QQQbeats!!!

Genre: Match-3 Puzzle / Music-Rhythm

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local, Local Wireless)

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Review:

QQQbeats!!!, released in 2025 on Nintendo Switch, is a game that combines Match-3 Puzzle gameplay of games like the Puzzle Bobble series with Music-Rhythm elements, with players competing against each other or AI opponents to try to outdo each other in both.

The idea here is that you’re playing a Puzzle Bobble-style puzzle where you aim color-coordinated bubbles toward the top of the screen trying to match 3 or more, and when you complete a combination of five or more you kick off a brief Music-Rhythm minigame, with successfully hit notes during that minigame contributing to your score. The song playing not only determines the BPM for this minigame, but also how long the stage lasts before point totals are tallied up.

It’s a clever concept, but I don’t think it quite lives up to its potential for multiple reasons. Firstly, the Music-Rhythm elements are exceedingly simple and seem like an after-thought – you can mindlessly tap to the beat of the music without even paying attention to the visual indicators of what to hit and as long as you’re tapping at a fast enough rate you’ll succeed, as you’re not penalized for false positive inputs.

Also, the biggest windfalls you’ll get are when you manage to load up enough junk on the opponent’s screen that it reaches the bottom threshold line – in Puzzle Bobble this would be an automatic game-over, but here it just results in a massive penalty. Only… it’s unclear how you cause these junk pieces to get sent, and the game gives players little warning when they’re about to be hit by them.

The presentation here is good, with colorful 2D visuals and Anime-style characters rendered in a chibi style during gameplay and standard anime style in menus and cutscenes. This is joined by a soundtrack full of J-Pop and vocaloid music, with 56 songs included in with the game and additional songs available as paid DLC.

I have to admit I’m a little disappointed in QQQbeats!!!, because it seems like it was just short of being great. Unfortunately, the Music-Rhythm half of the gameplay is simple and uninspired, and the Match-3 Puzzle gameplay has some rough edges and unclear gameplay mechanics that should be addressed. Despite these issues, I still think some players will enjoy this game, but it definitely feels like it falls short of what it could have been.

tl;dr – QQQbeats!!! looks to combine Puzzle Bobble-style Match-3 Puzzle gameplay with Music-Rhythm gameplay elements, and while it has a fun concept and a good presentation, it falls short due to its undercooked Music-Rhythm gameplay and its confusing Puzzle gameplay elements. I still think some players will enjoy this, but it doesn’t live up to the potential of its concept.

Grade: C+

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