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Arcade Archives: Plump Pop
Mar. 6th, 2026 09:27 amThis week's Arcade Archives release is... Plump Pop (Taito, 1987)
Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)
PSN
Switch
EU
PSN
Switch 2
EU
Xbox
US
Just the one ROM this time, which makes sense as you can only get different regions by messing around with region flags (as documented on The Cutting Room Floor) and there's no World or US arcade boards out there. Button Settings allow players to use a USB mouse and adjust the analogue settings, while Preference Settings allow players to toggle a score display glitch caused by the Round 3 boss on or off. This rerelease is also slightly edited- the Red Cross on the flag that appears when you get a Game Over is changd to a heart (in the Taito Egret II Mini version, it was just a blank white flag, so this is an improvement).
I always mentally filed Plump Pop (which was the final name after others were considered like Plump Tramp and NYANPOLINE) away as an Arkanoid variant, but after reading The Cutting Room Floor's article... It's Taito's take on Circus, isn't it? You know, Breakout but usually with balloon targets and a human in place of the ball, adhering to gravity and all that. Silly old me! Anyway, this is a very cute take on the concept, with you in charge of one of three adorable animal teams- dogs, cats or pigs, your choice- as they have to destroy all the balloons cluttering the skies, with two animals manning the trampoline and a little baby animal as the ball, which is perfectly safe, honest, don't think about it too much. As more complex patterns of balloons appear, so do hazards like clouds the baby animal slides across (press the jump button and they'll jump too) or just bounce off of and the sun itself being an obstacle (destroy it and the time of day changes). This even has boss fights every four rounds (after the suppertime bonus round, of course) where you need to keep up with balloons being spawned with every successfully bonk on the enemy!
This originally used a paddle controller, and while an analogue stick does a decent jon (when playing on pad, a speed-up button is added to let you move faster), this is best played with a mouse for fine control, and you'll need it- your hapless baby animal starts bouncing slowly, but almost immediately reaches terrifying air-speeds as they smash the balloons, so be careful with them. You can also jump to put a little more oomph into your bounce which you'll also need to avoid various creatures that appear to pester you on the ground. The game becomes even more chaotic in two-player mode where a ledge is added that you can hop up to, because otherwise, the trampolines have collision so you can push against each other, and you can also bounce the other team's baby! Be careful not to screw each other over out there, you're meant to be working together! The original Arkanoid is due for an Arcade Archives release in the future (it's on Taito Milestones 4) so there's yet more Taito paddle games on the horizon, but I have a particular soft spot for this one. It's got that cutesy Taito presentation and also has strange secrets like increasing the point value of bonus items by not letting a single one drop and cute details like the trampoline-holder's head squishing if the baby lands on it (it even launches them at a different angle) so definitely give this one a look, especially if you have a mouse!
Just the one ROM this time, which makes sense as you can only get different regions by messing around with region flags (as documented on The Cutting Room Floor) and there's no World or US arcade boards out there. Button Settings allow players to use a USB mouse and adjust the analogue settings, while Preference Settings allow players to toggle a score display glitch caused by the Round 3 boss on or off. This rerelease is also slightly edited- the Red Cross on the flag that appears when you get a Game Over is changd to a heart (in the Taito Egret II Mini version, it was just a blank white flag, so this is an improvement).
I always mentally filed Plump Pop (which was the final name after others were considered like Plump Tramp and NYANPOLINE) away as an Arkanoid variant, but after reading The Cutting Room Floor's article... It's Taito's take on Circus, isn't it? You know, Breakout but usually with balloon targets and a human in place of the ball, adhering to gravity and all that. Silly old me! Anyway, this is a very cute take on the concept, with you in charge of one of three adorable animal teams- dogs, cats or pigs, your choice- as they have to destroy all the balloons cluttering the skies, with two animals manning the trampoline and a little baby animal as the ball, which is perfectly safe, honest, don't think about it too much. As more complex patterns of balloons appear, so do hazards like clouds the baby animal slides across (press the jump button and they'll jump too) or just bounce off of and the sun itself being an obstacle (destroy it and the time of day changes). This even has boss fights every four rounds (after the suppertime bonus round, of course) where you need to keep up with balloons being spawned with every successfully bonk on the enemy!
This originally used a paddle controller, and while an analogue stick does a decent jon (when playing on pad, a speed-up button is added to let you move faster), this is best played with a mouse for fine control, and you'll need it- your hapless baby animal starts bouncing slowly, but almost immediately reaches terrifying air-speeds as they smash the balloons, so be careful with them. You can also jump to put a little more oomph into your bounce which you'll also need to avoid various creatures that appear to pester you on the ground. The game becomes even more chaotic in two-player mode where a ledge is added that you can hop up to, because otherwise, the trampolines have collision so you can push against each other, and you can also bounce the other team's baby! Be careful not to screw each other over out there, you're meant to be working together! The original Arkanoid is due for an Arcade Archives release in the future (it's on Taito Milestones 4) so there's yet more Taito paddle games on the horizon, but I have a particular soft spot for this one. It's got that cutesy Taito presentation and also has strange secrets like increasing the point value of bonus items by not letting a single one drop and cute details like the trampoline-holder's head squishing if the baby lands on it (it even launches them at a different angle) so definitely give this one a look, especially if you have a mouse!