Long ago, the Earth was devastated by a fearsome creature; the scientist IMBU and his henchmen robbed the Earth of all its energy and trapped its peaceful inhabitants in sparkling gemstones. Miraculously, three heroes escaped: Bau, Bam and Bom. They became the Gem Smashers – with impressive leaps and quick spins, they skillfully smash the colorful crystals to free their friends.
The goal of game is to rescue all the creatures captured in gems. You smash the gems when your character is the same color as the gems, and you can change colors by hitting special bumpers. Watch out for Death Blocks, which kill your character. When all the creatures are rescued, the door will open, allowing you to complete the level. There are eight worlds in the game, each one having levels made up of several sections. Each world ends with a battle against a boss, whom you defeat by attacking their weak point when it is the same color as your character.
This game provides examples of:
- Attack Its Weak Point: Each end-of-world boss has a weak point, and in order to damage the boss, your character must hit the weak point when it is the same color as them.
- Be the Ball: Your character spins into a ball and bounces around the stage to smash the gems and rescue the creatures trapped inside them.
- Blob Monster: A slime monster serves as the boss of Deep Marsh.
- Chromatic Arrangement: Bau, Bam, and Bom are a red hermit crab, a yellow chick, and a blue hedgehog, respectively.
- Dem Bones: The boss of Bone Desert is a vulture skeleton.
- Dolled-Up Installment: In 2007, this game was used as the basis for M&M's Break' Em, an M&M's
Licensed Game by Destination Software Inc, released for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. In this game, you play as the M&M's characters and try to stop Mr. Runch, a rotten and dangerous peanut fiercely determined on being one of the M&Ms. While the gameplay, stages, and first seven bosses remain the same, the game has a new story, the M&M's take the place of Bau, Bam, and Bom, as well as the captured creatures, and Mr. Runch takes the place of IMBU. - Eggshell Clothing: The boss of Egg Island is a baby pterodactyl who wears an eggshell as a hat and overalls.
- Expy: Bom is a blue hedgehog who is also the game's fastest playable character. Sound familiar?
- Fragile Speedster: Bom is the game's fastest playable character, but also the weakest one.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: Rescuing all the creatures trapped in the gems will unlock the door, allowing you to complete the level.
- Green Hill Zone: Green Hill.
- Interface Screw: Touching the inverse blocks causes the controls to temporarily become inverted.
- Lethal Lava Land: North Rock takes place in a volcano.
- The Lost Woods: Goug Tree takes place in a dark forest.
- Mad Scientist: IMBU.
- Mighty Glacier: Bam is the strongest playable character, but also the slowest one.
- Poison Mushroom: While treasure chests can have gems in them that give your character points, they can also have poisonous potions in them that can kill your character.
- Prehistoria: Egg Island. The boss of the stage is a baby pterodactyl.
- Shifting Sand Land: Bone Desert takes place in a desert filled with skeletons.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Wreck, the eighth and final world in the game, is an artic climate where IMBU's spacecraft has crashed. Sure enough, IMBU serves as the game's Final Boss.
- Spiders Are Scary: A spider serves as the boss of Goug Tree.
- Stalked by the Bell: If you take too long to rescue the gems and/or find the exit, a Death Skull will fly onto the stage and chase your character. Touching it results in death.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Each boss performs an attack that can damage your character and conceal their weak point. They would be impossible to defeat if they simply performed this kind of attack all throughout the fight.
- Under the Sea: Poseidonia, the first world in the game, takes place underwater.
- Video-Game Lives: The GBA version has a limited amount of lives for your character, leading to a Game Over if all their lives are lost. The HD remake gets rid of the life system, allowing your character to respawn after they die infinitely.
