Last week, I sold my Game Boy Advance and used the money to buy a Wii.
One of the only games I bought to play on the GBA (that would've went unplayable after I'd sold it) was the GBC version of Bear in the Big Blue House, which I'd planned to play once I watched one of the Bear DVDs I own.

I instead decided to just play it to completion on the day I sold it and told myself to just play the PlayStation version when the time came, and that time is now.

We're already off to a great start with narration from Noel MacNeal (the voice of Bear) and a lovely rendition of the theme song (I want it as my ringtone).

The story is pretty much the same; it's Ojo's birthday and we have to complete minigames for presents. I'd originally planned to play this on hard but, much to my surprise, this game that's rated eC for Early Childhood is actually pretty difficult.

In the Kitchen, we have a popcorn catch game like the GBC version, only now you have to collect 40 pieces in 60 seconds. You can't collect popcorn while you're moving, either. It was too hard for me (I know...), so the easy mode gives you unlimited time and only 25 pieces.
We also have a new minigame with Tutter, where you have to hit a button. That's it. Just hit the symbol buttons.

Moving on to the living room, we dance with Bear, a semi-DDR game... just kidding, it's more like Simon Says.
There's also a paint minigame, a "pick the right colour" game where you're given part of the room and you have to select the colour of it.

Popping upstairs, we're in the bathroom with Treelo, who unfortunately wants to play with more fucking bubbles. Luckily, this time you're playing as Treelo and you're popping bubbles instead of shooting them at him (apparently Treelo uses he/him pronouns, I always thought they were a girl. Who knows, maybe they are?)
Bear is also in the bathroom, making faces. This minigame doesn't even take place in the bathroom, but it's an unintentionally creepy DDR-style "hit the button at the right moment" thing. I don't like his silly faces, he's too close to the screen.

In the bedroom is only one minigame; that damn feather one that was annoying to play. This was less annoying, though, since missing one doesn't absolutely fuck you.
Now in the attic, we're with Bear again, making a picture, in exactly the same minigame as the paint one.
We've also got another Simon-esque game where you watch chests open and then open them in that order.
On the balcony we meet Luna, but there's clouds in the way that we have to push away.

Completing each minigame gives you a present instead of puzzle pieces, which you can look at in the Collection; when I say "look at", I really do mean look at. It's just a picture.
Once you've got every present you unlock The Birthday Game, which is a "march the silhouette" game.

And that's it.
There is an "activity mode" that lets you replay the minigames to your hearts content but I won't be doing that.

I was playing this for about an hour and I'm done.
Honestly, while the music is better and I love hearing Bear, this game is arguably worse than the GBC version.
GBC was fun and had somewhat of a challenge, while this is too easy on Easy and too difficult on Hard.

I would much rather play the GBC game than this.
Still, I love that chill rendition of the theme song, even if it does try to loop but cut out too early.

I'm surprised they managed to fit such a big, blue house in such a small, transparent cartridge.

From the developers of Rayman 2, it's the Game Boy Colour adaptation of every 00's kid's favourite puppet (including me!).
I've seen every episode of this show since I binged this series when it dropped on Disney+.

It's Ojo's birthday and for some reason everyone has gotten her to do manual labour. On her birthday.
Tutter is making popcorn and you have to catch as much as you can. There's no way to fail, you just have to collect enough popcorn to finish 3 rounds.

Bear's minigame involves you sneaking past him and unwrapping presents while he's not looking.
So, basically, spam the right button, and then spam the A button while occasionally ducking back with the left button.

Treelo's minigame involves you shooting bubbles at them. If you miss, you lose points. If you hit the shower while it's on, you lose points.
It's not much of a setback but it's so annoying when it happens. Suffering through 3 rounds of that is basically torture.
Treelo's second minigame (yes, they have 2) is a feather catching game similar to Tutter's, but you get a penalty if you drop a single one (that, I shit you not, resets your point bar to zero) and you have to fill up the point bar twice.

Pip and Pop's minigame is a memory match game. There is a time limit but it's nothing to worry about.
The house has an outside.
Treelo is back for a third minigame, where you have to navigate a maze to find a beehive.
It's another surprisingly difficult minigame from Treelo.
At the Otter Pond are Pip and Pop, who throw balls at you infinitely. You have to bat them away, which again is difficult as they can double team you and you have no way to stop at least one of those balls from going past you and diminishing your point supply.

And that's all the minigames.
Once you get all the pieces for the birthday puzzle, you get to play one last goodbye game with Luna.
This minigame is the worst one in the whole game.
In this, you have to bounce stars from one side of the screen to the other.
If you drop 5 stars, the game is over and you have to start from scratch.
In order to complete this game you have to get 100 bounces.
Luckily, you only have to do that once.

And that's it!
You even get a low quality image of the production team when you're done.

Do I recommend this game?
No.
Maybe the PlayStation game is better (I will play that, too, eventually).
Maybe if you have a turbo button you'd have some fun playing with it, and I do think these minigames are fun (although they need some work).

I don't think you need to play this, though. If you're looking for Game & Watch on a budget, this'll do.