Video Game / Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters

Smashing their way through time.

”I’m gonna need more than luck with this guy around. In fact, I think I’m gonna need a flea dip!”

—Bugs Bunny

A loose sequel to Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters is a 2000 video game based on the Looney Tunes franchise released for the PlayStation and PC.

The story begins when Daffy Duck, working as an exterminator, pays a visit to Granny, and, being Daffy Duck, things go wrong: he accidentally breaks her massive time machine, the Time Regulator.^note How she has a Time Machine is never explained. He and its stabilizing crown jewel, the Time Gem, are sent into the distant past, leaving the machine unstable and scattering denizens of the various eras of history across time. Bugs is strong-armed by Granny into retrieving not only Daffy and the Time Gem, but also the countless gears scattered throughout history. He's not alone, however. Granny helpfully sends along her precious pet Taz to aid Bugs in his quest. What could possibly go wrong?

What follows is a long, epic quest across history to save time itself, and Bugs and Taz chase Daffy through four different eras — those of the Aztecs, the Vikings, the Arabians, and the Transylvanians. The two work to collect the gears, return temporally displaced characters to their era, and battle local villains that get in their way. The player(s) must solve various puzzles in order to progress; some puzzles only solvable by one of the heroes, and some only solvable by teamwork. Granny and Tweety will also check in with the heroes on their quest and teach them new abilities that will aid in their quest.

Each "era" is accessible through Granny's homestead, Granwich, and each era has several smaller locations accessible through a main hub area, as well as several mini-games. Each era ends with a boss fight with the lord of the era — Yosemite Sam for the Aztec Era, Elmer Fuddinson for the Viking Era, Babba Chop for the Arabian Era, and Count Bloodcount serves as the final boss of the game through the Transylvanian era.

As the indirect sequel to Lost in Time, Time Busters features polished and recycled assets and mechanics returning from its predecessor. The chief thing that sets Time Busters apart is the co-op gameplay; while a single player can play the game alone and control both Bugs and Taz, two players can play the game together to better take advantage of the two playable characters, albeit sharing a single screen. The Magic Mirror feature allows the players to focus the camera on one of the two, and they can summon their partner if they wander offscreen or too far away.

Franchise veterans Billy West, Joe Alaskey, Jim Cummings, June Foray, and Maurice LaMarche all reprise their roles as Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fuddinson, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Taz, Granny, and Sam respectively. Alaskey also voices Babba Chop and Count Bloodcount.

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This game provides examples of:

• 100% Completion: If you collect all of the collectibles and finish every side-quest, you get the best possible ending: the Time Regulator is restored, the gates to each era are sealed forever, and Daffy is saved from Count Bloodcount... but reduced to an insect-size version of himself.
• Abnormal Ammo: Bugs can snipe things with carrots.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Elmer, due to being able to summon the power of Thor, is much more dangerous than most of his previous appearances in fiction.
  • Bugs and Taz themselves possibly qualify, given they're fighting off hordes of minions, apes, ghosts, etc.
  • Count Bloodcount was somewhat menacing, but was always two steps behind Bugs. Here, he’s the final boss of the game, and actually can taste your blood if you’re not careful. He also makes much more of an effort to crush you with floor tiles.
• Adaptation Expansion: Three of the four eras are based on three classic shorts - "What's Opera, Doc?", "Ali Baba Bunny", and "Transylvania-6500". However, the eras are presented as entire kingdoms that the villain of each era lords over. In particular, "Transylvania-6500" just focused on Bugs surviving a night in Count Bloodcount's Castle, whereas the Transylvanian Era is presented as Bloodcount's kingdom, with the castle itself being the final playable area of the Era and the game. The castle itself is also greatly expanded, having a massive room with three large dragons slumbering within.
• Adaptational Heroism: Taz is a voracious eater like always but is loyal to Granny. When she tells him Bugs isn't food, Taz doesn't try to eat him.
• Adaptation Name Change: Babba Chop was originally named Hassan in Ali Baba Bunny.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Befitting a Negative Continuity franchise, the game presents this as the first time Bugs and Daffy have met Granny, Taz, and Tweety. Bugs is shown to be familiar with Daffy, who also expresses familiarity with Granny before meeting her.
• All Flyers Are Birds: In Zoovania, the bird will become a pterosaur when it's night.
• Always Night: The Moon Valley and Elmer's Domain in the Viking Era; and the entirety of the Transylvanian Era with the exceptions of the Haunted River Ride, which takes place on a murky afternoon, and Zoovania when Bugs and Taz have to turn it from the peaceful day to the scary night. The trope is then played straight for Zoovania afterwards since it stays night after the player sets it that way.
• Angry Guard Dog: One appears in Granwich. It's napping, which also serves as the tutorial for Bugs' soft landing and sneaking abilities to avoid breaking the unstable bridge outside and waking up the dog.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Monkeys and Apes for the Aztec Era. The main feature level is the Baboon Realm, ruled by Gruesome Gorilla. A mini-game also revolves around a group of chimps, and monkeys are often incorporated into the level's architecture.
  • Wolves for the Viking Era. Wolves themselves feature prominently as the main enemy type in the main feature level, the Moon Valley.
  • Lions for the Arabian Era. They appear frequently in the designs of the Royal Garden and Babba's Cave, due to being symbols of royalty, and they also feature as threats in the Carpet Ride and Babba’s Cave.
