Tumble Pop, the Video Game by Data East [Tokyo, Japan]
DESCRIPTION
Type of the machine : Video Game
Tumble Pop © 1991 Data East.
Tumble Pop is an platform game at single screen similar to Bubble Bobble and Snow Bros. Like in these games, the task of the player is to clear the entire screen of all the enemies; after the screen is cleaned, the player is teleported into another screen to cleaning, until he reach to the boss of the stage. When the boss is defeated, the stage is cleared and the player can play the next one. The stages are all setted in various parts of the world, each of them shows differents enemies : there are the clowns of Russia, the mummies of Egypt, the robots of France and other differents coloured and sympathetic little monsters. At the beginning of the game the player can also choose the nation where he want to start to play. After that all the world is cleaned by the monsters, the players will travelling even into the space(!) for defeating once for all the evil Mad Doctor.
The particularity of Tumble Pop is the ability of capture the enemies (with theyr special vacuum cleaner that can catch a certain numbers of enemies) and then throw them against the walls for being eliminated, or also they can be throwed against other enemies, like in Snow Bros. Killed enemies will let bonus items for points and power-ups. There are several items hidden in the screen, the player can discover them by throwing the enemies all over the screen or against the corners.
Tumble Pop © 1991 Data East.
Tumble Pop is an platform game at single screen similar to Bubble Bobble and Snow Bros. Like in these games, the task of the player is to clear the entire screen of all the enemies; after the screen is cleaned, the player is teleported into another screen to cleaning, until he reach to the boss of the stage. When the boss is defeated, the stage is cleared and the player can play the next one. The stages are all setted in various parts of the world, each of them shows differents enemies : there are the clowns of Russia, the mummies of Egypt, the robots of France and other differents coloured and sympathetic little monsters. At the beginning of the game the player can also choose the nation where he want to start to play. After that all the world is cleaned by the monsters, the players will travelling even into the space(!) for defeating once for all the evil Mad Doctor.
The particularity of Tumble Pop is the ability of capture the enemies (with theyr special vacuum cleaner that can catch a certain numbers of enemies) and then throw them against the walls for being eliminated, or also they can be throwed against other enemies, like in Snow Bros. Killed enemies will let bonus items for points and power-ups. There are several items hidden in the screen, the player can discover them by throwing the enemies all over the screen or against the corners.
TECHNICAL
CABINET :
;)
Main CPU : 68000 (@ 14 Mhz)
Sound CPU : HuC6280 (@ 4.0275 Mhz)
Sound Chips : YM2151 (@ 3.58 Mhz), OKI6295 (@ 6.06 Khz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 319 x 240 pixels
Screen refresh : 58.00 Hz
Palette colors : 1024
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 2
TRIVIA
Released in November 1991.
Tumble Pop is the first of a trilogy of similar games produced by Data East, all with the same gameplay but at least with just few differences : a year after Tumble Pop, in 1992 Data East released "Diet Go Go", similar to Tumble Pop in the game mechanics, but the vacuum cleaner are discarded with special fruits released by the players for pump up the enemies; at this point the enemy will fly up to the screen, and the player spin him against the other enemies simply by touching him while he's flying. In 1994 is released '"Joe & Mac Returns", still similar to Tumble Pop, but the players must first dizzy the enemies with theyr canes, then capturing them and at least throw against the other enemies.
There are several references with other Data East games with the enemies of Tumble Pop :
* Firts of all, the fat arabian-type guy spitting flames from mouth is, naturally, a retrieval of the good old Karnov, even if it's not too identical of the original in the esthetics (the eating-fire guy of Tumblepop miss the thin mustaches, and even the eyes are different). This enemy appear in the stage of Russia, Egypt and Brazil.
* In the Australia stage, the cavemans and carnivorous plants are the same of those appearing in Caveman Ninja. The end level boss is identical to the Giant Carnivorous Plant of the second stage, still on Caveman Ninja.
* The end level boss of Brazil stage (the fire dragon) is almoust similar to the mid boss of the second stage of Chelnov - Atomic Runner (the Giant Dog with iron mask). Some of his patterns are also similar to another boss of Caveman Ninja.
