Who remembers this classic game? I hear it was an arcade game before it ever came to consoles, but I never played it then. Time for the game flashback!
So I was around... I don't know, seven or eight when I got my NES. That's the Nintendo Entertainment System for those that follow such things but are unsavvy with abreviations. For those even more unfamiliar with old games, the NES was that old grey brick of a system that usually required you to blow on the games and then pound the top of the system until they worked. It's the original Nintendo.
For those of you STILL out of the loop, here's a picture of an NES.
And this is the game cartridges, Bubble Bobble style:
I got the game Bubble Bobble for the system way back when (as well as Battle Chess and Gauntlet 4) and played it relentlessly with friends in the neighborhood. Regardless of how hard we played, though, we could never beat it. Flash forwards a good nine years and you have me at my uncle's house, checking out his PS2 collection. I saw a classic video game anthology which included, to my surprise, Bubble Bobble! Since I had never beaten it, I went ahead and did just that. And got the bad ending. Then my uncle and I played another hour and a half together, beat it, got the good ending, and rejoiced. Good times.
Bubble Bobble is indeed a classic game. For those powerhousers of you, this game doesn't have fantastic graphics. The music isn't a big deal, there's no special moves, and the gameplay is simple. However, that's simply what makes it great.
Graphics are the old style. You know, those squares that move around on screen? Gigantic pixels? You get the idea. But if you don't, here's a screenie for you.
They weren't bad graphics for the time. That's really all you could do with the systems back then. But you can plainly see Bub and Bob (those green and blue dinosaurs there), their bubbles, and their enemies. You can also see the arcade roots in the game.
So that's it for graphics. You got yourself a screenshot and you can see for yourself. (Can you tell I'm being lazy today?) Sound was just about the same. One song repeated ad nauseum for 99 levels, which could take up to an hour and a half or more. Yeah, it's like that. We're also talking those electronic-sounding 8-bit sounds. And because I'm going to continue to be lazy today, here is a link to a youtube video of a rather well done version of the song. Other than the music, the sound effects were good for the time. You had sounds for jumping, for bubbling, for popping bubbles, and a few other actions. Hey, we're talking over 10 years ago. This is good stuff.
Storyline? Not much. As far as I was able to tell, Bub and Bob were in love with two girls, the girls got stolen by some big bad dude, and Bub and Bob had to chase after them. Keep in mind, Dinosaur men, human ladies. I don't want to get into that. That's all the story we got.
Sounds pretty basic, eh? You're right, it was. The reason this game sticks in the mind of so many is due to the simplistic and addicting gameplay.
See, by pressing one of the buttons (B, I believe), you shot out a bubble at an enemy. If it connected, you'd have captured the enemy. Then they'll float around while you take out the rest. If you pop the bubble, or if you get all the enemies, the enemies turn into food which you can collect for points. You could also jump and move around the simple levels to access enemies, food, or other goodies.
Simple, no? There was some add-ons to vary things up. Random items would pop here and there on the levels, worth points if you collect them. There were 'water bubbles' which made water splash down the levels and carry away any enemy in its way, acting like a mass bubble. There were lightning bubbles, which shot out lightning towards the center of the screen when popped and would annihilate enemies. There was also the 'letters', which I can't for the life of me recall what they do.
The game wasn't THAT simple, though. There was an un-shown time limit in the game. Take too long to beat a level (past around level 10 or so), and some ghost whale thing (MOBY DICK!) would show up. The music would turn gloomy for a few seconds before speeding up rapidly. That's because the whale would chase you down and touch you to kill you. Ouch, eh? You get 3 lives in this game, and you have 99 levels. That's a bad thing.
Time limits and many enemies made up your opponents in this game. Not to mention you had 3 lives to go 99 levels. Oh, did I mention co-op? Yes, you had that too. 98 levels of repetative music and bubble-blowing action until level 99...
Where you fight one of the most annoying bosses in gaming existance.
But that's for you to find out. A word of advice, my friend. Find yourself a copy, however you do so, and play with a friend. That's the only true way to get the 'good' ending.
"So Nai, what's the draw of this game?" you might ask. Yes, the music is repetative, the graphics are so three generations ago, the gameplay is even simpler than Mario, and the game is long. But that's just the beauty of it. That's a game that's lasted the ages.
If you don't believe me, you can go do a google search for yourself. There are whole websites dedicated to the game. Bub and Bob got a sequel (that I never got to play). You'll also recognize the two of them from the Bust-A-Move games. That's right, those are the same dinos. They've also got some 3rd party 3D version, several sequals on various systems with various graphical capabilities, more remakes online than I can count, PLUS a Nintedo DS version. Can you beat that?
That's some real dedication to a title. Replayability helps.
Final score? Let's give the two a round of applause; Bub and Bob get 8/10 on my chart. If it was a more recent game, with the graphics I've already graded on in games like Gears of War, and sound from Twilight Princess, it could have gotten full marks or more.
So ends my "Lazy Nai" Game of the Week.
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Posted Feb 18, 2007-
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Posted Feb 18, 2007-
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Posted Feb 17, 2007-BD