Ready for some endless, casual fun, as well as a couple other game modes that could win you some neat prizes? You might as well check out Identity Visuals’ new iOS game, Bouncy Smash, which, as we like to point out, follows the old naming convention for casual games popularized by Flappy Bird — unconventional adjective ending with a “y” for the first word, plus one-syllable second word. But this game, as you’ll find out, has a lot more depth. You will be playing the role of Arlo, a bouncing blue ball who’s out to save the world from the evil Duplicants, which are bouncing purple (or green, or gold) balls that can only be destroyed if you come from atop and bounce on top of them. As mentioned above, there’s Arcade mode, which offers “endless fun” and a wide variety of achievements, as well as daily and weekly challenges that up the ante and allow you to win new outfits, skins, and skills, among other things.
This is an “addictive arcade game with roguelike tendencies,” but it certainly is deep enough to deserve a long and extensive guide that teaches you the ins and outs of things. So strap back, and read on as we present to you our Bouncy Smash ultimate guide, where we tell you all that you need to know for succeeding in this game’s three modes, while collecting more of those skins and outfits.
1. The Basics Of Bouncy Smash
On the bottom left, you’ve got your directional buttons (left and right), and everywhere else on the screen, all you need to do is to tap in order to jump. That’s how easy it is to control Arlo, your character in Bouncy Smash.
The very next thing the game will tell you when you go on your first run is that it’s all about combos. The idea here is that you should bounce your character atop the Duplicants (those other bouncing balls that aren’t yours) to take them out, and remain airborne as you take out another, and another, and another, until your character hits the ground, or a platform, or loses some health. Stringing together combos is a great way to rack up the points (your points get multiplied by the number of enemies you took out in the combo), but as you’ll find out soon enough, it will oftentimes take a back seat to survival, or to reaching certain goals specified in the “levels,” which aren’t really levels in the truest sense of the word, but rather sets of achievements that you need to complete in order to move on to the next set. It’s not too often that games with a combo mechanic won’t always require you to string together combos in order to get ahead, but such is the case in Bouncy Smash.
It seems very easy — bounce on top of enemy Duplicants to get rid of them, avoid obstacles such as buzzsaws and glowing platforms. But the Duplicants won’t be considered enemies if they don’t do anything to your character. If you bounce your character and hit them from the bottom, that will take out one unit of health. Likewise, if you hit a glancing blow from the side, or if one of the Duplicants does the same to you, that’s also going to cost you one unit. You have four units of health in the game before your run in Arcade mode ends, and once you do, you’ll have the option of continuing your run, or settling with “game over” and whatever score you’ve tallied. We’ll discuss that a little further in a bit, but first, let’s move on to some other tips and tricks, now that we’re done with the basics.
2. Levels Don’t Need To Be Completed In One Go
As we had established above, Bouncy Smash’s idea of “levels” isn’t quite what you may be used to. We normally think of levels as stages in a game that increase in difficulty as we go along. But in this game, levels are batches of three individual goals which you need to achieve in order to move on to the next level. While you may, at first, be putting too much pressure on yourself by trying to complete the levels right away, you really don’t have to. In fact, you can complete a level over several play-throughs — for example, if one requirement is for you to achieve a certain combo score, you can devote one run to stringing together the longest, highest scoring combo possible. If the next goal is to collect 10 coins, the next run can be devoted completely to coin collecting; there’s no need to kill all the enemies in a wave in order to move on to the next. And if your final goal is to reach a certain score for the entire game, you can focus on that in your third run (or fourth, or fifth run — it doesn’t matter how many runs it takes you), this time trying to take out all the enemies in a wave, particularly in the first. As you get a huge bonus for killing all the Duplicants in any given wave, that could help you run up your score to whatever is required.
3. The Difference Between Outfits And Skins
Outfits and skins, to put it simply, are very similar to each other in Bouncy Smash, yet they are ultimately different. You’ll want to collect as many of them as possible in the game, but before we go into the ways in which you can unlock them and improve them, let’s differentiate the two terms. First off, there are 50 outfits which you can currently collect — you start out with no outfit at all, but once you’ve earned your first 100 coins, you can start rolling for them. They don’t change the color of your character, as they simply add a pair of glasses (for the “Nerd” outfit), an eyepatch (for “Patchy”), a crown (for “His Highness”), and so on, and so forth.
Meanwhile, there are 25 collectible skins in the game, starting with the default Bouncy. Skins completely change the look of your character, giving him a different color scheme, for example, white and red for Heart, red and black for Bold Night, yellow and green for Cheese, and so on. Some skins can be unlocked once you complete a specific level, though most of them need to be purchased for a dollar each, or its equivalent in local currency.
