Bubble Bobble

Bubble Bobble is the story of two bubble blowing dinosaurs called Bub and Bob. The have to make a journey through the “Cave of monsters” to find their kidnapped girls and vanquish the evil monsters that stand between them and their chicks. It won’t be easy but with a little teamwork and lots of bubbles they might just save the day.

At first glance there doesn’t seem to be much to Bubble Bobble. You blow a bubble at an enemy who then becomes trapped inside it while floating around the level. Burst the bubble by jumping into it and you’ll receive a reward like a gem, snack or some power-up. Leave the trapped foe for too long and it will break loose, very pissed and twice as fast. Kill all the enemies and move on to the next level. Take too long to clear the stage and a nasty skull monster will show up to motivate you. It’s this simplicity which makes the game so much fun to play however. You just have to worry about jumping and attacking. Stages don’t scroll, there’s only one big boss to fight at the end and controlling the dino’s are a breeze. With 100 levels you wont’ be seeing the credits anytime soon though and make sure you’re playing with a friend or you won’t be able to continue once you lose all your lives. The game seems very eager to promote playing with a friend since you won’t even be able to see the “true” ending if you don’t defeat the last boss with a buddy.

Graphically Bubble Bobble isn’t much to look at with no backgrounds and colorful but simple stages. Enemy designs are really cool though and some of the stage layouts are very devious. Later stages will really test your skills (not to mention patience) as you can become trapped or have to make daring moves just to reach your enemies never mind kill them. Some power-ups like the ability to shoot fireballs or zapping enemies with electric bubbles help out but it’s still not going to be an easy trip through the game. You can break bubbles with letters inside spelling EXTEND in the process which will earn you an extra life but it’s the level warps which really help out. If you can find them that is. With only one tune looping over and over you’re not likely to forget the song anytime soon after playing the game.

Bubble Bobble is a nice family friendly game with a decent challenge and also much longer play time than your average arcade game so make sure you bring plenty of tokens and a friend if you plan on playing it.