.
I think that’s for both of us of fails.
So first unsuccessful category for buckbumble.
That’s all right.
I’m feeling pretty confident that this next test is going to be a win.
That’s test number six, the bum to the base test.
How good is the game’s audio?
Does it have memorable music, iconic sound effects or the kind of soundtrack that sticks
with you long after you’ve put the controller?
This one is literally where the name for the category originated.
It’s based on the, bump to the base, basically theme of the game in general, kind of mentioned
in the history lesson as well.
The game’s soundtrack was composed by Justin Sharvona, and he chose this electronic genre
known as Speed Garage.
He said that he felt that techno and house music was a little too bland, wasn’t really with
the game being set in 2010, which does not seem like the future anymore.
He felt like it needed that just something slightly different.
So he wrote the whole thing himself.
I’ve even found an article that he’d found a specific DJ that he wanted to bring in to
do some of the vocals on some of this stuff.
And I didn’t find confirmation if that is who actually did it or if that worked out,
but he had mentioned this guy by name, this club DJ from the scene in London at the time.
But yeah, and we kind of mentioned again in the history lesson.
It is available now on sites like Spotify, Apple Music, and I think Spotify shows it is
something like 25,000 listeners a month on average.
People are listening to this thing because it’s pretty good.
Yeah, it’s catchy as hell.
No, it’s huge.
It was a remarkable part about the game playing it originally, and it’s definitely held
up to the test of time.
I think honestly, it’s generated a fondness more so.
And I think the enthusiasm for the game now enough for it to get a re-release is, I don’t
think it’s a big stretch to say, because of the theme music.
It’s extremely iconic.
And like you said, it’s the name of this category.
So there’s no way around it.
As far as the rest of the sound design goes, it’s not too bad.
There’s actually one thing that I thought was particularly good when you’re shooting down
one of those Killer B enemies or the Killer Wasps.
They do a kind of a, that, um, spiral down pit fighter kind of sound.
And it really makes a mediocre dogfight sound cool when you’ve got these guys kind of zipping
off and around.
You have to shoot them down.
And that made it really satisfying.
So when you pull off one of those moves and you peel off on the guy crashes into the wall,
it sounds the part too.
So that was really cool.
The downside is, is obviously that music is at the start menu and that’s about it.
The rest of the, the music and the sound effects of the game are pretty, you know, lock and
standard, not, not anything to, to catchy, but it’s well implemented and it’s competent.
So I think this one gets a pass for that, but it absolutely gets a pass when it comes to
that iconic theme.
So yeah, the rest of the music is kind of in that same sort of style, but it doesn’t
like hit quite on the same level.
And I hard agree on the like plane going down sound when you shoot those wasks guys.
I had the exact same reaction.
Like what I saw, I was like, that’s a really good sound.
Like I had the same, same exact reaction.
And we had not talked about that prior to right now.
So that’s kind of cool that we both sort of honed in on the same thing.
So that is another pass so far through six categories.
We’re at 50.
We are at 50.
So we are pretty, doing pretty good.
We got to see if, if Buck Bumble could close this thing out on the precipice.
Okay.
So here we are test number seven, the smash invite test.
Will this badler live up to expectations?
Does this game have characters, worlds, music or ideas worthy of a place in super smash brothers?
So he only character that you could really make the cut as far as getting an invite to be
an actual playable character or a trophy or an assist would be Buck, right?
And I’d say that he could make the cut for a cool addition to the lineup and he kind of,
you know, I mean, he’d have his different moves that would apply to his design that would probably
just be different types of projectiles and what not that he has and fly around.
He’d have to control totally differently than when he does in his own game in order to fit
into the smash mold.
So I just, I don’t think that nomination would really make too much sense.
I did also find as reading through the manual, I thought this was pretty funny that they
actually were so detailed about the stats on Buck himself that they actually put in that
he is approximately 0.85 inches tall, which is I think about a maybe a centimeter and a half
or so ish.
He is 0.08 ounces.
So not really got a lot of weight to bring to the table as far as a fighter.
Yeah, not a, not a heavy weight contender there.
And he has an eight mile per hour top speed, interesting again, being in London using
ounces, inches and miles, but you know, I didn’t make those choices, but it was kind of funny
to consider that when there’s some folks on Reddit who have done extensive math and looking
at the grid behind in like the practice mode and determined that like King K rule is something
like seven feet, seven inches tall.
