"Puzzle Bobble" and "Bust-A-Move" redirect here. For the iOS game, see Bust-A-Move (iOS). For the series in which this game is a part of, see Puzzle Bobble (series).
Puzzle Bobble (パズルボブル Pazuru Boburu?), also known as Bust-A-Move, is an arcade game developed by Taito. It is the first game in the Puzzle Bobble (series). Puzzle Bobble is a puzzle spin-off of the Bubble Bobble series. The game is a tile-matching puzzle game, in which Bub and Bob must shoot bubbles into pairs of three.
Gameplay[]
In Puzzle Bobble, Bub and Bob must shoot bubbles out of a Bubble Launcher up at the top of the screen. The duo must make groups of three identically colored bubbles, which pop when they are matched. After a certain amount of bubbles are shot, the ceiling descends down toward the bottom of the screen very slightly. If they player does not shoot a bubble after a certain amount of time, the bubble is shot automatically.
There are thirty different boards that the player must complete. After completing the 30th board, the game's ending sequence plays, with a remix of the Bubble Bobble theme.
Also, there is also a Battle Mode that can be played from the selection screen or if a second player joins the game in progress. In the Battle Mode, both players get a random board and every time a player drops a group of bubbles off the board, the same amount of bubbles are sent to the opponents board. A player wins when they can have their opponent's board filled to the line with bubbles. The game lasts until one player wins twice. There's also a different music, "April Forest" that plays during this mode, instead of the normal theme, "Let's Go To Pao Pao Island!"
There is also an SNES version of the game that adds more stuff to the game, such as various Special Bubbles that do various stuff upon bursting. Such bubbles include:
- Fire Bubble: Popping this bubble will burn all bubbles in a group.
- Lightning Bubble: Popping this bubble will burst all bubbles in the row that the bubble was in.
- Water Bubble: Popping this bubble will change all bubbles in two rows of the bubble to what color it was burst with.
- Special Bubble: Popping this bubble will remove all bubbles of the color it was used to pop with. The mechanics were reintroduced with the Star Bubble from Puzzle Bobble 3. Only found in the Challenge Mode.
There are now one hundred different boards that the player must complete now, with some new boards added, plus some boards from the arcade version. The 100th level is a battle against Super Drunk, where the player must pop bubbles near his barrier to defeat him. The ending is different in which Bub and Bob find a chest containing lots of treasure.
Also, a "Challenge" mode is also selectable in which the game continues endlessly, adding more lines of bubbles until the player loses the game.
The SNES version was also ported to Game Gear, 3D0, and Wonderswan.
Unreleased "US" B-System Version[]
While the original Taito B System version was only released in Japan. Taito America planned to release Puzzle Bobble even in the US still for the Taito B System, under the title "Bubble Buster". During the location test, apart the translated text, some drastic changes were made, such as:
- The Bubble Dragons being not present, in it's place is a contraption being controlled by two hands. Because of the absence of Bob to hold the press start sign, the sign itself grows a leg and foot to press the start button.
- Bubbles are completely solid instead of containing Bubble Bobble enemies.
- The music is still there. The only music that isn't in Bubble Buster is the title theme, in which the Game Over theme plays during the title sequence, and the ending theme, for reasons described below. When you get to the fifteenth board, the music switches from "Let's Go To Pao Pao Island!" (some levels will have the intro bit instead of going to the loop) to "April Forest".
- The ending does not show a credits scene, instead, they planned a sweepstakes contest, with a riddle, which a screen shows about it after the congratulations screen. Unfortunately, the contest did not happen because of the prototype.
While this version was remain hidden for the public for a long time, Nonetheless, in 2021, a prototype B-System board was found containing this unreleased US version.
Curiously, a similar set of changes would be later made to the US Taito F3 System version of Puzzle Bobble 2, under the title of Bust-A-Move Again which get released in the US.
Ports[]
| Platform | Release | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Taito B-System | June 1994(JP, US (Unreleased)) |
|
| Neo-Geo MVS | December 12, 1994(WW) |
|
| Super NES | January 13, 1995(JP) 1995(EU) March 1995(NA) |
|
| Neo-Geo CD | May 2, 1995(JP) April 27, 1995(EU) |
|
| 3DO | November 22, 1995(JP) 1995(NA) |
|
| Game Gear | August 2, 1996(JP) 1996(NA) |
|
| DOS | March 15, 1997(NA) |
|
| Wonderswan | July 1, 1999(JP) |
|
| Windows | 1999(NA) |
|
| Nintendo Switch | December 20, 2018(WW) |
|
| PlayStation 4 | December 20, 2018(JP) January 3, 2019(NA) |
|
| Xbox One | December 20, 2018(JP) |
|
Characters[]
Playable characters[]
Non-playable characters[]
- Chack'n
- Zen-chan (SNES version only)
- Maita (SNES version only)
- Monsta (SNES version only)
- Pulpul (SNES version only)
- Banebou (SNES version only)
- Hidegons (SNES version only)
- Drunk (SNES version only)
- Invader (SNES version only)
- Skel-Monsta (SNES version only)
- Rascal (SNES version only)
- Catch (Cameo, SNES version only)
Bosses[]
- Super Drunk (SNES version only)
Bubbles[]
- Normal Bubble
- Thunder Bubble (SNES version only)
- Water Bubble (SNES version only)
- Fire Bubble (SNES version only)
- Special Bubble (SNES version only)
Trivia[]
- The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'AAA'.
- While Bubble Buster was never released for unknown reasons, it is assumed that, Taito America decided to focus more on the localization of Puzzle Bobble for the Neo Geo MVS.
- Unscrambling the message in the Bubble Buster's sweepstakes contest, we get the following message: TAITO... THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN!