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A Bug's Life

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A Bug's Life is a bootleg port of the Game Boy Color game of the same name for the Sega Mega Drive published by Unite Lucky Technology. A port of this game to the SNES would also be created, which was published by DVS Electronic Co..

Overview[]

A Bug's Life (MD) Gameplay

Gameplay

The controls remain mostly intact, albeit with some changes. The berry throw and the run are now separate buttons instead of using a single button, being assigned to A and B respectively. You also jump with C. Flik also appears to move a lot smoother than he does in the original game. A lot of the other control mechanics such as when riding Dim or bouncing higher off the leaves remain the same.

The port only has four out of eight levels from the original, only retaining the first (named Ant Island in the port), second (Find The Hero), fifth (In The Dark Hole) and sixth levels (Hang By a Thread). The bonus stage that occurs after the first level where you harvest all the grain is absent as well. The levels themselves remain mostly the same from the original. One notable removal from the original game is the falling berries. Because of this, Flik starts with 20 berries when you start the game rather than zero like in the original. Hang By a Thread also features Hopper flying in a specific pattern several times in the level. They have been added due to the fact it's the final level in the port (notably, Hopper's sprite is based on his flying sprites in the original) and the ending still makes mention of him.

Some graphics and sounds in this game were taken from the PlayStation/N64/PC versions of the official A Bug's Life game, such as the "Game Over" screen, the level start screen, the leaf health meter (which is a direct horizontal rip based on the vertical version of the idea), and the sound samples, which are notably lower-pitched. Flik also talks every time he defeats an enemy identical to his 3D counterpart. The background on the title screen is also taken from the Windows 95 wallpaper background, while the picture of the characters (Dim, Slim, Tuck and Roll, Flik, Francis, Rosie, Gypsy and Manny) in the intro is taken from the cover of the Japanese and Korean A Bug's Life video game for the Sega Pico and mirrored. Some of the enemies, however, seem to be taken from Mr. Nutz and edited.

The music in the game doesn't seem to be from the original GBC game; the title screen theme is "The City" from the original movie, Find the Hero's theme is a rendition of the composition "Magnetic Rag" by Scott Joplin and Hang By a Thread's theme is the Outer Senshi theme of Sailor Moon.

SNES version[]

The controls are different, with A being the jump, B being the run and both X and Y letting you throw berries. They are also notably less responsive than in the Mega Drive version. For example, while running, Flik has to gain momentum to achieve max speed in the SNES version, while in the Mega Drive version, he runs at max speed immediately. He also tosses the berries slightly higher in the SNES version, which makes it harder to hit certain enemies. In Hang By a Thread, Flik can move faster with Dim by holding A, which was not present in the Mega Drive version.

The levels remain the same from the Mega Drive version. The only notable difference is that in the final level, Hopper flies in different patterns and his final appearance in the level has him chase you around.

The graphics remain the same, with some touch-ups on certain sprites. (This does lead to a weird error, where the berry has a different style between when Flik is in the middle of throwing it and when it's flying out) The sound engine was ripped from Bonkers like several other bootleg SNES games done by the same developers. The backgrounds don't scroll at all here as well. The intro is also different, mainly just consisting of Flik flying on a dandelion seed repeatedly.

Other Differences[]

  • Flik's idle animation is different between the two ports. The SNES version is the same as the original GBC game's idle animation, having him go between putting his hands on his hips and tapping his foot while looking at the viewer, randomly just staring at the viewer and then waving at them. The Sega Mega Drive version only keeps the foot-tapping animation. The SNES version also adds sound effects while he's tapping his foot or waving.
  • Ending the level in the SNES and the original GBC version just cuts out to the next screen. The Mega Drive version has Flik looking and waving at the player while exclaiming "Oh yeah!" before moving on.
  • Leaves don't animate when you land on them in the port, even though they help you jump higher.
  • Grasshoppers take two berries to take out instead of one hit in both ports.
  • The SNES version misses a grasshopper from the Tuck and Roll section in Find The Hero.
  • Rosie creates webs way faster in the Mega Drive version, although this is due to the fact each of Rosie's appearances doesn't check to see if Rosie is already gone from the screen. (It's possible that, if you go fast enough, you can see two to three Rosie's on-screen)
  • Hang By a Thread in the SNES version lacks projectiles being thrown from behind you. Flik's animation also doesn't change based on the direction you're holding.

Trivia[]

  • In the Dark Hole's theme reappears in Puckman Pockimon.
  • A hidden X-Boy screen can be accessed by holding Start, A, B, C, and Up on the player 2 controller and A, B, C on the player 1 controller at the same time, right when the game boots up.
  • Graphics from this game have shown up unused in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Gold 2000, Squirrel, Pokémon Gold Silver, and Digimon Adventure.
    • Graphics from the SNES version of Pocket Monster also show up unused in the ROM.
    • This game may run on the Hercules 2 engine, as Mulan does. There are several similarities such as the game being a Disney-film based platformer with four levels, and that it was released two years after the original film it was based on. Both Mulan and A Bug's Life were released the same year. Since the game ends with a shoot-'em-up level, it's likely that A Bug's Life was built off of Hercules 2 and came first, and Mulan was released later that year on a revamped version of the Hercules 2 engine.
  • In the Mega Drive version only, after the clip of the bugs, it transitions to a slightly ominous dark orange, black and white background with Hopper slowly approaching to the camera while making audible stomps.

Gallery[]

Main article: A Bug's Life/gallery

Videos[]

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