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#               Bust-A-Move 2 Vs. Strategy Guide v1.0                #
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Produced by Jon Thomson (edgeleypark@hotmail.com.invalid), (c) 2002

Table Of Contents

1) Version History
2) Introduction
3) How to win lots!
4) Credits and Legal Stuff

*** Section 1 - Version History ***

v1.0 (18/12/02)

Initial version, does everything it says on the tin.

*** Section 2 - Introduction ***

Anyone who buys Bust-A-Move, or any puzzle game similar to it, to play
the one player game *only*, clearly has something wrong with them.
This guide gives you a basic primer in how to play the 2-player versus
mode to a standard where your friends, housemates and co-workers won't
play you any more. Trust me, it can and will happen.

A well designed puzzle game is very easy to learn but difficult to
master. Tetris would have been the first big example of this, and
Bust-A-Move is in a similar ilk. Anyone can play them, but not many
people can play them very well.

While this guide is written for Bust-A-Move 2 (which, incidentally,
just happens to be the copy I have), the general strategies can be
adopted for other similar games. Indeed, I use the same strategy on
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (or whatever it's called, I forget. I
know what it is anyway).

*** Section 3 - How to win lots! ***

The versus mode comes in two modes - the time attack mode and the true
versus mode. For the former, just follow the defensive strategies
listed below.

The first thing to realise is how to win. In the time attack mode, you
win by clearing your screen before your opponent. This is a clear case
of speed, as your opponent cannot influence what you do. In the normal
versus mode, you can only win by your opponent's screen filling up.
Your objective is to ensure that happens before you get into any sort
of trouble.

The key to success is working a balance between attack and defense.
Attacking is where your main aim is to force bubbles onto your
opponent's screen, defending is when you are trying to clear bubbles
from your own screen. You should only defend when you have to, in order
to forge a good attacking opportunity (ie. when you are just about to
die). As stated above, to win, you have to fill up your opponent's
screen. Therefore, you should attack as often as possible, right from
the outset. The only time you shouldn't attack immediately is on
awkward boards where the position of the lowest bubble at the start is
below half-way down the screen. You'll know these when you see them,
creating room is your first priority, and if you can do this in an
attacking nature, all the better!

So how do you go about attacking? The first thing to remember is that
merely popping three bubbles on their own does *nothing* to your
opponent. Nothing. The key is to fell lots of bubbles in one go, by
leaving them with nothing to hold on to. This is best demonstrated by
a picture:

G R O Y Y B W P
 B G O B W Y G
R W P R W W G Y

This would be a sample initial board. Notice that on the bottom row,
there are two white bubbles (signified by the W, for white - other
colours follow similar patterns) together, ready for popping. If a
white bubble were to come along, you shouldn't send it up to pop the
whites. You should build other colours off the white bubbles already
there, as so (top two rows are omitted)

R W P R W W G Y
 W Y     R
          R
         G Y P
          B B
         G P O

Now, when the white bubbles are removed, the group of ten bubbles
below it are also removed, causing your opponent heaps of trouble. What
I like to do in a situation like above is fire off, for example, the
first two reds connecting to the whites, ensuring I have a shot at the
white bubbles to clear what will shortly become a bit of a mess. Then,
once I don't have to worry myself about accidentally connecting the
mess I want to clear to any other bubbles (by, for example, firing a
bubble in the space below the white and the green on the top row), I
fire off bubbles indiscriminately as fast as I can until I get my
trigger colour (in this case white). I only stop when I reach the
second from bottom row of my screen, to give me some insurance against
my opponent cheekily firing one or two bubbles across in exactly the
right place to kill me, or the screen shaking then moving down. Also
make sure that you don't accidentally remove some of the "combination"
you are creating as you go along - say that the green, purple and
orange on the bottom row in our example aren't there - if you had a
blue to fire you could eliminate the two blues you've already placed in
your combination, making it weaker. Here you'd fire it safely off to
the left.

