Touhou Spell Bubble

 Switch
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Noisy Pixel
    Feb 25, 2021
    70
    There are three to four hours of gameplay within the main campaign, with an additional story afterward. So, in addition to wanting to learn about Touhou, it would be advisable to have a friend who would enjoy duking it out with you, lest the game collects dust once the story is over. Overall, Touhou Spell Bubble aims for a specific demographic and does that very well.
  2. Digitally Downloaded
    Nov 13, 2020
    60
    So if you like the characters, you like the songs, and you’ve for whatever reason always wanted to play Puzzle Bobble while occasionally hitting buttons to the rhythm of a Touhou track, then this game is for you. For designers, this is an interesting exercise in how to cram together two sets of clashing game mechanics and achieve a harmonic and synergistic result. I’m still so surprised that Rhythm Game and VS. Puzzler came together in such a deep and intuitive way. But when I’m done asking “what” this game is and I start asking “why” this game is, I only see it as an expensive curiosity, reimagining of Taito’s classic (and better) puzzle game which is available as a Neo Geo Archives title for 12 dollars on the Switch shop.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. shadypatches
    Oct 31, 2020
    9
    Fantastic take on the original puzzle bobble. Such a fun game.

    OK first of all the price is a bit steep, I think this is down to licensing    Fantastic take on the original puzzle bobble. Such a fun game.

    OK first of all the price is a bit steep, I think this is down to licensing for the music in the game (which is great) but my first thought was "there is no way I'm paying this much for puzzle bobble" but I downloaded the demo anyway and had a lot of fun so I decided to buy the full game, I think it's worth it.

    Challenge: you play against the CPU or other players, there is plenty of challenge here but it also has an easy mode and plenty of configuration options so you can tune the game how you like.

    The game is very simple, easy to learn, difficult to master. The story mode walks you nicely through how to play and there is further info in the help menu to teach you the mechanics but for the most part you can just pick up a controller and play.

    The story is very lighthearted and typical silly humour for these types of games. Main Story Mode serves to teach you how to play with progressively difficult challenges as you work your way towards entering a tournament. You can change the difficulty here as you see fit.

    There is a Side Story mode which I'm assuming will come later as DLC.

    Vs. CPU mode allows you to choose your own difficulty, song choice, rules etc to practice the game.

    Challenge mode allows you to battle the CPU controlled players in a large series of challenges of various difficulty rated 1-10, further challenges can be purchased in the DLC packs.

    Battle mode allows local multiplayer games which you can configure handicaps and other rules for a two player game.

    After each battle you are awarded coins to spend in the "Kourindou" to buy more songs and battle cards. Songs are 1000 coins and battle cards are between 500 and 1000 coins each. After each battle you get around 300 coins so it isn't a total grind to unlock all the cards and songs.

    Gallery allows you to view each characters abilities and spell cards, and listen to the music from the game.

    A nice feature in the game options is to allow for lag compensation, for example if you are playing on a TV with lag in the sound or image you can configure the game to compensate for it.

    Overall a lot of fun, I've never played any of the Touhou games and I'm not that fussed about the characters in the game, but the music and gameplay is fun and I will get plenty of hours of enjoyment from this game both in solo play and multiplayer. A solid recommendation from me.

    I would have rated this a 10 if it had a well executed online multiplayer, even at this price.    … Full Review »
  2. Awsumpawsum
    Jan 23, 2021
    5
    I wanted to like this game a lot more but the ai honestly ruins the game for me.

    The gameplay is good, there is a wide selection of music but    I wanted to like this game a lot more but the ai honestly ruins the game for me.

    The gameplay is good, there is a wide selection of music but the game is hampered by the poorly designed ai. There is just no balance either you play in lower difficulties like normal or easy and you can beat the ai in your sleep or you play hard or lunatic and the ai wins 9 times out of ten. It feels like the game is missing some difficulty in between medium and hard.

    If the game had multiplayer and match making it could be forgiven but since the entire game is you playing against the computer it really hurts the experience.    … Full Review »
  3. Riddastic
    Dec 12, 2020
    9
    A surprisingly fun and engaging mix of bobble popper and rhythm games, with a lot of the most iconic Touhou songs on the internet for the lastA surprisingly fun and engaging mix of bobble popper and rhythm games, with a lot of the most iconic Touhou songs on the internet for the last 20 years. Comes with a decent roster size and an enjoyable story mode.… Full Review »
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