Monday, October 13, 2014

Night of Terror #13: 'Bug Too!' - "Weevil Dead II"



For those of you who are not conversant in the mid-90s Sega Saturn corpus, Bug Too! is a sequel to the popular video game Bug! which featured a small green movie star insect named Bug. For part two, Bug returns with two costars, Maggot Dog and Superfly, in an adventure that spans many levels with movie-and-insect-themed pun titles, like "Lawrence of Arachina" and "Antennae Day."

But what concerns us today is "Weevil Dead II," the first level of the game and one that is appropriately horror-themed. The "haunted level" is full of fog, undead bugs emerging from underneath fly-swatters, sinister crypts and giant boulders. Because I'm bad at video games and possessing a limited amount of time, I looked up some cheat codes and played through the level. It was fun, and interesting to see how many of the jokes must have flown over my head when I was a kid but almost seem too obvious now (for example, a recurring boss based on the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Some of the jokes actually are funny, though, like the bad guy who grabs you in his chains and just shouts "LOSER" at you. Funny.

The most memorable aspect of "Weevil Dead II," unusually for a video game, is the music. The tune that runs throughout is a clear homage to/ripoff of Danny Elfman, and it's an effective enough earworm to stand up next to his work.

Here's a very bizarre promo video I found online about Bug Too!, check it out if you enjoy fake (?) Spielberg quotes and a general air of 90s irony.



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