Bust-A-Move Review

By Kristan Reed Published 27 May, 2007

All busted up.

Version tested: Wii

Just how many versions of Bust A Move does the world need? Faced with row upon row of Wii games in your average game store, yet another version of Taito's relentlessly repackaged bubble bursting puzzler isn't exactly going to jump out at you. So what's special about this one, then?

If you were a betting man, you'd probably put your life savings on the "intuitive", "innovative", and "mostly underutilised" Wii remote being used in order to aim your 'attack bubble' with fluid precision. Ding. You are a winner.

Initial impressions are pretty favourable. The core bubble matching premise of yore remains utterly unaltered, meaning the entire point of the game is to simply fire bubbles upwards, and eliminate those above by matching three or more of the same colour. Simple, instantly playable, and massively addictive. Or so you'd imagine, anyway. What could possibly go wrong with this timeless formula?

Whether you plump for holding the remote like a baton or point it at the screen like a gun, the targeting system responds instantly. Not only is it possible to launch a bubble at your intended target more reliably than the usual digital system, the ability to delicately perform left/right movements with all the precision of a mouse pointer makes it feel like the game has finally found its natural home.

I'm forever busting bubbles

'Bust-A-Move' Screenshot 1

Words you'll be seeing an awful lot during your time with Bust A Move.

But as silky smooth as the controls undoubtedly feel, there's an instant feeling that something's not quite right. It's just not especially challenging. Thanks to the presence of a guide line and a target reticule that tells you precisely where your bubble's heading, it's pretty tough to mess up.

Admittedly you can turn off the reticule, but the guide pointer remains, and any semblance of guesswork and skill is removed. As a result of this, a barrage of helpful power-ups and some sloppy, easy level design, and level upon level in the game's Puzzle mode come and go with barely a whimper of resistance. The first fifty fly by in blur in under half an hour. Another fifty. And another. And so on. In the first few hours you'll have probably licked hundreds of levels without even really trying, and clock up scores well into the billions.

After the first 250 levels, another 250 unlock - and that's if you haven't floated off into a bubblicious coma that the Corona gang would have been proud of. Possibly mindful of the more 'casual' audience of the Wii, it appears that developers Happy Happening (great name, guys) has made it accessible to a fault. As Louie Theroux might have said: "No challenge."

Sure, it's gets a bit more testing as it goes along, but you've got to wade through so much elementary fluff to get there, it's hardly worth the effort; especially as it's a 13 year-old game with almost zero new additions.

The visuals are as rudimentary as you're likely to see in a full-price release, with backdrops so basic they have to be seen to be believed. Even the terrifically annoying level music is rehashed from previous games, which is enough to put us in therapy right there.

Depress mode

'Bust-A-Move' Screenshot 2

How to burst the nostalgia bubble in one easy step.

If there were a bunch of new modes worth a damn, we might have been a little more impressed, but it's mostly throwaway in the extreme. For example, the shooting mode (lifted from the bonus round every 10th level) is about as basic as Wii mini games get, and makes some of the stuff on Wii Play look fearsomely advanced. The idea? Match the colour of the bubble that's floating across the screen with the colour of your reticule (which you cycle through with the dpad). It's immediately tedious, and yet represents one quarter of the modes in this shallow, underwhelming version of an ageing game.

Elsewhere, the Endless mode suffers from the same issue as Puzzle mode, in that it's too undemanding for too long, such that by the time it starts getting interesting, you're already bored of the grind. In this mode, bubble endlessly replace the ones you've cleared, and the challenge is to continually keep them from reaching the foot of the screen.

If Happy Happening had the brilliant insight to include that fabulous innovation known as variable difficulty level, the game might have proved to be more interesting than it is. The truth is, through, more than half an hour of remote pointing and bubble bursting, the chances are your arms are going to ache a little, (though the baton control method proves to be a more sensible long term solution to Wii ache), though boredom will most likely win out beforehand.

Even versus mode is a bit of an anti climax. The back of the box boasts in an explosion of unnecessary capital letters of it being "The Ultimate Eight-Player Bubble Bursting Bash". Eight players? On a Wii? Well, if you can gather up all your Wii remotes, nunchuks and Classic Controllers (collective price = probably more than the console itself) then you can engage in wild bubblegasms, or employ some cheery AI players to fill the empty slots. But is it worth it? Not really.