There’s a, so to put someone who’s less than an inch tall against a character like that,
there’d have to be a lot of suspending of disbelief to try to make Buck fit in.
Yeah, you’d have to riddle him and play with the scale and awful lot in order to make him
a contender, but you know, maybe the storyline could be that he got a little bit more mutated,
maybe in the distant future of 2011, he grows a couple of feet or something of that.
I mean, after being exposed to all those chemicals, it’s not out of the question.
No, no, in fact, it makes, it makes too much sense to be honest with you, but yeah, I just
don’t see him making it into the game as a character.
I don’t see it really making a lot of sense at all.
However, the category does say does it have memorable world’s music or ideas worthy of
a place in Smash Brothers and again, back to that bum to the base.
That music could absolutely make the cut as far as being an icon again, 64 track.
And I could absolutely see that being the sort of thing that a, you know, those historians
that like to play Smash Brothers for the collecting and the, you know, the all encompassing archive
that the Smash Brothers can be for Nintendo games and beyond that could be in there and
that would be something really cool.
I could totally see people saying, oh man, that’s in this game.
Sure.
Alright, we’re going to play Final Destination, Fox Only, No Items, Buckbumbled Track on Loop.
That’s how we’re playing.
And I see that being a, that would be killer.
Everyone would love that and I’m going to pass it just for that.
Yeah. I think, I think that’s definitely worth mentioning.
It’s hard to say so many great things about the soundtrack and then say that the soundtrack
couldn’t be included in something like this.
I do want to say again that I appreciate the effort that they put in to put his size
and speed and stuff out there, but I don’t think that fits.
It is just very humorous to me, but I do think that the music, it’s got to be included.
So I think that’s going to be yet another pass.
Wow.
Buckbumbled.
Wow.
Buckbumbled score right now.
That puts us at a 60, so it is right at the edge, but we’ve got some pretty tough categories
coming up.
So let’s see if it can make it across the finish line.
Test number eight, the 101% test.
Oh, they are running up the score.
Is this game worth fully completing?
Are the extra challenges, collectibles and secrets worth the effort?
I’ll be honest with you, I had to cheat to be able to see all of this game when I was
replaying it.
I played it back in the day.
I rented it, but I never owned it.
And I probably cheated back then too to be perfectly honest with you because I just could
not see past Jamie putting in the time to see through all the frustrating and punishing
elements of the game in order to get to the end.
But um, so besides the fact that this game does have a final boss and an ending cinematic,
there’s really no completion perk or reason to play the whole game again unless you really
enjoy punishing yourself in my opinion.
Are you do unlock the buzz ball mode, but that’s not for completing the whole thing.
So as far as making you go back and get all of those missions and getting the best scores
you can and taking out all the enemies and playing through everything without just skipping
ahead and cheating, I, uh, I’m going to have to fail this one buck.
Yeah, and I had a very similar experience.
I didn’t cheat.
Okay.
G’s, but I, I, I, I would have if I had more time.
And I did, I had a similar sort of outcome in the way that I felt about it.
I went through it and I played it and it’s just, again, we talked about earlier.
We’re trying to get through a level and you’re like, Oh, what one random enemy on the ground
that I forget to end up destroying earlier.
Now I’ve got a circle back and go flying around until I find it to open this door to get
to the next place and just the effort to get through all of that to get to the next level
for a relatively small payoff of just sort of an ending cinematic.
It just doesn’t seem like if you put in that much time and that much effort and it gets
pretty tough toward the end, I just don’t see necessarily the payoff.
You get to the end and that’s good enough if you get to the end, but I don’t see digging
in even more to make sure you’ve gotten absolutely every little nook and cranny.
I just don’t see it.
So I think that’s a fail.
Test number nine.
Mario’s wallet.
Oh my god.
Is this game worth the price of admission today?
If you’re spending modern collector money, are you getting your money’s worth?
So according to price charting, the loose price for this game is a little steeper.
It’s 54, 44 and the complete in the box with manual that’s looking at 148, 87.
