NES Action Platformer 1992

Bucky O'Hare

Reviewed by Marcus Webb & Elena Castillo · Updated June 2025

Konami's 1992 NES platformer based on the Bucky O'Hare animated series — one of the NES's final year high-quality releases, with five playable characters (Bucky, Jenny, Willy, Dead-Eye, Deadeye), non-linear stage selection, and Konami's signature platformer polish in a game that most players discovered years after its 1992 release.

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💡 Bucky O'Hare — Key Facts

→ Bucky O'Hare was developed by Konami and published by Konami
→ Released in 1992 on NES
→ Genre: Action, Platformer
→ We rate it 9.1/10 — an absolute classic
→ Konami's 1992 NES platformer based on the Bucky O'Hare animated series — one of the NES's final year high-quality releases, with five playable characters (Bucky, Jenny, Willy, Dead-Eye, Deadeye), non-linear stage selection, and Konami's signature platformer polish in a game that most players discovered years after its 1992 release.

Overview

Bucky O’Hare arrived late. November 1992. The SNES had been in homes for a year. The NES was being retired.

Konami delivered a masterpiece for a platform the industry had moved past.

Five Characters

The crew of the Righteous Indignation has different capabilities. Not superficial different — genuinely different mechanics that change how each character navigates and fights.

Jenny walks on ceilings. This is not a minor variation. Ceiling sections that are impassable for Bucky become routes for Jenny. Enemy fire that hits normal characters doesn’t hit Jenny moving on the ceiling above it. Stage design accounts for Jenny’s ability in ways that require her specifically.

Dead-Eye fires in four directions simultaneously. The four shots — left, right, up, down — fire every time the button is pressed. Against enemies attacking from multiple angles simultaneously, Dead-Eye clears the screen in ways Bucky’s forward-only triple shot cannot match.

The Non-Linearity

Four planets in any order. Each planet’s boss rescues a crew member. Rescue order determines who’s available for the next planet.

The optimal route is learnable and matters. Getting Jenny early makes ceiling traversal available for the remaining three planets. Getting Dead-Eye early makes multi-directional enemies manageable. First-time players choose without this knowledge; second-time players reroute with it.

The structure respects player intelligence in a way most 1992 licensed NES platformers didn’t.

The Music

Konami’s audio team made Bucky O’Hare sound like a space adventure regardless of the animated series’ limitations. The stage themes drive the action with the same energy as Contra and Gradius music — music that works without franchise recognition, that exists as accomplished composition on its own.

The game arrived too late for most players to find it in 1992. The music plays in retrospective discovery, which is where most players find it now.

Our Review

9.1

Outstanding / 10

🎮

Gameplay

★★★★★

🎨

Graphics

★★★★★

🎵

Audio

★★★★★

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Replay

★★★★★

Gameplay

Bucky O'Hare is a side-scrolling platformer with non-linear progression — after the opening stage, players can choose which of four planets (Kinnear's Planet, Aldebaran, Rigel, and Komplex's Planet) to tackle in any order, allowing for enemy boss defeat to rescue crew members who then become playable. The five characters have distinct abilities: Bucky O'Hare (balanced, triple-fire), Jenny the Cat (projectiles, ability to cling to and walk on ceilings), Willy the Earth kid (throws energy grenades), Dead-Eye Duck (fires four simultaneous directional shots), and Blinky (a drone that can fly). Completing stages in optimal orders grants better character combinations for harder stages. Boss encounters at each planet rescue a crew member.

Graphics

Bucky O'Hare's NES visuals are technically outstanding for a 1992 NES game — smooth animation, detailed character sprites, colorful environments across four planets. The game demonstrates how much Konami had mastered NES hardware by 1992.

Audio

The Bucky O'Hare NES soundtrack is among the finest in the NES library — energetic space adventure compositions that rank alongside Konami's best 8-bit work. The music exceeds what the animated series' limited reach would suggest for license importance.