If you do this quickly enough, you'll hit your trigger colour before
your opponent and send at least two full rows of bubbles across, really
messing up his plans. This is, of course, assuming your opponent is
also attacking minded - most aren't and will act in a defensive manner,
clearing three and four bubbles as quickly as they can and keeping
their screen tidy. You don't need to worry as much against these types,
as they will generally only be sending one or two bubbles over in any
attack, which are unlikely to cause you much trouble.

Make sure, like in the example given, you build the combination to the
SIDE of the screen. The reasons are twofold - you keep one half of the
screen open to hit the trigger colour and to dump awkward colours, and
if the screen moves down quickly, your trigger shot will not be
obstructed in the same way it would be if you built down the middle
instead.

Now, having described the basic attacking pattern, I'll provide you
with other general keys to success:

1) Always, ALWAYS look to see what your opponent is doing. This should
be done repeatedly, just glance over and see where his bubbles go up
to. If he has more bubbles on the screen, it's a good sign. If he is
in trouble, switch to a strategy which sends over smaller packets of
bubbles rather than one big attack, to try to finish him off.

2) Always be aware of what colour is coming next. You may be, for
example left with a choice of two shots, one blocking off your trigger
colour and a tricky shot to your combination which, say, puts you on
the very bottom row as the screen has started to shake (ie. one bubble
after this, the screen will move down). If you know that your trigger
colour is next, you should obviously play the latter shot. If you know
a useless colour is coming, you can block off your trigger and keep
alive when the screen comes down. A quick look as your current bubble
is being fired and is on the way will allow you to aim quicker. Just
make sure you don't confuse the current colour with the next colour.
It's easier than you think to do.

In addition, when on the defensive, look for when you'll be able to
clear a couple of bubbles with the next shot. If an uncoordinated
colour is to be fired (ie. one that doesn't match anything or is of
no current use), you could be able to attach it to the colour to be
removed next in a way that it will be removed as well. This is
especially important in difficult situations where there isn't much
room to waste shots (ie. you're in trouble).

3) Relax - it's only Bust-A-Move, no one dies. Play quickly but not
rashly and don't panic if your opponent hits a move. More often than
not you can retaliate easily (after all, he's given you loads of
bubbles to pop!) and put him on the back foot. Also, if you don't see
an immediate use for a certain colour bubble, don't just fire it off
anywhere, look to where it will hinder your development least.

4) If your opponent is in real trouble, you can play immorally by
aiming right to one side and watching your bubble bounce repeatedly
from side to side. If both of you are stuck, and facing imminent death,
waste your entire shot clock if you can't see a way out. It's cowardly,
I know, but if there's something at stake it's a good tactic :-)

5) If you know, for example, that an awkward bouncing shot will not
hit the target even if you aim it perfectly using the collar buttons,
or that a direct shot simply will not squeeze through a certain gap,
then don't play it!

6) If you gain access to a star, please use it wisely.

7) If you hear that your opponent has hit a combination, check to see
how big it will be. You can tell this by looking at the red and yellow
blobs that will appear at the bottom of your screen. Do this before you
fire anything. If you will be attacked heavily (ie. at least two waves
of bubbles), cancel what you might have been doing with your current
shot and clear as much room as you can if possible. What can happen is
that the colours of bubbles you receive will be highly coordinated and
you can quickly strike back or form a combination.

8) The following strategies are below the belt - throwing a beer can at
your opponent, general violence, unplugging your opponent's controller,
changing the TV channel, excessive pausing etc. Namecalling, however,
is encouraged :-)

*** Section 4 - Credits and Legal Stuff ***

Thanks to Sony, Taito and anyone else involved with the creation of
this game. Thanks also to James Whale for a great radio show, and to
anyone who's played me in the past. You know who you are. Thanks also
to CJayC for running gamefaqs.com.

This guide may be freely copied in it's entirety (ie. all copyright
notices are retained), and the most up to date version (if, indeed,
this guide ever gets updated) will be on GameFAQs.

Feel free to email me. But don't spam me. I will report it!

Finally, thanks for reading!