It’s time for another PlayStation Basement! PlayStation Basement is a weekly review of games for the original PlayStation that are somewhat obscure, unusual, or unknown. Games are rated Good, Bad, or Neutral to emphasize the review itself. Now, let’s go!
So summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the street, so it’s time to continue the summer heat with a rhythm game (that is often also considered a fighting game to continue on from last week). Today’s title is Bust a Groove (not Taito’s similarly titled puzzle game, Bust-a-Move). Bust a Groove was released in Japan, North America, and Europe in 1998 published by Enix, 989, and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, respectively. The game was developed by Metro, who also worked on Bravo Air Race, Burstrick: Wake Boarding!!, and Bomberman Party Edition (apparently their PlayStation lineup only starts with the letter ‘b’). Interestingly, this game was originally titled Bust a Move: Dance & Rhythm Action when it was released in Japan where Taito’s bubble-busting puzzler was known as Puzzle Bobble. Localization sure is a weird thing sometimes.
Bust a Groove had a different cover in each region it was released into. The Japanese release has a stark white background with the game’s logo at the top center and the characters standing on self-named pedestals at the bottom. It really reminds me of something you might see on the Dreamcast (and yes I do mean Space Channel 5). The North American cover goes for a more disco-influenced design, showing Hiro and Frida under some disco balls on a colorful backdrop. The European cover similarly emphasizes warehouse parties and house music with Hiro, Frida, and Strike in a dark hallway that resembles an alien craft. I think that all of these images do a good job of portraying what Bust a Groove is about to different audiences.
Graphically, Bust a Groove is a bright, Y2k aesthetic, proto-Dreamcast-looking title. The characters all have designs that look straight out of a rave or from the 1970s (or the 1990s revival of the 1970s) with bell bottoms, droopy sleeves, baby bottles, flashy suits, and metallic creatures (again, looking kind of like a certain Dreamcast game). The smooth character models animate well on changing backgrounds with their own lighting effects and idiosyncrasies. Hamm’s level is the only one I can really complain about, as there is so much going on inside this fast food restaurant that the game chugs to follow along, dropping tons of frames. Despite this, the level is still quite playable. The FMVs and menus in the game look good too and follow the same aesthetic. Bust a Groove is consistently groovy.
The sound is thankfully well-done. This is a rhythm game after all, so sound is majorly important. The tracks include bits of house, disco, soul, funk, and old-school hip hop with strong beats for each one. Each track even has vocal and instrumental versions to change it up. I didn’t utilize the instrumental versions too often, but I thought both were unique. If you have the Japanese version, you can hear how certain tracks were translated over to English from the original Japanese (there are many other localizations in this regard, all for the better, in my opinion, given an American audience). The few sound effects there are in the game are also well-done, reflecting the musick-based gameplay with record scratches and orchestra hits. Bust a Groove is well-versed in the history of dance musick.
The gameplay of Bust a Groove makes this a one-on-one rhythm game more than a rhythm/fighting game, in my opinion. It’s actually very similar to Skydiving Extreme, which I reviewed in the beginning of May. Each match is a dance-off between two contestants. Each fourth beat of a song, you have to input either ‘O’ or ‘X’ on the controller, and often you will have to press some combination of direction buttons in the preceding three beats. All you have to go by is your own sense of timing, the flashing lights, and the rhythm of the song. Certain sections of each song are instead a solo dance, with the characters taking turns performing moves in order. If you fail to do a move, in either solo or the regular mode, your character’s enthusiasm gauge drops, making you unable to perform more complicated maneuvers that would otherwise appear as you perform your dance moves. You see, each move you perform adds to a growing combo and enables you to perform higher-level maneuvers to earn more points. The higher-level maneuvers appear in the second slot when each round of directions appears. In addition to this, there are also attack moves to disrupt your opponent. If your opponent is canny though, they can dodge and prevent this attack from ruining their combo. If you outdance your opponent to a great degree, a special Fever section happens at the end in which your character shows their skills. Because each song is structured with different lengths of time between solo sections and each one plays at a different tempo than the others, there is a lot to master in Bust a Groove in terms of higher-level play.
Overall, Bust a Groove is a rhythm game about outscoring your opponent with successful combos, attacks, and dodges. I had a lot of fun playing it. In addition to the 12-stage Single-Player mode, there is a Versus mode, a Practice mode, and a Dance Preview mode where you can select combinations of dance maneuvers for each character to perform. With a number of unlockable characters, there is enough here to really dance the night away.
Bust a Groove receives a Good.
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