Surprising new level-architectures (which can also turn a huge heart or a Space Invaders reference into a playing field), tempting collectibles from bananas to tartlets to diamonds, a dozen imaginative opponents as well as special bubbles, which release fire, lightning or a flood of water when bursting, already provide a lot of variety and motivation. Besides, the bubbles floating upwards can also be used as an aid to traverse the screen-sized levels: They can't carry the weight of the dinosaurs, but by jumping on them the player can reach higher areas. And so he invents the eponymous mechanics: The cute heroes spit bubbles, which wrap the opponents and let them float - a targeted jump, and the bubbles burst, whereby the knocked out victims swirl across the screen and turn into bonus objects, which are swiftly collected for points. Fukio Mitsuji, who designs the game for the Japanese arcade pros and Space Invaders makers Taito, wants to come up with brand new, equally thrilling and cheerful gameplay. What at first looks like an imaginative, yet quite typical jump'n'run game of the arcade era, soon proves to be a unique, clever and highly motivating skill test. To regain their human form - and their Baron-abducted girlfriends Patty and Betty - they must traverse a hundred enemy-riddled caves and hunt down a grim, brandy-bottle-throwing end boss.
The heroes are Bub and Bob, two incredibly cute mini dinosaurs who are actually the two boys Bubblun and Bobblun, enchanted by the evil beluga whale Baron of Blubba. The result: The machine and its countless conversions and sequels become legendary, its heroes immortal. In 1986 Bubble Bobble achieves all this - and a few more things that have been unusual for the arcade to date. The sound must burn itself into the ear and the hero into the heart of the player. In order for this to happen and for an arcade game to become popular and successful, it must meet certain requirements: The controls must be intuitive, the game mechanics self-explanatory, and the course of the game motivating. Or rather - this is a recognized video game standard - they come to three lives, which are usually lost too fast, so coin after coin ends up in the machine.
That game will be covered at a later date.The gaming heroes of the 1980s are born in the arcade - they are the protagonists of videogame machines that come to life on flickering TV tubes through the insertion of a coin. There was actually supposed to be a fourth game today, but I had to attend a family event last Saturday and it threw me off. For now, we just have to wait and see what Square Enix will do with the franchise.Īnd that about wraps it up for NES MAY.
Today, we really haven’t seen much from the series outside of Bust-A-Move. Before being acquired by Square Enix, Bubble Bobble became synonymous with Taito, sometimes having Bub and/Bob somewhere on the logo (of the SNK logo for the Neo-Geo-Pocket). For get “princesses in another castle”, this is worse than that.īubble Bobble became a hit for Taito and spawned quite a few sequels, some of which referenced other Taito properties like Rainbow Island (the first sequel), Space Invaders, etc. Bad End? You went through all that trouble just for this? This was one of the first games to have multiple endings, and damn did it make a surprise appearance. Here you are playing videogames like a normal kid and Bubble Bobble is about to join the ranks of games you’ve already beaten. This is, hands down, the most frightening and infuriating songs I’ve ever heard.
Bubble Bobble – Bad End Composed by Tadashi Kimijima And then BAM, he’s moving, and spitting copious amounts of intoxication your way! With the speed of the song and the speed of your character when you take a spark bubble vial, it’s a perfect fit. And right in the middle you see the Super Drunk, frozen there. You enter the boss room and immediately hear this. What better way to instill tension in the player than to make a near-cover of Flight Of The Bumblebee. Bubble Bobble – Final Boss Composed by Tadashi Kimijima And you’ll do it in either glorious glee, or infuriating insanity. It does get quite annoying hearing this song for a long period of time, but you’ll find yourself humming the song at some point. No seriously, this is pretty much the only song you’ll hear from Round 1 to Round B2. Bubble Bobble – Main Theme Composed by Tadashi Kimijima Maybe it’s because I’ve never played them/never heard of ’em then/only played Bust-A-Move. Oddly enough I’ve never really heard this game’s music remixed into its sequels and spinoffs. This music here also stands out for being a bit more cutesy than most of the other games on the NES. The soundtrack of Bubble Bobble is a short one, but damn are there some songs that have become memorable.