Bug-tte Honey

[Kiddo]

Ah, hey, now that Digitpress is back up, I can post this here!

Copypasted from my Atariage forum post;

So, quite a bit ago I decided to try looking up TV series spinoffs of video games, and found a bit of into this series;

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=1373

And thought to try checking it out. Unfortunately, that was rather hard to do for a long time.

Then suddenly I started finding DVDISOs. Excited to finally see a bit of what this is about, I tried asking around some anime communities to see if they were interested in it - but to no avail at the time. Even guidance from friends on what anime places to go to couldn't help me there.

So then I thought to try posting about it on Digitpress. Bad timing.

So then I thought to try posting about it here!

But I guess before that, I gotta explain what this has to do with retro-gaming anything, don't I?

After checking out multiple episodes of the series, I can say with at least some degree of certainty that "Bug-tte Honey" is Hudson Soft's own take on the "Captain N" concept - where kids get zapped into a "videogame world" and have to help the VG Stars fend off villains Compared to Captain N, it's much more comedic and, well, more retro-anime-esque.

I put up a place on my webspace to download the episodes I ripped from DVD so far, in case people here are interested;

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/BugtteHoney

And since my descriptor probably isn't the best, here's some screenshots, most of which I've picked out to carefully show some of the 8-bit homages in the show;

Currently I've uploaded up to episode 29 on my webspace, hoping to see if some people are interested in the series. Besides the Hudson references, the show also has a lot of borderline-copyright-infringing parodies of other VG Devver's products (Episode 29 in particular has a Super Mario Bros. stage parody nearly randomly tossed in, for example.)

[Jorpho]

Oh, so that's what the heck is going on in Takahashi Meijin no Bug Honey! By this I speak of a very obscure Famicom game that I always thought was some sort of Adventure Island spinoff - except it doesn't look anything like the other Adventure Island games, particularly because it is largely terrible and incomprehenisble.

The mystery is solved! Yay!

(By the way, Honey Bug is the name of the winged thing that grants Master Higgins invincibility in the various AI games.)

[pseudonym]

I recognize the first two homages, but what are the last two? I came across this tv series awhile back while I was looking for some info on the game.

[Kiddo]

Well, in pic 3 the cast is running from a pixellated fireball shower. I thought it was rather humorous how fire appears like a blocky 8-bit sprite in the show. Since fireballs are a common gameplay element dating back to Donkey Kong, it's hard to say if that's meant to reference anything specific..

As for that last picture... apparently the character to the right is supposed to be Milon from Milon's Secret Castle. Besides him stating his name in-show, the main giveaways to the reference are the character's nightgown-cap and his affinity for music - music that apparently grants powerups in-show, which makes him one of the few character-of-the-days to appear in more than one episode due to the antagonist wanting to use him to power-up.


Of course, considering later games... yep, there's more than -one- way this can be compared to Captain N.

[Cryomancer]

Awesome, I was hoping this would get more exposure sometime. Here's hoping for subs someday. Thanks for sharing these.

[Kiddo]

D'oh, fine.

Any update on anyone with Dreamcast GD-ROM dumping tools? I still have that Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram Sample Disc lying around.

[Parodius Duh!]

this is awesome! Ive been trying to find episodes forever!!!!! Thanks for posting!

[Kiddo]

As I currently don't have any actual shrine or fanpage to put any of this in - I'm gonna attempt to document the various game references and what not, on an ep-by-ep basis. Before that, though...

General major character analysis.
(NOTE: I'll just link the images, because I'm apparently limited to the exact number of pics I can post on here.)
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...hashiGenjn.png
Takahashi Genjin. Ok, so it's pretty obvious - he's based on "Takahashi Meijin" as he appears in "Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima"/"Hudson's Adventure Island". He's the "hero" of the cast and does all the cool stuff - even when he's under captivity.

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...r%20Second.png
They even brought in the "16 shots per second" meme in the show, as it's represented by him pulling a rapid-punch style attack - using his thumbs!

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...oney/Honey.png
Honey is the title character. She's based off the invincibility powerup from Adventure Island, and as such her role in the show is a walking Deus-ex-Machina. Her embrace gives people both power and motivation, and her tears a shield of protection. On the downside, powered-up people tend to not be exactly in control of themselves.
In the show, she's played as Takahashi's love interest. This... well, it -was- made before the Super Adventure Island series where he was married to -Tina-.... *cough cough*...