  • Bats for the Transylvanian Era. This is because Count Bloodcount, lord of this era, is a vampire who can transform into a bat. The Haunted River also features several ornate caves built to resemble giant vampire bats, and the Rugby Game's goalpost is a large statue of a humanoid bat monster. Unsurprisingly, the doorways in Count's Castle all are in the shape of bats as well.
• Animation Bump: The pre-rendered cutscenes used in the introduction to each era and prior to each boss fight have more fluid animation and models for the characters.
• Animated Armor: The suits of armor in Count's castle will attack you if you get too close.
• Anvil on Head: Several areas feature anvils you can use to kill or incapacitate enemies; most notably in the Moon Valley, and in Babba Chop's boss battle.
• "Arabian Nights" Days: The Arabian Era has genies, belly dancers, deserts, lamps, you name it. Largely due to the era being themed stylistically on Ali Baba Bunny and A-Lad-In His Lamp.
• Arc Villain: Each of the four reigning villains qualify. There are also minor bosses in each realm.
• Artistic License – Sports: Each era features a sports-based mini-game, most of which are out of place for the era they're played in. The only historically-accurate one is the Pelota Game in the Aztec Era, but even then, it's played differently from its real-life counterpart.
• Ascended Extra: Babba Chop originated as an incredibly minor one-off antagonist, but here, he’s the main villain of the Arabian Era. That said, he still gets far less characterization than the other three main villains.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Taz learns how to go on a prolonged tornado spin in the Arabian Era, but while it’s awesome, it’s not really as useful as a simple single kick or spin. It doesn’t provide you any extra strength since most enemies in the game can be easily defeated by jumping on their heads, and the stronger enemies can only be defeated by an anvil to the head.
• Back for the Finale:
  • In the Transylvanian era, the final location of the game, the Lost in Time characters hail from the Aztec era, the game's first location, since previous LIT characters hailed from the next era you were to enter.
  • On a smaller note, Daffy makes appearances in each era's opening cutscene, then disappears until it's time to fight the boss.
• Backtracking: Played With. A thorough player can complete the game to 100% by the time they defeat Count Bloodcount, which entails completely filling out the inventory for gears and other collectibles. Any player can do this by the time they finish each era's boss, as well. However, if you do not complete the inventory to 100% by the time you defeat Bloodcount, when you are returned to Granny, she will ask you to return to the game and collect the items you missed. If you agree to, then you spend the rest of the time you play the game backtracking by default. If you refuse to, then the game features a last cutscene showing Daffy about to be killed by Bloodcount, then the end credits roll.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Count Bloodcount is the only major villain who is not outright defeated in his boss fight. While Sam was squashed and retreated, Elmer fell off a ledge to his presumed doom, and Babba was knocked out from too many impacts to his gongs, Count reappears perfectly fine once Bugs and Taz leave. Since he's a vampire, he presumably can't be defeated without the traditional methods anyway.
• The Berserker: Towards the end of Babba Chop's boss fight, he begins recklessly spinning in a violent tornado in an effort to kill you.
• Big Bad Ensemble: While not a malevolent antagonist, Daffy and his greed drive the game's plot. Meanwhile, the four main villains of the eras all directly oppose him as much as they do Bugs and Taz, usually because he either mocks them or tries to make off with their riches. Count Bloodcount, on the other hand, wants to eat him.
• The Big Bad Wolf: You can be attacked by absurdly top-heavy wolves in the Moon Valley.
• Big Good: Granny serves as this, monitoring your progress, teaching you helpful abilities and granting you access to the next playable era.
• Black Comedy: In the "Saving the Druid" level, the elephant the druid is trapped under leaps up into the air when you scare it with a mouse, and then comes back down seconds later and crushes the druid again, apparently killing him. Since this is a Looney Tunes game, this is obviously Played for Laughs.
• Boring, but Practical: The Trampoline Jump ability is the first new ability you learn once you graduate past the tutorial, available immediately after entering the Aztec Era. As it’s basically a double jump for Bugs, it’s the most useful post-Granwich ability in the entire game.
• Boss Corridor: Count Bloodcount's Castle, the final playable location of the game, contains the least obstacles and enemies of any of the era boss locations. While the player still has to complete certain tasks to get through the rooms, there are only three rooms and they mostly consist of getting into position to hit a button. The final challenges are two "Simon Says" games. Despite being the penultimate level of the game, there's very little to do - and it makes it all the more ominous since the castle is quiet, eerie, and the lair of a dreaded vampire who is waiting for you to arrive so he can feast on you.
• Brains and Brawn: Bugs is the brains to Taz's brawn.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: When he takes refuge in the Count's lab, Daffy drinks a potion that turns him into a hulking monster that loyally serves the Count for the duration of the final quarter of the game.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: It's not surprising considering it's Looney Tunes, as several characters address the camera during certain points. A notable example occurs during the last part of the tutorial where Granny says that if you need extra help, you can consult the game's manual (and it's not reflected in the subtitles either).
• Buffy Speak: Elmer when attacking you.
  Elmer: Stwike the wabbit!! Stwike the fwea-bitten townado!!
• Bullying a Dragon: Daffy does this to the first three era villains, but only harasses Count Bloodcount because at the time he thought he was a harmless bat. Once Bloodcount transforms into his humanoid form, Daffy immediately drops the shenanigans and flees.
