Technical Information

Developer: Bandai
Publisher: Bandai
Release Date: September 27, 1996

Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 is a sequel of Fuwa Fuwa Panic, but with a theme focused on the Sailor Moon Stars season.
It’s a puzzle game in which your goal is to pop balloons so that your opponent’s screen fills up until they lose.

This is one of the 13 games that use the SuFami Turbo add-on, a Bandai accessory that allowed games to exchange data with one another.
In the case of Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2, however, this functionality is not supported.

Final Considerations – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

Many sprites reuse their structure from the first game. The sequence of poses is almost identical, with only subtle changes. And of course, new uniforms were added to match the manga/anime season.

The visual highlight is the transformations and attacks of the Sailor Guardians! They’re beautiful to watch, true 16-bit masterpieces.

I didn’t notice anything particularly remarkable about the backgrounds, nothing really caught my attention. However, I got the impression that they use fewer colors and less detail compared to the first game.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

All the Sailor Guardians have voice clips for their attacks and transformations.

The music is quite pleasant, but nothing that really sticks in your head or becomes memorable.

Gameplay

To be honest, the gameplay is exactly the same as Fuwa Fuwa Panic, but much harder.
You must pop groups of balloons of the same color to send gray balloons (which cannot be popped unless at least two balloons of the same color are touching them) to your opponent’s screen until it fills up and they lose.

Occasionally, new balloons appear on both screens, creating a sense of progression during the match.

This game requires quick thinking and immediate use of your character’s power as soon as the power meter is full. Believe me, that’s exactly what the computer will do, leaving you almost no time to act strategically. Each Sailor Guardian has a different ability that can either harm the opponent or provide relief to their own screen.

For many years, I could never get past the first stage. Curiously, the reason was the same one that prevented me from beating the first game: after MANY years, I discovered that pressing down on the directional pad allows you to bring balloons onto your screen before the timer runs out.

In mid-October 2022, I decided to try beating Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 again, and to my surprise, I succeeded immediately.
Buuut that doesn’t reduce its difficulty! If you’re going to play it, I recommend starting with the first game.

Besides Story Mode, you can also play against a second player or try Puzzle Mode. In Puzzle Mode, you have a limited number of moves to eliminate all the balloons on the screen.

Replayability and Game Retention

Overall, I recommend the game. It’s fun, visually beautiful, and challenging.
However, personally, I still prefer its predecessor.