Bust a Groove is a hybrid music/fighting video game for the Sony PlayStation released in 1998. The game was published by the Japanese video game developer Enix in Japan and brought to the U.S. by now-defunct 989 Studios and SCEE in Europe. The original Japanese game was titled Bust a Move: Dance & Rhythm Action; in the U.S., it became Bust-A-Groove because the Japanese puzzle series Puzzle Bobble was already going under the name Bust-A-Move for its American incarnation. The game combined PaRappa the Rapper-like rhythm-based gameplay with fighting game elements, including special moves designed to damage the opponent and a focus on head-to-head competitive play. 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 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" 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.
Additionally, a remix of Aozora no KNIFE was used as the opening theme for the game. A different remix, "blue knife dream ", 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 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. The other three movies contained within the disc were all for other Enix games: AstroNooori,, and Hello Charlie. 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 Western versions 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 Western releases. Also, his name was shortened to just "Hiro", with "kun" being omitted.
Hamm's general appearance was changed from a ganguro design into a generic, Caucasian style. As a result, cutscenes for him were also changed.
Hamm's song had two of its lines changed. Near the beginning, "McDonald's, Burger King, or any other place" was replaced with a loop of "Hamburger lovers let me hear you say ho". Near the end of the song, the word 'nigga' was completely blanked out in the Western releases.
Strike's song originally contained references to alcohol. This line was removed for the Western releases, leaving an instrumental following the line "Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I'm the only true Eraser".
During gameplay, Strike is seen drinking from a hip flask. This was changed to a can of soda pop.
"Waratte PON", "Aozora no KNIFE", "Uwasa no KAPOEIRA" and "Transform" were translated to English and were re-recorded for the Western releases.
Frida hair color was originally black, but was changed to blue for the Western releases.
In the middle of Pinky's song, the rapper says a line that can be heard as, "Nigga move!" In the Western releases, this line is also faintly heard.
Bust a Groove: Arcade Edition
An arcade edition of Bust a Groove 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, are replaced by a giant "Dance!" button. The buttons also had to be pressed in a rhythmic manner or still be counted as a "miss". A Jammer button was also included. The arcade version features only 5 stages.
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Bust a Groove on their April 1, 1999 issue as being the third most-successful dedicated arcade game of the year. Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Bust-A-Move is definitely an idea whose time has come, and it helps bridge the gap between hardcore gaming and mass culture appeal. It doesn't hurt that it's also a serious blast to play." Next Generation reviewed the U.S. PlayStation version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Overwhelmingly infectious tunes that have been translated to English for the U.S., hordes of secret dancers, and stages, charming touches such as secondary animations in stages for players who execute tough movies, and a clever, though not entirely unique, concept make Bust-A-Groove a game that deserves to find an audience in the U.S."