The idea is that everyone simultaneously fires off bubbles from the bottom of the screen and has to burst more jewel bubbles than anyone else within three minutes. It's fast, furious and fun, and other words beginning with F, but an exceptionally limited mode by itself. What happened to classic versus mode from all the previous Bust A Moves? You know, the mode that ends up being the one you play for hours on end and remains the best way to play this timeless little game. Removing it is, at best, careless, and at worst, just plain suicidal.

If you happen to see Bust A Move looking longingly at you from among the rows and rows of Wii titles in your local gaming emporium, don't return its glare. As a cheap, downloadable game, this would be the perfect kind of offering, but as a full-priced boxed game, it's a bit of a joke to be asked part with this sort of money these days. Remember how it once was in its proud mid '90s heyday, not what it's become: a relentless, lazy cash-cow to lure in unwary souls drunk on memories.

4 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MadMirko #1 5 years ago

    Shame. But no one is going to care, all busy with Mario Strikers.

    Next.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #2 5 years ago

    I was really hoping that this game will be good. Multiplayer was always a lot of fun in the earlier incarnations.

  • jamespo #3 5 years ago

    these are DS screenshots, right?

  • Daikon #4 5 years ago

    Puzzle Bobble / Bust A Move 2 on Playstation / Saturn / Neo Geo remains the best version out there.

  • TILT #5 5 years ago

    28 GBP?! On a disc? Surely this would be an ideal candidate for Virtual Console, for a few Nintendo dollars?

  • robotgremlin #6 5 years ago

    i loved this game on a well known pc arcade emulator. loved it, but wouldn't pay to own it.
    Edited by 1 at 27/05/07 @ 13:02

  • Artemis_Matsas #7 5 years ago

    Oh man... I wanted to get this for the wife (she's VERY good at Bust a Move), but i guess i'll wait till it hits the bargain bin :(

  • All_the_girly_men #8 5 years ago

    wow, another crappy game for the wii.

    /anyone get a sense of deja vu?

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #9 5 years ago

    Move along troll.

  • All_the_girly_men #10 5 years ago

    heh, it's not my fault that wii has not lived up to expectations.

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #11 5 years ago

    No it's not. It's your fault you're trolling though.
    Edited by 1 at 27/05/07 @ 14:19

  • All_the_girly_men #12 5 years ago

    Eh? It's not trolling, it's fair criticism. If the Wii has lived up to 1/10th of Nintendo's promises we wouldn't even be talking about it.

  • Martin #13 5 years ago

    Well, what do you expect from a console for kiddies?

  • Veracity #14 5 years ago

    > i guess i'll wait till it hits the bargain bin

    If you specifically wanted it for Wii, fair enough. If PS2, Xbox or PC is fine, too, Puzzle Bobble 2 is on the Taito Legends 2 classics/shovelware (delete according to cynicism) compilation, which you can get for tuppence already. The PC and Xbox versions also include the somewhat similar Pop 'n Pop.

    Or just MAME it, since it's fairly old and originated in arcades, which apparently means many think downloading it for free isn't piracy.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #15 5 years ago

    In what way has the Wii "not lived up to expectations"? They can't get them on the shelves fast enough.

  • tnomad #16 5 years ago

    Well the Wii hasn't lived up to expectations, it's exceeeded them by miles. I don't think many people thought the DS and Wii would selling the kind of numbers they are. I agree that comments above are very typical MY CONSOLE IS BESTEST trolling.

  • Sl1pstream #17 5 years ago

    The Wii has lived up to its expecations if you were expecting a gamecube-sized games catalogue. The reason they're flying off the shelves is because non-gamers are buying them like crazy. While they're content with just a copy of Wii Sports and Wario Ware, the Wii could use a lot more titles than just the party games. If sales were the only thing that we matters, both Furbies and Tamagotchis would be TEH BEST THINGZ EVAH. Not to mention that horrible 50 cent game.

