Decided to write my own little review of Super Bunny Man.
Super Bunny Man
Developer: Catobyte
Release Date: May 15th 2023 (Early Access September 1st 2017
Super Bunny Man came along to ask the question no one thought to ask. What happens when you take the precise platforming levels of Super Meat Boy, and force a man in a bunny costume that hops around like a drunken pogo stick to navigate them.
Surprisingly, the answer is good fun.
Super Bunny Man is a physics based platformer presented in bite size levels, creating the perfect amount of challenge for a dabbling masochist or limited time gamer looking for a “Getting Over It-like” without the commitment.
With a title screen that features four grown men in colored bunny suits raving to a bouncy synth pop masterpiece, Catobyte does not bury the lead. Super Bunny Man wears its silliness on its bunny suit sleeve.
The single player campaign consist of 50 unique levels of varying difficulty divided among five differently themed worlds. Each level is a short obstacle course of gaps, pits, spikes, boulders and less typical platforming nouns like jet skies, snowmen, flame throwers, and wiener mobiles. Most levels take less than a minute to complete, many less than 20 seconds even, however, that doesn’t mean there is less than an hour of gameplay. While early levels will provide something of gentle onboarding, later levels will test your mechanical knowledge and patience. Add in additional challenges of a par time, and a giant carrot hidden on every level to grab and drag to the ending portal and there’s easly 5 to 10 hours of solo game play depending on your commitment.
Failure is an option.
While Bunny Man apes Meat Boys short levels, it goes in the exact opposite direction when it comes to controls. You can jump, grab, and move, and that’s basically it. Unlike other platforming protagonists, Super Bunny Man does not run. Rather the analog stick causes him to tip over and roll like an obese Sonic character. Jumping is the main mode of transportation, sending Super Bunny Man flying across the screen. By tipping him left or right with the analog stick you can control the angle of his jump and distance and gain height and speed with multiple successive jumps.
While difficult at first, the simple mechanics of Super Bunny Man are grokable, and surprisingly deep. After 7 hours I had completed every stages par time and I felt a complete general mastery of the early levels with a kind of satisfaction I got starting a second character in Dark Souls and not dying for the first several hours.
The goal is so close, yet so far.
That doesn’t account for clumsiness however. The low barrier of return with short levels and chaotic environments lead to careless and impatient decisions. For every smooth, precise jump I’d misjudge an angle of attack, or tumble just a little to far after a fling just because I wanted to keep moving quickly.
The result is a pogo stick of a man grunting as he leaps head first into a spike pit, then resetting the level and leaping head first into the same spike pit again, and laughing both times.
Along with single player there is also a local co-op mode. The levels are exactly the same, but thanks to the chaotic element of a second bunny man can be far more difficult. While there are some interesting new tactics two players can exploit, they can also provide a massive obstacle for one another. One wayward kick can send your friend flying across a difficult gap just as easily as it can launch them into a sea mine. At the same time, you’ll discover situations that would call for a restart in single player that can be salvaged by your co-op partner, creating moments of triumph and explosive celebrations.
Super Bunny Man wastes no time mounting a snowman.
More of the same can be said about the local multiplayer modes, Deathmatch, Basketball, and Carrot Grab, each one a different experience where skill, physics and luck collide.
Super Bunny Man is the kind of fun you get when you take a game like Getting Over It and strip out 90% of the frustration. It’s easy to learn, difficult to master, amazing as a co-op experience, and will reward you with an enjoyable experience for whatever length of time you chose to commit to it.
4 grown man in a bunny suit grunts out of 5.