So for a clean eBay cart find you’re looking at like 65 to 70 bucks US, but I will say
while that is expensive, the mod retro cartridge that just came out with 2026 hardware that
will work in an original in 10 to 64 is 49.99.
So you don’t necessarily need to pay the premium of the 54 in order to play this game if
you wanted to have a physical cartridge.
There are other options, but yeah, if you’re looking for the original plastic instead of
the updated, you’re looking at a pretty steep price.
I also looked into it and Google says that you can grab one of the bootleg bumblepacks,
but they’re looking at over a hundred bucks.
I have never actually seen one in the wild, so I can’t confirm that.
I’ve hunted around.
Since I knew that we were going to be doing this episode, I’ve been keeping tabs on eBay.
I have not seen one show up.
Maybe they will now that the the re-release has come out.
But yeah, so it’s a pretty steep price tag associated with this game.
So candidly, if you’re talking about the original hardware, I just, I just, I just
don’t think that a $54 price being commanded for this is worth the price of the actual game.
So I’m, I think I’m going to fail this one.
I think that’s fair.
On the bumblepack, I did see, actually, I saw a picture of one where someone on Reddit
posted a picture and they said, “What the heck is this thing?”
Like they had bought like at a thrift store or something, had bought like a bundle of things,
and they were like, “I don’t even know what this thing is.”
And somebody was like, “Dude, that’s crazy that you got that in there.”
So that’s the only time I’ve seen it.
It’s just a photo of one that a person didn’t even realize what they had just bought.
And so that was…
Yeah, it’s never shown up in a marketplace that I’ve been able to see.
So I can’t verify what the price goes for it.
Yeah, and that one, like they had just bought whatever bundle of stuff for, I don’t know,
like 20 bucks or something.
So it was really just a absolute fluke that they ended up with it.
Because I did a little bit of kind of searching around.
I didn’t realize it existed until we started kind of looking into this.
And I haven’t seen one anywhere either.
So it’s definitely an unusual thing to try to track down.
I’m a little on the fence as far as the pricing of this one, though, because being able to
buy a brand new one for $50 is kind of interesting.
And I think there’s a little bit of a balance between, is it worth the premium for the original?
Maybe not, because $54 is pretty steep.
And I’m sure a lot of that is based on soundtrack popularity.
Just people are like, “Oh, that’s that game.
I gotta go get it.”
And it wasn’t terribly popular.
And it’s day and it’s somehow more popular now.
I’m a little though conflicted because a lot of these games when they came out were in
the $70, $80, $85 range.
So to buy it now for cheaper than it would have been brand new.
It’s true.
It’s kind of interesting.
So if you have this way of getting it, it works on original hardware.
It works on these reproduction hardware units from Mod Retro and from Analysts.
And I think maybe it’s a relatively low barrier of entry.
I think I might split this one.
I think I may, I was a little back and forth, but seeing the prices written out like this,
I think maybe I’m going to give this a pass.
So I think we’re maybe split on this one.
Oh man.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, I mean, that’s a fair argument.
I didn’t really think about it that way.
Honestly, the fact that you can buy a game now 30 years later for a new, for less than it
cost to buy a new back with it originally launched.
That’s an interesting way of looking at it.
I’m going to stand by my vote on that one, but I respect the split on this.
Yeah.
I think totally, totally valid.
I think really both, both points do make some amount of sense.
If it’s a game you never played, it’s an economical ish way to get to it.
But if you are really seeking out that original hardware, it is something you can find.
And so it may cost you a little more, but if you are into the preservation space, it’s
not an absolutely unreasonable price though it could possibly be a little more fair.
So I’ll take the split.
Fair enough, moving on test number 10, the nostalgia goggles test.
Does this game genuinely hold up today?
Or is this reputation being carried by nostalgia?
This is interesting based on all the discussion we’ve just had and how this game is getting
a nostalgia based revival going on right now.
This is an example I think of nostalgia only.
I do not think that the game warrants the nostalgia it has as far as the actual gameplay
the quality of the game.
I just, it wasn’t, it didn’t fly off the shelves back when it was originally launched.
It was respected, but it didn’t set the world on fire at the time, but that quirky catchy
soundtrack and a fondness for looking back I think has given this done wonders for this
game.
And I think it’s given it the boost in the shutter, it’s on it.
And I’m very happy that it’s getting the love that it’s getting now.