Replayability

Non-linear planet selection and five distinct playable characters create high replay. Finding optimal stage order for character acquisition and mastering each character's unique abilities rewards multiple playthroughs.

Historical Significance

Bucky O'Hare (NES, 1992) is Konami's final-year NES masterpiece — released as the console was being phased out, it demonstrates the platform's capabilities at their limit. The game is consistently cited as one of the best NES games that most players discovered years after its release due to the animated series' limited popularity and the game's late arrival. The non-linear structure and five distinct playable characters were innovative for a 1992 NES platformer. The game has been re-evaluated as an underappreciated NES classic in retrospective coverage.

✅ Pros

+ Five distinct playable characters with unique abilities
+ Non-linear planet selection with strategic character acquisition order
+ Jenny's ceiling-walking is a unique NES platformer mechanic
+ Dead-Eye's four-directional fire covers full-screen threats
+ Konami's technical peak for NES platformer design

❌ Cons

- Based on animated series with limited Western popularity
- Late 1992 NES release received limited attention at the time
- Optimal character acquisition order not obvious without knowledge
- Blinky (drone) less useful than other four characters

Also Known As

Bucky O'Hare NESバッキー・オヘア

Bucky O'Hare FAQ

What are the five playable characters' abilities in Bucky O'Hare?

Bucky O'Hare features five characters with substantially different combat and movement capabilities. Bucky O'Hare is the standard character — triple-fire projectiles, balanced speed, all-purpose use. Jenny the Cat can walk on and cling to ceilings — pressing against a ceiling causes Jenny to walk upside down, reaching areas and angles impossible for other characters. She also fires two spread shots. Willy DuWitt throws arcing grenade projectiles that bounce and explode — effective against enemies in pits or behind obstacles. Dead-Eye Duck fires in four directions simultaneously — left, right, up, and down — making him devastating against enemies attacking from any angle. Blinky is an autonomous drone character that flies and has a rapid-fire attack. Each character is best suited for different stage types.

How does the non-linear stage selection work?

After the game's opening stage, players choose which of four planets to tackle: Kinnear's Planet, Aldebaran, Rigel IV, and Komplex's Computer Planet. Each planet has multiple stages and a boss encounter. Defeating a planet's boss rescues the imprisoned crew member associated with that planet — unlocking them as playable characters. The non-linearity matters because certain planets are easier with specific characters not yet unlocked: beginning with Kinnear's Planet (where Jenny is rescued) gives ceiling-walking ability early, making subsequent planets easier to navigate. Players who discover the optimal unlock order — which planet to tackle first for best character acquisition — find the game significantly more manageable than random order. The structure rewards knowledge and replanning between playthroughs.

Why is Bucky O'Hare considered an underappreciated NES classic?

Bucky O'Hare is consistently cited as underappreciated because the animated series it was based on had limited popularity — fewer players knew the source material and sought out the game. Released in late 1992 when the NES was being phased out in favor of SNES, the game received limited retail attention and sold modestly. Players who found it in 1992 were typically surprised by its quality — the non-linear structure, five distinct characters, and Konami's technical mastery were exceptional for a licensed NES game from any era. Retrospective coverage of the NES library in the 2000s-2010s elevated Bucky O'Hare's reputation significantly. The game is now cited alongside Chip 'n Dale 2, DuckTales 2, and Tiny Toon Adventures as the finest late-era NES licensed platformers.

Is Bucky O'Hare available on modern platforms?

Bucky O'Hare NES has not received a modern digital re-release. The animated series license and Bucky O'Hare intellectual property have changed hands since the 1980s-90s publications; the game's licensing situation is complicated enough that no current platform has offered the game digitally. Original NES cartridges are available through retro game stores at above-average collector prices due to the game's limited original production and growing reputation. The arcade Bucky O'Hare game (a beat 'em up, also by Konami, 1992) is similarly unavailable digitally. The NES version is considered significantly more accomplished than the arcade version's genre. Physical cartridge or emulation are the only current access options.