Pop n' Pop - Checkmate Mode

Round 21
Still with us? OK then, first story, comin' up.

#1 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the Dark-Blue touches the Dark-Blue and the Blue lands in the middle.
#2 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the Red lands on top of the left Blue and the Blue lands in the gap.
#3 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim in-between the Red and the Dark-Blue clusters.

Round 22
POINTLESS STORY TO USE UP CAPTIONS #1 - POP N' POP AND WHY NO-ONE CARES

POINTLESS STORY TO USE UP CAPTIONS #1 - POP N' POP AND WHY NO-ONE CARES

#1 - Switch to Vertical Red-Red, aim for the low Red balloon on the right.
#2 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the Red rests on the Red on top and the Yellow goes into the gap.

Round 23
Pop n' Pop was first released in arcades in 1997 for Taito's F3 hardware.

Pop n' Pop was first released in arcades in 1997 for Taito's F3 hardware.

#1 - Switch to Horizontal Brown-Pink, aim for the top of the Yellow-Dark-Blue columns.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Dark-Blue-Yellow, aim for the last Pink you fired.
#3 - Switch to Horizontal Pink-Blue, aim to connect the Pink to the first Pink you fired which links all the Pinks together.

Round 24
The arcade version is... Weird.

#1 - Switch to Veritcal Yellow-Dark-Blue, aim for the Yellow furthest to the right.

Round 25
It only has four character pairs- Bubby and Bobby/Bibby and Buddy from Rainbow Islands, Tiki and PheePhee/PyuPyu from The New Zealand Story, Bob/Bobby and Jim from Don Doko Don, and Sayo and Miki from Kiki Kaikai.

It only has four character pairs- Bubby and Bobby/Bibby and Buddy from Rainbow Islands, Tiki and PheePhee/PyuPyu from The New Zealand Story, Bob/Bobby and Jim from Don Doko Don, and Sayo and Miki from Kiki Kaikai.

#1 - Switch to Veritcal Red-Yellow, aim for the Red balloon.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Pink-Brown, aim for the exposed left-most Yellow.
#3 - Switch to Vertical Red-Brown, aim for the gap between the Brown you just fired and the Red you fired first.

Round 26
Even then, it's still a bit weird- Bubby and Bobby appear as incorrectly-coloured bubble dinosaurs in their intros, and Miki has a totally different colour palette.

Even then, it's still a bit weird- Bubby and Bobby appear as incorrectly-coloured bubble dinosaurs in their intros, and Miki has a totally different colour palette.

#1 - Switch to Vertical Blue-Pink, aim at the left part of the Pink cluster so that the Blue touches the Blue.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Brown-Dark Blue, aim at the right part of the Dark Blue cluster so that the Brown touches the Brown.
#3 - Switch to Horizontal Blue-Brown, aim at the gap in the middle to connect them.

Round 27>
It also feels... Wrong, somehow. The 'fake' chaining from the PS1 version isn't there, and it all looks a bit cheap. Like it was rushed.

It also feels... Wrong, somehow. The 'fake' chaining from the PS1 version isn't there, and it all looks a bit cheap. Like it was rushed.

#1 - Switch to Vertical Red-Blue, aim for the gap between the middle bubble and the cluster on the left.
#2 - Switch to Horizontal Blue-Dark-Blue, aim at the column with the bubble on top so that the Dark-Blue hangs on the bubble, and the Blue goes for the gap.
#3 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim at the gap between the Blue balloons to connect them.

Round 28

So, the PS1 version came out in 1999, and feels a lot more complete- fake chaining is in, there's more game modes, and the graphics look a lot sharper. It also adds in a ruck of new characters- Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble, Ptolemy/Tremi from The Fairyland Story (with Rodomi, a new character), Chack'n and Miss Chack'n from Chack'n Pop, Hipopo and Tamasun/Tamasn from Liquid Kids, and Drunk/Dreg from Bubble Bobble.

#1 - Switch to Vertical Red-Pink, aim at the gap in the Red and Pink cluster furthest to the left.
#2 - Keep the balloons as they are, fire so the Blue gets in the gap in the Yellow cluster to the right, and that the Yellow balloons on the right out.
#3 - Switch to Vertical Yellow-Pink, aim for the remaining Yellow balloons.

Round 29
I highly recommend tracking the PS1 version down, but here's the thing- no US release. The same is true of Puchi Carat, and I have no idea why.

I highly recommend tracking the PS1 version down, but here's the thing- no US release. The same is true of Puchi Carat, and I have no idea why.

#1 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim at the edge of the cloud on the left so the Pink floats away.
#2 - Switch to Horizontal Dark-Blue-Yellow, aim so the Yellow hangs on to the Green balloons and the Dark-Blue ballons explode.
#3 - Switch to Vertical Blue-Green, fire at the middle of the remaining cluster, hitting the Blues.

Round 30
Here's where it starts to get weird. A Game Boy Color port was developed by I.T.L, and Dreams, and possibly Nekogumi. It's not very good, really- very pared-down, and the European version hacks out the stage editor mode, which would've been nice.

Here's where it starts to get weird. A Game Boy Color port was developed by I.T.L, and Dreams, and possibly Nekogumi. It's not very good, really- very pared-down, and the European version hacks out the stage editor mode, which would've been nice.

