Video Game of the Day is a daily show available on Amazon Alexa devices and here on this website. Each day, we briefly discuss the history of a single game, randomly chosen. If you would like to listen on your daily flash briefing, you can enable Video Game of the Day here: https://amzn.to/2CNx2NJ.
Hello and welcome! My name is Katosepe and I’ll be your host for today’s Video Game of the Day.
Rockstar Games is best known for their massive Grand Theft Auto franchise. Many fans also will think of the modern classic Red Dead Redemption, which was their take on the western. Most often forget Rockstar’s attempt to bring the Grand Theft Auto formula to a more juvenile level though, as it’s one of their few games to never receive a sequel. Today’s game is Bully, developed by Rockstar Vancouver and released on the Playstation 2 in 2006.
While Bully is often remembered as Grand Theft Auto for kids, that’s maybe sending the wrong impression. Bully, thankfully, isn’t about kids pulling heists or running in gangs. Instead, Bully is about the juvenile pranks and mischief that a troubled 15-year-old may get up to. While the gameplay has similarities to Rockstar’s flagship franchise, missions include things like shooting spitballs at the jocks or vandalize the town hall.
The plot follows Jimmy Hopkins, a rough kid that’s been expelled from seven different schools. As a last ditch effort, Jimmy is dropped off at the Bullworth Academy boarding school. He quickly learns that the school is run by several different cliques such as the jocks, the nerds and the greasers. Jimmy must balance classes along with his reputation among the cliques in order to get by but this is easier said than done.
Bully released on the Playstation 2 to positive reviews and quickly became something of a sleeper hit on the console. Two years later, Bully would receive a remaster known as Bully: Scholarship Edition, which released on the Wii, Xbox 360 and PC. This version had new missions, clothing items and other unlockables, along with a small multiplayer mode which had players face off in various minigames. The Wii version also includes motion controls while the 360 and PC versions have achievement support.
Bully sold quite well, with the PS2 version breaking 1.5 million copies as of the release of the Scholarship Edition. While fans have called for a sequel for years, and rumors have suggested that Bully 2 has been in development several times, no official news of a Bully 2 has ever been announced.
Thank you so much for listening! For more trivia about Bully and the other games we talk about on the show, check out my Twitter page @vg_oftheday. Archives and transcripts are available on videogameoftheday.com. Don’t forget to check back here tomorrow for another Video Game of the Day.
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