Developer: Taito Publisher: Taito Released: 1988 Genre: Action
I miss the single screen platformer. When games like Pitfall and Super Mario Bros. hit the market this once bedrock of the arcade industry began to disappear. I freely admit I looked down on the genre for the longest time as I thought they were too simple compared to Super Mario Brothers. But games like Snow Bros. changed my mind. Taito’s Bubble Bobble shows that the genre still had life in it thanks to creative level design and solid mechanics. The years have been kind to this one as it is just as engaging today as it was back in the late 80s.
Bubble Bobble was ported to nearly every format available at the time. While various publishers handled the other versions Taito developed the NES version themselves. Compared to the arcade certain concessions were made technically however there are a number of improvements as well. There are an additional twelve levels bringing the total count to 112. Most importantly there are passwords for every stage so you do not have to complete this in one sitting. Unfortunately they have added unnecessary tedium in accessing floors past 99 and getting the true ending; you can read about that here.
Bub and Bob use bubbles as their primary means of attack. Bubbles can trap enemies at which you can either run into them or head butt them to kill them. You have no limit to the amount of bubbles you can blow but only eight can be on screen simultaneously. Aside from encasing enemies you can bounce on bubbles can to use them as stepping stones. This technique is critical later in the game as the game ramps up its inventiveness in its level design.
Although bubbles are your main weapons there are a ton of special items in Bubble Bobble. The most prominent are the elemental bubbles: water, lightning, and fire. Water creates a stream of water that flows through the level, catching enemies in its wake for an instant kill. You can also ride the stream to become an invincible whirling dervish. Fire drops a flame that lights up the area it hits. Any enemies that step in it die instantly. While you can walk in the fire it slows your movement. Lightning is the most complex to use. Bursting a lightning sends a bolt in the opposite direction. This one is the most frequent for a reason that I won’t spoil. Needless to say, the practice is necessary. The various colored books allow you to carry these powers across multiple levels although these are rare.
Next to these are other flavors of food. Different flavors of bubble gum change the properties of the bubbles. Shoes make you run faster which unfortunately is a detriment. The necklace will spawn a random letter that spells E-X-T-E-N-D which grants an extra life once spelled out. The best item in the game is the umbrella. This lets you skip five levels. Obviously it is rare but essential as this is a long game. If you can believe it even though there are plenty of power-ups there were still more from the arcade that were cut. But what is present is still more than adequate to keep the game fresh.
At over one hundred levels the game could very easily have become incredibly tedious. Taito have avoided this by varying the levels consistently. The first ten or so floors serve as a perfect introduction. They are not too complex and introduce nearly all of the game’s enemies and their quirks. After that it starts to get creative. The game will then start to introduce elements like heavy gravity or place enemies in areas that are hard to reach. You will have to engage with the game’s mechanics in different ways while trying to beat the invisible clock which varies from level to level. Once Baron von Blubba spawns it becomes a mad dash to eliminate all enemies before he gets you.
Even though each level is a single screen the level design is all around fantastic. Sometimes adding a single platform to a level completely changes its dynamic. Round 57 places all of its enemies at the top of the screen. You can build a tower of bubbles to reach them but invaders drop missiles that will pop them. Round 43 places its enemies in areas that almost guarantee certain death if you approach. Instead you must use the thunder bubbles to defeat them. Unfortunately these appear in an open pit with no platforms. It comes down to timing and unfortunately the timer is short on this one. That the game manages to keep this level of creativity for almost its entire run is amazing. The difficulty does become pretty high midway through but thanks to the passwords is manageable. The balancing on this game is second to none.
In Closing
Bubble Bobble is a great game that has held up just fine. Aside from requiring two-players to see its conclusion I have few complaints. Fun mechanics together with great level design make this one a great addition to any NES library.
