Puzzle Bobble 2

About Puzzle Bobble 2

Puzzle Bobble 2 (1995), known in the West as Bust-A-Move Again, is Taito's bubble-shooting puzzle sequel, adding a branching single-player map and a tournament against Bubble Bobble characters.

Puzzle Bobble 2 in Depth

The first sequel to Puzzle Bobble keeps its bubble-matching formula and builds on it. The one-player game now has a branching map, letting the player periodically choose between two groups of five levels, leading to different endings. A tournament-style variation of the two-player game pits the player against computer opponents, some based on Bubble Bobble characters, including versions of a Monsta and a Mighta. Some versions, including the PlayStation one, add time trials in which one player races previous records or two players race the records and each other.

Finishing the single-player game reveals a code that unlocks Another World, which subtly toughens the existing levels and redraws every backdrop to resemble Bubble Bobble, whose enemies also appear behind the credits. Next Generation called it "one of the most addictive puzzle games in the arcades right now", praising the "fascinating" trick of bouncing bubbles off the walls into the right spot, and Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers applauded its amount of content, bank shots and fierce two-player competition. The North American Taito F3 arcade release differed greatly: Bub and Bob were replaced by a pair of disembodied hands, opponents by a generic computer, and backgrounds, audio and voices were changed, though the Neo Geo and console versions follow the Japanese original.

Making Puzzle Bobble 2

Taito developed and published it for arcades in 1995, where Game Machine listed it as Japan's fourth most successful arcade game of October, with the 2X update ninth in January 1996. Home versions followed for PlayStation, Saturn, Nintendo 64 and Windows, the MS-DOS and Saturn ports being based on 2X and adding a level editor. GameSpy's Kevin Bowen felt the disturbing North American cover was likely to frighten away young players, and Acclaim's later MS-DOS and Nintendo 64 releases used the European art. By the time the Nintendo 64 version arrived, the PlayStation and Saturn versions had been out nearly two years and Puzzle Bobble 3 was already available. It was later included in Taito Legends 2 and Hamster's ACA Neo Geo series.