I never understood the need to change the name of this game.
Puzzle Bobble makes so much sense...
well, if you’ve played Bubble Bobble, that is, and honestly, who hasn’t?
It was one of the most ubiquitous NES titles back in the day, reimagined recently on XBLA,
and some rather laughably horrible DS versions.
But no, it’s Bust-A-Move now, which means that the other game called Bust-A-Move has
to switch to Bust-A-Groove, and all of a sudden we’re onto a whole Lord Bravery-style chain
of name changes and it’s MADNESS.
MADNESS!
And bubbles.
And puzzles.
That you bobble... like an outfielder about to be sent back down to the minors.
Playing as either of two bubble-spitting dinosaurs or any of an assortment of monster-looking
things, your goal is to clear the screen of bubbles... by way of more bubbles.
They can be removed either by getting a bunch of the same color together to detonate them
directly, or by removing their means of connection to the top of the screen, thus causing any
so orphaned bubbles to drop and score exponential masses of points.
It’s a pretty simple concept, and devoid of any semblance of plot or explanation of
exactly why these dinosaurs blow bubbles.
The simple reason is: Plot wouldn’t fit, cuz’ the puzzle gameplay itself is diversified
into several alternate modes for even more strange, bubble-bouncing action.
Here we have Ghost mode, where the bubbles you shoot are insubstantial until they bounce
off a wall, all billiards-like.
And Blind Mode, where you have no idea what colors are up there until you fire a bubble
next to something... and no, it’s never what you want it to be.
There’s Running Launcher mode, where the shooter at the bottom of the screen constantly
runs back and forth, threatening motion sickness as well as making lining up shots a royal
pain in the bum.
There’s the downright evil seesaw mode, where the playing field itself lists to the
“heavier” side after each shot; if it goes three clicks in either direction, the
whole thing just falls over and ends the game.
There’s Mix-’em-up, where the colors of the bubbles themselves are subject to change
without notice.
And then there’s Shot mode, where you’ve got one shot - emphasised by a dramatic countdown
once you’ve laid in your course - to hit a target in juuuuuust the right spot, likely
by applying an OED’s worth of English, bouncing off two walls, and winning a Big Mac from
Larry Bird.
All in all, there’s over a thousand puzzles included on this disc, and while each can
be a bit on the short end of the spectrum, they feel perfectly bite-sized for on-the-go
portable puzzle gaming.
So submit to the siren’s song of Taito, embrace your bubble-spewing dinoverlords,
and grease up your shooting contraption.
You’re gonna be here awhile.