PUZZLE BOBBLE / BUST-A-MOVE - early beta version!
Unknown to most people, the original Bust-A-Move puzzle game concept began its humble beginnings as a stand-alone puzzle game idea. Later on down the line, the Taito game designers decided to kick it up a notch by incorporating some of Taito's IP game characters into the storyline in order to enhance the gameplay and make it more appealing to audiences. Thus the characters from Taito's famous Bubble Bobble action game series were added in just prior to release and a pseudo-sequel "Puzzle" Bobble was born. We know this because the original beta of Bust-A-Move was left intact hidden within the proto Puzzle Bobble program. The music and sound effects for this version of the game are also different. In fact, the only thing it seems to be missing (more likely perhaps was never programmed) is a game ending. This is probably because the game was at about 80% completion when the concept was changed.