But for the, for the rubric of the, of the test, I, this is the definition of being carried
by nostalgia.
So I’m afraid I am going to fail this one.
Absolutely.
To toss out a couple of bee puns, it did not generate a ton of buzz, it did not fly off
the shelves, but it is.
That’s got to sting.
Yeah.
Sorry, I just wanted to jump in with one.
Hey, it’s all good.
You got to, you got to do it when it’s there.
We don’t have many opportunities for that.
So this is, you’re really cutting to set it much better.
I mean, it really is just nostalgia.
People being excited about the soundtrack, it’s not the most reputable game.
It’s not the most well known game.
It’s not a great game, but it is an okay game.
But I think it is definitely something where we have played it recently.
It’s not amazing.
It plays well enough.
It did some pretty notable things for the time, but it is definitely, we wouldn’t even
be talking about it having gotten a re-release if it weren’t for people’s fondness of the
soundtrack and how weird it was.
And I, I agree, though, that I appreciate that it’s there.
There’s been a lot of, which is maybe it’s just that 30 year milestone that people are
kind of looking back on a lot of these things fondly.
But since we started this show, I have seen so many things where I go, that’s a thing that
we’re either getting ready to talk about it.
We have talked about it, and it’s getting a re-release where it’s generating some discussion
that it wouldn’t have had otherwise.
And it’s kind of just this really almost like a renaissance in this sort of revival around
the Nintendo 64 era as a whole.
And I’m really kind of excited about that partially because we’re doing this right now.
I think it adds a lot of context to what we’re doing.
And maybe people will be listening.
But I think it’s definitely worth for sure pointing out that this game, if it weren’t for
the nostalgia, people would not be talking about it.
So I definitely agree that’s going to have to be a fail.
Yeah, but I mean, a mediocre game from 30 years ago, the fact that it’s still in the conversation
now and it’s getting the love.
I’m happy for it.
I think that’s a good thing, but as far as what we’re talking about with it, what are we looking
at for the score on this one now?
Believe it or not for all of the somewhat down the middle of the road things that we’ve
said about it, it got a 65.
It just barely became our first, if you’ve been listening since the beginning, certified 64
title.
Wow, okay, awesome.
That’s that’s for honestly, I would have bet against that knowing what I was going to say
about the game coming into this episode and sitting down with you about it.
I was like, I just, I just don’t see this game making it through.
But that’s kind of the point of this test, right?
So evaluated in a way where it’s not just the perfect 10 out of 10 games get told that
they’re still perfect 10 out of 10 games 30 years later.
The idea here is to evaluate the game and take a look at it in a modern lens and whether
or not it’s worth playing now.
Sure.
I think the conversation about this game with the re-release, with all of the love that in
10 to 64 is getting at the moment, I think it’s cool that now is a time for people to
potentially give Bumble a go.
And in some cases, you can just go back and play and see all of the suffering that we
had to go through when we played it back.
Yeah, originally.
So welcome to the club.
I do think too it’s worth mentioning that that re-release is probably one of the things that
made it certified 64 because if it were just $55 or, you know, $60, $75 or so, buying
it on eBay, was the only way you could get it.
I don’t know that I would have gone with the pricing as fair, but being able to grab
it for $15, $20 cheaper than that brand new basically guaranteed to work, that really
kind of swooped in and saved it.
So the nostalgia really did do wonders for this game and its legacy and its reputation.
And so it was very, very close.
I am in complete agreement with you.
I was thinking sitting there playing it.
I don’t know if this is going to do it, but and I leave the collector portion up to you.
So when you go look up the prices, that usually is the first time I’m hearing it.
So I was absolutely on the fence.
I was just a last minute decision when I went, you know what, it’s 20 bucks cheaper.
Yeah.
I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
But I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So I was just a little bit more focused on the price of the game.
So even a numerical indicator, there’s this many enemies and there’s only three left.
So you leave you at least know what you’re looking for.
Because you I had a couple of levels where I’m kind of just flying around in circles and go,
Oh, it’s that thing on the ground.
I didn’t even see that was there and stuff like that.
100%.
Really kind of tripped me up.
So I think something to kind of steer you in the right direction when you are getting lost.
Yeah.
