Bubble Ghost
Platform: Commodore 64
Region: pal
Controller: joy
Genre: Puzzle, Platformer
Gametype: Undefined
Release Year: 1988
Developer: Accolade
Publisher: Accolade
Players: 1
Programmer: The Programming Partnership
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Bubble Ghost is a 2D arcade game. The player controls the ghost using the computer mouse and makes him blow at a bubble. The objective is to guide a bubble throughout a number of halls in a haunted house. If the bubble hits any walls or obstacles, then it will pop and the player loses a life. Obstacles include lit candles, electricity and fans. These can be all controlled by the ghost, who can wander around the level freely and blow at things - such as the bubble to add speed, the candle to put out the flame, or switches to turn them on or off.

The ghost is controlled using the mouse: moving the mouse moves the ghost. A press on the left button of the mouse makes the ghost rotate to the left. A press on the right button of the mouse makes the ghost rotate to the right. A press on a keyboard key (Shift) makes the ghost blow.

The game is made of 35 halls (levels). Each time the player makes the bubble exit a hall, he wins 1000 points + left bonus. Action on animation may add 5000 points to the player. The bonus is re-initialized at every new hall. A new bubble is added to the player account each time the bubble exits towards the top of the hall.

Releases

The original Bubble Ghost was created by Christophe Andreani (design, programming) on an Atari ST computer. The game has been adapted for other computers throughout the world.

Some years later, ERE Informatique was bought by Infogrames. Infogrames published a new version of Bubble Ghost with updated graphics, Bubble + (Bubble Plus).

A Nintendo Game Boy version was published in 1990. It was the first French game adapted for the Game Boy.

The original concept of Bubble Ghost was reused and modified in 2008 in the game Soul Bubbles for the Nintendo DS.

Miscellaneous

Some graphic parts of the Bubble Ghost halls have a specific meaning:

Hall #4: An advertisement for the French telematics server Pinky by Godefroy Troude, and a wink to the video game Mercenary by Paul Woakes published by Novagen.

Hall#5: The face of the author slightly modified.

Hall#11: The face of the author appears with glasses (if the ghost is blowing in the ear, glasses disappear) and a wink at the video game The Pawn published by Rainbird.

Hall#15: Another wink to the video game Mercenary by Paul Woakes published by Novagen.

Hall#28: Two more winks to the video game The Pawn published by Rainbird.

The original Bubble Ghost was published in 1987 for ST and Amiga, then remade three years later (1990) for both systems. The remakes contain updated sounds and graphics, but no new gameplay elements. -------------------- Infogrames is the distributor of the first bubble ghost by ere informatique, so, with this remake developped and distributed only by infogrames, ere informatique, the original developper of the concept received no money.

The PC version, unlike the Atari / Amiga / Amstrad versions featured a two players mode.

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Description from the packaging :

Bubble Ghost: Supernatural arcade-action that'll blow you away!
Please don't shake this box. You'll wake the dead.
Within the confines of this cardboard crypt rests the Bubble Ghost- a phantom destined to travel the halls of an eerie castle, forever blowing bubbles. And the only way his wandering soul can be put to rest is if you can help him blow his fragile little bubble through 35 trap-laden rooms or the macabre mansion, without it popping!

But who is this "puffergeist?"
Legend has it that the Bubble Ghost is the long-winded spirit of Henrich Von Schtinker- a mad inventor who met his end while testing his now infamous "electric bubble pipe" in the bathtub.
Obviously, his death came as quit a shock!
But a bigger jolt was yet to come. For on the night following Von Schtinker's demise, a nightwatchman reported seeing a mischievous little spook floating amidst the catacombs of the inventor's derelict old castle "…blowing a shimmering bubble in front of him!"

And he needs your human hand to complete his "breathtaking" journey.
It won't be easy. Around every corner, in every creepy room, lurk fiendish "techno-traps" just waiting to burst your bubble. Spikes, knives, pins, needles, scissors, shears- plus a host of other gadgets, gizmos and ghouls- are situated in the most inconvenient places.
You'll not only need dexterity to gently negotiate the bubble past all of these prickly situations, but ingenuity too. For many rooms in this multi-level madness hold secrets that keep you from "blowing it", eh, so to speak.

Accolade's Bubble Ghost. See how a single bubble can raise one's spirits!
In Bubble Ghost you must help a mischievous little spook blow a delicate bubble through a castle filled with diabolical devices and demons.
The Bubble Ghost can blow himself red in the face trying to puff his bubble down tricky hallways.
Is our ghostie taking trumpet lessons? Remember, many of the 35 rooms contain secret passageways and "mysteries" that might help you save your breath.
Should the Bubble Ghost "blow it" and burst the bubble on an object, he'll give his human accomplice a shake of his ghostly fist.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Ghost
