Originally posted by: BertBerryCrunch
Originally posted by: Kosmic StarDust
I "beat" Mermaids of Atlantis (PG version of Bubble Bath Babes). The back story is a really cute parody of the evils of Nintendo licensing.
as a puzzle game is it any good?
It plays like a cross between Tetris, Puzzle Bobble (Bust A Move), and Puyo Puyo (Dr Robonik's Mean Bean Machine / Kirby's Avalanche in the US). You play on a hex grid rather than square, pieces float up instead of down, and you position the bubbles to match groups of four or more same colors. Any "holes" or empty space at the top of the screen will prevent the bubbles from floating to the top. Instead of rotating pieces clockwise or counterclockwise, you flip horizontally and vertically with the A and B buttons. Collecting 5 letters in MAGIC allows you to use a powerup (Down + A, easy to hit by accident) that elimintes empty bubbles and randomizes the color, clearing many bubbles. Like with Tetris, if your pieces fill the entire screen, the game is over.
One popular strategy on the faster levels to buy more time is to swiftly move pieces back and forth left and right, which somehow slows the rate of ascention. Unfortunately if you accidentally tap down while frantically moving right and left on the Dpad and simultaneously attempt to flip the piece, it can waste the valuable MAGIC Bubble powerup item, which can be essential to clearing bubbles in the latter stages if they get too close to the ground.
PG Mermaids of Atlantis is a bit more playable as a game than the infamous softcore porn Bubble Bath Babes. They added a third background tune, removed the infamous 6th level, and allow you to select the starting round. Both versions display a slide show between levels.
Mermaids of Atlantis tells a story about the evil emperor Odinten sealing away the games mermaids love to play and charging money for them, parodying Nintendo's draconian licensing agreements with third parties. Bubble Bath Babes / Soap Panic features strippers in progressive states of undress. Soap Panic uses an alternate Nurse costume for the first stripper in place of the westernized character used in Bubble Bath Babes. IIRC, the other three strippers are the same in both games.
I own original carts of Mermaids of Atlantis and Soap Panic (the Japanese equivalent of Bubble Bath Babes).