Bubsy 4D announced for Switch 2, Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox

25 August 2025
Nintendo Switch 2Nintendo Switch
10 min.
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Bubsy 4D announced for Switch 2, Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox

Summary:

Bubsy is back, and yes, we did a double-take too. With Bubsy 4D, Atari and Fabraz are giving the wise-cracking bobcat a fresh 3D outing on modern systems, including Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, alongside PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. We’re looking at a faster, more expressive platformer that folds in new movement tools like a high-speed hairball form, wall-clawing, and improved gliding to make traversal feel punchier and more precise. The setup is classic Bubsy chaos: the Woolies have meddled again, Earth’s sheep have returned as tech-powered BaaBots, and Bubsy is chasing down the Golden Fleece across intergalactic, craft-themed worlds. We can spend yarn on outfits, hunt blueprints for upgrades, and upload our best runs to online leaderboards—perfect fuel for speedrunners and bragging rights. A funky Fat Bard soundtrack brings big-band swagger and electro-swing energy to the action. There’s no release date yet, but platforms are broad, the tone is cheeky, and the feature list is promising. If you’ve been waiting for a modern take that keeps the mascot’s snark while sanding off the rough edges, this looks like the one to watch.

Bubsy returns in 4D — what we can expect

Bubsy 4D marks a full-on 3D comeback for gaming’s most notorious bobcat, pairing a knowingly cheeky tone with a moveset built for snap decisions, expressive routes, and stylish speed. We can expect bigger, more open stages where gliding lines, wall-claws, and bounce paths connect into smooth runs rather than stop-start hops. The hook isn’t just nostalgia, either; Fabraz is guiding the design with a “show, then master” philosophy so newcomers can have fun from the first planet while veterans discover deeper tricks that shave seconds off a time trial. The return to 3D is framed as a cosmic romp, with locales stitched together like hand-made dioramas, boss encounters that punctuate each world, and plenty of yarn to scoop up along the way. Layer in ghost racing and leaderboards and we’ve got a playground that rewards both sightseeing and sweat. It’s self-aware, it’s punchy, and it leans into Bubsy’s talent for one-liners without letting the jokes drown out the jump timing.

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Confirmed platforms and what Switch 2 support means

The rollout targets a wide audience from day one: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC storefronts, and current PlayStation and Xbox families, plus last-gen systems. That breadth matters for a series-revival mascot platformer; it means communities can form around time trials without siloing by hardware. On Switch 2 specifically, we should expect quality-of-life improvements like steadier performance and sharper image quality compared to prior handheld-first hardware, which is a boon for precision gliding and fast bounce lines. On PC and newer consoles, higher frame rates should make timing windows feel more forgiving and traversal more readable, especially when rolling in hairball form at top speed. Cross-platform visibility also helps leaderboards thrive—if the game supports global lists per level, competition will be fierce. While technical specifics haven’t been published yet, the platform list alone signals intent: make it easy to pick up and race no matter where we play, and keep the audience together while the meta routes evolve.

Story setup: Woolies, BaaBots, and the Golden Fleece

We’re back in the orbit of the fleece-obsessed Woolies, who have taken their fabric fixation to a ridiculous extreme—stealing Earth’s sheep. That move backfires when the flock returns as mechanized BaaBots powered by Woolie tech, turning a petty heist into a full-scale headache. Bubsy’s motivation is delightfully on-brand: protect the Golden Fleece, his most prized possession and a magnet for trouble. The journey becomes a tour of alien worlds where the Woolies and BaaBots wage a tug-of-war across outposts, factories, and stitched-together terrains. Expect tongue-in-cheek cutscenes, fourth-wall nudges, and returning acquaintances who help steer us toward upgrades or optional challenges. The story keeps the stakes playful, but it does more than set dressing; those rival factions shape enemy patterns, hazards, and boss personalities. When a level’s gimmick—say, elastic surfaces, rolling rails, or magnet pads—links to a Woolie scheme or BaaBot countermeasure, the result is a world that feels like it was built for both jokes and jump arcs.

Moveset breakdown: glide, wall-clawing, and hairball form

The beating heart of Bubsy 4D is movement that feels punchy out of the box and rewarding at high skill. Glide returns as the signature safety net, extending aerial control and letting us correct angles mid-flight. Wall-clawing and quick pounces stack on top, so a missed ledge can turn into a slick wall scramble and hop that keeps momentum alive. The new hairball form is the wild card: Bubsy compresses into a rolling, bouncy sphere that carries speed through curves, ramps, and bowls. Because the form naturally wants to go faster, level designers can hide alternate lines behind riskier trajectories—great for speedrunners, but still readable for casual play. The key is choice density without confusion, where a room offers two or three obvious flows and one spicy, high-payoff line for those who dare. All of it aims to make us feel nimble rather than slippery, with generous readability so a failed attempt teaches rather than punishes.

