is a

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. H ...

released in arcades by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

in February 1998. It features characters from Taito games ''

Rainbow Islands is a 1987 in video gaming, 1987 arcade game developed and published by Taito Corporation, Taito. The arcade version was licensed to Romstar for North American manufacturing and distribution. The game is subtitled "The Story of Bubble Bobble 2" and ...

'', '' Kiki Kaikai'', '' Don Doko Don,'' and ''

The NewZealand Story is a platformer arcade game developed and published by Taito in 1988. The game's concept and setting were inspired by a holiday trip in New Zealand by one of the Taito programmers. The player controls , a Kiwi (bird), kiwi who must save his girlfr ...

'', The game was ported to the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

and

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

. The Game Boy Color version was also released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

with

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...

characters, under the title ''Yogi Bear: Great Balloon Blast''.

Gameplay

Gameplay is a hybrid of ''

Puzzle Bobble internationally known as ''Bust-a-Move'', is a 1994 tile-matching puzzle arcade game developed and published by Taito. It is based on the 1986 arcade game ''Bubble Bobble'', featuring characters and themes from that game. Its characteristically ...

,'' ''

Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by deflect ...

,'' and ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...

''. Rows of coloured balloons advance down the screen, and the player must shoot their own balloons at them. When three balloons of the same colour match up, they disappear.

Ports

The game was released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

for the

and

. Both the PlayStation and Game Boy Color versions added additional characters from other Taito games, such as Bubblun from '' Bubble Symphony'', Ptolemy from ''

The Fairyland Story is a platform arcade video game developed and published by Taito in 1985. In the game, the player controls the witch Ptolemy, with the objective being to clear the screen of all enemies. Ptolemy can use her wand to turn the enemies into large cake ...

'', Chack'n from ''

Chack'n Pop is an Platform game, platform arcade game developed and released by Taito in 1984. In the game, the player controls a small yellow creature, Chack'n, with the objective being to retrieve hearts from a cave, all while avoiding the enemies contained ...

'', Hipopo from '' Liquid Kids'', and Drunk from ''

Bubble Bobble is a 1986 platform video game, platform arcade game developed and published by Taito. It was distributed in the United States by Romstar, and in Europe by Electrocoin. Players control Bub and Bob, two dragons that set out to save their girlfrien ...

''. Chack'n, Hipopo and Drunk are hidden in the PlayStation version, but initially playable in the Game Boy Color version. A Microsoft Windows version was developed by Dreams and was released in the UK by Vektorlogic Ltd., and in Japan by CyberFront around. It does not include the secret characters of the PlayStation version.

Legacy

A version was also announced for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

console for release in Europe in 2007, according to the Q2 Update posted by

Nintendo of Europe is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...

. However, in common with other planned updates of

franchises such as '' KiKi KaiKai 2'', Taito appear to have withdrawn their license for unknown reasons, and the game was reworked and released under the name '' Balloon Pop'' in North America and ''Pop!'' in Europe. The original arcade version also appeared in the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

versions of ''

Taito Legends 2 ''Taito Legends 2'' is the sequel to ''Taito Legends'' and is a follow-up collection of 39 (or 43, see below) Taito arcade games for Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. As the former collection, it has been derived from the Japan exclu ...

'', though missing the arcade and PlayStation's 15 kHz scan-lined video output (they feature upscaled graphics instead), and to date has not been collected in any of the Japanese ''

Taito Memories ''Taito Memories'' is a series of video game compilations published by Taito in Japan. A total of five collections were released from 2005 to 2007 — four on the PlayStation 2, and one on the PlayStation Portable. The PlayStation 2 entries each ha ...

'' compilations. The PlayStation version was re-released on the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

on January 13, 2009, in Japan.

References

{{Bubble Bobble series 1998 video games Arcade video games CyberFront games Game Boy Color games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation Network games Puzzle video games Taito arcade games Video games based on Yogi Bear Video games developed in Japan