Its characteristically cute Japanese animation and music, along with its play mechanics and level designs, made it successful as an arcade title and spawned several sequels and ports to home gaming systems.

Then, six months later in December, the international Neo Geo version of Puzzle Bobble was released.

[8] It went on to become Japan's second highest-grossing arcade printed circuit board (PCB) software of 1995, below Virtua Fighter 2.

[9] In North America, RePlay reported the Neo Geo version of Puzzle Bobble to be the fourth most-popular arcade game in February 1995.

[4] GamePro gave it a generally negative review, saying it starts out fun but that ultimately lacks intricacy and longevity.

[5] A reviewer for Next Generation, while questioning the continued viability of the action puzzle genre, admitted that the game is "very simple and very addictive".

He remarked that though the 3DO version makes no significant additions, none are called for by a game with such simple enjoyment.

[6] GamePro's brief review of the 3DO version commented that the game's controls are responsive, and they also praised visuals and music.