Theme - Bubsy the Bobcat (Super NES)

Cyril: Bubsy the Bobcat gets a bad rap. These days he's singled out as the poster child (poster cat?) of an era overrun by furry mascot characters with snarky attitudes. He's no worse than B.O.B., Aero the Acro-bat, Awesome Possum, Rocky Rodent or Boogerman. This song, however, makes a strong argument for why Bubsy the Bobcat should remain buried. It's an upbeat number with a funky beat. It's endlessly cheery to the point of sounding more like the intro from a 1990s family sitcom than a Sonic the Hedgehog rip-off. I'm sure there are people who find the happy melody appealing, but I want to run as far away as I can. It puts me in a bad mood. This theme is only 80 seconds long, yet the whole time I was imagining the sweet embrace of suicide.

Kevin: I've always been fond of Bubsy's theme. It has a light jazzy groove to it that regularly changes up to keep your interest. It's also a very jaunty tune, which fits Bubsy's character perfectly. In typical jazz fashion, the instrumentation here is quite busy. The keyboard takes the lead and sets a tone I can only describe as sly, especially with the accenting horns, which is perfect for a game starring a cat. Even the bass gets to show off, its part filled with syncopation and walks. With such a diverse set of instruments, the SNES's sound capabilities get a good workout. In fact, the horns used in this theme couldn't be replicated for the Genesis version, but were instead rendered with a more basic synthesizer sound. This theme really stands out to me. It's not too busy, and yet I seem to notice something new each time I hear it.