Bust a Groove | |
Bust a Groove cover.jpg | |
Developer(s) | Metro Graphics |
Publisher(s) | Enix (JP) 989 Studios (NA) SCEE (EU) Atlus/Namco[1] (Arcade) (JP) |
Designer | |
Engine | |
status | Status Missing |
Release date | January 29, 1998 (JP) December 2, 1998 (NA) November 25, 1998 (EU) |
Genre | Music/Fighting game |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Age rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (6+) |
Platform(s) | PlayStation, Arcade |
Arcade system | Arcade System Missing |
Media | Media Missing |
Input | |
Requirements | |
Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough |
Bust a Groove is a hybrid music/fighting game for the Sony PlayStation released in 1998. The game was published by the Japanese video game developer Enix (now Square Enix) in Japan and brought to the U.S. by now-defunct 989 Studios.
The original Japanese game was titled Bust a Move: Dance & Rhythm Action (バスト ア ムーブ Dance & Rhythm Action Basuto a Mūbu Dance & Rhythm Action ); the name was changed as the American release of Puzzle Bobble already used that name. The game combined PaRappa the Rapper-like rhythm-based gameplay with fighting game elements, including special moves designed to damage the opponent.
The sequel, Bust a Groove 2, unlike its predecessor, was never released in Europe. A third game in the series, Dance Summit 2001 was only released in Japan on the PlayStation 2.
Gameplay[]
The game mechanics are quite simple and focuses on beats. The player needs to press a series of arrows that appears on the interaction bar using the D-Pad and be able to press the corresponding face button (Circle or X) every fourth beat of the music to execute a dance move otherwise, it will be a miss. The player is aided with the beats by the blinking of the bar. When the player performs a combo of eight dance moves, new paths with more complex moves open up, allowing the player to earn more points.
The player could also execute a "Jammer" (attack) to interrupt the enemy which could also be dodged by a somersault move. A dodge could be used by pressing Square at the right time, which would cause the character to do a backflip and avoid the attack.
Characters[]
Main[]
Name | Age | Dance Style | Jammer | Info |
---|---|---|---|---|
Frida | 18 | West Coast hip-hop | She paints a wolf's head, which bites the opponent | She is an artist who lives in a shack. Her ambition is to use the Groovetron to give life to her paintings. Her favorite word is "Life" |
Gas-O | 14 | House dance | Traps the opponent in a gas chamber | Gas-O first became interested in becoming a scientist when he was eight. Now at 14, he has accomplished several outstanding tasks, including consulting for NASA, logging time on a particle accelerator, and studying the gaseous elements in his laboratory. Gas-O hopes to use the Groovetron to develop the ultimate gas. |
Hamm | 30 | Detroit Modern | A giant hamburger squishes the opponent | He used to be a great dancer, but his love for junk food has left him somewhat chubby. He became a hamburger joint employee to satisfy his craving for junk food. He wants to use the Groovetron to help him diet. His favorite word is "Move" |
Heat | 19 | East Coast hip-hop Breakdance | A giant flame comes down on the opponent | He is the "poster boy" of this game. He used to be a racer, but hasn't returned to the track because he was nearly incinerated when he was involved in a terrible accident. Luckily, he made a total recovery with the ability to manipulate fire. |
Hiro | 20 | '70's Disco | An autographed picture of himself crashes onto the opponent | Hiro is a narcissistic disco-loving character. He lives in a tiny apartment where he works with his computer until Saturday night, where his playboy antics really take off. Don't even begin to try to match his Saturday night standards—he is truly one of a kind. His favorite word is "Split" |
Kelly | 24 | Modern Jazz dance | A burst of energy gathered in her rattle | She is a secretary who has a fetish with everything infantile (related to babies), and wants to find a man. She bought her rubber suit to dress in when she is a guest at secret parties. She seems worried about her new rubber suit; this may be due to its cost. |
Kitty Nakajima (Kitty-N) | 16 | Vogue | A burst of energy is thrown at her opponent | This lovable TV star is on break from the hit TV show "Love Love Senshi Miracle 4." She wants to use the Groovetron's power to make her the ultimate TV star. She has bought out the top floor of some building and converted it into her private dancing studio, just for the purposes of attracting more people. |
Pinky Diamond | 32 | Classic '70s Motown | Giant tarot cards that curse the opponent | She is a stripper, fortune-teller, a professional contract killer, and she does hair. It's no wonder she's so weird. She has the power to see into your lover's heart and claims to know you better than you know yourself. Your secrets are nowhere being close to safe near her! |
