Thanks to the success of games like Shovel Knight, there are now many others out there trying to recreate the charm and look of older 8-bit titles.  But hardly any attention is given to the monochrome handheld look of what was on the original Game Boy.  That is until now, with Pirate Pop Plus.  It looks like something out of that era, and even the border looks like the sides of a handheld!  In the game, Pete Jr. finds that the Bubble Pirate has trapped villagers in bubbles, and it’s up to you to pop them with your anchor in this game that plays very similarly to arcade classic Buster Bros. (also called Pang in some parts of the world).  It’s available as a cross-buy for the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS, meaning if you buy it on one system, you can download it on the other without having to pay for it again.  Pirate Pop Plus is reviewed on the Wii U here.

As mentioned earlier, Pirate Pop Plus play very much like Buster Bros.  You run around the bottom of a single-screen playfield, avoiding bouncing bubbles that the Bubble Pirate sends your way.  If you get hit by a bubble, you lose a heart, and if you lose them all, it’s Game Over.  You can pop the bubbles and make them smaller and smaller with your anchor gun.  It’ll shoot straight up, and if the bubbles hit it (even the chain), they’ll pop.  The only big difference between Pirate Pop Plus and Buster Bros. is that in this game, sometimes the Bubble Pirate will appear and change the gravity on the playfield.  Then you may have to walk on the walls or ceiling for a while.  Changing the gravity may also change the trajectory of how the bubbles bounce, so you have to be careful.  When the gravity changes, if you can hop on bubbles while falling, you’ll get bonus points, too.

As you pop bubbles, power-ups may sometimes appear for you to catch.  Food items act as bonus points, but you can also get score multipliers, shields, a laser gun, a sticky anchor gun that stays on the wall until a bubble hits it, and more.  There is even a power-down that you’ll want to avoid that reverses your controls for a while.  You can also collect coins, which can be used to buy goodies in the shop.  Sometimes the coins appear seemingly randomly, but there are other ways to make coins appear.  If you can hit bubbles in a row without missing and hitting the ceiling, you’ll perform a combo and win coins.  Also, when the Bubble Pirate appears, hit him with your anchor and he’ll drop coins, too.

When you are done playing, you can spend your earned coins to buy all sorts of goodies at the shop.  You can buy new characters to play as, each with their own speed and other skills.  You can also buy new looks for your handheld border.  Including the color of the case, buttons, screen border, and backlight.  There are also decals to buy to stick on your handheld as well.  You might even recognize some characters from another Wii U and 3DS indie game: Runbow.  Other places to spend your coins are when you start playing, you can choose to play a Hyper mode if you have enough coins.  You only get one heart in this mode, but your score is doubled.  You can also earn achievements in this game, and you can spend coins to view what you have to do to reach those achievements.  The game also saves your top five scores, by the way.

The game has a couple of minor problems, though.  The main one is that items that you buy cost a lot of coins, and you only earn a few coins for each playthrough, so it’ll take a very long time before you unlock anything substantial.  I think it would be better if the items in the shop didn’t cost so much.  Also, I know that it would kind of take away from the handheld experience, but I wish this game had a two-player simultaneous mode, as I feel that these types of games are more fun with a friend.  I also chose to review this one on the Wii U so I can see it easier on the big screen, because I imagine the smaller bubbles might be harder to see on the 3DS screen.  But other than that, this is a fun little arcade title, especially if you enjoyed Buster Bros.

Kid Factor:

As with many older arcade classics, this game isn’t very violent at all.  You only pop bubbles with an anchor gun, and if you hit the Bubble Pirate, he just throws his hands up in the air.  If you get hit by a bubble, you just flash and lose a heart.  And if you lose all hearts, you just fly up in the air.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the menu text, but not necessary just to play.  Some youngsters might get bored of the simplistic gameplay, though.  Pirate Pop Plus is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews