Bring Back PBO!

I spent some time tonight reading through old entries in my online journal, which I've kept since 2002. (Apologies to any would-be stalkers. It's private.) One thing I noticed--aside from the writing itself, which isn't bad, exactly, but it calls way too much attention to itself--was a lot of obsessing over Puzzle Bobble Online. No doubt you've seen or played Puzzle Bobble in its Western incarnation, Bust-A-Move. It's the arcade game with the arrow and the colored bubbles. Connect enough like-colored bubbles and they disappear, along with any other bubbles that are hanging from them. Fail to clear them before they pass below the bottom of the screen and you lose.

Puzzle Bobble Online was an online multiplayer version of the game. It never received a legitimate release. The only Westerners who played PBO had to stumble through Japanese language websites to play a test--beta--version of the game. After the beta period ended, Westerners were shut out altogether. Shortly after this, the game disappeared.

The reason why is a mystery. It's also a shame. I'd pay to play, and I remember lots of my fellow addicts were equally willing to do so. This might have something to do with the fact that I was one of the best players. This isn't me being dishonest, either, although perhaps it's immodest and indecorous for me to say so. Nevertheless, I was capable of winning 1-on-5 matches; I rarely lost matches with better odds, unless I was facing the very best players, against whom I could compete competently, given 3-on-3 teams. It was a lot of fun. You'd think Taito, the company responsible for the Puzzle Bobble games, would allow people like me to give them money.