Sparkle the Rabbit (video game)

Sparkle the Rabbit is a 2002 Japanese-American action-adventure platforming game developed by Nintendo EAD. Sega AM2, and Sonic Team USA and published by Nintendo and Sega (the first major collaboration between the two companies) for Nintendo's GameCube video game console, and is the first installment in the Sparkle the Rabbit video game series. It was released on March 14, 2002 in North America and Europe, March 30 in Japan, and April 5 in Australia and New Zealand, and it focuses on the titular character Sparkle the Rabbit (a long forgotten cartoon character who wants to get his fame and popularity back) as he tries to clear his name after he is accused of injuring famous film director Steve Mann with an anvil. The gameplay has an open-world environment to Funlandia as well as other locations in Florida, and features a gameplay mechanic where Sparkle can grab objects such as boxes, ladders, and coins using his very long ears and use other objects to defeat enemies. There are appearances from several cartoon characters such as Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, and Bugs Bunny, and you can play as them during regular gameplay, and even in the game's multiplayer mode.

Setting
The game takes place on Earth, but the main location is Funlandia. Funlandia is a city located in North America, Florida where all cartoon characters (famous and non-famous) live in. It's the place where all cartoon characters film their movies, TV series, games, commercials, advertisements, you name it. Funlandia has several characters such as Sparkle the Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Felix the Cat, Donald Duck, Sonic the Hedgehog, Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, Popeye, and more. There are also forgotten cartoon characters such as Felix the Cat, Mighty Mouse, Atom Ant, Heckle and Jeckle, and even Sparkle himself since the 1950s, and a bar where they hang out, the "Forgotten Cartoons Bar". Its citizens include the characters mentioned above as well as the president James Ohshima (based off Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima) and billionaire businessman Hollywood blockbuster director, Steve Mann. In the game, there are shown to be several tourists, both antrophormorphic animals and humans, in Funlandia, to which Sparkle can interact with.

Synopsis
Sparkle the Rabbit focuses on the titular character Sparkle the Rabbit (voiced by Josh Keaton). Sparkle was a popular cartoon mascot for his studio, Dreamcast Animation Studios, and debuted back in 1924 to rival Felix the Cat, and then Mickey Mouse, with Sparkle's own characters such as martial artist Segata Sanshiro, series antagonist Mr. Sleeper, fangirl Jessica Bloom, Sparkle's dog Rod, Sparkle's neighbor Nedd Nerd, and the Troublemaker cats. As time went on and more characters such as Bugs Bunny, the Looney Tunes gang, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Woody Woodpecker, and Betty Boop started to debut, competition for the best character arose, and Sparkle slowly became forgotten, and obscured, and only had 47 short films released from 1924-1955. Fast forward 54 years later to 2001. Sparkle, along with several forgotten and famous cartoon characters, live in Funlandia, a city in Florida where all cartoons interact. One night while at a bar with Felix, Sparkle sees an advertisement poster for a new film Comix Zone, produced by Sega Pictures and directed by Steve Mann. Sparkle then sees this as the perfect opportunity to get back into the spotlight. Sparkle auditions and eventually becomes the main protagonist, along with co-stars the Troublemaker cats, Mr. Sleeper, Jessica Bloom, Rod, and Nedd.

After 7 grueling months of filming, the film is finally finished. However, on the day that the world premiere is happening, Steve Mann has an anvil dropped on his head by a mysterious culprit, causing major injuries to his skull. Police investigate the crime, and all evidence leads to camera footage of a bunny hidden in shadows dropping the anvil, which looks exactly like Sparkle. Although Sparkle was in the bathroom at the time (and there is no security footage in the bathroom), he is hunted down by police, causing Sparkle to become an fugitive and the movie to get canceled. Sparkle goes and investigate several cartoons such as Mickey, Bugs, Felix, his martial artist Segata Sanshiro, etc, and goes across several locations battling police robot enemies with Sparkle's ears, and going across Funlandia as well as several different famous locations. Sparkle also meets Metal Sparkl, a robotic counterpart of himself, and what Sparkle assumes to be who dropped the anvil on Steve. After much investigation, Sparkle directs toward the abandoned Cartoon Palace where it is littered with traps. Sparkle finds Metal Sparkle, along with Metal's leader Paddy the Pelican, a cartoon character from the critically panned and forgotten 1950s cartoon The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican who was jealous of Sparkle's popularity. After an intense final battle, Sparkle defeats both Metal Sparkle and Paddy. Sparkle is proved not guilty, and Paddy is arrested. Sparkle finally becomes popular again, and the film releases on theaters.