• Butt-Monkey: Daffy Duck is as unlucky as ever. In each era he gets beaten up in some way by the villain of each era, and after Bugs and Taz get the Time Gem, they leave Daffy to be eaten by Count Bloodcount. Even when he returns to the present in the one hundred percent ending, he is shrunk to the size of a bug.
• Cash Gate: Used throughout the game. Each era after the Aztec Era requires a certain number of gears to get access to. Which means getting nearly every gear in the preceding era in order to proceed with the game. The majority of the mini-games also require a certain number of carrots to play.
• Chekhov's Gun: In the Golden City, you gain access to one of the Boss Tokens via a puzzle in a small village, curiously placed next to a dip in the ground. When you defeat Sam, the game shows Bugs and Taz departing out of the dip in the ground, revealed to house a secret exit from Sam's Temple.
• Collect-a-Thon Platformer: The game is a platformer based primarily around collecting various objectives. Some of them are needed to complete the game, some of them are not.
  • You have to collect the three Boss Tokens across an Era to open the gate to the era boss's location so you can defeat them and continue the story.
  • Bugs and Taz must collect enough gears to fulfill the Cash Gate between each era. Even if they have defeated the boss of an era, they cannot move on to the next era until they get enough gears.
  • Around a dozen characters from the various eras were flung into different eras when Daffy caused the Time Regulator disaster. Bugs and Taz, however, do not need to find them all to complete the game.
  • The Time Gem is the key objective of the game. Once Bugs and Taz retrieve it after collecting the Boss Tokens and gears needed to get the Final Boss fight with Count Bloodcount, the game can be ended. However, Granny will explain that time and history will not be fully repaired until you go back and collect every single gear and Lost in Time character.
• Cutscene: Generally there is a cutscene for when you enter a new era, and a cutscene for when you arrive at a boss's location. There are several smaller cutscenes, such as when you face off with minor bosses.
• Dark Is Evil: Count Bloodcount is the final boss of the game, and is easily the most sinister and malicious of the game's villains. He also dresses in all black and has a ghastly pale complexion.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • Than its predecessor Lost in Time, which was mostly a fun adventure for Bugs as he traveled through time trying to make his way back home, with lots of zany recreations of classic Looney Tunes shorts. Time Busters has more of a serialized plot in which Bugs and Taz must repair the damage done to all of history before things get even worse, and this specifically entails fighting local villains as opposed to simply running afoul of them like in Lost In Time.
  • The game also gets progressively darker in tone, as the Transylvanian Era in particular is basically made out of nightmare fuel, and the final boss, Count Bloodcount, is unquestionably a Knight of Cerebus who is treated as a serious threat by Bugs and Taz. The final portion of the game even mostly drops the mini-games in favor of focusing almost entirely on collecting the Boss Tokens so you can confront Count Bloodcount. The soundtrack is also more grand in scale, and the game has more quiet, subtle sections in which Nothing Is Scarier comes into play (especially in Count's Castle).
• Dark Reprise: The Haunted River Ride theme, already dark and ominous, gets an even darker rendition in the incomplete ending, when Daffy is left to the mercy of a hungry Count Bloodcount.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • During the final boss fight with Count Bloodcount, if you succeed in hitting him, he will fly off through one of his windows, exposing a gargoyle that can be pushed to the coffin containing the Time Gem. After you push a gargoyle into position, Count returns through another window, exposing another gargoyle for you. However, upon his return, he begins trying to attack you, and he won’t stop until you hit him again. If you try to bounce up to the window where another gargoyle has been exposed, Count will teleport over there and float in your way, barring you from pushing another gargoyle into place until you hit him again.
  • Taz learns the pull-a-face move in the Viking Era. While it works on enemies in the Viking and Arabian Era, it doesn't work on the low-level enemies of the Aztec Era, preventing you from spamming a new ability in an older location.
• The Dreaded:
  • Literally almost moments after the Time Regulator goes kaput and characters from different eras are flung haphazardly into Granwich, Taz immediately earns this status when we see the various characters running for their lives from him to avoid being eaten.
  • Count Bloodcount, whose very presence causes both Bugs and Taz to run away in terror.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In the game's opening scene, after Daffy is warped off with the Time Gem, numerous characters from the various eras are seen running around Granwich, fleeing from Taz, long before their proper introductions. Special mention goes to the demonic, transformed ape from ZooVania, one of the final stages of the game.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Three examples in the Aztec Era, which given they only occur in that era, suggests they were ironed out as production went on.
  • The intro cinematic ends with a pan in on the entrance to the Sacred Ride, implying that it's the entrance to the boss level of the Era. However, the entrance to Sam's Temple is at the pyramid in the center of the Golden City. In all subsequent eras, the intro cinematics all end with a shot of the actual entrances to the boss levels (Elmer’s Domain, Babba's Cave, and Count Bloodcount's Castle, respectively).
  • Sam's Temple itself is a level where you cannot use the mirror to summon your partner, even on two-player, so the game advises you to not get lost or separated from each other. This does not reoccur on later boss levels.
  • Finally, the Aztec Era is the only level of the game not based on a Looney Tunes short.
• Eat the Bomb: Contrary to what Granny said in the tutorial, eating a bomb isn't dangerous for Taz and won't reduce his health bar. In fact, it's a good way to harmlessly contain the explosion. When piranhas eat a bomb, on the other hand, it blows them from inside, leaving their skeletal remains.
• Egopolis: The Aztec Era is littered with imagery based on Yosemite Sam's face. The Transylvanian Era also has a lot of bats in its' architecture to represent Count Bloodcount's nature as a vampire.