Even if it’s after a period of being lost, I think would just speed things along.
Yeah, it’s just to try and help you out.
There’s been other games that have done different different techniques of sort of a radar detector.
Actually, there was a little indie game that I played a couple of years ago.
It was a Kickstarter game actually and I follow along the developer of it.
His name’s Rob shout out to Rob.
It was called Clive and wrench and they had a really cool feature in that game where you basically had a magnet detector kind of thing.
And you would turn it on and it would send an indication in the direction of the closest collectible.
Yeah, that’s kind of cool.
So if there was like one or two things left in the level that you needed to try and scoop up,
it would kind of point you in the right direction and it was elective.
So if you didn’t need to use it, just don’t use it.
But if you wanted to, if you’re getting frustrated with trying to find something or if maybe the game put something in a spot where you’re like,
“I would have never gone and looked over there.”
Then it really helps you find some stuff.
Now it can confuse you.
Obviously, if you think about what was it?
The Lego games, finding those golden bricks and the red bricks, sometimes they would be a little indicated to try and let you know,
“Hey, there’s something that appears here, but it’s actually in the scene over or the floor above you or whatever.”
And it drives you nuts because you’re trying to follow this little radar detector thing going around.
But with Buck Bumble, you could do it with his antenna easily.
It would have been a cool little in-universe way to try and link things up instead of that really crappy radar
that seems to be decidedly 2D in a 3D game.
Oh yeah, sure.
Worst case, above you or below you indicators on the menu so that you know to look up or look down instead of just left and right, right?
Little things like that would work.
I think one other thing too, because it’s like, “Oh, isn’t that cheating?”
But I mean, I think there’s even been like a Zelda game that had like the Moon Pearl or Moon Stone or something where it was like your Rumble Pack would vibrate when you got close to certain things.
It’s okay to give hints on some of that stuff.
If you are looking for some particular item or enemy, I occasionally like those sort of quality of life improvements that games don’t have to be hard, especially when you’re older.
You’ve got a job, you’ve got kids, sometimes having that little bit of a thing.
I’d rather enjoy the game and get through it than to be like, “Well, I am the most impressive man in the world because I beat it without the hints. Let me just have fun.”
Yeah, especially when it’s elective, that’s the thing. Don’t use the Moon Stone or don’t use the radar detector.
The other thing I was going to say is the menus.
So while that funky music is playing, it’s just a static low resolution image of Buckbumbl.
If that was animated in some way, you know, have a breakdancing bug or something, just playing into the fact that you got this really kicking track going on while you’re at the menu, that would have gone a long way, I think.
And just set it above. We will talk about this game down the road, but one of the games that I thought was fantastic for, it’s just 3D for the sake of it, menu.
Mystical Ninja, when you died in Mystical Ninja, there was this dancing guy that was just dance above the game over screen for, as far as I’m able to detect no reason besides it looked cool and was funny.
And it was catchy as hell. And I’m just thinking if you applied 10% of that effort to Buckbumbl’s menus, you could have made these things stand to stand the test of time.
And this game would have been re-release a lot sooner than than now.
I do want to say in their defense though, Buckbumbl is only 3/4 of an inch tall.
So like, we may not have had the technology at the time to get a really good picture of him because he was such a little guy.
And I’m just saying this like I don’t understand that he is not real and that it was an actual image that someone drew. So just go with it and just pretend that he was small and they had to actually get a picture of him.
Okay. Now explain some pixelization science. Yeah, no argument.
Yeah. All right. So moving on from that very wise insight. Thank you, Adam. Let’s go into the Lobo learnings in this segment.
In this segment, we take a look at today’s game through the eyes of an indie developer or an aspiring indie developer in this case.
What lessons can we learn from it decades later? What ideas are worth borrowing? What mistakes could have been avoided? What made this game work? And how might those principles apply to a modern game in development?
Lobo learnings is brought to you by Lobo Destroyer. It’s our own Nintendo 64 Inspire 3D platforming adventure that’s currently in development.
As we mentioned before, if you’re enjoying this show and you’d like to follow along on our own development journey, we’d love to have you join us. Please visit Lobo Destroyer.com. That’s L-O-B-O-D-S-T-R-O-Y-O.
.com. And you can find that link in all of that info in the show notes. So yeah, putting on our developer hats here and looking at Buckbumble.