In order to change your outfit or skin, you’ll need to go to the Store, then tap on the Outfits or Skins button to choose the one you’d like to equip.
4. Collect Coins To Buy New Outfits / Skins
See those flashing gold dots during the Arcade runs and in the other game modes? Those are coins, which you can collect by bouncing onto them in any direction. Once you reach 100 coins, you’ll be able to get new outfits for your character, which you will be unlocking at random, gacha machine-style.
You can also win new outfits or skins, after completing certain milestone levels, but for the most part, you’ll be buying new outfits with your coins, as they’re the only things you can get with this in-game currency anyway. But don’t mistake them for being there merely for the aesthetics — you may think that they’re only there to break the monotony if you get sick of your default outfit or skin, but sooner or later, your choice of skin/outfit may matter.
5. You Can Use Your Diamonds To Upgrade Your Outfits / Skins
Although the skins and outfits may appear to be a cosmetic-only touch at first, they can actually have an impact on gameplay, provided you have them upgraded with diamonds, which are the premium currency of the game. Diamonds can be won in the Weekly Waves game mode, which we shall be discussing a little later on, and while you only win one diamond for completing this game mode, that’s actually all you need to perform an upgrade. Once upgraded, you can take advantage of certain effects in the game. For instance, upgrading His Highness will allow you to add three seconds to the Damage Bubble, while upgrading the Seafarer outfit will do the exact same thing. Upgrading the Nerd outfit, which we mentioned above, will give you twice the coins for each coin you collect in the game. With that in mind, you may want to consider your play style before choosing a skin/outfit you wish to go with in the game, and, more importantly, choosing the ones you wish to upgrade for a diamond each.
6. Know Your Skills
You won’t be alone when going through your runs in Bouncy Smash, regardless of the game mode you’re playing at any given time. You have a total of four skills which you can use any time in the game, as long as the cool down timer isn’t loading up. The green skill (swipe right) is your Health Pack, which gives you a health boost on top of the four units of life your character usually has. The purple skill (swipe down) is Ground Smash, which simply adds to the damage you deal out against enemies. The magenta skill (swipe up) is Gravity Well, which lets you stay airborne for longer, and reach greater heights. Lastly, and most importantly, as you will likely be using this the most often, the blue skill (swipe left) is the Shield, which allows you to be invincible for a span of 25 seconds; obstacles or hitting a Duplicant from below or from the side will not harm your character, and being that this makes you impervious to damage, you will likely be tempted to use this skill more often than the others.
7. You Can Only Use A Skill For So Many Times
Unfortunately, the skills in Bouncy Smash are like consumable power-ups, as they can only be used for as long as you have enough units of each. Granted, the game will start you out with eight of each, which should be quite ample at first, but while these skills could make it much easier for you to ace a level, you could also very easily run out of them if you rely on them too often. You can always get new skills instantly, though the tradeoff here would be real-life money. But the good thing is that there’s a way to replenish these skills for free, which we shall be talking about next.
8. Collect Your Gifts For More Skills
Every three hours or so, Bouncy Smash will reward you with a free gift — inside this gift box are a few coins (usually about 20 to 30), and a few skill tokens. While the coins, as you should know, allow you to buy new outfits, it’s the tokens that you should be focusing on when opening the gift boxes. We noticed that the tokens rewarded are usually the blue and purple ones, so if you use the Shield skill a lot, you’ll want to have your notifications turned on, so you can redeem your free gift as often as possible while you’re still awake and have your phone turned on as well.
There’s another way for you to collect more skill tokens which you can use in any game mode, though we’ll be getting to that later.
9. What Do The Purple Coins Do?
The purple coins you see flashing in Arcade and the other game modes represent special, onetime boosts which you can activate for a new wave of enemies, but only for that wave in particular. These may range from Common to Rare, and may include coin boosts, an ability to jump higher, a longer Damage Bubble, and a whole lot more positive effects which you can certainly use as you strive to reach a higher score and make it through more waves of enemies. Remember to choose wisely, should you be lucky to collect one of the purple tokens; you should make your choice based on what you’re currently trying to achieve, such as level completion, or making it through more waves of Duplicants in the Weekly Waves game mode. For example, you’ll want to go for a score bonus if you’re trying to complete a level where one of the achievements is to reach a score of, let’s say, 15,000 points; if you get the boost that increases your score by 5,000, then go for it. Just one disclaimer, though — if you’re trying to complete an achievement based on coin collection, and choose a boost that gives you 10 coins instantly at the start of a new wave, those 10 bonus coins will NOT count to the coin totals you need in order to complete the achievement and move forward in the level!