• Elaborate Underground Base: Sam's Temple is a large pyramid in the center of the Golden City, but the main pyramid part appears to simply be for show since taking the elevator down into it covers most of its' length. The actual area where the level is set appears to be this trope, also evidenced by how when you leave the Temple after defeating Sam, you emerge from an entrance that emerges from underground in the nearby village.
• Elephants Are Scared of Mice: Taz has to save a druid trapped under an elephant by getting a mouse to scare the elephant. It gets into Black Comedy territory as while the druid does give a prize gear after the elephant is sent flying upward upon being scared by the mouse, the elephant returns from the sky seconds later to crush him again, seemingly killing him this time!
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Taz's ability to fly with bubble gum is the only ability learned in the Transylvanian Era, as well as the final ability learned by either character in the game.
• Elite Mook: In addition to the small runts of minions who appear in each realm, there are hulking bruisers of enemies that can only be stunned instead of killed. Special mention goes to the MonStars in Ghost Town, and Babba's royal guards who use whips.
• Ethereal Choir: The soundtrack often makes use of an ominous choir that isn't singing any actual words. Special mention goes to the themes for the Golden City, The Haunted River Ride, and Count's Castle.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Taz is a ravenously hungry, violent bruiser, but he adores his caretaker Granny, and at the end of the game is overjoyed to finally go home and reunite with her.
• Evil Counterpart: Babba Chop ends up being one to Taz, as he's also a gluttonous (evidenced by his weight), perpetually angry berserker. He also employs an extended spinning attack, which is also notable since Taz learned his extended spin move in the Arabian Era.
• Evil Laugh: All of the bigger generic enemy types use this, especially since they frequently reuse the same line, "We'll crush ya, bunny! *evil laugh*". Count Bloodcount has a much more subdued, but no less evil laugh as well.
• Exit, Pursued by a Bear: In the Bad Ending, this is Daffy's fate as he's caught and killed and drained by Count Bloodcount. He's saved at the last minute in the 100% ending, though.
• Extreme Omnivore: Taz will eat any items that Bugs can pick up. Even bombs, which won't hurt him (except maybe a brief stomachache) when they go off.
• Family-Unfriendly Death:
  • Minor villain Gashouse is defeated in the Moon Valley when you sink his ship. He goes down with it, and freezes in a block of ice. You shatter the block to collect the Boss Token within, but after that, Gashouse's lifeless body just floats off into the distance and sinks.
  • Daffy suffers this in the Bad Ending, as he is not rescued by the completed Time Regulator and is killed and sucked dry of his blood by Count Bloodcount.
• Fat Bastard: Babba Chop and some generic fat Arabians.
• Faux Affably Evil: Count Bloodcount is exceedingly polite and courteous... but he's also hungry.
  Count Bloodcount: Good evening... My, aren't you a delicious-looking duck?
• Fed to the Beast: In Babba's Cave, if you incorrectly perform a puzzle, lions are unleashed from a cave, and you lose some health as Bugs and Taz flee.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Bugs and Taz, who transition from nasty potshots (and attempted consumption) to good-natured bickering by the end.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: A game mechanic called "Lost in Time characters". Several characters have been scattered across history from different eras. For the first three eras, they are a Mook from the following Era meant to foreshadow what's to come. For the Transylvanian Era, it defaults to having Aztec mooks from the first level.
• Forced Tutorial: Before beginning the game proper in the Aztec Era, you must collect ten gears scattered around Granwich while learning the basic skills of the game, such as pushing, climbing, throwing, and sneaking around.
• Friendly Sniper: Bugs gains the ability to snipe enemies or targets with carrots in the Arabian Era. It's instrumental in taking down the resident Lost in Time characters, for one thing.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • In the opening cinematic, every character present after the Time Regulator's disaster is fleeing in terror from Taz's mere presence. In the game proper, they function as normal enemies who attack Taz when the player controls him all the same. Several of them are also Elite Mook's who later don’t appear again as Lost in Time characters.
  • Granny insists that she can't possibly leave the Time Regulator's side which is why she is sending Bugs and Taz to get the Time Gem and restore order in the Eras. However, she still physically appears in each Era's hub location when she's ready to teach the characters new abilities. She claims she is contacting the characters through the Magic Mirror, suggesting her physical appearance is just to simplify things for the player.
  • Every boss is available to be fought again even after they apparently met their demise, right up to Count Bloodcount if you didn't complete the game to 100% by the time you beat him.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss:
  • Elmer spends most of his boss fight atop the several stone towers at the top of his Domain. You have to activate all of the switches in front of each tower to get Elmer down and vulnerable to attack him.
  • Count Bloodcount's first phase of his boss fight has him popping up between four floor tiles in his chambers, and then throwing them at you. You have to jump on top of him and crush him to continue the boss fight (and actually get a path to victory), but even with two players working together, the Count is extremely fast and difficult to corner. Then for the remainder of the boss fight, he's flying around quickly and usually if he's close enough for you to attack, he will get the better of you before flying off again.
