Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5283 in Video Games
• Brand: Sony Computer Entertainment
• Released on: 1998-11-24
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: PlayStation

GameSpot Review
Hoping to capture a bit of the same success that PaRappa enjoyed, 989 Studios has brought Enix's Bust A Move (named Bust A Groove here to avoid confusion with Taito's puzzle series) to the States. Rather than clone PaRappa's feel-good style and use button presses to play music, Bust A Groove has you pushing buttons to control one of several dancers in an all-out dance-off.

The gameplay is pretty basic. Two dancers attempt to outdance each other with a large variety of different moves. You pull off moves via a series of onscreen controller commands. The dances branch out into different patterns, and you must sometimes choose one of two possible dance paths. If you perform your moves on time and in sync with the beat, you'll do well. Miss a beat, and your dancer stutters, unable to perform his move. A meter at the bottom of the screen lets you know how both dancers are doing, and whoever has a higher meter at the end of a song wins.

The characters are, essentially, clean versions of the club kids you keep seeing pop up on various daytime talk shows. You've got girls in cat suits, a disco dancer, and a gun-toting lunatic named Strike. A few changes have been made in this domestic release. Strike, while he still manages to sneak two pistols past the doorman, must have had his flask confiscated at the door, 'cause he now packs a can of soda in the small of his back. Also, that pesky no-smoking law has kept Hiro's habit from appearing in the US version.

Graphically, Bust A Groove is great. The characters and backgrounds are varied and extremely colorful. But the real showstopper here is the motion capture. The dancers move extremely well, better than any motion-captured movement I can remember. The music in the game is also varied, ranging from house to disco and just about everything in between. A few songs may be a bit annoying, but they all provide an interesting take on a different musical style.

Bust A Groove won't draw nongamers in like PaRappa did, but it's still quite a bit of fun. The great music and graphics go a long way, and again, the motion capture is really terrific. If PaRappa left you wanting more games in that vein, Bust A Groove makes for a good follow-up. --Jeff Gerstmann
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Why hasn't anyone else reviewed this game yet!
This beats any other American music game that has came out so far, and yet nobody has even took the time to review it! The object of the game is to press buttons in time with the beat of songs, while this nay sound shallow at first, you really have to play it to understand that this is a great game. Simmilar to a fighting game in the way it is set up, you first choose 1 of 10 (14 when you beat the game with certain people)dancers, then you go to anouther dancers stage. Music begins playing ( different for each persons stage) and you must press the buttons accordingly. The charaters range from Hiro (a disco dancer with a very 70's dance style, to Kelly (my favorite) who is a woman dressed in a fetish costume. There is even "Kitty-N", who looks like a teenage version of cat woman. The ONLY 2 thing's wrong with this game are: 1.Pinky's stage and 2.All dancers have the same button combanations. For the music alone this game is worth picking up. Bust A Groove 2: dance heaven mix is coming ............. and I own the import! It is a wonderful game and you may wish to purchase it when it arrives stateside ...... Although you should be warned that this game was edited when it was brought to the US just like Umjammer Lammy, still it's a great game and you really should get it. Music games are great and you may also wish to try Dance Dance Revolution.

Very "Groove"y
This game is excellent, it is mmuch better than Parappa the Rapper or the new Um Jammer Lammy. This game puts your rythmic skills to the test forcing you to not only find the beat&rhythm, but also to know where the buttons are on your controller. This game (all except for two of ten levels) has a marvelous soundtrack and deserves to be on a CD. (Zelda got one, why can't this?) This game revolves entirely around music, the dancers, and dances, are very cool. I wish 989 would just manage to get Bust-A-Groove 2 out, but I can wait till the PLaystation 2 has Bust-A-Groove 3.

Bust a Move to Bust a Groove!!!
This game is probably my all time favorite music game, 2nd only to Bust A Groove 2. While BAG1's music is drop dead catchy, and entertaining, BAG 2's scoring system improved on an already excellent game!

But this is a review of BAG 1. This game was the very first Playstation game I ever saw being played. My brother brought his Playstation and this game over to my house one Holiday, and I could not believe how much fun it was. It offers up multiple difficulty levels, and about 14 different characters. Some of the characters have to be unlocked. Each charcter has their own stage, with unlocked characters sharing the same stage with their bigger "brother" or "sister." My favorites are Shorty and Hamm.

This game has a very colorful interface. The female and male characters are quite enjoyable to watch perform. At some point you can even control the players moves, through a special training/Video phase, and its fun to see them move based on your controls.

Another feature I love is the fact that you can use a "jukebox" mode to listen to your favorite tune. So you can leave the music on, when you are studying or doing some other activity. Every song has a catchy beat, and it covers everything from American Pop to J-Pop to Rap (no bad words). However, Country is not represented, but I'm guessing most far east game makers aren't big fans of "Garth Brooks."

I'd give this 10 out of 10 stars, so you can double my scores above. I give it two very muscially inclined thumbs up!!! Hopefully you'll be able to raise your two thumbs after playing this very active, music inspired game!!!