Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Game Info
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Developer: Mutation Software
Publisher: Microtec
Year of Release: 1990

Game Review & Impressions
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I discovered Bug Bash after completing a longplay of its sequel Doodlebug (stay tuned), and reckoned it was worth checking out. It marks the earliest period of Adrian Cummings' game development on the Amiga, and is an intriguing title. My initial thought was that Bug Bash might have been a public domain title, and whilst it did end up as a PD title, it was originally sold as a two-game commercial release.

The purpose of the game is to help our insect-like protagonist tidy up the garden, for it has been littered with junk by less environmentally friendly bugs under the control of the Evil Slug. Each of the seven levels involves collecting pieces of litter and depositing them in a trash can located somewhere in the garden. You can only ever carry a single item at a time, which means plenty of travel back-and-forth across the zone, and as there's no counter to tell you exactly how many items remain, it's easy to waste time and energy -- both of which are limited -- in finding the next piece. Insects of various shapes and sizes will also take every opportunity to get in your way, but these can be dispatched with a few blasts from your spray-gun. Each stage culminates with a fight against an oversized boss, who can only be defeated by hitting them repeatedly in a specific part of their body.

The core mechanics remain consistent across each of the levels, but each stage adds some new variable to spice things up. This includes increasing the rate at which your energy decays, introducing rain droplets that cause damage if they hit you, or reducing the number of magic mushrooms from which you can regain energy. Later levels even see parasitic bugs sit atop these lifegiving beacons, munching on them steadily until they disappear entirely. This becomes one of the major challenges in the later levels, because collecting litter in specific order becomes something of a priority; you'll need to figure out a strategy where you can top off your health and collect litter without wasting time, because once those mushrooms are gone it's only a matter of time before you'll run out of energy.

If you've read this far, you'd be right for thinking that the odds are stacked heavily against you. The difficulty curve in Bug Bash is particularly high, especially the boss sections, which really should have been redesigned or rebalanced to make them easier to beat. You get no refill of energy before starting these sections, so you're screwed if you forgot to top off your health from a mushroom before depositing the final piece of litter. The sense of fun from the first couple of levels quickly turns to an overbearing sense of frustration, and with a fairly limited gameplay loop I doubt many will bother persevering with the remainder of the levels.

The lasting impressing of Bug Bash is a game that's too difficult for its own good. There're some good ideas, but it really needed a fairer difficulty curve and perhaps some more levels and mechanics to hold the player's interest.

Chapters
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00:00 Attract mode
02:34 Stage 01
05:48 Stage 02
09:32 Stage 03
13:21 Stage 04
17:25 Stage 05
21:45 Stage 06
25:34 Stage 07
30:15 Ending