Zuma (media)

Zuma, created by Oberon Media and released by PopCap Games, and Chace! Interactive, is a tile-matching puzzle video game. The main goal of Zuma is to accurately shoot the balls as they roll along a designated path and prevent them from reaching the skull.
A follow-up installment, Zuma's Revenge!, was released on September 15, 2009, for both Windows and Mac operating systems. Zuma Blitz made its debut on Facebook on December 14, 2010, and was characterized by PopCap as "the social version" that offers players "the initial competitive and collaborative version of Zuma in the game's past". A third continuation titled Zuma Elements has been verified and is presently in the process of being developed.
== Zuma ==
An upgraded edition, known as Zuma Deluxe, became available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, in addition to being offered as a download on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3. It is also bundled with the retail version of Bejeweled 3 for the PlayStation 3, along with Feeding Frenzy 2.
The objective of Zuma is to eliminate all of the balls rolling around the screen along a given path (the path is clearly visible in all of the levels except for the last level) with other balls before these balls reach the yellow skull structure, which will open to varying degrees as a warning of oncoming balls. The player can carry two balls at a time and can switch at any time. As soon as one ball reaches the skull, the others follow, the stone frog idol spins around quickly and disappears and the player loses a life. To prevent the balls from reaching the skull, the player can eliminate the balls by firing a colored ball from the stone frog idol's mouth towards the chain of balls that will continue to push forward until the player fills the yellow bar, which is when the balls will stop producing off-screen. When three or more of the same color come in contact, they explode, possibly triggering other explosions as part of a chain reaction. The level is completed when after the bar is filled, the player eliminates all of the balls on the screen.
There are bonuses for collecting coins (usually through gaps), for causing explosions through gaps of other balls, and chains for having a streak of always causing an explosion with each consecutive ball (coins and chain bonuses are a quick way to fill the bar). Time bonuses are also awarded if a player completes the level within ace time – ranging from thirty seconds to four minutes depending on the level.
Four different types of power-ups show up in the balls, which can be activated by exploding the ball with the power-up. The backwards ball pushes the furthest-out chain (depending on if all of the balls are connected) backwards for a short length of time. The slow-down ball slows the speed of the chain of balls for a short length of time. The accuracy ball allows quicker shots and points an arrow at where the ball will be shot (this stays active for about the same amount of time as the slow-down ball; however, the size of the balls must be considered). The explosion ball explodes all of the balls within a small radius of the ball at the spot and time of its explosion. If not exploded quickly, power-up balls will return to their regular state after some time.
Each regular adventure begins with three lives (represented by frogs in the upper-left hand corner of the screen), with extra lives awarded for every 50,000 points. Shooting a coin with a ball, making multiple groups of balls explode with a single shot, earning chain bonuses, shooting through gaps in the balls, or finishing a level within a certain period of time (called ace time) all give extra points.
The levels are organized into temples, and the initial temple consists of three "stages" of five levels each (the fifth level in each stage is unique in having two tracks of balls instead of the usual one). No level in the first stage contains tunnels, and the first level of each stage has no tunnels.
Stages 1 to 3 have four colors of balls: red, blue, green, and yellow, Stages 4 to 6 have five colors of balls, adding purple, and from Stage 7 on, white is added in the variety, making a total of six colors of balls. Levels are eventually added to stages: The second temple, which contains Stages 4 to 6, has six levels, while the third temple, which contains Stages 7 to 9, has seven levels. The fourth and final temple (which is hidden until a player unlocks Stage 10 for the first time) contains Stages 10 to 12, which also consists of seven levels each. Stages ten to twelve are practically the same as the preceding three stages, but the levels are considerably longer, with a total of 5,000 points required to completely fill the Zuma bar in each level. Also, the balls come out further at the start of the level, and the chain of balls moves along slightly faster.
If the player loses all of their lives, the game ends, and they must start again at the beginning of the last stage they made into. However, if the player manages to complete all 12 stages, they are taken to the 13th and final stage, where it has only one level called "Space". This level is a lot longer than all previous levels, has less color-grouping among the balls, and has no visible path for the balls to follow. This particular level cannot be accessed without first completing Stage 12, because there is no associated temple for Stage 13. Upon beating this level, the player wins the game. All the remaining lives at the end of a game are each worth 50,000 additional points to add on to the final score.
Zuma also offers the gauntlet mode, where a player can choose to play in a level, they have already reached in adventure mode, and either practice to beat the level, or play in survival mode, where the difficulty in colors and speed of balls will gradually increase. The level classifications of the gauntlet mode, in order, are Rabbit, Eagle, Jaguar, and Sun God. A player is required to fill seven stages in practice mode or seven yellow bars in survival mode before advancing to the next level. Upon reaching Sun God, in which the balls move in constant speed even when nearing the skull, a player can continue endlessly, since the level classification has no limit in both stages and bars.