* The 'pain scream' of some bosses was copied by the Dinosaurs growl of Caveman Ninja.
* In the stages of the Space, one enemy (the alien with white suit and helmet) is exactly identical to Chelnov. Even his fire attacks are identical to one of the power ups of the game Chelnov - Atomic Runner.
In the stage of Brazil, in the first scheme there are five special letters hidden (See TIPS AND TRICKS section to learn more about the special letters) that joined togheter forms the name SENNA : a clearly omage to the late brasilian F1 world champion Ayrton Senna.
In 1994 an anonymus korean software house, Dong Gue La Mi Ltd., maked an hack version of this game, named "Pang Pang". This game is simply awful, with all the backgrounds of the original game changed with the backgrounds of Super Pang. Also, you can't catch the enemies with the vacuum cleaner, but you can catch them inside some bobbles, exactly like in Bubble Bobble. The main character of the game controlled by the player is an horrible rip-off of the hero of Tumble Pop.
The final boss and villain of the game, Mad Doctor, appears also in "Diet Go Go" and "Spin Masters", both still developed by Data East.
Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Wolf Fang, Tumble Pop - PCCB-00084) on 21/03/1992.
Tumble Pop is the first of a trilogy of similar games produced by Data East, all with the same gameplay but at least with just few differences : a year after Tumble Pop, in 1992 Data East released "Diet Go Go", similar to Tumble Pop in the game mechanics, but the vacuum cleaner are discarded with special fruits released by the players for pump up the enemies; at this point the enemy will fly up to the screen, and the player spin him against the other enemies simply by touching him while he's flying. In 1994 is released '"Joe & Mac Returns", still similar to Tumble Pop, but the players must first dizzy the enemies with theyr canes, then capturing them and at least throw against the other enemies.
There are several references with other Data East games with the enemies of Tumble Pop :
* Firts of all, the fat arabian-type guy spitting flames from mouth is, naturally, a retrieval of the good old Karnov, even if it's not too identical of the original in the esthetics (the eating-fire guy of Tumblepop miss the thin mustaches, and even the eyes are different). This enemy appear in the stage of Russia, Egypt and Brazil.
* In the Australia stage, the cavemans and carnivorous plants are the same of those appearing in Caveman Ninja. The end level boss is identical to the Giant Carnivorous Plant of the second stage, still on Caveman Ninja.
* The end level boss of Brazil stage (the fire dragon) is almoust similar to the mid boss of the second stage of Chelnov - Atomic Runner (the Giant Dog with iron mask). Some of his patterns are also similar to another boss of Caveman Ninja.
* The 'pain scream' of some bosses was copied by the Dinosaurs growl of Caveman Ninja.
* In the stages of the Space, one enemy (the alien with white suit and helmet) is exactly identical to Chelnov. Even his fire attacks are identical to one of the power ups of the game Chelnov - Atomic Runner.
In the stage of Brazil, in the first scheme there are five special letters hidden (See TIPS AND TRICKS section to learn more about the special letters) that joined togheter forms the name SENNA : a clearly omage to the late brasilian F1 world champion Ayrton Senna.
In 1994 an anonymus korean software house, Dong Gue La Mi Ltd., maked an hack version of this game, named "Pang Pang". This game is simply awful, with all the backgrounds of the original game changed with the backgrounds of Super Pang. Also, you can't catch the enemies with the vacuum cleaner, but you can catch them inside some bobbles, exactly like in Bubble Bobble. The main character of the game controlled by the player is an horrible rip-off of the hero of Tumble Pop.
The final boss and villain of the game, Mad Doctor, appears also in "Diet Go Go" and "Spin Masters", both still developed by Data East.
Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Wolf Fang, Tumble Pop - PCCB-00084) on 21/03/1992.
