Bust-a-Move Again

Released: 1995

Pitch: Compete against your rivals in the bubble-popping puzzle action!

When I was a kid we had a shareware game on our Mac called Snood (which I think did get some sort of official release eventually) and I didn't know it at the time but it was just Bust-a-Move with little faces on the balls. I had a lot of fun playing Snood. This is perhaps the first time playing proper Bust-a-Move but I don't think so. I think I did play an actual arcade cabinet of one of the games in the series but I can't remember for sure.

Anyway, Bust-a-Move is fun! You shoot colored balls from the bottom of the screen to match with a collection of balls stuck in the top of the screen. Matches of three or more cause the balls to disappear and anything connected to just those balls will fall off the screen, netting you a nice bonus. In Vs Mode you try to outlast your opponent (either computer or human). Bigger matches and drop bonuses cause extra balls to go to the other side. First player to have balls cross the bottom line loses. In Puzzle mode you have to clear all the balls but the longer you take the more the top of the screen pushes the balls down. If you have to continue a level in Puzzle Mode, the game gives you a dotted line showing exactly where the balls will land, which is really nice but it lasts for just that level. This game is like pool in that it's all about geometry, how the balls bounce (including off the walls). But it holds up! Bust-a-Move is still fun! I'm pretty sure the arcade version used a wheel for its controller and that would be cool to try.