Bust-A-Move Frenzy Seen On Test

[Thanks to Jdevy for the tip]

Note: This article discusses a game that has been seen on location test, which is the arcade phrase for “beta test.” The game may change significantly before it reaches production, or it may not be released at all. Stay tuned to this site for future updates as they are made available. 

This year has been a busy one for location tests, including Centipede Chaos, Tetris Dimensions, Pinball FX2, various games for the Exa among several others. Today we’ve got one more to add to the list, another from the house of Jarvis, with Raw Thrills bringing another classic back to arcades – Bust-A-Move (also known as Puzzle Bobble). Here’s one pic, then we’ll discuss further.

Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble was first released in 1994 by Taito, quickly earning itself a place in puzzle gaming history as a classic. It was a smart move to turn Bubble Bobble into a puzzle game, which has paid off for Taito over the years in terms of sequels and spinoffs. It’s been a while since the game found itself in arcades though, the last entry to sport the name coming in twenty years ago with Super Puzzle Bobble.

For this new Frenzy edition, you’ll note Raw Thrills’ recent history in reinventing classics. They’ve done so several times now, including: Galaga Assault, World’s Largest Pac-Man (& Galaga), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the aforementioned Centipede Chaos & Tetris Dimensions, Space Invaders Frenzy and one other game that’s been seen on test this summer, World’s Largest Frogger.

The subtitle of Frenzy is more than just a way to set the game apart from it’s predecessors, it tells us about how it plays too. While you can look in the lower left of the pic to notice that this is being tested in a Space Invaders Frenzy cabinet, we also have this pic that was posted to Instagram:

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A post shared by Brian Foerster (@brian.foerster)

Unfortunately that leaves us with more questions than answers – other versions of Bust-A-Move used a joystick setup, while this is using mounted guns. While using guns made sense in Space Invaders, it’s not the first thing that came to mind with a puzzle game like this.

Of course, “don’t knock it ’til you try it;” the testing will tell (and controls can change for production). This is being tested as a redemption piece, but all of those games that were listed among Raw Thrills have featured amusement/ticketless modes. So, we can safely assume that this will have such a mode too.

It would also be nice to see a smaller “street operator” version of this, but I wouldn’t pin my hopes on that.

I did reach out to RT about this, but they don’t comment on games at this point in their development.

What do you think about it from the little we know so far?