VGR Tiny Toons 2

And here's yet another video game review!

This time I'll be having a look at the sequel to Tiny Toons on the NES, one of the lesser known installments of the series.

VGR: Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland

From Konami

Played on Nes

Also available on /

Type Minigames/Arcade sidescrolling platformer

Year 1992/94

Tiny Toons 2 is the direct sequel to Konami's original title back in 1991.
It was originally released in Japan first, only a short year after the first one.

The sequel still uses most of the elements and basis from the previous game, although the gameplay itself is a bit more varied to your usual platformers this time. Like those later original 16-bit action games from the mid-90s such as Earthworm Jim or Super Tempo, not two levels look or play the same.
Level design and gameplay is always different from one stage to another.

But first, let's have a look at the little synopsis, shall we?

A new theme park has just opened during the night! (how?!)

This new amusement park is called Wackyland - not to be confused with Gogo Dodo's own homeplace also called wacklyland.
Buster Bunny gets invited by a "Secret Admirer" along Babs Bunny (no relation!), Plucky Duck, Hamton Pig and Furrball (Wasn't he just a cat anyway?).

The park is composed of 4 different big attractions as well as a secret castle.
The objective in this game is to reach the castle, avoid all the enemies and obstacles along your way and survive your trip through Montana Land Wackyland!

The game is sort of played through like your usual Mega Man and other 8-bit classics.
You can select whatever level you want first, they're all open from start and you can explore them in the order you want to!

Even though the game looks, feels and seems to play like the previous game, it's a very different experience actually!
The game is only part-platformer to be precise.

The game is composed of 5 stages, only 4 are available at the beginning.
Plucky has the more traditional platformer game level.
You're on top of a train in motion, avoiding obstacles, defeating enemies, jumping around until you reach the boss at the end.

From there on, everything goes!

Then you have Furrball.
It's sort of a gimmick-y level. You're on a wooden plank, trying to keep your balance from one plank to another, surviving waterfalls and whatnot.

Babs stage will require all your reflexes.
It's a constant moving level, on platforms speeding around the place, you can rotate them to avoid enemies.

Plucky has the more mini-game looking stage.
In a toy car combat, you will have to bump enemies out of the stage for three levels in pinball-inspired panels.
It's the most tedious one and easily the more annoying one.

By playing through the game you will earn score.
This score can be used to buy tickets.
Each level cost a certain amount of tickets. Playing any of the attractions will earn you score no matter what.
If you succeed to finish a level you will also win a gold ticket.
To reach and enter the final castle you will either need all four gold tickets or a huge amount of normal ones.

So you can decide to replay a bunch of levels many times (many, many times...) or simply complete all 4 original stages once.
Then you unlock Buster's level, Montana Max's castle - as always!
It's basically a dungeon-type of stage, where you will end up in a huge maze of rooms and walking vertically-inversed on the roof like in Sonic games. Then it's up to the final (and easy) boss.

The game is actually pretty short even by standards back then.
There's really only one actual difficult level, Babs' one. And Plucky's stage just gets annoying but is not that impossible.
There's barely no boss except one "here or there" and the last one in the end.

Overall, it's a fun simple little game.
But it's also a bit let down from the original.
I would have preferred a more traditional title. Or if you'd go this route, at least offer more alternate stages for everyone or at least an initial Buster level before the end. Plucky's stage is also pretty bad, I'd prefer an actual level for him. This bumper cars-thing should have been a mini-game instead...

At least the way it's played out is nice.
You can play the levels in no order, and even chose to only play one level over and over again.
The idea is nice, the way you need to buy tickets to access the stages and the final castle.
My problem's in the execution...

I give it:

 1.5 / 3 Bruces!