The changes are stunning, phenomenal, exquisite! Game Info Publisher Acclaim Developer Taito Genre Puzzle Origin Japan Number of Players 2 Dual Shock YES Release April 1999 Peripherals Memory Pack The madness! Stop it! Stoooopppppp it! Please! Could it be more innovative and complex? We think not...

If you like Bust-A-Move 1, 2 and 4, well, you'll like this. No doubt. It's -- and I quote myself with much upper stiff-lippedness - more of the same great puzzling goodness that you've no doubt seen and played in all of the dozens of Bust-A-Move iterations preceding it from before Christ and possibly even before the Egyptians.

The major upgrades to this always fun, ultimately challenging puzzler include some rather benign little changes, and a few biggies. With dual shock support, you can now FEEL the bubbles like never before. Packed with more puzzles than ever. In fact, according to Acclaim, there are thousands of different puzzles. By winning the Contest mode, more than 1,000 classic Bust-A-Move puzzles can be opened up for never-ending craziness. New special bubbles include stars, metal, and rainbows, and all-new backgrounds. Also, prior to the game, players have a choice of eight new characters that can be found in other Taito games.

What can really, truly be said about the Bust-A-Move series that hasn't been said? It's cute? It's great? It's fun? its addictive? It's the same as it ever was? The concept is old but it's still amazingly fun and so addictive it's scary. OK, that's been said before. But start playing and you'll see why.

One player gameplay is magical. The cut-scenes in story mode and elsewhere are cute as a button, and I really like some of the highly creative puzzles in the Contest and Collection modes. And there are tons of them. The other extremely cool aspect is that you can be a Bust-A-Move "artiste" by creating your own puzzles and then saving them to Memory Card for others to play. The biggest problem here is that the N64 game can be considered better because it has four player gameplay, and this one only has two-player gameplay. But actually, the two-player mode is still my favorite, I'd take it any day over four-player. And that's not console favoritism, it's just true. Four-player is cool, but the two-player is easier to play and see, as the four-player mode gets really small. Last but not least, this game is going for an inexpensive price, with an MSRP of about $20 or so.

If you don't already own this game, it's a true must-have. If you already have it, well then, fogetttaabouttttit.

   --Doug Perry