On a normal day, Bugs Bunny stumbles upon a Time Machine. Mistaking it for a carrot juice dispenser, he inadvertently time travels to a random era. Bugs meets sorcerer, Merlin Munroe. He gives the wascally wabbit tips to retrieve clocks and golden carrots scattered in different eras. Bugs embarks in a time traveling adventure encountering adversaries from the cartoons.
“Bugs Bunny Lost in Time” was officially released in 1999 (same year Ape Escape came out) on PlayStation. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a modest commercial success. A sequel, “Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters” came out in 2000. Speaking of “Looney Tunes,” “Coyote vs. Acme” is now available for digital purchase on Amazon Prime Video. A physical release is coming on December 1, 2026.
Today’s review contains no SPOILERS.
Smart & Dumb Qualities
Smart: Billy West did a decent job for his voiceover performance. He voiced Bugs Bunny in “Space Jam.” A childhood guilty pleasure.
Graphics for a PS1 game are pretty good.
It’s not a Looney Tunes video game without Cartoon Sound Effects are present. They match the wacky hijinks.
Funny Moments made me chuckle. If Bugs gets hit, he yells, “HEY!”
Daffy Duck appears in the game dressed as Robin Hood. Sadly, he’s not a boss. Just happens to be there.
Gameplay/Mechanics
- Presented as a third-person platformer, you play as wascally wabbit, Bugs Bunny roaming his way through levels. Your goal is to find clocks and golden carrots. Obtaining every single one will bring Bugs back to his own time. Basically, “Super Mario 64” with Looney Tunes.
- Combat enables you to kick, jump on top of an enemy’s head like Mario, throw objects at foes and grab a mallet by squashing one.
- There are five eras. Stone Age, Pirate Years, The 1930s, Medieval Period and Dimension X.
- Sneak past enemy detection. Tip-Toe close to your opponent. Then kick him in the rear.
- Successfully bypass puzzles.
- Press the X button and hold it again for Bugs to activate helicopter ears. Slows down a soft landing. Come hands handy whenever you’re about to land on an explosive.
- A unique mechanic whenever you dive in a rabbit hole, you burrow to another hole. It’s also used as a way to start a level.
- An umbrella acts as a checkpoint system. If you lose all your health, you’ll return to your most recent checkpoint.
- Orange carrots restore your health. If you save 99 carrots without getting hit, you get a gold carrot located in any hub.
- Depending on how many clocks and golden carrots you collect, gain access to new levels.
- As you progress, you unlock magical abilities and passwords. Some are needed to unlock a level.
- Boss Battles are fun. You get to fight Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Rocky, Mugsy, Marvin the Martian & Toro the Bull in a specific era.
Random Thoughts
- I used to play Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time when I was 7. Back then, it was hard. Replaying the game at an older age felt easy.
- This is the only Looney Tunes game I played
- I watched Looney Tunes on Cartoon Network back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. I miss my childhood.
- My favorite Looney Tunes characters are Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam & Marvin the Martian.
Dumb: It took me 9-10 hours to complete the entire game. Not enough eras and levels to spend more additional hours. It would’ve been nice to play as Daffy Duck in his Robin Hood outfit. You know that one cartoon with him yelling, “Yoiks and Away?” Daffy was in a promo for the game recreating “Duck Amuck.” This time the player torments him instead of animator. Guess who?
The controller and camera are clunky.
After acquiring every single clock and golden carrot, the Ending felt underwhelming. Doesn’t have a crazy conclusion like the cartoons. Adding salt in the wounds, the infamous closing sequence, “That’s All Folks” is absent.
The Final Verdict: B-
Even though this game has some drawbacks, “Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time” is okay. Not a high quality game like Super Mario 64. It has some good parts. I liked the boss fights with Bugs’ adversaries. If you still have a copy of Lost in Time and preserved your PlayStation console, relive your childhood memories or intro your kids to it. Your call.