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...ney/One-Up.png
The show has three humans from the "real world" of sorts. This one... "Wanappu". Such a weird name, it almost sounds like "One-Up"... ... oh hurhurhur, Hudson, I see what you did there!
It's kinda a tough call figuring out the exact character of each of the thiree kids, as they tend to mostly be played for unsympathetic comedy protagonists - which seems rather strange by modern "Kids get zapped in the game world" standards. That being said, he tends to get a few "cool" moments now and then, mostly when Takahashi isn't around to help.

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/BugtteHoney/Dal.png
"Dal" sounds sort of like an American name. Either that, or it's a pun that goes over my head.
Yes, his most distinguishing feature is his fat. And yes, he likes food.
He carries... what was the name of that toy with the ball on a thread?... eh, anyway, he carries that around, and it tends to be used a lot in action scenes.

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...ney/Midori.png
Midori's the only main cast member with a seemingly-normal Japanese name.
She tends to be played like, well, a bitch - expect her to scream at the top of her lungs at someone once every five minutes, and commit an act of violence against an ally once every ten - not even Honey herself is safe! She tends to whack One-up the worst, though. On the other hand, apparently she has unresolved romantic tension with him as well, which... probably won't be resolved. Aw, well.

Now, for he antagonists...
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...oney/Kyura.png
"Kyura-daiou" (The Great King Kyura) seems to be based on the first "Adventure Island" boss, but a decent amount of liberty was taken - his build is Bowser-like, compared with the more large-humanoid-with-a-furry-head shape the original Famicom boss had.
Kyura is -entirely- motivated by having the hots for Honey. He can't even keep on-topic about his latest diabolical scheme without lusting after her in animation frames that look squickily suggestive.

Kyura, of course, has bumbling henchmen by his side to screw up all his evil plans.
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...y/Skeleton.png
This one is just named "Skeleton".

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...onSoldiers.png
He summons skeletons. But they aren't named skeleton, like he is. \(o_O)/

http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...nomiKarasu.png
I actually had to try looking up this character's name to figure it out, and eventually got "Monomi Karasu".
He's a crow, and he spends much of the show snooping(as usual) on the kids.

There's a few other crows in the show, but they don't tend to appear past the first ep.
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...oney/Crows.png
They're likely all based on the crows that appeared as regular enemies in the Adventure Island games.

All those screencaps were taken from the first ep. Next time I'll probably try to spot all the retro-game in-jokes in each ep. This is gonna be a doozy...

[Jorpho]

I gather none of this is fansubbed.

[Kiddo]

Nope.
And I couldn't get the few fansubbing communities I was recommended/guided to to care enough to consider subbing the series. From my experiences with anime communities, they don't tend to have very many retro-animation fans, even for series that are considered "Classics" in Japan such as the UC Gundam saga, Lupin the Third, etc., compared to videogame fandom where retro is a sizable niche.

(And just to be sure, I checked the DVDISOs for official subtitles to no avail)

I do have the video encodes in .mkv file format, which I hear is a popular anime encode format because of how easy it is to put a "Softsub" subtitle file into it. Hopefully that's helpful to any would-be fansubbers.

Anyway, a few more screencaps from episode 1 - this time I'm getting to my plan to spot the retro-gaming in-jokes.

To start, the first few minutes have a set of talking mushrooms and a talking tree that are likely to be an in-joke of sorts, but I haven't figured out what yet, so I'll just link the screens and see if it reminds anyone of anything.
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B.../mushrooms.png
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...alkingtree.png
The tree tells Takahashi to look in eggs for Honey, which is a cue taken from the Adventure Island games.

Meanwhile, in the "real world", the "Adventure Island" box and cart, and the Toycom system, are all obviously based on Famicom stuff.




That D-Pad seems rather pointy!

The very first 8-bit scene of the show comes from the perspective of playing the game from TV;
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...it%20scene.png
There isn't much to the visuals of the scene, but I swear the music that plays is from NES Donkey Kong - I may be mistaken though, as a lot of the older Famicom titles sound similar.

A rather humorous note is that when Honey first sees the kids (using the heart-shaped device), looking from her world into theirs, their's is the one that looks 8-bit from her perspective.

The eyecatches are a quick scene of Honey turning from blocky pixels to smoother traditional animation. In later episodes this is accompanied by an 8-bit jingle, but not in the first ep.

Scenes like these are recurring throughout the series;
http://kiddocabbusses.tryhappy.net/B...ball%20hit.png
The kids trying to run away from fireballs.


A Bomberman-parody scene.


The kids eventually go through a being-chased-by-giant-spider sequence and then a cave sequence, in a manner that's meant to resemble Adventure Island gameplay. In the cave, some recurring Adventure Island enemies appear as obstacles.


