They gave you a schoolyard and the engine from Grand Theft Auto — then drew one line you could not cross.
Rockstar Vancouver built Bully on the same code that powered Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas — the same physics, the same freedom to roam, the same Renderware bones. But in the schoolyard of Bullworth Academy, you could not do whatever you wanted. Hit a smaller kid, and the game turned against you. Teachers, prefects, the entire system — they all moved to stop you. The studio that made this was founded in 1998 as Barking Dog, bought by Take-Two in 2002, renamed Rockstar Vancouver, and finally absorbed into Rockstar Toronto in 2012. Rockstar Vancouver no longer exists. But the line it drew — the one that said 'this far, no further' — is still there, waiting in the code. You can play Bully today and feel exactly where that line was placed.
About this game
Bully is a 2006 action-adventure game for the playstation 2, developed by Rockstar Vancouver, with music by Shawn Lee. It belongs to the Bully series.
Gallery
The Story Behind
Bully was developed by Rockstar Vancouver, a studio originally founded in 1998 as Barking Dog Studios by six former Radical Entertainment employees. Take-Two Interactive acquired the studio in August 2002 and integrated it into Rockstar Games. The game used a modified Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas engine built on Renderware, with developers from Rockstar sharing code in 2002 before Vancouver forked it for Bully's unique needs. The original PlayStation 2 release launched October 17, 2006 in North America and October 25, 2006 in the UK under the title Canis Canem Edit (Latin for 'dog eat dog'). An Xbox version was planned but cancelled. The game was re-released as Bully: Scholarship Edition on March 4, 2008 for Wii and Xbox 360, adding new content and enhanced graphics. In July 2012, Rockstar Vancouver was merged into Rockstar Toronto, with the studio's 35 employees offered relocation.
Tricks & Tales
Shawn Lee, the game's composer, had composed music for only one previous game — The Getaway. Rockstar Vancouver programmed every student in Bullworth Academy to have a unique appearance and, within technical limits, individual personality traits. The game's code was forked from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas around 2002, after Rockstar developers visited Vancouver to share the engine. Bully became available for download on PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store on December 18, 2012, offering backwards compatibility with the original PS2 version.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The PS2 is region-locked. A machine and a disc must belong to the same region to work together: NTSC-J (Japan and parts of Asia), NTSC-U/C (North America), or PAL (Europe, Australia). A Japanese console plays Japanese games. It is also Japanese 100-volt hardware — a fat model used in North America's 120 volts or Europe's 220–240 needs a step-down transformer; the slim models use an external adapter that can be swapped for the right one. DVD films carry their own separate region code, fixed to the console as well.
Maintenance Tips
The PS2's most vulnerable part is its optical drive. The laser pickup weakens with age, producing the famous Disc Read Error — discs that load slowly, read intermittently, or read games but not DVDs (or the reverse). Keeping the vents and internal fan free of dust matters, especially on the larger 'fat' models, which run warmer. Replacement laser units are still made, but match the part number to your exact model before buying, as several incompatible types exist. DualShock 2 controllers commonly develop sticky or drifting analog sticks with age; the rubber and contacts wear, and both are repairable.
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Bully copies regularly.
Will a North American copy of Bully work on a Japanese or European PlayStation 2?
No. The PlayStation 2 enforces region lockout — North American copies (NTSC-U, game ID SLUS-212.69) will not boot on Japanese (NTSC-J) or European (PAL) consoles. You need a PlayStation 2 from the same region as the disc, or a modded console that bypasses region checks.
Can I transfer save data from a North American Bully disc to a Japanese copy?
No. Save data for Bully is region-locked to match the disc's region. NTSC-U saves (SLUS-212.69) and NTSC-J saves (SLPS-258.79) use different game IDs and cannot be shared between regional versions, even on the same console.
Is the original PlayStation 2 version of Bully playable on PlayStation 3?
Yes, if you have a PlayStation 3 with backwards compatibility (early 'fat' models with PS2 hardware, or via digital download). On December 18, 2012, Bully became available as a digital download on the PlayStation Store for PS3, allowing later PS3 models without hardware backwards compatibility to play it.
Unexpected Discoveries
Games you weren't looking for — but might be glad you found.
Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Bully sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
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