The Puzzle Bobble series has seen a large number of entries under various titles throughout the years. ACA Neo Geo: Puzzle Bobble 2 is a port of the original Neo Geo game, featuring original mascots Bub and Bob, two colourful, expressive dragon creatures who players will accompany on a quest to align bubbles of the same colour. These days it’s a classic puzzle game formula, though it might be more fair to call it a “reflex” game than a puzzle one, as much of the time, accuracy has more to do with player success than anything else. Sometimes the bubbles don’t go where they seem like they should have, but the stakes are low as players have unlimited continues, and failure results in the next match adding a row of dots to better highlight where the next bubble will land.
Oftentimes the game simply won’t provide useful colours to help the player clear out the quickly approaching wall of bubbles, which end the game if they reach the bottom of the screen. Puzzle Bobble 2 features a rudimentary overworld, which offers some control over how the game will unfold, and gives a bit of replay value to a title that otherwise could become repetitive. Each stage is laid out in a specific pattern to start, and most feature a background that by today’s standards looks grainy and stretched out, in particular on the big screen, but players using the Switch in handheld mode are less likely to notice. That same grain permeates the sound, and while the upbeat music and frequent chants of “Yatta!” when players get a groove going are fun and fit the game perfectly, they sound fuzzy and low fidelity.
These flaws are easy to forgive, considering this is a port of a game from the 1990s, and in that regard Hamster has done a good job. There isn’t anything too spectacular in terms of additions, but the menu is robust and offers full keybind customisation, which is nice because the default configuration feels strange and unergonomic, but Puzzle Bobble 2’s controls are overall simple and probably won’t be a problem. Some online high score features have also been added to further extend the replay value.
