Buster Bros. (TurboGrafx-CD) Playthrough
167A playthrough of Hudson Soft's 1993 action game for the TurboGrafx-CD, Buster Bros.
Buster Bros. is a conversion of Mitchell's popular 1989 arcade game, also known as Pomping World in Japan and Pang! elsewhere. It was the first game in a trilogy, though its sequel Super Buster Bros. had already seen a port to the Super Nintendo a year earlier (https://youtu.be/d6rJctconM0 ).
You play as one of two kids touring the world with the goal of destroying the balloons that have invaded several of the world's landmarks. Each of the 54 stages takes place on a single screen, and to deal with this inflatable menace, you have a harpoon gun that can only be fired straight up. Spearing a big balloon will split it into two smaller balloons, and those smaller balloons can be further split into two tiny balloons each.
Since contact with a balloon results in instant death, much of the strategy comes from deciding when to split them. More balloons means more things you have to keep track of, and it's all too easy to back yourself into a corner if you aren't being careful. You get point bonuses, however, for hitting like-size balloons one after another, and since 1ups are awarded when you reach certain score thresholds, it all becomes something of a balancing act.
There are a few items that can grab to help your chances, though. The shield will allow you to absorb a single hit, a clock will freeze the balloons for a few seconds, the hourglass will slow the balloons down, and the TNT will split every balloon down to its smallest pieces. You can upgrade your weapon as well, and if you want to survive the later stages, you'll learn to keep a sharp eye out for the "vulcan missile" gun item.
Buster Bros.' gameplay concept seems simple but there's a fair bit of complexity lying just beneath the surface. It can be a fiendishly difficult game, and that's a big part of its appeal - it constantly pushes you to improve, and it's quite satisfying to reach that ending after you've invested so much effort into practicing.
The conversion for the Turbo CD is excellent, too. Lower resolution aside, it closely resembles the arcade game. The backdrops look great and make good use of the TurboGrafx's color palette, there's no slowdown regardless of how many things are flying around the screen, and the remixed CD soundtrack features some real toe-tappers.
(That title screen track, though. I'm not the only one that hears DuckTales there, am I?)
The TurboGrafx-CD's high quality take on Buster Bros. is one of the better arcade-style games released for the system in the US. If you're a fan of the platform, this is a game not to be missed!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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