QQQbeats!!! Review

You play as a member of the hotshot duo Pupiccolo. These two girls are streamers who face off against rival content creators in a game called QQQbeats!!! This title is a mash-up of a bubble-busting puzzle game and a rhythm game, creating the ultimate competitive experience. Your puzzle rounds are easy to learn and have you shooting bubbles to make clusters of three of the same colour to clear them.

The game offers a Standard mode, for players new to QQQbeats!!!, and an Expert difficulty, for when you’re challenging opponents you encounter in the story mode. You begin in Chapter 0, where you learn how to play. The first section you start with is the puzzle mode, where you try to pop bubbles. When you consecutively clear clusters of at least three bubbles of the same colour, it counts as a combo. If you clear clusters of five, you’ll trigger the rhythm phase, called Beat Attack. Here, you’ll need to press the A button when the circles align, sending blank bubbles over to your opponent’s field. I am playing on the Nintendo Switch 2, so this may be different on a different console.

The goal is to send so many bubbles over that they touch the downline at the bottom of the screen, while also clearing enough lines from your own, so this doesn’t happen. You might think the round is over once the line is touched — nope! This is where the game gets more interesting (or evil might be the better word). All the points you have when the line is touched are given to your opponent. This especially stings when it happens late in the round and you’ve built up a lot of points. Having 300 points transferred over to your rival is hard to recover from! One particular matchup took me five attempts to win. The player with the highest score when the music stops is declared the winner.

When you start the game, only one character is available to play as: the pink-haired Ceena. She has the special ability to change bubbles on the field into red bubbles (though I’d argue they look pink!). Ceena’s special skill, Viral KAWAII, changes a V-shaped pattern of bubbles on the field to red. As you progress and clear challenges, you’ll unlock new characters and songs to use in the game’s other modes.

QQQbeats!!! offers multiple modes to tackle: Story, where you clear stages and unlock new songs and characters at your own pace; Versus, where you can have 1-on-1 competitive play; and online Ranked, Casual, and Private Matches. If you prefer offline play, there are Local and Shared Battles. There’s also a mode called DUOps, where you team up with a friend to battle enemies together. This can be played locally or online, and clearing these stages rewards you with BeatCoin, the in-game currency.

The visuals in QQQbeats!!! are extremely vibrant and full of fun anime-style characters. You’ll even spot cute details like plushies of Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble in the girls’ apartment; they’re adorable, and I wish I had them in real life! Accompanying the visuals are 56 catchy and upbeat anime and pop songs performed by VTubers, virtual singers, and Touhou arrangers. I was excited to see Hatsune Miku on the list! The music was so good that I didn’t mind replaying stages multiple times.

Going into this game, I thought it would be easy since I’ve played plenty of bubble-popping puzzle titles. However, it’s far more challenging than I had expected, and that’s a good thing! The combination of puzzle and rhythm gameplay works surprisingly well, and the special abilities for each character add a lot of depth to QQQbeats!!! I also love the clever twist where hitting the bottom line causes you to give your points to your opponent. I’ve never played a puzzle game so mean, but it adds an extra layer of tension and excitement!

QQQbeats!!! is an excellent mix of puzzle and rhythm battling that’s both addictive and challenging. With its upbeat music, vibrant visuals, and fun characters, it’s a must-play title, especially when you want to test your reflexes, make snap decisions, and strategise which bubble clusters to clear to keep your points safe.