Pandora's Box: The Ultimate GameCube Tier List

#52: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue

Rating: E

Players: 1-4

Price Range: ~$13 USD

A 3D action-adventure platformer.

Yeah, this is defiantly the peak of the series in my opinion.

You see, instead of going with a handful of sandbox-like levels, the game instead has an open world where you progressively open up more smaller, linear or mission-based stages to take down Boss Cass, the evil cassowary from the first game.

This makes the game feel a lot less bloated and more concise, in addition to a currency system to get new boomerangs.

Sure, many of the game's collectables are...not worth anything, at least in this version, but they are still there if you are even remotely interested.

The game just...feels a lot better to play. Add in the great voice acting, dialogue, and dumb but entertaining story, and you have one the definitive B platformers ever created.

And I just have to talk about Cass's plan to somehow stay protected from Bush Rescue with Ty and friends.

He literally created a country ran by himself in order to gain complete political immunity, which is one of the most bonkers yet genius evil plans I've ever heard.

There are even cheat codes to get all the boomerangs at once in your inventory! Sure, it removed the enjoyability of rationing your funds for them and takes out the purpose of the opals, the world's currency, but it makes it a much more condensed experience if you want to just experience the game's story, and it is optional anyways.

There are even leaderboards in the HD remasters for with and without cheats regardless, so it was an intended way to play if that is what you want.

Also, I do remember this one boss that somehow reminded me of...the Yellow Devil from the first Mega Man.

Don't worry, we'll get to that later in the list...

But besides the collectables having less value, the mandatory vehicle levels are...just passable. Not very good, but they could be worse.

Also, the...

Ugh...

The multiplayer.

In the campaign, there are these cart-racing levels that are clearly meant to emulate Mario Kart, but to be rather blunt, it is nowhere near as good or polished as what it is trying to replicate.

Now, that's not to say that it's horrible, and having a multiplayer mode at all with such a good campaign is admirable, but it just feels stiff and wrong.

You could have fun with it, but I feel that Mario Kart is better in my opinion.

And again, there's little reason to play this version with HD remasters out on current generation hardware with improvements, additions, and such.

Still, a truly iconic experience for those who have played it, and is a sad reminder of a series that unfortunately fought hard and is loved by those who have played it, but died in the end...