• Golden Snitch: Downplayed. The game cannot be completed until you defeat Count Bloodcount and collect the Time Gem from his lair; after which, the player is completely free to choose not to return to the game and collect any remaining gears they left behind. Granny specifically stated that the Time Gem was the key objective of the quest from the beginning. However, the player could not have reached the final fight with Count Bloodcount unless they gathered enough gears to get past the Cashgate before each Era. It's left to the player to assume that while the Time Gem was still the primary objective, Granny needed the amount of gears required by the last gate to the Transylvanian Era as the bare minimum to be willing to let Bugs off the hook, though she still says she plans on gathering the remaining gears nonetheless if Bugs opts out.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Downplayed with the gears from the Time Regulator. While collecting them all is a key objective of the game, you can still end the game after collecting the Time Gem and defeating Count Bloodcount, even if you didn’t collect all the gears.
• Got Volunteered: Bugs just showed up at Granny's place to find out what was going on, and Granny strong-armed him into recollecting the gears and Time Gem. If you beat Count Bloodcount without having collected all the gears, she tries to do it again so she doesn’t have to go collect them by herself. This time, however, you have the option to refuse her and she will accept your choice ^note Refusing WILL result in Daffy’s death, however .
• Green Hill Zone: Granwich, the Hub Level, is a calm valley with green grass and plenty of hills.
• Guide Dang It!: A few parts of the game are known to be more difficult than others.
  • In Sam's Temple, it can be easy to miss the scrape marks in one of the last hallways, which indicates that Taz must push the wall for you to go on. If you miss them, you end up in a last room with a gear and a few boxes to climb on, wondering just where to go from here.
  • In the Wind Temple in the Sunset Alleys, you basically have to activate the wind funnels at random with Taz until you can finally make a path for Bugs to glide across. The problem is, it works like a Rubik's Cube in that activating one switch will deactivate another, likely one you needed open.
  • In the second room of Count Bloodcount's Castle, it's not entirely clear how you are supposed to proceed. Do you have to tickle the dragons to launch the cauldron lid, then rapidly switch to Taz, mirror-summon Bugs, and throw him onto the ledge? The camera work doesn't help either since it automatically switches to a different view once the lid is launched in the air.
• HA HA HA—No: Count Bloodcount more or less has this reaction in the endgame. When Bugs and Taz are taken to his chamber, Bloodcount invites them to make themselves at home. Bugs and Taz immediately try to leave and Bugs makes a quip about Count's spooky castle being perfect for trick-or-treating. However, Bugs is cut off when Bloodcount immediately shuts his door on them, locking the two in with him.
• Harmless Freezing: Averted, unlike the previous game. If you fall into the icy waters of the Viking Era, you have to be retrieved from an Acme box. It's Averted even harder in Gashouse’s case, since his dip and subsequent freezing in the water outright kills him.
• Hub Level: Granwich, where the entrances to all the eras are located. It also doubles as the Tutorial Level.
• Incredible Shrinking Man:
  • Invoked against the Man Eating Plants in the Zoovania level; you have to feed them "shrinking pills" to make them small so you can get past them safely.
  • In the "good" ending, Daffy successfully makes it back to the present, but has shrunk to the size of a bug.
• Just Desserts: In the "bad" ending, Daffy, who caused the problem with the Time Regulator in the first place by stealing the Time Gem, is eaten/sucked dry by Count Bloodcount.
• Killed Off for Real: Considering the franchise this game is based off of, none of the villain deaths are likely meant to be permanent. However, Elmer Fudd and Gashouse suffer defeats that could easily be mistaken for true deaths. Elmer blindly wanders off a cliff at the end of his boss battle. Meanwhile, Gashouse in the Moon Valley is frozen and sinks into the ocean.
• Killed Offscreen: Highly implied in the "bad" ending, as the last thing we see is Daffy being chased by Count Bloodcunt and heading for the door. And while it’s not revealed here, the "good" ending reveals the door is locked, leaving Daffy to his fate.
• Killer Gorilla: Gruesome Gorilla, ruler of the Baboon Realm.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • Count Bloodcount, who's out to drain the heroes' blood, and is the lord of the much bleaker and scarier Transylvanian era. In the event that you end the game without 100%, he more than likely messily kills and eats Daffy, and his boss battle isn't as funny as the previous ones. Bugs outright calls him “creepy”, and both he and Taz immediately try to flee from him once they encounter him, in stark contrast to their bemused attitudes towards their past foes. Daffy also doesn’t even try to antagonize or outwit him once he gets a good look at him, and wisely runs for his life.
  • In a similar but lesser vein, his Mooks that begin appearing in the Arabian Era are a good sign of the creepy atmosphere that awaits the player in the next and final era.
• Lightning Bruiser: Babba Chop is not only strong, but he can reach dangerously fast speeds when he's attacking you, especially towards the end of his boss battle.
• Man-Eating Plant: Come nighttime, giant ones will spawn in the Zoovania level. To get past them, you have to feed them "shrinking pills" to make them small.
• Maniac Monkeys: There are baboons roaming around the Baboon Realm that are very vicious.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": In the opening, numerous misplaced characters are running for their lives from Taz in Granwich.
• May It Never Happen Again: The Good Ending sees Granny use the Time Regulator to seal off the doorways to the Eras so to prevent any further time-displacement chaos from occurring, with the implication that this will never happen again.
• Misplaced Wildlife: It’s odd to see Gruesome Gorilla as the ruler of the Baboon Realm in the Aztec Era. If you want to get historical, neither gorillas nor baboons (or chimps) lived in the Central American range of the actual Aztec empire, for that matter. Also, an elephant appears in "Saving the Druid" (though that example is very clearly Played for Laughs).
