Bust-a-Move Overview
Bust-a-Move for DOS expands significantly on its arcade origins, introducing new content and modes while preserving the core bubble-matching mechanics. The player operates a catapult to fire colored bubbles upward, aiming to create groups of three or more identical colors for their removal. Any clusters disconnected from the top or sides will fall away, and a steadily lowering ceiling adds pressure to the playfield. Contact between the bubbles and the bottom screen edge results in a loss.
Beyond the basic premise, the single-player journey consists of one hundred distinct levels, a substantial increase from the arcade release. While some stages are familiar, most are original creations. This mode also integrates special bubble types that alter gameplay when struck: explosive bubbles clear a small area, lightning bubbles wipe out a horizontal row, and water bubbles change the colors of bubbles they flow down over. The final level culminates in a boss encounter, a feature not present in the original.
Multiplayer competition returns, focusing on causing the opponent to fail by sending extra bubbles to their screen after large matches. This version optionally includes a series of ten computer-controlled adversaries, each with a distinct strategic approach. For solitary high-score pursuit, an endless Challenge mode continuously adds bubbles from the top of the screen, tracking both the total score and the number of bubbles popped. The two-player and challenge modes replace the descending ceiling with a mechanic that introduces new bubbles from above.
