Tumblepop

Tumblepop is a platform game reminiscent of Bubble Bobble, Pang, and Snow Bros.. Players assume the role of ghosthunters through ten levels consisting of ten stages set in different parts of the world (Moscow, Egypt, Paris, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Antarctica, Australia, Japan, Space and Moon), each with a boss at the every tenth stage that must be fought before progressing any further, in an effort to defeat monsters, ghosts, aliens and other oddball characters. Each player can suck enemies into a vacuum cleaner-like devices, but enemies can escape from the player's vacuum and kill their character if they are kept for too long. Once an enemy has been captured into the vacuum, players can spit them back as rolling balls, which will rebound off of walls until eventually shattering against a wall.

Any enemies the tumbling ball rolls into are eliminated and reveal hidden bonus items that are crucial for reaching high scores, such as collectable letters of the alphabet found in randomly appearing bubbles to gradually spell the word "TUMBLEPOP", the progress of which is permanently displayed at the bottom of the screen; the word goes back to default after completion. When completed, players are transported to a bonus level which gives them the opportunity to obtain higher scores and an extra life, although this level is strictly timed. If the player takes too much time to complete a level, an invincible vampire-like beast will try to kill the players, even during a boss encounter.

Tumblepop was developed by most of the same team that worked on several projects at Data East, with Makoto Kikuchi serving as its designer. Hidemi Hamada, Kei Ichikawa and Minoru Sano acted as programmers, while several artists like Atsushi Takahashi, Chie Kitahara, Hiroshi Tada and others were responsible for the pixel art. The soundtrack was handled by Gamadelic members Mihoko Ando, Tatsuya Kiuchi and Tomoyoshi Sato.

Tumblepop was first released in November 1991 in Japan by Data East, and later by Leprechaun Inc. in North America and Mitchell Corporation in Europe. A Game Boy version by Data East was first released in Japan on 20 November 1992, and in North America in March 1993. The Game Boy version incorporates a world map that does not resemble Earth; levels are contained in different cities on that map that the player can walk between.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Tumblepop as the eighth most successful table arcade unit of November 1991. In the February 1992 issue of Japanese publication Micom BASIC Magazine, the game was ranked on the number eight spot in popularity. The arcade original has gained a cult following since its release.

Computer and Video Games's Julian Rignall gave high praise to the visuals, sound and "addictive" gameplay. Both Emmanuel Castro and Bruno Sol of Spanish website Vandal gave it a positive retrospective outlook. Likewise, Juan Garcia of IGN Spain also gave it a positive retrospective outlook.