• Multiple Endings:
  • If you don't complete the game to 100% by the time you beat Count Bloodcount, when you return to Granny, she'll try to get you to return to the game and finish everything. If you refuse, the game ends with a cutscene where Granny accepts your choice and settles for the Time Regulator working less than perfectly. When she asks what happened to Daffy (who was left behind in the Transylvanian Era), we see him cornered by a hungry Count Bloodcount. Then the credits roll!
  • If you beat the entire game, either on the first try or after backtracking, the Time Regulator is restored to normal, and the gates to the eras are sealed forever. The cutscene from the bad ending will still play, but this time Daffy is saved from being Count Bloodcount's meal, but at the cost of him being reduced to the size of an ant.
• Mythology Gag: Plenty.
  • Taz's introduction sees the various temporally-displaced characters in Granwich fleeing from him in a mass panic as Bugs looks on, much like his previous Establishing Character Moments in past Taz-centric shorts.
  • Gashouse and Gruesome Gorilla serve as mini-bosses in the Viking and Aztec eras.
  • The characters scattered across history are called "Lost in Time characters" to pay homage to the game's predecessor.
  • The Arabian Era is mostly adapted from the short Ali Baba Bunny, with Baba Chop (renamed from Hassan Chop) as the main antagonist, the design of the Genies being lifted from the one that Daffy pissed off, and Daffy’s meeting Baba lifted from it as well. Daffy’s line “Consequences schmonsequences, as long as I’m rich” is also used for the game over screen. The Good Ending of the game also has Daffy shrunk down to minuscule size like in the short.
  • The Monstars from Space Jam appear as indomitable enemies in the Transylvanian era, and are key to a puzzle in the Ghost Town.
  • Most of Count's dialogue and attacks are reprised from the short he debuted in.
  • A dragon Sam once rode against Bugs in a medieval short appears as Bugs and Taz's mount in the Aztec Era.
• Negative Continuity: As befitting Looney Tunes. The game allows you to fight each boss after you have already beaten them as if nothing has happened, even when the bosses have rather clearly died such as Gashouse.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Alligators are among the obstacles in the Haunted River.
• Nice Day, Deadly Night: In the daytime, Zoovania appears to be a normal zoo with harmless animals in cages that you can't interact with, but when you turn the level to nighttime, the animals will turn into monsters and break out of their cages, and giant Man Eating Plants will appear in the level.
• Non-Indicative Name: The "Saving the Druid" level. You do not, in fact, save the druid, as the level ends with him seemingly dying by elephant butt.
• Not Me This Time: Even though Daffy causes the problems of the game by setting off the Time Regulator, he truly didn't mean to do it. Granny had warned him she was worried about sensitive equipment she owned being damaged by her mouse problem, but she never impressed upon him just how bad things could get. Incompetent as he is, he was just trying to do his job.
• No-Sell:
  • The mooks in the Golden City are not scared of Taz's "Pull a face" move, and neither are any of the enemies in the Transylvanian Era. The latter represents the final level's increase in difficulty, the former is Developer's Foresight.
  • Count Bloodcount cannot be hurt by your carrot-sniping ability. If you entered the sniping P.O.V. Cam, all you’re doing is getting a first-person look at the Count coming to taste your blood.
• Nothing Is Scarier:
  • Count Bloodcount's castle is an eerie, quiet place with legitimately creepy music, making it all the more scarier when something does attack you. Midway through the level, you are warned to NOT wake the sleeping dragons, and you never see what they're like when they’re awake.
  • If you skip all of the cutscenes, you never see or hear the final boss of each era until you begin their boss fight. The only image you would see of them is their faces on their Boss Tokens. In particular, skipping all the cutscenes ends up causing this for Count Bloodcount, since he’s the Knight of Cerebus being slowly hyped up the entire game as it gets darker as his arrival nears.
• Oddball in the Series:
  • The Aztec Era is the only level of the game not directly based on a classic short. Sam has had plenty of shorts where he rules over an exotic land or kingdom, so it's pretty interchangeable.
  • The Royal Gardens, the main feature level of the Arabian Era, is notable for being the only feature level to not feature a boss fight of any kind. The others had Gruesome Gorilla, Gashouse, and the flesh-eating plant.
  • The Transylvanian Era as a whole sticks out since it only includes one extra mini-game level, the Rugby Game, in addition to the hub, vehicle, and feature levels. Previous Eras all had several mini-game levels.
    • The Haunted River Ride is also the only vehicle level where the player enters it from the hub level. Whereas in the previous Eras, the player would enter the level where the ride was set and receive instructions, pay with carrots, etc, you do all of this while still in Ghost Town.
    • The Transylvanian Era is also the only Era that does not have Elite Mook's for you to defeat. The MonStars are more like neutral NPC's that you use to complete the Ghost Town puzzle. Two Zombies appear in the Rugby Game that fit the bill for the game's previous Elite Mook's, but they are not encountered outside of the mini-game.
• Offering Another in Your Stead: Subverted; at the end of the Aztec segment. Bugs and Taz arrive right when Yosemite Sam is about to sacrifice Daffy Duck to a sun god. Daffy takes this as an opportunity to ask Sam to let him go in exchange for Daffy capturing Bugs and Taz so they can be sacrificed in his stead. Sam agrees and allows Daffy out of his restraints to capture them... only for Daffy to immediately make a run for it, much to Sam's chagrin.