Shorty | 12 | Funk dance (Candy Hip-Hop) | Giant pieces of candy that fall on her opponent | She is the daughter of a DJ father and a supermodel mother. Obviously, Shorty lives in a rich family with nothing better to do than dance with Columbo, her pet mouse. Her love for outdated music drives her to madness at a flea market, where she frantically searches for 8-track tapes. Her favorite word is " Friendship" |
Strike | 21 | Gangsta Walking | Shoots the opponent with his two guns | He is from a notorious street gang, and managed to do something bad to get in the state penitentiary. He is gathering his fellow prisoners to form a dance team, called "The Ball and Chain Revue." Strike's favorite word is "freedom." |
Hidden[]
Name | Age | Dance Style | Jammer | Info |
---|---|---|---|---|
Burger Dog | Unknown | Detroit Modern | A giant hamburger squishes the opponent | Burger Dog is the dog that runs the restaurant in Hamm's stage. Is unlocked by playing the game through on Medium difficulty or higher with Hamm after the first completion. |
Capoeira | Unknown | Capoeira | A wall of energy dazes the opponent | Capoeira, individually known as Kiki and Lala, have come to Earth to collect Japanese billboards to construct a giant fan. They are also here to display the power of the Groovetron, their special "dancing energy" invention. Unlocked by finishing the game on Medium after the first completion. |
Columbo | 6 | Funk dance | Giant pieces of candy fall on his opponent | Columbo is Shorty's pet mouse, whom she keeps in her chest pocket while dancing. He is unlocked by finishing the game on Medium difficulty or higher with Shorty after the first run through, but will also jump out of Shorty's pocket and dance with her should she successfully execute a level seven freeze. |
Robo-Z | Unknown | Vogue | A blast of shock-inducing waves | Robo-Z was constructed by a tyrannical organization only known as "Secret X." Robo-Z was built for the sole purpose of harnessing total power of the Groovetron. Robo-Z is 50 feet tall on the final level, but on other stages, he is about the same height as normal characters. He is unlocked by finishing the game on Hard difficulty after the first run through. |
Glitches and Secrets[]
- Sparkly Kelly
Start a 1 or 2 player game and choose Kelly as your character. then try to do bad and don't press anything. Later on. Do her Jammer attack, then as she winds up and gathers the energy, immediately press start and press "Retry". Kelly will be surrounded by sparkles which will last for the remainder of the match, or until she performs another attack.
- Flat Characters
Start a 1 or 2 player game and pick Hamm or Burger Dog as your character, then do his jammer twice in a row and your character should be flat until the remainder of the match.
- Alternate Costume
Bust a Groove (American Release): at character selection screen, Highlight a character and press " SELECT+X", they should wear a different costume (2P COSTUME) Bust a Move (Japanese Release): Instead of Pressing "Select+X", press "Select+Circle".
- Super SOLOS !!!
Try these moves during the solo part of the dance, They should give you a high score, to confirm that you have done the super successfully, the MC sais: "THE HIGH SCORE MOVE THERE!!!" (The part where you take turns dancing.)
- Heat: Up, Down, Up, Circle
- Frida: Up, Down, Up, Circle
- Strike: Up, Up, Left, Circle
- Hamm: Down, Right Up, Circle
- Kelly: Right, Left, Right, Circle
- Shorty: Down, Down, Down, Circle
- Hiro: Right, Up, Down, Circle
- Pinky Diamond: Up, Left, Up, Circle
- Gas-O: Left, Down, Right, Up, Circle
- Kitty NakaJima: Down, Down, Right, Circle
- Capoeira: Right, Up, Right, X
- Robo-Z: Up, Down, Left Right, Circle
- Columbo: Down, Down, Down, Circle
- Burger Dog: Down, Right, Up, Circle
- Different Capoeira Scenery
In Capoeria's stage, we all know that when he's stage intensifies, the doors of his UFO opens and shows the clouds, but if you do a character's special solos in all of his/her solo moves, Instead, it will be in the space with the sun, moon, and the earth.
- Winning Pose Close-up
Hold Circle after winning a stage.
- Columbo Cameo
Play as Shorty in either a 1 or 2 player game and successfully execute a level 7 freeze, Columbo should jump out of her pocket.
- Fever Time
When you manage to intensify the stage of your opponent before the ending beats, you will be given "Fever Time!!" at the end of the game in which that character freestyles at any moves in the stage.
- Level Intensification
- Heat - breaking windows
- Frida- Shack gets blown away by wind
- Kitty-N - Lazer coming out of the kitty n model's eyes and snow.
- Kelly- Stage will spin
- Hiro - Color of disco floor will give ranmdom colors at the same time (Red, Blue, Green, White, Violet)
- Shorty - Floor becomse pink and candy coming out of the dog and snowman dancing.
