When you’re looking to make a new budget title in an arcade style, given the fact that there are so many shooters and platformers already in the eShop, it can pay to look for inspirations that are less commonly represented. While the arcade classic Pang (though you may know it as Buster Bros) may not be as well-known as some of its contemporaries, I’ve always loved that it does its own unique thing. Starting with a simple spear, you’ll need to pop bubbles of various kinds that will continue to split in two until they get small enough and can be knocked out completely. Throw in variations in stage design, a variety of power-ups, and its mix of quick-moving strategy and action has always appealed to me.

Piggly Pagly Boom, despite implementing its own distinctive theming, is absolutely an offshoot of this series, though it does have a few unique elements of its own. The added ability to jump does change up some of the classic stage designs a little bit, adding some risk and reward platforming to the mix. While the presentation is a step back even from the classic arcade title from decades ago in terms of its overall polish, for the most part the action at least remains pretty clear, and the blend of some puzzle, action, and strategy elements the game allows for is pretty nice.

In terms of issues, there were some elements that either didn’t work very well or were at least a bit irritating. While you do get to know and understand the game’s different power-ups, they also aren’t all very intuitive, and though some have some visual flair, they also can fail to convey how they function or what makes them useful strategically. The original game had very specific power-ups, each with a distinct benefit or function, here the connection between visual style and actual purpose isn’t always as clear. The element that I tended to find annoying more often than not though, were different critters that were present in different levels, either suppressing or blocking your shots and simply functioning as a needless distraction more often than not. I suppose they add flavor, but given the time limits you have to work within they were more irritating than innovative.

Taking it all into account, this is a reasonably-good homage to an arcade classic that thankfully does add in a few ideas of its own, rather than merely copy it. While the ability to jump seems like a minor thing, it does add a platforming mechanic to the table, which does allow for variations on stage designs fans of the series will recognize. If you haven’t first checked out The Bug Butcher or Pang Adventures I’d still recommend those as better options, but you can absolutely do far worse than this.