• Orcus on His Throne: Elmer, Babba, and the Count are happy to stay in their lairs. Sam, for his part, actively chases and captures Daffy when he raids his temple, but nevertheless none of the main antagonists actively harass you until you enter their boss fights.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different: The bird from Zoovania transforms into a pterosaur at night.
• Outrun the Fireball: In the Aztec Era, you ride a dragon through a snowy mountain range and then a volcano. Once you leave the volcano, it erupts, and you and the local Aztec mooks must flee the oncoming lava flow.
• Pinball Protagonist: Bugs and Taz don't affect the plot very much despite being the player characters, since they are explicitly tasked with cleaning up the mess that Daffy makes and keeps making.
• Piranha Problem: Piranhas serve as enemies in underwater sections.
• Point of No Return: If you have completed the game 100% on the first try, then the entrance to Count Bloodcount's boss fight becomes this. When you defeat Count Bloodcount, you collect the Time Gem and go back to Granwich, and the final cutscene plays uninterrupted all the way to the credits, leaving you unable to return to the game until you return to the title screen.
• Pragmatic Villainy: When Daffy is turned into a hulking monster in the Transylvanian Era, Count Bloodcount decides to use him as a minion and guard. No point throwing away big, strong help after all. Once Daffy returns to normal, however, he’s back on the Count’s menu.
• Primal Chest-Pound: Gruesome Gorilla and the baboons in the Baboon Realms do this. Curiously, due to their models not being able to form their hands into fists, they do it with their palms just as how gorillas pound their chests in real life.
• Punch-Clock Villain: True to form, Elmer seems to be a pretty nice, normal guy when not protecting Mjolnir from perceived threats.
• Puzzle Boss: Every one of the bosses requires a puzzle to beat them, and usually one hit is enough to stun them for an extended amount of time to buy you time to work on the puzzles.
• Race Lift: The Caucasian Yosemite Sam is portrayed as the ruler of the decidedly non-Caucasian Aztecs.
• Sacrificial Lion: Played for Laughs in the tutorial. How does the game explain the mechanics of Bugs or Taz dying? By having an Elite Mook kill Taz right in front of you!
• Shadow of Impending Doom: A gameplay mechanic has the player watch out for small round shadows on the ground as if they step into them, they are at risk of getting hit on the head by a falling anvil, chandelier, rock, etc.
• Sequel Escalation: Lost in Time was a fun adventure for Bugs whose goal was just to get back home. Time Busters is more of a "save the world" story where the characters are tasked with saving all of history from the mess Daffy has caused.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story:
  • Played for Laughs, albeit rather dark ones, in the "Saving the Druid" level. You have to maneuver a mouse to an elephant to save a druid trapped under it, and when you do, the elephant jumps into the air in fright, freeing the druid and earning you a Time Regulator gear from him... but then the elephant comes down again seconds later, crushing him again and seemingly killing him!
  • If the player chooses not to complete the game to 100% by the time they defeat Count Bloodcount, then Daffy's story becomes this as well. He was just doing his job when he disrupted all of time and space and goes on numerous adventures trying to accumulate wealth, only to lose it each time, ending up as Count Bloodcount's next meal after being trapped in the past.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Daffy disappears when you take on Sam, Elmer, Babba, and the Count, and comes right back out when you defeat them. In particular, he is transformed into a monster loyal to Count Bloodcount at the beginning of the Transylvanian Era, the darkest and final portion of the game, whereas he was at least confirmed to be still causing mischief during the other eras.
• "Simon Says" Mini-Game: The first three eras each feature one as mini-game levels. The Aztec Era has “Beat the Drums”, the Viking Era has figure-skating, and the Arabian Era has the Baladi Lesson. Another is featured as a puzzle required to advance in the Royal Garden, and the last challenge in Count’s Castle, and by extension, the game, is one of these as well.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Viking Era has several areas set in snow and ice. The water is also cold enough that you will instantly freeze if you fall in.
• Skeleton Motif: Count's Castle has some architecture that includes this. The switches are all made to look like bones, and each staircase leading to the next room is adorned by two skulls, making various expressions of fright or malice.
• The Smurfette Principle: Aside from Granny, the Baladi teacher in the Arabian Era is the only other female NPC in the whole game.
• Snowball Fight: In the Viking Era, one mini-game is even called this by name, as you fight off some local Vikings with snowballs. It also happens in The Shield Race, as you can attack your Viking opponents with snowballs to slow them down.
• Stout Strength: Babba Chop is obese, but he still hits like a truck.
• Summon to Hand: Elmer demonstrates the ability to call the Hammer of Thor back into his hand by simply yelling “Magic Hammer” after Bugs uses it to activate one of the switches in his boss arena.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Bugs and Taz can stay underwater as long as the player wants to with no need to come up for air.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When Gashouse is defeated, his ship sinks into the Moon Valley with him in it and he freezes in a block of ice. When it's shattered, he does not leap out of the water complaining about the cold. His dead body floats away and sinks into the ocean, the extreme temperature having killed him.
• Take Your Time: Subverted. After you defeat Count Bloodcount, Bugs and Taz use the Time Gem to return to Granwich, regardless of whether the inventory has been completed or not, leaving Daffy behind in Count Bloodcount's chamber. If you haven't got 100%, you can take as much time as you need to achieve it, because by the time you do so, Count will only just be returning to menace and eat Daffy. If you refuse to go back to the game, however, Count Bloodcount immediately goes for the kill.
• Terror-dactyl: The bird in Zoovania will turn into a pterosaur when it's night. It will not attack Bugs or Taz, but it will fly high above them if they get too close, while carrying a time gear in its beak.