UPDATES
Bootlegs don't use the HuC6280 @ 4.0275 Mhz :-)
TIPS AND TRICKS
For eliminate an enemy, the simple way is to catch him with the vacuum cleaner, and then throw him away before he get out by himself and kill you. You can also throw an enemy against other one, and especially catch more enemies at time, so to create a real "avalanche" that will run over the others. The basic strategy for every scheme is to catch more enemy at possible, and then trhow them away against the other enemies, so you can clean up the whole screen and accumulate many points.
Every enemy killed will still release a item that give you bonus points (coins, gems, diamonds, etc).
For catch an enemy, press the FIRE button and hold it while the enemy will be breathed inside the vacuum cleaner. However, there is a simple trick to catch them more fastly : press the fire button ONCE against the enemy, or press the fire button and then turn back to him fastly; the enemy wil get dizzy for few seconds. Now, just press again the fire button to immediatly aspire him inside the vacuum cleaner. Now keep the fire button while you don't decide to drop him. REMEMBER: You can't hold enemies in your vaccum cleaner for more than 4-5 seconds.
The enemies generally walking through the screen and jumping to above platforms. Especially, there are some kinds of enemies that can turn themself into a type of tornado before go up or down to the near platforms; in this moment these enemies are invincible, you can't catch them and also the 'tornado form' will block eventually enemies that you've throwed against them.
When you fight a boss, you must defeat him by catching the weapons or enemies that he will drop to you, and then throw these agaist him. If you catch more of three enemies, you'll give more damage to the boss.
In determinates schemes, there are some types of jars, that will release constantly new enemies. The form of this jars changing with the stage's background, but despite this these are all identical to each other. You need to hit these jars throwing enemies against two or three times for destroy these. After destroyed, the jars still release some gems. Sometimes could be two jars in the same scheme.
You can catch the enemies even through the walls. This is a great vantage to you, especially against those enemies that can shoot from far distances or when you're near too busy platforms.
There are several bonus itmes and power ups hidden all over the screen. At the beginning those are not visible; you must first at all catch some enemies and then throw him in all the superfice of the level, and especially near the corner where the power-ups are still frequent.
Droping a single enemy is not effective for discover all the bonus of a scheme: the best way is to catch three enemies or more and then thow they in an vantagious point that make they roll over the whole screen and then revealing the bonus.
The power ups are generally placed in the various corners at the left or right of the screen, and occasionally in the central platforms of the screen. Keep this on mind if you actually looking for a power up.
There are several power ups :
"POW tin" : increase the range of action of your vacuum cleaner.
"Skate" : make the player's character movements more faster.
"Star" : Give to the player a barrier that make him invincible for a dterminate time and kill the enemies with the simple contact.
"Laser Pistol" : Turn your vacuum cleaner in a laser pistol, that kill all the enemies and jars instantly.
"Package ?" : This will recall an large vacuum cleaner above the screnn that will clean up the whole screen of eìevery enemy and bonus item: however, the points for the bonus and enemies are still added to the player's score, but you'll not take the benefit of the power ups.
"Tumblepop's Guy" : this is the classical 1UP item, so give to you an extra life. Only available in the bonus stage.
Special letters : these are special items that will appear in the screen like the other bonus items. At the button of the screen there are the word TUMBLE POP written with this letter placed inside blue balls. You must collect the letters that make the word TUMBLE POP : once you've completed it, you'll be teleported into a bonus stage where you can collect any type of money and gems and an extra life, before time runs out. If you made to collect all the items, the spared time will become bonus points. After the bonus stage is completed, you'll be teleported into the next scheme. There are some letters that don't belong to the word TUMBLE POP, while there are others that progressive changing in alphabetical way. All the letters value as extra points.
In the final stage, before you fight against the final boss (Mad Doctor), you'll fight before against the previous bosses. This is the only time that you can found power ups in the boss fight.
Every enemy killed will still release a item that give you bonus points (coins, gems, diamonds, etc).
For catch an enemy, press the FIRE button and hold it while the enemy will be breathed inside the vacuum cleaner. However, there is a simple trick to catch them more fastly : press the fire button ONCE against the enemy, or press the fire button and then turn back to him fastly; the enemy wil get dizzy for few seconds. Now, just press again the fire button to immediatly aspire him inside the vacuum cleaner. Now keep the fire button while you don't decide to drop him. REMEMBER: You can't hold enemies in your vaccum cleaner for more than 4-5 seconds.
