Let’s go, Gogo!
‘Tiny Toons: Buster’s Hidden Treasure’
Mega Drive
@Konami
There’ve been a few instances from my youth when I would’ve liked to play a particular game but didn’t have the console to play it. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a big deal but I didn’t have a Nintendo 64 until a few years after its release. Instead, I found a similar experience through Mega Man Legends on PlayStation. It was the same sort of action-RPG as the Zelda games, albeit with less sword fighting and more laser blasts. Legends remains one of my favorite games while Ocarina of Time is only notable for me as the progenitor of Majora’s Mask, a far more interesting take on the Zelda formula.
In any case, this GIF from Tiny Toons: Buster’s Hidden Treasure reminds me of how this game filled the same niche for Sega Genesis players as Super Mario World did for the SNES. Like many games released after Super Mario World, Buster’s Hidden Treasure provided some options through the usage of an overworld map that allowed players freedom in how they proceeded through each of the game’s many platformer levels. There were also the same sorts of secret routes, boss encounters, and lively animation and art. In short, this game provided an experience that wasn’t quite as lofty as Super Mario World but still important for the platform and its players. Other games on Sega Genesis attempted and stumbled in their efforts to replicate the success of Super Mario World’s sprawling exploration and gameplay (I’m looking at you, James Pond 3), but I can’t think of many games that achieved what Konami did with Buster’s Hidden Treasure.
