Bunny Must Die - The "Moe Moe" Metroidvania

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Hello everyone! Here I come with a new entry dedicated to another of those secondary games that not many people talks about. A couple of entries ago I talked to you about Valdis Story, one of the most interesting “Metroidvanias” that I had the pleasure to play recently and which I highly recommend, and in this new entry I bring you yet another game that follows the same path, I´m talking about (let me hold my breath) Bunny Must Die: Chelsea and the 7 Devils. Behind that rather odd (and long) title there is a really interesting Metroidvania game that is also a parody of the games it draws inspiration from. Let´s have a closer look to the things that the adventure of the brave and happy Bunny has to offer.

Behold the dreadful "thermomewclear" weapons...

Developed originally by the Japanese one-man indie developer Platine Dispositif, and published later for the western market by Rockin Android, which added a series of extras to the game, Bunny Must Die is a doujin 2D action/adventure game that follows the path of classics such as Super Metroid or Castlevania Symphony of the Night, delivering a pretty challenging and crazy action and exploration adventure, topped with a bit (lot) of Japanese kinky humor which will be patent right from the first introduction scene of the game. As always, the story in this kind of games is a rather secondary thing, but also as always, due to the constant search for innovation that the Japanese seem to constantly pursue, Bunny Must Die didn´t want to be less when it came to offer “something different”, and it does indeed succeed, I mean, the story is really something “different”... The story of Bunny Must Die sets us in a parallel world that is at peace after a terrible Feline World War (I always knew you couldn´t trust those little furry fellas). One day, a “Thermomewclear” station suddenly blows up, trapping our protagonist, Bunny, in the explosion. As a result, two “horrible” cat ears grow on poor Bunny´s head, adding to the two cute bunny ears she already had. Poor desperate Bunny sees herself traumatized by this so very terrible happening, I mean, who in his/her right mind would prefer cats ears to bunny ears!? Actually, who wants any animal ears... unless you work as a maid in Akihabara, of course, in that case... anyway, she decides to enter the Demons Labyrinth in order to find a cure for her “terrible mutation”, I mean, where else could you go to get rid of your “cat ears”, right? A plastic surgeon you say? You guys are so weird... Anyway, this ladies and gentleman, is how you write the story for a game in Japan when you don´t know what to do. Some don´t start their game till they have THE great idea, in Japan, when you want to make a game and you don´t know how to start, you mix the drama of traumatized poor little bunny girl in a bath suit with a Feline World War and throw in some demons, and off you go. Pure genius...

Two of the game´s "terrible bosses": the giant killer kitty, and the perverted vampire fan of Elvis...

At a first glance, the nutty story and retro graphic style might make many think that this is just another weird stupid game, and you could almost be right if it was not because the game´s core mechanics make of Bunny Must Die a purebred Metroidvania that hides underneath it´s cutie (and pixelated) looks a deep gameplay system that will prove challenging even for the most veteran players out there. As it happened in the classics that inspired it, in Bunny Must Die we will have to explore the different areas of the Demons Labyrinth in order to find a cure for Bunny. While we will be able to access many of the areas right from the beginning, we won´t be able to access some other till we don´t find first the necessary skill to do so, which will force us to go back on our steps in order to access new areas that were before unreachable. The game will boast a wide variety of areas, from underground secret laboratories Metroid-style, to haunted castles like Castlevania. Each area will have its own boss, which range from gigantic (and adorable) kitties that will try to crush us with their fluffy paws, to perverted vampires that will shoot fire balls from their... ding dong. Yeah, you read all that well... Sorry, sucking blood is too old school and mainstream. Anyway, as you can see the bosses live up to the story of the game, in fact, I think even the creators of the arcades classic Parodius would have loved to have bosses like this in their games, and boy those guys were crazy...

The complete map

About the gameplay itself, as it happened in Castlevania or Super Metroid, Bunny Must Die alternates between platform and action areas. At the beginning one could think that the platform areas are rather easy, but they won´t be as easy as they could look, for depending on whether we are moving or not, the jumps that Bunny will perform will vary, thus we have that, while the jumps will be higher but shorter when Bunny is not moving, they will be shorter but longer when she is moving. This system will force us to constantly evaluate well each situation carefully in order to use the right type of jump. As for the skills that we will obtain, they will go from your typical “wall jump”, to other more “creative”, such as a skill that will allow us to walk to the right. Yup, you read that well again. You won´t be able to go right unless you first find the necessary skill to do so, which luckily will be very early in the game, so don´t bother to check a thousand times you pad/keyboard configuration, it is fine, the problem you took the possibility to walk both directions right from the beginning for granted. You are just too spoiled for Bunny. The most important skills will be those related to time control, which we will need to solve some of the puzzles of the game. During the game, on top of your typical “Health Gauge”, we will have also a “Time Gauge” which will indicate the amount of magic energy we have available to manipulate time. During the adventure we will be able to expand both gauges by finding several items hidden across the labyrinth. Bunny will be able to make use from a variety of weapons that she will be able to obtain by destroying the candelabrums (yes, you hardcore gamer, just like Castlevania) that she will find across the whole labyrinth, which go from daggers, to swords or iron balls with chains, each with the own characteristics that will make them more or less useful depending always on the situation. We will only be able to carry one type of weapon at any given time, so every time we pick a new weapon we will replace the one we were carrying till that moment for it, forcing us to make sure we want that new weapon, since once we change it we won´t be able to change our weapon again till we find another one in some other candelabrum. Last but not least, just in case all the above was not enough, if we finish the game under certain conditions we will unlock a second playable character, Chelsea. Although the map will remain the same, Chelsea´s powers are completely different from those of Bunny, which will completely change the way we will have to tackle the labyrinth challenges, helping to expand the game´s life spam.

                                    The two playable characters: Bunny (left) and Chelsea (right)


Anyway, Bunny Must Die never takes itself too seriously, which it kind of helps to give the game even more personality, making it ideal for all those who want to revive the times of the adventures of Samus Aran and Alucard. You can buy the game at the Steam website. If you want to play a classic adventure, give a chance to Bunny, it might not be perfect, but it surely won´t disappoint you, I mean, who wants to miss a perverted version of Dracula who shots fire from his ding dong, right? Enjoy!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4JhDi34c4