Bubble Bobble
Manufacturer: Taito
Year: 1986

Other versions
Bubble Bobble (with mode select) 1986
Bobble Bobble (bootleg) 1986
Super Bobble Bobble (bootleg) 1986

3rd round

An initial decision is made between either one or two-player mode. Choose the single player option however, and a second player can still join in at any time during the action. When the start button is pressed, the small dragons appear at the bottom left and right. Shortly after, the hostile cave-dwellers emerge and rush around the network of platforms. These are deadly to touch, and should be avoided at all costs. The only means of defense are the bubbles which a dragon spits when the fire button is pressed. A bubble travels forward a short distance before floating upward, and any creature caught in its horizontal path becomes trapped, and is helpless about its predicament.

Now the fun begins - if the dragon jumps up and pops the bubble with his tough head, the creature within bounces around the screen, stunned, and turns into a banana which is collected for an extra score. Bubbles always mass at the top of the screen, and a cluster of bubbled enemies can be bust at the same time, resulting in different fruits worth bigger points. Greed is a terrible thing though, and if a dragon waits too long for bubbles to mass, the creatures can escape. Their constant struggling weakens the bubble wall and they break through after 15 seconds or so. An escapee is a horrible sight, all red and angry, and rushing around the screen in a complete strop, looking for the dragons responsible for his imprisonment. Another hazard which appears if a screen is not cleared quickly enough is the dreaded Baron von Blubba. This indestructible horror emerges to track down the heroic dragons, eventually giving his fatal touch if all the other creatures aren't destroyed quickly enough.

extend screen
a new battle...

Throughout a level, bubbles float up from the bottom of the screen.
Some of these are water-filled and cause a mini-flood when burst. This then pours down the screen, sweeping away any creature that stands in its path. Other bubbles contain letters, with an extra life awarded if the word is formed. On some screens, bubbles containing lightning can also be burst to send deadly bolts of electricity whizzing across the screen.

Goodies appear randomly, either giving extra points, or endowing the dragons with special powers such us for example:

yellow candy: rapid-fire bubbles
blue candy: fast-moving bubbles
purple candy: far-moving bubbles
red shoe: fast running

Sometimes an object sets off a reaction - such as filling the screen with water, killing all dwellers within, causing a huge explosion or sending huge bolts of lightning from above. On very rare occasions, collecting an item makes all the hostiles disappear and the screen becomes filled with objects - which are collected within a 20 second time limit for a 100,000 points bonus.

beginning of 10th round
records screen

As the dragons progress through the levels, all manner of creatures are encountered. Early levels are inhabited by square-headed morons, whereas later screens contain boulder-lobbing ghosts, flying fish, helicopter hippos, springing things, gremlins and missile-dropping Space Invaders. When the 100th screen is reached, the extremely large chief cave-dweller appears and is bubbled many, many times before dropping the final curtain and joining the choir invisible.
Finally, there's a secret screen which is revealed when a special fruit-collecting sequence is completed. Can you find it?

Note: review has been taken from Zzap!64, with several
corrections and addictions made by us, because the
Commodore 64 conversion reproduced faithfully the
Arcade version.


click me to read the
instructions manual

flyer

 

The Bonze's comment
StephhThe first thing to notice is that this game has been bootlegged, and this proves that this game was a great success in arcade places and that many people wanted to play it: there were 4 machines in an arcade place (4 bootlegs, but I've known this after), they were all occupied, and there were also lots of people who watched "experienced" players to learn some tricks.
It's easy to manage the techniques (even the "advanced skills"), so you won't have to use dozens of credits to really have fun. Everybody knows that you need to complete 100 levels to end the game on "Super" mode on a 2-players game, but it's not the only challenge! Here are some for a one player game (no particular order):
- end the game with one life without using the doors nor the umbrellas
- get "distribution" at the end of each level
- "lock" the score to 9.999.990 points with a single life
- find all "special" initials ("SEX" being the most famous one).
As you can see, you are FAR from knowing everything about this game (except if you are reading the various FAQ/guides), and if you are lucky enough to find a REAL arcade machine with this game, it is worth inserting one (and probably many!) coin(s) in it! It is interesting to notice that the repetitive music of the game has produced many "dance/techno" remixes...

Ratings

PRESENTATION: 81%

GRAPHICS: 80%

SOUND: 82%

ORIGINALITY: 96%

HOOKABILITY: 95%

LASTABILITY: 93%


OVERALL: 92%

Zaxxon1Presentation is quite complete, in fact more than the usual indications like the best player table, title screen, demo and playing instructions, we can see a screen indicating the reached round of the game we've just finished and the top round of the day. Graphically it's not brilliant, but as often happens for Taito games, doesn't prejudice the game quality. Cute characters and simple backgrounds. Great animation. Tune is the same throughout the whole game, sufficient sound effects and a little more... Original story: a dragon has to go through 100 caves filled of monsters to reach its girlfriend, shooting bubbles. You'll be "trapped" in the game: it'll be impossible to leave it! It's one of the best platform games issued by Taito, maybe even the best one!

LilianaCute title screen, demo is short but with clear instructions. Those two dragons are irresistible, game is original, funny but, to say the truth, I never played it for too long... probably because after a while it gets boring or because in some parts it gets too difficult. Great and jolly tune, the chance to play a co-operative mode is interesting, really funny: try it!

Roy JonesWho doesn't know this game lift his hand so I'm going to break it!!!! Progenitor of a long arcade series, draws crows since 16 years in all world's arcades, no doubt it's one of the best game ever manufactured by Taito... but let's carry on with my ratings: presentation is maybe the only fault for this fantastic game... as for other platform a short demo will explain you how to play. Graphics are certainly good but not superb... but those small dragons are too cute! Tune is absolutely one of the nicest and most famous one of the whole video game story... it won't easily gets out of your head.
Probably this kind of platform was, and it still is very common... but find another one where you catch enemies into bubbles and, by popping them, they will bounce around the screen ... and if you don't do it they get angry and they are even going to catch you!
Once played you won't get rid of it, you'd like to play it again and again!
Game lenght (100 schemes) help its addicting... Did anyone finished it with only one coin? I've been trying for 15 years..
To sum up: if you haven't played it yet (and I haven't broken your hand yet) I suggest you to play it right now!

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