    While I do realize that they'll probably have a lot more titles this time next year, they don't exactly have a shitload of titles available at the moment. I'm pretty sure the Wii will eventually live up to what they've promised, that moment is still a long time away.
    Edited by 2 at 27/05/07 @ 18:16

  • aine #18 5 years ago

    The DS version of Bust-a-Move is still the best one, absolutely no contest. It has all the features you complain about being missing from this one - specifically a proper versus mode and variable difficulty levels - and the stylus controls are excellent. Plus it's much cheaper.

  • Toonster #19 5 years ago

    the last two EG Wii reviews were a 9/10 and an 8/10, so shove off, trolls.

  • The-Bodybuilder #20 5 years ago

    Why do people ALWAYS fall for trolls?

  • Khab #21 5 years ago

    I really don't get the incessant whinging about there not being tons of Wii titles, it's ALWAYS that way with a new console*. If you can't handle it, then DON'T BUY ON RELEASE DAY. k?

    *: See: PS2 (SSX was considered the one release game worth the money, IIRC)
    360 (Up 'til around six or seven months ago there was COD2 and PGR2 to play, more or less)
    DS (Same thing here, and this comparison is probably the fairest, since we're dealing with a new control scheme, like with the Wii. But I dare you to say that there are no good games for the DS now.)
    PS3 (Motorstorm and COD with aliens. Anything else? Nope.) etc.

    So deal with it. Catch up on your back catalogue or something. Or play Wii Sports with three mates, still can't have much more fun than that.

  • smelly #22 5 years ago

    (doesnt understand why people are even replying to the retarded troll fanboys who are only here to tell everyone who bwilliant their wankbox is - because that doesnt get bad games does it?)

  • jmctavish #23 5 years ago

    It's amazing how much shit is spoken about the Wii. Some people won't be happy until it grows arms and wanks you off on demand.

    There's alot of stuff I want on the Wii but not at £35-£40 a game. I fancy Rayman, Madden, CoD, Heatseeker, Godfather and SSX bit not until they hit the bargain bin. The same goes for Mercury even though it's supposed to be fantastic. I guess I've just been spoiled with the amount of bargain priced PS2 and PC games you can get in the shops.

  • smelly #24 5 years ago

    "t's amazing how much shit is spoken about the Wii. Some people won't be happy until it grows arms and wanks you off on demand. "


    Its got nothing to do with that. The people speaking shit tend almost always to be 360 owners scared that their platform is about to be shoved into last place.

  • ZeroAX #25 5 years ago

    and i never got thisgame "drought" don't you guys have anything to do with your lifes?
    or otehr game systems? i relaly doupt anyone actually commenting hereo nly has one game system. i still havn't beaten zelda and now i'm playing the great mario strikers

  • Genji #26 5 years ago

    "It's amazing how much shit is spoken about the Wii. Some people won't be happy until it grows arms and wanks you off on demand."

    Well, that *would* be nice.

    Seriously, though, there are many dedicated gamers that are literally impossible to please. I don't blame Nintendo for focusing on a less demanding market for the Wii.

  • z.e.r.o #27 5 years ago

    The points of the reviews are agreeable Bust a Move hasn't aged well, and since many editions, it is exactly the same or has been surpassed by better puzzle games. In short: it is late and unneeded.

    Now I'd like to see a similar treatment for Halo 3 :)

  • Kryon #28 5 years ago

    I have a Wii (and a PS3 & 360) and personally I have been pretty displeased with the Wii's game catalogue so far, it's been out for half a year(ish) now and there's still bugger all I want on it, the future release schedule isn't much better either imo and yes ofcourse the other systems have their fair share of uninspired software but it just seems the Wii has 3% Great games and 97% utter tosh at the mo (no I don't have a link to prove it ffs but that's the way I feel). Nintendo should have just given up after the N64 imo and before smelly and his cronies start shouting "troll" at me (lol the irony), the reason for me posting here (something I rarely do) is because I feel genuinely disappointed with Ninty of late. The Wii is a kids party toy, anyone who expects more than this should leave well alone imo.

    Kryon.

  • Genji #29 5 years ago

    "...the reason for me posting here (something I rarely do) is because I feel genuinely disappointed with Ninty of late."