The enemies generally walking through the screen and jumping to above platforms. Especially, there are some kinds of enemies that can turn themself into a type of tornado before go up or down to the near platforms; in this moment these enemies are invincible, you can't catch them and also the 'tornado form' will block eventually enemies that you've throwed against them.
When you fight a boss, you must defeat him by catching the weapons or enemies that he will drop to you, and then throw these agaist him. If you catch more of three enemies, you'll give more damage to the boss.
In determinates schemes, there are some types of jars, that will release constantly new enemies. The form of this jars changing with the stage's background, but despite this these are all identical to each other. You need to hit these jars throwing enemies against two or three times for destroy these. After destroyed, the jars still release some gems. Sometimes could be two jars in the same scheme.
You can catch the enemies even through the walls. This is a great vantage to you, especially against those enemies that can shoot from far distances or when you're near too busy platforms.
There are several bonus itmes and power ups hidden all over the screen. At the beginning those are not visible; you must first at all catch some enemies and then throw him in all the superfice of the level, and especially near the corner where the power-ups are still frequent.
Droping a single enemy is not effective for discover all the bonus of a scheme: the best way is to catch three enemies or more and then thow they in an vantagious point that make they roll over the whole screen and then revealing the bonus.
The power ups are generally placed in the various corners at the left or right of the screen, and occasionally in the central platforms of the screen. Keep this on mind if you actually looking for a power up.
There are several power ups :
"POW tin" : increase the range of action of your vacuum cleaner.
"Skate" : make the player's character movements more faster.
"Star" : Give to the player a barrier that make him invincible for a dterminate time and kill the enemies with the simple contact.
"Laser Pistol" : Turn your vacuum cleaner in a laser pistol, that kill all the enemies and jars instantly.
"Package ?" : This will recall an large vacuum cleaner above the screnn that will clean up the whole screen of eìevery enemy and bonus item: however, the points for the bonus and enemies are still added to the player's score, but you'll not take the benefit of the power ups.
"Tumblepop's Guy" : this is the classical 1UP item, so give to you an extra life. Only available in the bonus stage.
Special letters : these are special items that will appear in the screen like the other bonus items. At the button of the screen there are the word TUMBLE POP written with this letter placed inside blue balls. You must collect the letters that make the word TUMBLE POP : once you've completed it, you'll be teleported into a bonus stage where you can collect any type of money and gems and an extra life, before time runs out. If you made to collect all the items, the spared time will become bonus points. After the bonus stage is completed, you'll be teleported into the next scheme. There are some letters that don't belong to the word TUMBLE POP, while there are others that progressive changing in alphabetical way. All the letters value as extra points.
In the final stage, before you fight against the final boss (Mad Doctor), you'll fight before against the previous bosses. This is the only time that you can found power ups in the boss fight.
STAFF
Planner : Makoto Kikuchi
Programmers : Hidemi Hamada, Kei Ichikawa, M. Sano
Designers : Atsushi Takahashi, Ryohey Hirakata, Touma Arakawa, Sanomi Kiyota, Chie Kitahara, Oguri, Noriyuki Morita, Yasuko Kurohiji, Hiroshi Tada
Sound : Tom Sato, Seila, Tatsuya Kiuchi (Mr.K)
Hardware : T. Kanayama
Programmers : Hidemi Hamada, Kei Ichikawa, M. Sano
Designers : Atsushi Takahashi, Ryohey Hirakata, Touma Arakawa, Sanomi Kiyota, Chie Kitahara, Oguri, Noriyuki Morita, Yasuko Kurohiji, Hiroshi Tada
Sound : Tom Sato, Seila, Tatsuya Kiuchi (Mr.K)
Hardware : T. Kanayama
PORTS
Consoles :
Nintendo Game BoySOURCES
Game's rom.
Machine's picture.
Machine's picture.
LAST EDITION
March 15, 2009