How hairball form reshapes traversal at speed

Hairball form isn’t just a gimmick; it’s a momentum engine that changes how we interpret slopes, rails, and even enemy placement. When rolling, gentle inclines become launch pads, U-shaped bowls become rhythm tracks, and bounce surfaces chain together like musical notes. The trick is learning how much speed to carry into each segment so we hit the next angle cleanly instead of ping-ponging off a wall. Expect designers to signal the “right” speed with collectible arcs and camera framing, but the best runs will color outside those lines—approaching from unusual angles, banking off foes for mid-air redirects, and using short glides to fine-tune landing spots. Because hairball mode is fast, it pairs beautifully with time trials and ghost races, where small optimizations stack into seconds saved. It also invites comedic failure in the best way; overshoot a ramp and Bubsy might tumble into a hidden alcove with an outfit piece. Happy accidents, meet high skill ceiling.

Level design vision: craft-themed planets and boss fights

Worlds lean into a “crafted” look—think stitched fabrics, cardboard edges, bead-like rivets—so every platform telegraphs its function at a glance. Soft felt invites bounces, ribbed cardboard suggests grip for clawing, and glossy plastic warns of slipperiness. That visual literacy lets the camera stay pulled back where possible, freeing our eyes to hunt lines and yarn clusters. Each world culminates in a BaaBot boss skirmish that riffs on that zone’s materials: a bobbin-armed mech might staple platforms into place mid-fight, while a spool-legged contraption forces us to roll under sweeping threads before pouncing on weak points. Between bosses, expect optional challenge rooms and blueprint detours that test specific skills. Rather than funneling us through a single intended path, stages feel like small skateparks arranged for platformers, where revisiting with better mastery reveals new angles and time-save tricks. It’s playful design with purpose, keen to entertain and to be learned.

Speedrunning and online leaderboards: how time trials work

Time trials ask a simple question: how clean can you stitch a route through a level’s fabric? After clearing a stage, we can jump into its time trial variant and chase medals, global rankings, and friends’ ghosts. Ghost data is the secret sauce—it turns discovery into competition by letting us race visible lines and copy new tech. That, in turn, encourages a lively meta where community clips, route names, and segment splits become part of the fun. The best time-trial systems keep resets snappy, surface useful splits, and detect obvious exploits without over-policing creativity. Bubsy 4D’s promise of uploadable runs hits the right notes; now it’s about clarity and cadence. Expect designers to spice in seasonal boards or featured levels to keep the spotlight moving. For those who just want bragging rights, a clean gold time is satisfying. For leaderboard grinders, shaving tenths with perfect hairball arcs will be the day job.

Customization and progression: yarn, outfits, and blueprints

Yarn is more than a collectible; it’s a wallet for flair. We can spend it on outfits that tweak Bubsy’s vibe—from wink-and-nod throwbacks to outright silliness—so our ghost runs have personality. For power growth, hidden blueprints appear to be the ticket. Tucked away off the golden path, these finds unlock new moves or upgrades that expand traversal possibilities. That split is smart: outfits make casual replays fun, blueprints give experts fresh tools to route with. The economy works best when it nudges exploration without grinding; think “find a blueprint per level” rather than “farm yarn for hours.” Combined, cosmetics and upgrades make revisiting earlier stages feel new again, especially when a late-game move opens a previously unreachable shortcut. For a series that thrives on speed and style, letting us both look sharp and go faster is exactly the kind of carrot that keeps the run button pressed.

Sound and style: Fat Bard’s funky soundtrack and visual flair

Fat Bard’s score threads jazz brass, big-band swagger, and electro-swing into a tempo that fits rolling, bouncing, and last-second pounces. It’s toe-tapping music you can practically time a glide to, and the palette leaves room for cheeky stingers when Bubsy lands a punchline. Sonically, we expect clean layer separation—percussion that accents timing windows, melodic hooks that shift by biome, and boss tracks that swell without smothering audio cues. Visually, the craft motif ties it all together: felt fuzz, paper fibers, and shiny plastics pop without fighting the HUD. The tone stays bright and readable, with enemies animated broadly enough that we can parse intent even when sprinting. It’s the kind of audiovisual loop that makes “one more run” feel inevitable: you’re nodding along, you see the line you missed last time, and suddenly it’s midnight and you’re promising yourself “just one more gold.” Famous last words.