    Put it in the forum, then. There's plenty of "not happy with the Wii" topics for you to vent in, or begin yourself.

    Right now, it seems like the comments section for every poorly-scored Wii game attracts diatribes against the Wii, and Nintendo in general. I'd prefer the threads to focus on - you know - *the game that's actually being reviewed*, more than anything.

    But no, the threads turn into yet another console war, with insults being thrown about and everything. It happened with the first batch of X360 games, and now the same thing is happening again. It's more than a little bit tiresome, frankly.

    Anyhoo, I might be tempted to pick this up, as my Puzzle Bobble experience is very limited. What experience I did have was hampered by my being absolutely rubbish at the game. For me, having that little guiding line might not be such a bad idea. :-D
    Edited by 1 at 28/05/07 @ 08:10

  • Kryon #30 5 years ago

    @Genji

    Where do you get off telling others where to post their views? I'm sure pretending to be a mod is fun but you're not one so keep it to yourself ta, btw the last two posts you've made in this thread have had nothing what so ever to do with, you know, the game, so perhaps you should preach elsewhere, but yeah lets talk about the game, erm, it's crap, not unlike alot of the other software released on the Wii, happy now?

    Edit- I like how you edited to include that final paragraph about the game, good going masterbrain!
    Edited by 1 at 28/05/07 @ 08:22

  • Genji #31 5 years ago

    Uh. Ok. It was just a suggestion, really. I really didn't mean for it to be insulting or anything. Sorry if you took offense.

    It just seems like a lot of threads about games descend into arguments about the merits of the console that the game is on, or the company that makes the console, rather than the game itself.

  • Kryon #32 5 years ago

    Jeez, I feel bad now :( ..so I'm sorry for being a twat about it. It's just that I love Ninty and I guess it's kinda getting to me that the games I want aren't present.. Sorry again for taking your reply the wrong way.

    /extends friendship beer :)

  • Genji #33 5 years ago

    Cheers.

    I guess your comments were made with the best of intentions. There are, however, people who come into comments sections purely to throw shit at a particular console that they don't own, and never want to own. The trolls basically come to stir things up, and ruin a lot of otherwise productive comment threads. smelly gets a bit pissed off with them, and so do I.

    Unfortunately, its a bit easy to get them confused with disappointed (insert console here)-owners, who have different intentions. Especially when they are relatively new commenters, such as yourself.

    I apologise for any misunderstanding.

  • Kryon #34 5 years ago

    I totally know what you mean, although I've seen smelly troll 360 & PS3 threads more often than any other EG regular so I don't think he has much right to get pissed off at anyone but himself, but unbiased ppl like you are great, balanced is the word :)

  • Genji #35 5 years ago

    When smelly does it, it's usually in an ironic fashion. I think he tries to take the piss out of the people that do it here.

    I'm not sure if that's better, though. :)

  • Kryon #36 5 years ago

    Maybe but irony or not it's all just tit for tat and I'm sure every time smelly trolls elsewhere he will just breed more who will come to ruin Wii threads like this one, it's just childish imo...

    Anyway, that's life I guess :)

  • Artemis_Matsas #37 5 years ago

    @Veracity

    Yes, i agree with you, to tell the truth i own the PC version and the PS2 version of this game. But i was really looking forward for the Wii version because of the controller potential. I'm so frustated that they did such a poor job.

  • Kryon #38 5 years ago

    ^^ Well I didn't want to say that but it's the obvious truth XD

  • Darth_Flibble #39 5 years ago

    >Its got nothing to do with that. The people speaking shit tend almost always to be 360 owners scared that their platform is about to be shoved into last place.

    no, I found its sony zealots tbh,

  • smelly #40 5 years ago

    "I have a Wii (and a PS3 & 360) and personally I have been pretty displeased with the Wii's game catalogue so far,"


    But you mention the wii over the ps3??

    Come on..


    "I totally know what you mean, although I've seen smelly troll 360 & PS3 threads"

    Show me one ps3 thread where i've "trolled", or indeed a 360 thread where im not directly replying to a fankid who's posted in a wii/ps3 thread?

