Bubble Bobble
Year Of Release: 1986
Studio: Taito
Description
Taito were one of the prominent video game developers of the 1980’s and one of their biggest hits was the game Bubble Bobble which they released in 1986. Bubble Bobble was a huge hit. It just oozed charm, had a great art style and some very catchy music as well. Bubble Bobble is a game that is really part platform, part action and part puzzle game in its design which was a little unusual by 1986 standards.
The idea of the game is that we have two little dragons. One is called Bub and the other is called Bob. The story of the game is that Bub and Bob’s girlfriends have been kidnapped by a bad guy called, Baron Von Blubba and he has turned Bub And Bob into dragons as well. In order to save their girlfriends, Bub And Bob must make their way through 100 Caves Of Monsters in order to save them. Now one very interesting thing about Bubble Bobble is that this was one of the earliest arcade games to offer the player different endings depending on how well they played the game. There is a bad, good and true ending for players to try and get. What is strange is that in order to get either the good or true ending you have to beat the game in two player mode.
Game play wise, Bubble Bobble is a game that is played all on one screen. There will be numerous platforms that you can run and jump on. Each level is full of different monsters that you need to kill in order to move onto the next screen. The way that you defeat the enemies is by blowing a bubble at them which entraps them. You are then required to pop the bubble in order to defeat them. Defeating enemies results in them dropping food for you to collect. This is how you build up your high score and different food will give you a different amount of points. The more enemies you trap and burst at the same time will get you more points. The game can be challenging and if you fail to pop a bubble the enemy can escape and become angry which results in them being faster and more aggressive. They can also become angry at other points during the level as well.
Current High Score: 9,999,990 by Lonnie Johnson
Related Titles
As with many of the hit arcade games of the 1980’s, Bubble Bobble would be ported to the majority of home consoles and home computers of the era. The game is a popular fixture in some of the various Tiato and other arcade game complications that have been released also.
Bubble Bobble would spawn a few sequels over the years. The most notable two have to be, Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars. Bubble Bobble Part 2 would be released for the NES and the Game Boy in 1993. Bubble Bobble Part 2 is now seen as one of the holy grails of the NES game library due to it being released late in the consoles life and not many copies being made. As a result the game boxed can cost us much as 300 big ones!
1994 would see the release of Bubble Bobble 2 or Bubble Symphony if you prefer, this was an arcade game that would also be ported to the Sega Saturn and some of the Taito compilations that have been released over the years.
In recent times, Bubble Bobble has gained popularity thanks to games such as Bubble Bobble Evolution and Revolution on the Playstation Portable and the Nintendo DS. These games aim to keep the spirt of the classic arcade game, but make it more cinematic.
