Super Buster Bros.

Did You Know?

• In Japan, Game Machine listed Super Buster Bros. as the eighth most-successful table arcade unit in their January 1, 1991 issue, outperforming titles such as Carrier Air Wing and Columns.
• Total! ranked Super Buster Bros. 83rd on their Top 100 SNES Games in 1995.

Gameplay

Players take the roles of Buster (P1) or Kutch (P2) and use guns to pop bubbles that bounce around the screen. Two modes are available: Panic mode and Arcade mode. When a bubble is popped, it splits into two smaller bubbles, similar to Asteroids; sufficiently small bubbles simply vaporize. Occasionally monsters walk or fly onto the screen. Touching a bubble or letting the timer reach zero causes the player character to die. Monsters can also pop bubbles. The arcade game and the PlayStation version in Buster Bros. Collection support two simultaneous players, but the Super NES version offers only one player. Powerups are obtained by popping certain bubbles, shooting boxes, or shooting unmarked spots in the level; gun power-ups cannot be used together.

In Panic mode, the player faces a rain of bubbles with the default bubble shot weapon, which cannot be changed. Popping a bubble slowly fills a rainbow bar at the bottom; filling the bar completely advances the player to the next level. As more bubbles are popped, remaining and incoming bubbles move faster. A rare special bubble with a clock engraving appears randomly; when it bounces, the engraving changes to a star, and on the next bounce reverts to a clock. Popping it with the clock engraving stops all bubble movement for 9 seconds; popping it with the star engraving clears the screen by popping all bubbles, filling the rainbow bar with each pop. Panic mode is beaten by reaching level 99, filling the rainbow bar, and destroying any remaining bubbles (no new bubbles appear after level 99 is reached). The ending differs from Arcade mode.

Arcade mode stages have set layouts featuring walls, destructible glass walls, invisible walls, ladders, and ice. Items such as candy and 1-ups appear. In the SNES version, four difficulty levels are available: easy, normal, hard, and expert. Each difficulty has its own stage layouts, with some stages remaining the same, some varying slightly, and some changed completely. The number of continues and the general speed of bubbles are also affected by the chosen difficulty.