- Pinky- Pyramid explodes and stage becomes dark
- Gas O- Giant fan on top moves and gas chamber wiggles
- Robo-Z- Cars crashing at each other
- Capoeira- There are two options
1: Doors open and show the sky 2: Doors open and show the sun, moon and earth ( if you do the solo moves (special)
- Hamm- Burger Dog jumps and Giant Hamburger breaks into pieces
- Strike- Stage releases Red Light and smoke
Songs[]
- Frida - Sora to Umi to Niji no Yume (空と海と虹の夢)
- Translation: "Dreams of Sky, Sea, and Rainbows"
- Gas-O - Chemical Love
- Hamm/Burger Dog - I luv hamburgers
- Heat - 2 Bad
- Hiro - The Natural Playboy
- Kelly - Transform
- Kitty N - Aozora no KNIFE (Bust a Move Edit) (青空のknife)
- Translation: "Knife of the Blue Skies"
- NA Release - Bust a Groove
- Pinky - I know
- Shorty/Columbo - Waratte pon (笑ってぽん)
- Translation: "Crack a Smile"
- NA Release - Shorty and the EZ Mouse
- Strike - Power
- Capoeira - Uwasa no KAPOERA (噂のカポエラ)
- Translation: "The Rumored Capoeira"
- NA Release - CAPOEIRA
- Robo-Z - Flyin to your soul
Additionally, a remix of Aozora no KNIFE (titled "blue knife (start G move mix)" on the Japanese soundtrack) was used as the opening theme for the game. A different remix, "blue knife dream (orchestra stall mix)", was used during the ending credits.
Versions[]
The game was made available in two different packages in Japan; the first is the more common single-disc (game only) version. The second package is a lesser-known version which contains two discs: the game disc and the Premium Disc. The Premium Disc contains four movies, and to access the movies you had to have a memory card with a Bust a Move save file on it. Accomplishing certain tasks in the game would unlock certain movies. One of the movies on the disc featured Hatsumi Morinaga, the artist responsible for singing the theme of Kitty-N's stage. This feature contained shots of the artist singing the song in the studio, an interview with the artist, and a live-action version of the game, complete with costumed Japanese dancers taking the parts of the various characters (Kitty-N, Heat, and Kelly are all included, amongst others). The other three movies contained within the disc were all for other Enix games: AstroNooori (a game unreleased in the U.S.), Star Ocean: The Second Story, and Hello Charlie (known as Eggs of Steel in the U.S.). The premium version was otherwise identical to the game-only version; the gameplay, box art, and instruction manual were essentially the same, with the exception of a large red box with white type on the spine card proclaiming the addition of a Premium CD-ROM.
Changes[]
The U.S. version of the game had a number of changes from the Japanese version, mostly due to cultural differences between countries.
- Hiro-kun was originally smoking a cigarette in the game but this was removed for the U.S. release.
- Hamm's general appearance was changed from a ganguro or blackface design into a generic, Caucasian style. As a result, cutscenes for him were also changed.
- Hamm's song originally included the word 'n---a' [a version of a racial slur] in the lyrics. This portion of the song was removed for the U.S release.
- Strike's song originally contained references to alcohol. This line was removed for the U.S. release.
- Hamm originally had jet black skin with thick lips. The jet black skin was changed to the same color of his lips, giving him a more latino look in the final release.
- During gameplay, Strike is seen drinking from a flask. This was changed to a can of soda pop (possibly Coca cola).
- Waratte PON, Aozora no KNIFE, Uwasa no KAPOEIRA and Transform were translated to English and were re-recorded for the U.S. release (The former three were re-titled as Shorty and the EZ mouse, Bust a Groove and CAPOEIRA respectively).
- Frida (Player 2) hair color was originally brunette, but was changed to blue for the U.S. release.
- Pinky's song, during the bridge in the middle of the song, you can hear the rapper say, "N---- move!" In the U.S. release, it's faintly heard.
Bust a Groove: Arcade Edition[]
An arcade edition of Bust a Groove (Bust a Move) was exclusively released in Japan. Although released only in Japan, it held the title of Bust a Groove which is the English release title. The controls are still the same from the PlayStation version but changed how to execute them. The player now has to press the giant Left, Up and Right buttons in a giant pad and step on a footpedal for the 'Down' command while the PlayStation buttons (Square, X etc.), are replaced by a giant "Dance!" button. A Jammer button was also included.
The arcade version features only 5 stages (Robo-Zs stage always being the last one).[1][2]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bust a Groove Arcade Edition IGN. Retrieved on 2009-02-03
- ↑ Bust a Groove Arcade Review GameFAQs. Retrieved on 2009-02-03
External links[]
- Bust a Groove at MobyGames
- Bust a Groove at Game Rankings
- Bust a Groove at TopTenReviews