Buster Bros. (Pomping World)

~ POMPING WORLD ~

Capcom / Hudson Soft

CD-ROM

1991

Good old Duomitri had been encouraging me to buy this game for ages. I eventually got around to it, and just a few seconds after pressing Run, I wanted to kick Duomitri's ass. I guess Pomping World was a lot different than what I'd been expecting. I thought bubbles would be raining down and I'd have kick-ass weaponry with which to suppress the storm. Instead, there was one bubble lazily wafting about, and I had a slim, weird harpoon thing to shoot it with. At that point, I didn't think the game would be much fun.

A few minutes later, I was singing a different tune. New weapons and other helpful items appeared, creatures were flying and stumbling about the board, and bubbles were splitting and bouncing all over the place. It's so much fun to grab the shield power-up and the gun weapon and blast those balls to shreds, or to pick up the clock icon that freezes time and see how much damage you can cause to the paralyzed bubble army. And there's some complexity and deviousness to the actual board layouts, what with the presences of ladders and destructible platform segments as well as some tight lanes and corridors.

The backgrounds, depictions of various locations from around the world, are appealing, sometimes even quite nice, but I barely took notice of them because I was so zeroed in on the man vs. bubble action. The pleasant-but-unassertive music met with a similar shunned fate.

I really can't complain about those elements; they're fine as they are, even though I spent most of my play time focused on other things. But I can gripe a bit about the length of the adventure; I was addicted and wanted more. Fifty-four stages might sound like a lot, especially when they take you all over the world and even into outer space (if you truly go the distance), but each one ends very quickly. An hour or two after I'd first sat down with the game, it was all over. Of course, two-player mode, which I haven't tried, probably boosts the replayability substantially; judging by other testimonials, it seems to be the effort's main attraction.

Had the quest been longer, it would've been interesting to see how some larger boards would've turned out, as the designers seem to have done what they could with the single-screen settings. (I imagine that "taller" would have had a better chance at success than "wider.") Bubble-themed bosses might also have been welcome additions, and I mean villains who would be larger and cooler than this round red goober:

But while I can hypothesize about various what ifs, the truth is that Pomping World is fine as it is. I'll probably still kick Duomitri's ass, but just for the heck of it, and not because I don't enjoy this game, as I certainly do.