#1 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the Red hits the top and the Yellow hits the base of the cloud.
#2 - Keep the balloons as they are, make exactly the same shot as before.
#3 - Switch to Vertical Pink-Pink, aim so that you connect the two Pink clumps.

Round 31
This version WAS released in the US!

#1 - Switch to Vertical Red-Pink, aim at the column on the right.
#2 - Switch to Horizontal Pink-Yellow, aim so the Pink rests on the middle Yellow.
#3 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the Red rests on top of the middle Yellow.

Round 32
... But it was part of a series of games wherein Taito gave Bam! Entertainment free range to rebrand their games with licenses from the likes of Cartoon Network and DC Comics.

... But it was part of a series of games wherein Taito gave Bam! Entertainment free range to rebrand their games with licenses from the likes of Cartoon Network and DC Comics.

#1 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the Red rests on the exposed Red and the Green goes in the gap in the middle.
#2 - Keep the balloons as they are, do the same thing as above, just on the other side of the gap.
#3 - Switch to Horizontal Green-Blue, aim so the Green goes down the gap and the Blue lands on the Pink.

Round 33
... So while Elevator Action became Dexter's Laboratory:Robot Attack, and Front Line: Next Mission became Sgt. Rock: On the Front Line...

... So while Elevator Action became Dexter's Laboratory:Robot Attack, and Front Line: Next Mission became Sgt. Rock: On the Front Line...

#1 - switch to Vertical Dark-Blue-Yellow, fire so it touches the other db/y pair on the base of the cloud on either side.
#2 - switch to Vertical Yellow-Red, aim for the exposed Yelllow ballons.
#3 - switch to Vertical Red-Blue, aim for the exposed Red balloons.

Round 34
... Pop n' Pop became- I'm not kidding- YOGI BEAR'S BALLOON BLAST.

... Pop n' Pop became- I'm not kidding- YOGI BEAR'S BALLOON BLAST.

#1 - Switch to Horizontal Ofuda-Dark-Blue, aim so that the Dark-Blue lands on the right-most Dark-Blue column, and the Ofuda takes out the Red balloons.

Round 35
Let that sink in.

#1 - Switch to Vertical Dark-Blue-Red, aim for the two Red ballons on the right side of the left cloud.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Yellow-Dark-Blue, aim for the Yellow balloons on the right.

Round 36
So, as a result, the US did get to play Pop n' Pop, but a pretty bad port of it, AND one that took out all the Taito charm.

So, as a result, the US did get to play Pop n' Pop, but a pretty bad port of it, AND one that took out all the Taito charm.

#1 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the left Red goes on the Red on top of the Green column, and the other lands in the gap.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Yellow-Green, aim for the gap in the middle so it takes out the Green balloons.
#3 - Switch to Vertical r-db, use it to connect the remaining Red balloons.

Round 37
Americans didn't even get the port of the arcade version of Pop n' Pop included in the Xbox version of Taito Legends 2, because it was never released on that format over there.

Americans didn't even get the port of the arcade version of Pop n' Pop included in the Xbox version of Taito Legends 2, because it was never released on that format over there.

#1 - Switch to Vertical Red-Green, aim for the gap on the right side so the Green balloons explode and the Red touches the other Red.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Red-Green, aim so the Red touches the Red on the left side.
#3 - Switch to Vertical Dark-Blue-Dark-Blue, fire on top of the right Red cluster so it takes out the red bubble.

Round 38
There was a PC port of Pop n' Pop, but as well as being quite different from the PS1 port (secret characters removed, physics different, weird animation) it's such an oddity that not only did I have to upload footage of the game myself to YouTube, I had to add its data on GameFAQs. I did. ME.

There was a PC port of Pop n' Pop, but as well as being quite different from the PS1 port (secret characters removed, physics different, weird animation) it's such an oddity that not only did I have to upload footage of the game myself to YouTube, I had to add its data on GameFAQs. I did. ME.

#1 - Switch to Horizontal Red-Yellow, aim so they cover the two Pink balloons on the left.
#2 - Keep the balloons as they are, aim so the left Red sticks on that last Yellow you fired, and the other takes the middle Red balloons out.
#3 - Switch to Horizontal Blue-Yellow, aim at the Blue balloon so that the Yellow goes in the alcove.

Round 39
Basically what I'm getting at is I'm guessing no-one cares about Pop n' Pop because it was never released properly in America.

Basically what I'm getting at is I'm guessing no-one cares about Pop n' Pop because it was never released properly in America.

#1 - switch to Horizontal Dark-Blue-Pink, aim so the Pink sticks to the Brown on the right, and the Dark-Blue explodes the others below.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Dark-Blue-Pink, aim for the left edge of the cloud so that the Pink takes out the horizontal Pink balloons.

Round 40
Hell, not even Taito cares- it was never included in any of those Taito Memories collections for the PS2.

Although they did add it to the Playstation Network in Japan. Oh well.

Hell, not even Taito cares- it was never included in any of those Taito Memories collections for the PS2.

Although they did add it to the Playstation Network in Japan. Oh well.

#1 - Switch to Horizontal Red-Pink, aim so the Red lands on top of the lone Red on top of the bubbles.
#2 - Switch to Vertical Green-Pink, aim for the gap next to the column of Green balloons.

To the next set, Rounds 41-60!
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