And it just touched on it with a little bit of armchair engineering. One of the things that this game does really well is it commits to its brand and its universe to make its own identity.
It’s what makes this a strong game. There are better shooters out there and better flight simulators on the Nintendo 64. But end of the day, Buckbumble can be identified by a single screen shot.
And that’s pretty rare, right? To be able to look at a shot from pretty much anywhere in the game and be able to identify it, that means your game was pretty iconic and you did a good job there.
Sure, some people might mix it up with Mr. Mosquito that came out a few years later on the PlayStation 2. But, you know, up until that point it was wholly unique and it was committed to that IP.
And then you got to respect that. I think that’s something that games can lean into and really push.
You know, not every game is going to be the most unique thing in the world. But if you stick to your guns as far as how you’re presenting your game and your spin on the genre, I think you can do an awful lot with a little.
And that’s something this game does really well. We’re attempting to do that with Lobo. You know, Buck’s moves and worlds make a lot of sense because of the character that is established, right?
Obviously, unless you have the instruction booklet, you don’t know his birthday and, you know, the reason why he’s a cybernetic, whatever.
But it is pretty straightforward. You can follow along without all of the detail.
And the same kind of goes for Lobo destroyer. We’ve got Mutt as our character in the world of Coastal Lucha. And we try to make sure that everything that Mutt can do, his reactions, the type of things he says, all makes sense for him being a wolf character in this Lucha Libre inspired world.
So putting those little flavor spins on things that are standardized tropes can be a really cool way of making something out of your game to make it stand apart. And Buck Bumble does that in space and I gotta give a props to that.
Yeah, Buck Bumble’s birthday actually January 14th. I made that up. That’s not in the manual. I just wanted it to pretend that it was for a minute. But yeah, I think saved out loud enough times the AI will pick it up and it’ll become fact.
Yeah, it’ll it’ll it’ll eventually become canon and they’ll just know that that’s it’s January 14th. So.
All right. I’m setting my calendar now. We will put out an official happy birthday tweet on Bucks birthday.
Sounds good. And we will start that off and people want to know where that originated and they’ll find us.
Marketing. I think you make a you make a really good point though. I do agree about the I’m not that I’m an indie developer anything like that. But I think you make a really great point from a regular person.
Stand point of the how iconic it is. There are games that you see them and you go that’s that game. And it is very true that even though they are billion dollar franchises, there are a number of screenshots that you see and you go that is one of four generic
military shooter franchises. I’m not entirely sure which one there’s a lot of gray. It’s very clear what era it came from and it is from one of those three or four games. But it can be difficult to know which one unless you are very much a fan of that franchise.
So I think it is very true that 30 years on if you knew that this game existed and you see it you go that’s that game. I know what buck bumble is and I think that’s a again something to note for sure.
Yeah. So with that. That’s the end of this episode. I think this is a good one. I’m again, I’m just chuffed that the buck made it and we’ve got a so prestigious nomination and a certified 64 game in the library this early on in the podcast. So cool. I’m really pleased with that.
Yeah. I think we will definitely see a mix. There are a lot of those games that were low quality. That’s going to happen with any platform. So it’s nice to see that so early on that we have gotten one that is certified 64.
So again, congratulations to buck bumble. All right. We have our next episode lined up. We’re hoping that you will join. So please do like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you like to get your podcast feeds or you can visit us over at the cartridge archive.com.
Give you all that detail in the outro, but I did want to say stay tuned at the very end. We’re going to try a little thing here. We’re going to do a little bit of a tease as to what the next game is and we would love to hear your thoughts and see what your guesses might be.
So jump in on the discord and give us a shout. Good luck with your guesses and if you are out on your platform of choice and you have an opportunity to leave a rating or review, we would really appreciate that.
The cartridge archive was created by Jamie Guy and is produced and hosted by Jamie Guy and Adam Jones. Our music is by the mysterious break master cylinder. Visit the cartridge archive.com for more information or join our discord.
You can find links to both of those at tap2add.me/tca pod. That’s tap the number 2 add dot me slash t-c-a pod. You’ll find that and all our other links in the show notes.
More episodes of the cartridge archive are available wherever you get your podcasts and as always, thanks for listening.
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