Bubsy 4D Hands-On Preview – Bubsy’s Back Thanks to Indie Devs
A few weeks prior to PAX West 2025, Atari revealed to the world that a new Bubsy game was well into development, and it’s called Bubsy 4D. Will this finally be the time for Bubsy to break into contention as one of the best platformers on modern platforms? The odds are certainly stacked against Bubsy and crew, but don’t count this furball out just yet!
Find out how things are going for the oft-maligned furball in our Bubsy 4D hands-on preview.
A Long, Unsuccessful History
Bubsy. The name alone sends publishers panicking, because this ancient video game franchise hasn’t seen the same kind of love other retro games have, and with good reason. A failed revitalization of the IP towards the latter half of the 2010s left the series in shambles, and Atari scooped up the rights to the franchise in 2023.
The publisher then sought input from the indie dev scene, as they asked for and received Bubsy game pitches for their new (to them) property. Fast-forward two years, and Atari revealed the game in question, with indie developer Fabraz at the helm.
Due out some time in 2026, development is apparently moving right along, as a demo build of the game was playable on the show floor.
Bubsy 4D marks a return to 3D platforming, which the series has not seen since the 1996 release of Bubsy 3D. Whereas that game suffered from a short draw distance, low frame rate, and terrible controls, Bubsy 4D has all the modern trappings you’d expect in a modern platformer: the draw distance is essentially limitless, the action is buttery smooth, and the controls are nuanced (yet there is also inexplicably going to be an option to enable “tank” controls, I suppose so you can be reminded how far we have come).
Typical, Solid Platforming
Naturally, as a platformer, the game begins with a tutorial. You can jump, double-jump, glide, but you can also pounce (a move which we have seen in the series before), wall climb, and even turn into a giant hairball. When in hairball form, the game kind of controls like Super Monkey Ball. Even in some of the early levels we saw, all of these abilities can be combined to make for some interesting platforming challenges. It feels like Bubsy 4D has the basics of platforming down pretty solidly already.
There are some references to gaming in general, as the whole attitude of Bubsy 4D doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously. Expect fourth-wall-breaking antics, such as Bubsy occasionally shouting out “T-Pose baby!” when jumping, a reference to the default pose that non-animated characters take in most modern game engines. Speaking of which, Fabraz has opted to use the Unity engine, and it hummed along swimmingly during our demo session. Honestly, I walked away from my brief time with Bubsy 4D feeling hopeful that this was actually shaping up pretty nicely.
This Might Just Work
Bubsy 4D is a game I’m not sure too many people asked for. The franchise as a whole has yet to reclaim the glory of the first two games, with more popular platformers such as Sonic and Mario taking the mantle for best platformer during the heyday of platformers back in the ‘90s, depending on who you ask. Despite this, or perhaps in spite of it, people still get a kick out of Bubsy. There is probably some level of meta-awareness for fans of the series, where they know it’s the less well-known, consistently lower-rated platforming franchise. There is always some charm in rooting for the underdog, as well. This time around, it seems, things might actually be working in Bubsy’s favor.
Beginning life as a plea for game pitches from Atari, Bubsy 4D feels like it could be onto something good, maybe even great, here. The platforming already felt pretty nice, and while time will tell if the comedy-heavy tilt to the story will overstay its welcome and end up getting more groans than laughs out of the audience, so far the general attitude of Bubsy and crew is different if nothing else.
We may be far from release, but we look forward to seeing how things shape up for this underdog platformer when Bubsy 4D launches on Windows, PlayStation 5/PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and both Switch consoles sometime next year.
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