Characters and tone: familiar faces and the series’ humor

Bubsy’s pals—Terri and Terry, Virgil, Oblivia—are set up as colorful pit-crew energy rather than exposition dumps, chiming in where it helps with a smirk rather than a lecture. The writing winks at the character’s legacy without being mean-spirited; we get self-awareness, but the joke is always in service of the moment. Dialogue timing matters in a platformer, so expect quips to trigger at completion beats, near miss saves, or new-move tutorials rather than mid-precision hops. The enemies get their share of personality, too. Woolies remain comic-villain fussy, while BaaBots are equal parts adorable and unhinged—perfect foils for a bobcat who thinks he’s the hero of every room he strolls into. The result feels like Saturday-morning energy tuned for modern pacing: brisk cutscenes, punchy punchlines, and a cast that makes it fun to unlock another outfit just to see the reaction.

Lessons learned from Bubsy 3D and Fabraz’s platformers

There’s no hiding the elephant—or bobcat—in the room: Bubsy 3D is infamous. Turning that history into fuel means embracing clarity and control above all. Fabraz’s lineage with speed-capable platformers shows through in how routes invite mastery without forcing it, and how moves link into clean loops rather than awkward stops. Expect tighter camera logic, more legible platform edges, and physics that favor momentum. Tutorials should arrive as short, playful challenges rather than text walls, while challenge rooms double as skill checks that teach advanced tech by doing. When we compare that to older missteps—floaty jumps, muddy reads, punishing angles—the improvements are obvious. The goal isn’t to apologize for the past; it’s to build a modern playground where Bubsy’s personality can shine because the jumping just feels right.

Release timing and what’s still to be confirmed

Key facts are locked: platforms span Switch, Switch 2, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox; the developer is Fabraz with Atari publishing; and the feature set includes hairball form, outfits, blueprints, boss fights, and online leaderboards. What’s still TBA is the release date, performance targets per platform, and any special editions. If recent multi-platform launches are any guide, we could see staggered reveal beats: first a systems trailer that dives deeper into movement tech, then a music showcase to spotlight Fat Bard’s themes, and finally a level-by-level breakdown with a playable demo at a major event. Pricing and physical options will likely follow as we approach launch. For now, the smart play is to wishlist on our platform of choice, compare movement footage across reveals, and start theory-crafting routes the moment the next trailer drops.

Closing thoughts: why Bubsy 4D has a real shot

Against the odds, this looks like a comeback with legs—and claws. The premise is clean, the movement kit is expressive, and the presentation leans into fun rather than irony. By keeping time trials and ghost races front-and-center, the team is inviting a community that teaches itself, celebrates clever lines, and turns every level into a canvas for creativity. If we get the responsiveness and readability the trailers hint at, Bubsy 4D could transform a punchline into a platformer people actually recommend. Maybe that’s the real “fourth dimension” here: time. Time to learn, time to master, time to laugh at a bobcat who finally found his footing while we chase a cleaner run. What could possibly go wrong? With this setup—hopefully not much.

Conclusion

Bubsy 4D brings the bobcat back with a sharper moveset, a playful story, and a spotlight on speedrunning that gives every world long-term legs. Platforms are broad, features land well for both first-timers and veterans, and the audiovisual style sells the momentum. With release timing still unannounced, the smartest move is to wishlist, keep an eye on new footage, and get ready to glide, claw, and roll our way to leaderboard glory when the countdown finally hits zero.

FAQs
  • Is there a release date yet?
    • Not yet. The game is officially announced with “coming soon” messaging, but no exact date has been shared. We’ll update when the publisher confirms a timeline.
  • Which platforms are confirmed?
    • Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Steam and other stores), PlayStation, and Xbox families are confirmed. That breadth should help the time-trial community thrive across hardware.
  • What’s new in Bubsy 4D’s movement?
    • Alongside gliding and wall-clawing, Bubsy can enter a high-speed hairball form that emphasizes rolling momentum, bounces, and launch angles—great for finding faster lines.
  • How do outfits and blueprints work?
    • Yarn collected in levels can be spent on stylish outfits, while hidden blueprints unlock new moves or upgrades that deepen traversal and replay value.
  • Will there be leaderboards?
    • Yes. Levels include time trials, and we can upload our best runs to online leaderboards, race ghost data, and chase medals and global ranks.
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