Hmm? A floating Scrubbing Bubble?...
No, wait.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We2sYmyxOPw
The character most closely resembles the blue character, Nuts, from Nuts and Milk, who in that game was the player's rival/enemy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuts_%26_Milk
Here, though, he seems to have taken the role of a hint box, telling the characters something important and then vanishing.

[Gapporin]

The cave screenshot kind of reminds me of the cave levels from Atlantis no Nazo, although that could only be for asthetic reasons:

[Kiddo]

2nd epiosde.

The cast are warped to a place where Turtles hide in Hexagon tiles. I have a feeling this is supposed to reference something. Perhaps this arcade game?


The characters get into a battle, and then this 8-bit sequence appears.


A few egg malfunctions lead to more Adventure Island enemy cameos.

Oh, yeah, and Bomberman's in this ep. I'll post another picture for everyone to groan at.

Yes, his arm is miscolored in this frame. Even moreso than usual.

[Gapporin]

The cast are warped to a place where Turtles hide in Hexagon tiles. I have a feeling this is supposed to reference something. Perhaps this arcade game?

I think that's what the reference is as well.

[Kiddo]

From what I can tell, Episode 3 is basically one big homage to Challenger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta484...eature=related


I could probably get some better shots than this, but either way, you can tell this train is modeled after the one from Challenger.


This character is meant to be "Don Waldorado", the antagonist of Challenger. No, seriously. This CROCODILE WITH A SOMBRERO is meant to be Don Waldorado. He has an unhealthy interest in Midori, which ends up kicking off a loose adaption of what happens in the Challenger games for the remainder of the episode. He has a gun that seemingly fires hard eggs.


While searching for Midori, the cast hop on a minecart. Done in a million games.


As with Bomberman in the previous episode, the Challenger himself appears as a Deus Ex Machina to save everyone's butt. He smites the enemies in an 8-bit sequence which makes Don Waldorado's off character design even -more- jarring.

[Jorpho]

Do they ever make an attempt at explaining what's so darn threatening about those freakin' snails in all the AI games?

[XYXZYZ]

I saw screenshots of this show a long time ago on some Japanese webpage about the 80s, and I've always wanted to see it! Thanks for uploading this Kiddo, I really appreciate it. I'm downloading them all one at a time with a download manager, I'm not wrecking your bandwidth am I?

Alternatively, I could buy both box sets on Amazon for Five Hundred dollars.

[Kiddo]

Be wary that I don't have all the episodes yet - the 9th DVD still ain't finished downloading yet, and the 12th DVD just -now- popped up on Perfect Dark, the Japanese P2P I'm using to snag the DVDISOs and rip the eps from.

I also can't for the life of me find the "Special Spec" bonus features in the DVDISOs - advertised on TMS's trailer for the DVD box set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gZZp2-Kuic

Supposedly has ads for the Famicom game version, a playthrough of it by Takahashi Meijin, a "Reunion" interview set, and footage from the "International" version of the show (wait, was this show ever even licensed for a country besides Japan?)

[Kiddo]

Guys, episode 4 kinda has me stumped at the moment.

Can anyone recall to my memory any Chinese-oriented retrogames? In this episode we have;

1) A Kenpo martial artist girl named Mii
2) A guy who makes "Legendary Ramen".
3) A Dragon, although he might not be an actual game in and of himself - according to the episode plot, the dragon was originally Mii's sweetheart Chen (Chan?), but was transformed into the Dragon by Kyura.

Some screenshots may help;





Maybe these guys came from somewhere? They aren't the series' regular mooks...

Also, a quick visual gag. Skeleton kicks his foot on a pot, and..

It's rather inconsistent whether they were going for a "blocky" look or some other kind of screwy look, but considering quite a few 8-bit scenes have a few stylistic goof-ups, it wouldn't be hard to believe that the intent was to have a brief 8-bit, blocky appearance.

Also, at a point in the episode, Honey gets a pot and a steak knife - the pot becomes a deus ex machina near the climax. As for the steakknife...

It grows into a sword that shoots (presumably water, based on how it can put out fire and the Dragon can slip on it.)
This not only reminds me of a game, but of the cartoon based on it!

"Well, excccuuuuseeee me, Honey!"

As for 8-bit scenes, they're repeats of the ones from previous episodes, except for the fact that Mii is in them for this ep.

[XYXZYZ]

Could it be the Super Chinese / Ninja Boy / Kung Fu Heroes series?

[Atariguy]

Could it be the Super Chinese / Ninja Boy / Kung Fu Heroes series?

I don't think so. Those two people in the first picture look familiar to me, but I'm having trouble placing them. I have a feeling that it's a reference to something for the PC Engine/TurboGrafX-16, but I could be wrong on that.