10. How To Deal With Platforms And Other Obstacles
Platforms can be a real pain in the butt. In most games, they can actually help you out, by allowing you to stop and collect your thoughts, while keeping you at a safe distance from any enemies. Not so in Bouncy Smash. Based on our experience so far, platforms have been more harm than good for us, as they are actually moving platforms. Landing on these platforms could break your combo, and could also prevent you from taking out a Duplicant in some cases. Plus, there are also platforms that glow; these are a must to avoid, as they will automatically take out one life unit from your bar! We’re not sure if these are supposed to be hot platforms, or glowing blade platforms, but in any case, they are to be avoided much more so than the regular platforms during the enemy waves that have them.
When it comes to the buzzsaws, these appear at random on the ground, so if you’re currently in a wave that comes with these nasty little customers, it goes without saying that you should try to stay airborne as long as possible.
11. How To Handle Darkness
Darkness is arguably the most difficult challenge you can face during enemy waves in Arcade, or when playing the Weekly Waves mode. Not only is the background pitch black; the Duplicants will also appear to be blacked out, and if you aren’t laser focused on the bounce of your character, it could be easy to mistake him for an enemy. This makes playing in darkness very frustrating, and a surefire way to cost you a health unit or two. But if you have enough blue power-up skills with you, then you can activate your Shield, which places your character in a damage bubble and turns him invincible, just as we had previously mentioned. The Shield could come in handy during any occasion that you have to deal with darkness, may it be a stage in Weekly Waves, or just another wave of enemies you’re facing in Arcade mode.
12. Tips For Succeeding In Weekly Waves
Arcade is the default, endless mode that you will likely be playing most of the time. But Weekly Waves is worth a try, even if it could be frustratingly difficult as compared to Arcade! The goal in Weekly Waves, as we’ve seen so far, is to survive five waves of enemies, but unlike in Arcade, which starts you out with a wave of 12 Duplicants in a simple, straightforward setting (i.e. no obstacles, no platforms, no other challenges to deal with, except the enemies themselves), the first wave in Weekly Waves will include 20 enemies, and will last longer than your regular first wave. Worse, the current Weekly Waves challenge will start you out with Darkness. Yes, that sounds like a lot of trouble in order to win one measly diamond, and we’re only talking about the first wave here.
In order to successfully complete Weekly Waves, we have a few tips which we can offer to, at the very least, make things a bit easier. First of all, we would suggest using your Shield skill early on, then use it again in the third or fourth wave. The Health Pack could also be useful in between, but you’ll need to have at least two or three Shields ready with you before heading off to the Weekly Waves. Of course, you’ll need to be extra careful that you don’t bump into the side of a Duplicant, or hit one from the bottom going up; definitely, using the Shield in Darkness could help you avoid this possibility.
As their name suggests, Weekly Waves refresh once a week, with a new set of challenges for each wave of enemies, but with the same one-diamond reward for completing all of the waves. Unfortunately, there don’t appear to be any consolation prizes for completing less than five; we hope this will change in the future, but for now, it’s all or nothing if you’re chasing after that one diamond to upgrade your outfit or skin!
13. How Does Daily Danger Work?
Daily Danger is the third game mode in Bouncy Smash, and in here, you are given new challenges each day, with a gift box serving as a reward — just as we promised, this is the second way in which you can get gift boxes loaded with coins and skill tokens. For example, the game may give you 45 seconds to take out 15 enemies. Again, this sounds simple, until you find out what the limitations are. For this particular daily, all you have is one unit of health; hit a Duplicant the wrong way and it’s game over, same thing if you come in contact with one of the glowing platforms, or get caught by the buzzsaws. That would require you to stay in the air for as long as you possibly could, and maybe even use your Shield, especially if you’re getting close to the target. We would recommend activating the Shield power-up, in this case, once you’re past the 50 percent mark. The 25-second effect of the Shield won’t run out before the time limit does, so all you have to do is to focus on chasing the Duplicants and taking them out.
14. Some Skins Can Be Upgraded By Reaching A Certain Level
Last, but not the least, let’s go back briefly to the topic of skins. Many of these skins can be upgraded by paying diamonds, and these mostly apply to the skins that you can purchase for a dollar each. But when it comes to the ones you unlock by completing levels, you’ll typically need to reach a new milestone level in order to get an auto-upgrade. Just to give you an idea of how long this could take, let’s look at the example of the default Bouncy skin — you’ll need to complete level 45 so that your default skin gets upgraded automatically, which means completing a whopping 135 different achievements! Still, there’s no rush in doing this, and you can still play the game at your own pace in order to get there.