    Nearly all the ps3 threads i've posted in have been in direct reply to trolls who go into ps3 threads slagging off the machine (same as i do in wii threads).

    Strange no-one trolls 360 threads though.. which is why im adamant that all the trolls are insecure 360 owners :-)

    Edited by 2 at 28/05/07 @ 17:13

  • Kryon #41 5 years ago

    Smelly, I don't think you quite get it, this isn't the place to vent your anger at other people, If you feel someone is being immature or 'trolling' it's not your place to moderate.

    "directly replying to a fankid who's posted in a wii/ps3 thread?"

    The fact that you would follow another user into their thread of choice to "get them" seems pointless, childish and just elevates the problem. Btw, I mentioned the Wii first because that was the subject of my post, hence the 360/PS3 being in brackets. I don't really see what you're trying to get at?

    Trolling is trolling, you may think you have a 'reason' to do it in some kind of strange fanboy revenge scenario but it's not my cup of tea, I come here to read about games/consoles and give my opinions on the ones I own.

    "Strange no-one trolls 360 threads though"

    Apart from you ...

  • smelly #42 5 years ago

    "Smelly, I don't think you quite get it, this isn't the place to vent your anger at other people, If you feel someone is being immature or 'trolling' it's not your place to moderate. "

    But yet you feel you need to moderate me?

    Surely anyone being a childish twat going into threads trying to tell everyone how wank a certain machine is - deserves to be told to f-off?

    If telling trolls to get stuffed is a bad thing.. then that's very strange.. As you quite rightly point out, if someone trolls a 360 thread every 360 fankid gets upset and will reply scathingly - but that's okay apparently. Its only not okay to respond if someone trolls a ps3/wii thread? Strange.

  • Kryon #43 5 years ago

    "But yet you feel you need to moderate me? "

    No, that would be far too much work, this was a one off, all I'm saying is whether it's with good intentions or not you cause more trouble than it's worth, and sorry mate but you're no angel. I've seen your snide (often unprevoked) remarks in many 360 threads but that doesn't mean I'm going to follow you into every Wii thread to put down the games you like in a silly attempt to get back at you (although going by your logic such behavior is righteous and true). Anyway, this conversation is kinda pointless, Many EG'ers including me, know you as one of the worst trolls to grace this site, you have every right to deny it but if you do so , maybe you should remember this convo the next time you feel like entering a 360 thread to ruin it for others who just want to enjoy talking about games.

  • smelly #44 5 years ago

    I'm the worst troll? Oh brother some of you lot are weird.

    Point me to a post where i've actually genuinely trolled?

    ah soddit.. i dont know why i bother.. okay.. im a troll.. anyone who comes on wii or ps3 threads and slags off the machines are okay.. anyone who responds is a troll. Mentioning that you dont like a game on the 360 also makes you a troll too - but going "haha all ps3 games are shit" isnt - because that came from a 360 owner (or something).

  • Kryon #45 5 years ago

    Smelly, I've got nothing against you, I really haven't and no way is it ok for 360/PS3 owners to troll either but I think maybe you let them goad you into behaving as badly as they do sometimes, I know you're not all bad, I've read discussions where you bring up good and valid points (maybe the "worst troll" thing was a bit harsh) but you know, can't we all just get along? After all we're all just here to talk about our favourite toys really, it should be fun dude :)

    Maybe we should all just have a beer and forget about it :)

  • Aretak #46 5 years ago

    "Point me to a post where i've actually genuinely trolled?"

    Who brought up the Xbox 360 in this thread (or the "wankbox" as you so maturely called it)? You're one of the worst fanboys around here, and an embarrassment to the sensible Nintendo fans.

  • smelly #47 5 years ago

    The "wankbox" is a made up console owned by trolls. If you want to presume i mean a specific console that's up to you.

    One thing that dawned on me last night however, and i'm gonna bring this up now every time i see a 360 troll on a wii thread. The wii has had in the last month on this site, (at least) one 7/10 one 8/10 and one 9/10.

    I cant remember the ps3 or 360 getting even one 8/10 game in the last few months.. So yeah, maybe we should all sell our wii's because it only has shit games and get whichever console you own :-)