Bucky O'Hare (NES)

Bucky O'Hare
Developer: Konami Publishers: Konami (JP/US), Palcom Software (EU) Platform: NES Released in JP: January 31, 1992 Released in US: January 1992 Released in EU: February 18, 1993 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has anti-piracy features. This game has a prerelease article

Bucky O'Hare is a platformer based on the somewhat-obscure Saturday-morning cartoon, and is a rare licensed video game that's actually quite good. Of course it was also directed by Masato Maegawa, who would later go on to form a little company called Treasure.

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Prerelease Info

Unused Graphics

Sprites

An unused frame from Deadeye's wall climbing animation.

Some exploding rocks, possibly asteroids, stored with enemies from the Yellow Planet.

Some sort of cannon, stored with enemies from the Blue Planet. Maybe intended to float on the water?

Also stored with enemies from the Blue Planet. Looks similar to the electricity turrets found in the Cell level.

Another one stored with the Cell enemies. Unlike the last one, this is a half-object intended to be mirrored. The zappers used in the game are purely background graphics and face downward instead of upward.

Locked up in the Cell are a couple prisoner warthogs(?) who flip out if you attack them. This standing frame is unused as they are constantly in their run cycle, even when standing still.

This looks to be a kicking animation.

An unused frame for the Triborg enemy found in the Salvage Chute. The Triborg splits into three parts when shot enough; this part being the middle portion. Its arms are crossed here, while they normally appear in a neutral position.

A flying insect stored next to the jumping toads for the final level. Possibly an early/alternate version of the enemy ships that fly towards/behind you.

Backgrounds

A cracked variant of the ice blocks found on the Blue Planet. The ice blocks there don't crack and instead break with one shot.

A wheel for the tank boss of the Yellow Planet. The game uses bank switching to make the wheels animate. Perhaps it was a stationary graphic at one point? This version is still slightly different from the two frames used in the final game.

Unused Text

• SOUND CHECK - Located at 0x11512. Was likely intended for a sound test, and is coded to appear in the same location as the PASS WORD text on the title screen. A pointer to this text exists, but no routine ever loads its associated index ($09).
• START DEMO - Located at 0x11522. No pointer remains for this text.

Anti-Piracy

As with most of the games Konami has published after 1990, this game features a copy-protection routine. It performs a checksum on the © KONAMI 1991 string used on the title screen, as well as part of the checksum routine itself; if either one has been tampered with, the game is forced into Hard Mode, in which a single hit will kill you regardless of your health. For some reason, the US and European versions do not have this check, and always set the Hard Mode flag to $00 at reset.

If you want to try out this mode for yourself, enter the password HARD! and prepare for a frustrating time.