• Thunder Hammer: Elmer Fudd appears in the Viking Era as the guardian of Mjölnir. During his boss fight, his main method of attack is using the hammer to call down lightning bolts.
• Time Crash: The plot is kicked off when Daffy breaks Granny's Time Regulator, going back in time with the machine's core, the Time Gem, and scattering the gears that help keep it stable. In the process, time itself is disrupted, while also hurtling various residents of different eras in time across time and space. Bugs and Taz are recruited by Granny to retrieve the gears and gem, and repair the damage done to history before things get any worse.
• Time Travel: The main premise of the game is that Bugs and Taz have to pursue Daffy through four different eras - the Aztec Era, the Viking Era, the Arabian Era, and the Transylvanian Era - in time to retrieve the Time Gem.
• Triumphant Reprise: The theme that plays during the final boss fight with Count Bloodcount, the Knight of Cerebus of the game, is given a more uplifting and happy remix for the game’s 100% ending, in which Granny seals off the doors to the four eras forever with the aid of the fully repaired Time Regulator.
• Too Dumb to Live: Daffy runs on this during the entire game, constantly bullying the local dragon all in pursuit of wealth to satisfy his greed. The one time he does wise up is when he's confronted by Count Bloodcount, and immediately hides... only to drink a random potion he finds in the Count's lab, which transforms him into a monster.
• Tutorial Level: In addition to being the Hub Level, Granwich is also where Granny teaches you the basic mechanics and moves of the game before you enter the first Era.
• The Unfought: Daffy is transformed into a hulking monster at the start of the Transylvanian Era section, suggesting he will serve as a mini-boss. However, when he encounters Bugs and Taz, he easily subdues and captures them, and after delivering them to Count Bloodcount, transforms back to normal.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Daffy was just doing his job when he messed up the Time Regulator and never gets told what chaos his actions are causing throughout the game. That said, the Game Over screen implies he is aware on some level that he's wreaking some form of havoc, but doesn't care by this point.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Each Era has a boss level that functions as this, as they are the last new playable section of each Era before the boss fights. The Aztec Era has Sam's Temple, a labyrinth of puzzles; the Viking Era has Elmer's Domain, a large area set in a dark mountainside; the Arabian Era has Babba's Cave. The Transylvanian Era has Count Bloodcount's castle, which also serves as the Dungeon for the entire game since it's the last new playable level of the game before the final fight with Count Bloodcount.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Everywhere, befitting a slapstick Looney Tunes game.
  • During the dragon ride, you're perfectly free to order your mount to roast the Aztec mooks alive, or knock them into the oncoming lava flow.
  • You are absolutely free to kill the other player/character, such as throwing yourself (or the other character) into lava, pits, and enemies for your own enjoyment. Taz specifically can lift Bugs and throw him where he pleases, while Bugs is still able to kick him to death.
  • During the boss fight with Gruesome Gorilla, you sneak into his temple wherein you find a platform where you can start a fire. The game encourages you to start it and fan the flames enough to where you burn Gruesome for all the trouble he caused you. However, you can still leave the fight after getting the Boss Token if you want.
  • You don't have to throw explosives into piranha-infested water, you could still swim away from them. But it's much easier to simply feed them explosives and remove the obstacle from your path.
  • Used in the multiple endings. If you haven't completed the game to 100% by the time you defeat Count Bloodcount, Granny will ask you to go back and resume your journey to do so. It's implied she will eventually go out to collect the gears herself despite being an old woman if you refuse to do so - and if you do refuse, she concedes and then asks what happened to Daffy, who was left behind in the Transylvanian Era. We then cut to Daffy still in the Count's chambers where he is quickly set upon by the hungry vampire. And you can stop playing the game right then and there if you don't care to play to 100%.
• Villain Ball: Count Bloodcount is very overconfident, and will often stop what he's doing to gloat about how he's about to suck your blood and kill you. The game's hints explicitly direct you to attack him when he loses focus.
• Villainous Breakdown: Sam and Babba Chop both become more frantic and agitated with their attacks as their boss battles go on. Sam will begin to more violently swing his torch at you, while Babba will begin spinning with his sword at dangerous speeds.
• Warm-Up Boss: Gruesome Gorilla is the first available boss fight in the game, and he’s appropriately pretty easy. All you have to do is trick him into throwing blocks onto the levers that open access to his temple. You can even leave right then and there after getting the Boss Token, even though the game encourages you to do the quick puzzle that will scorch Gruesome with a fire.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the scene where Taz causes a stampede of various characters pulled from throughout history, several of them are characters who you don’t rescue later such as the demonic ape, the wolf, and the tall Viking. They’ve presumably been rounded up by the end of the game, though, since Granny declares everything is in order and has the doorways to the eras sealed off.
• You All Look Familiar: The large and small enemies of the Aztec, Viking, and Arabian Eras all share virtually the same voices and animation models. Averted for the Transylvanian Era, in which the mooks are noticeably different in appearance and voice.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The first three times you defeat a Big Bad, Daffy will appear out of nowhere and leave with the Time Gem, forcing you to move on to the next era. The fourth time, Daffy isn't so lucky, as Bugs and Taz finally take the Time Gem and use it to return to Granwich without him. Then this happens again if you don't complete the game to 100% by the time you defeat the final boss, as Granny will implore you to reach 100% (which you are free to refuse).

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