=== Sequels ===
==== Zuma's Revenge ====
Compared to its predecessor, Zuma's Revenge! features high-definition graphics, new levels and 'power-ups,' several new features, as well as boss battles. A Nintendo DS version was introduced in February 2011 which features daily challenges, versus mode and achievements. The physical copy for the Xbox 360 includes two bonus titles: Bejeweled 3 and Feeding Frenzy 2.
Upon release, the game received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many citing the boss battles and gags as the game's highlights. However, the game did receive minor criticism for its similarity to the previous game.
As in Zuma, the main objective of Zuma's Revenge! is to clear strings of rolling balls, or 'stones', by matching balls of the same color. Players move a ball-shooting frog which always points in the direction of the mouse to aim and fire balls at these strings. When three or more balls of the same color match together, they are cleared from the playfield. This clearing creates gaps through which a player may shoot more balls at nearby strings, target bonus fruit, and 'power-up' stones. Gaps automatically close if the balls at either end of the gap are (or become) the same color, potentially creating chain reaction matching and clearing as new sets of three or more are formed.
The strings of balls constantly roll along their tracks toward a skull emblem at the end. Should they reach the emblem, the player gets eaten by the skull emblem and loses a life, and the game ends when the player runs out of lives. However, unlike in the original Zuma in which regardless of stage, they are allowed to play stage one of the temple again, when the player gets a game over, they will start again at the checkpoint (stage one of an area if the player loses before the mid-level and stage six if the same situation happens in stages six to ten). The strings are always "pushed" by the last ball in the string, so any balls not connected to the rearmost string do not move on their own.
Periodically, random balls display power-ups which the player may collect by destroying the ball. These include a visual guide to show where a ball will land when shot, power-ups that slow down or reverse the direction of the string, a three-way cannon that blasts through all layers of balls, a laser that can destroy single balls, a bomb, and a lightning power-up which destroys all balls of a specific color.
Zuma's Revenge! introduces three types of levels that are new to the series. Some levels feature two lily pads that the frog can jump between, while other levels set the frog on a horizontal or vertical track and enable it to slide side-to-side or up-and-down rather than rotate to aim. There are also boss levels where the player has to shoot balls toward the enemies to reduce their hit points while simultaneously preventing the ball string(s) from reaching the skull emblem. The enemies in turn shoot projectiles that will induce a certain gimmick if they hit the player. These levels have an unlimited number of lives, so if any single ball reaches the emblem, the player will simply restart the level, since there is no game over in boss levels.
The game features four game modes. In Adventure mode, the player progresses through a Polynesian-style island ruled by the angry god Zhaka Mu. There are six island areas that consist of ten levels each. At the end of each island area, the player encounters a tiki god and must face the god in a boss battle. As the player progresses in the Adventure mode, Iron Frog and Challenge modes are unlocked. (Boss Rush is unlocked as well in versions that have this feature) In Iron Frog, the player has to progress through ten completely new, difficult levels with only one life. In Boss Rush, the player fights all eight bosses from the Adventure mode consecutively and tries to get the fastest time.
In each mode except Boss Rush mode, the player must reach a general point goal to achieve "Zuma", at which point the level stops adding balls to the string(s) and the string(s) temporarily move(s) backwards. The player must then clear all of the remaining balls from the playfield to move on to the next level.
==== Zuma Blitz ====
Zuma Blitz was a game featured and only on Facebook. It has the character, Zuma the Frog who is the main protagonist. This game also has a shop by using "Idols". This game also has a list of High Scores with the player and his/her friends score. This also has a level up feature.
==== Zuma Elements ====
Zuma Elements is a sequel to Zuma Blitz, that features new levels, bosses, power-ups, balls, and frogs, and features shaders such as glowing, shadow, and other, unlike the previous games. The game has Story Adventure mode where players can play levels of previous games. there is a new bonus power up for each ball, which helps fill the gauge and clear the path.
== Other media ==
=== Peggle Nights ===
=== Chace! Horizons ===
== Trivia ==
* Zuma received the 2004 "Game of the Year" award from RealArcade.
* The original game has been ported to numerous flagship consoles of its time, and was even later made available for PS2, PSP, and Palm OS.
* While Zuma Blitz wasn't this at first, being very well received, it ended up becoming this after the Kroakatoa Island update, and led to the point where the entire game officially shut down on March 31, 2017.
* Zuma is the first game that:
* Zuma is the only game that:
* Zuma alongside Peggle, Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Five Nights at Freddy's, Talking Friends, Angry Birds, Among Us, Pac-Man, Tetris, Geometry Dash, and Clumsy Ninja are one of the mini-major game franchises of Chace! Inc.
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