Bubble Bobble
Platform: Commodore 64
Region: pal
Controller: joy
Genre: Platformer
Gametype: Undefined
Release Year: 1987
Developer: Firebird
Publisher: Firebird
Players: 2
Programmer: Stephen Ruddy
Musician: Peter Clarke
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Bub and Bob, the two small brontosaurus from next door are really angry. Indeed a meanie has kidnapped their two girlfriends and hides them in an underwater cave. The two now need to slap through exactly 100 of such caves until they have wrested their brontosaurus females from the hands of the evil Baron of Bubbla. In each of the 100 caves different monsters are about. When touching a monster the two lose one of their lives. Fortunately, the brontosaurus have the peculiarity to be able to make horribly big bubbles unter water. If they make it to close such a bubble around a monster and let the bubble burst, gthe monster is knocked out. It then turns into a bonus item, which you should collect as fast as possible to get points. Every now and then also other items appear, extra symbols which are followed by strange effects when collected. Then a saurus at once can walk much faster or make bubbles faster. Ot the whole cave turns to bonus items or the saurus are placed into another cave. or there are just bonus points. After a certain playing time, the chief monster "Baron of Blubba" appears, if not all monster have been caught. You should not take too much time to clean the level. 

A 2D-screen per level (every level one screen, no scrolling), cute, fluently animated sprites, corresponding background music and FX. The conversion for the C64 including the level design and the colouring corresponds - except for a few odds and ends - to the arcade classic with the same name. 

Controls 

Joystick left/right: move left or right 
Joystick upwards: jump 
Joystick upwards+right: jump to the right 
Joystick upwards+left: jump to the left 
Fire button: spit bubbles 

Tips 

During the game you can change from 1- to 2 player mode by pressing the space key. 

If in the 2 player mode the display shows "Game Over" for one player, he will get new lives by pressing the fire button, as long as there are still credits left. However his points are set to zero. 

If for both players at the same time "Game Over" lights up in the display, The game might end although there are still credits left! 


If collected E,X,T,E,N,D, you skip the level and get an extra live. 

Extra lives reaching 30.000 - 100.000 - 400.000 - 1.000.000 and 2.000.000 points. 

When both players take a power up the same time, both get its powers. 

If a player as taken a bottle and both player collect the same number of bonus items, both players will get the highest number of points. 


By collecting the umbrella you can skip 3 or even 7 levels. 

If the clock is collected the time until the meanie Baron of Blubba appears is extended. 

The nut releases a snake , which takes everything away on its way. 

The cross has different effects depending on its colour. Yellow cross: Bub or Bob shoot fire balls with big impact. Blue cross: The monsters turn to jewels. Per jewel collected you get 10.000 points. Flashing cross: The monsters get destroyed. Three great flashes are fired which you should collect. 

Huge bonus symbols count 10-fold. 


Some levels require to jump higher than normal.In multiplayer mode, one player has to spit bubbles while the other player jumps on them (jump on the bubble and then direclty on the higher spot or else the bubble will burst). This is more difficult in singeplayer mode. 

If no life has been lost until level 20, 30 or 40, instead of the extras a door appears. If you touch it, you get into a bonus level filled with diamonds, where you can collect 432.000 points and then get to level 21, 31, and 41. 


If still no life has been lost until level 50, the last door will appear which teleports you to level 70(!). 

On the 100th stage you first have to get the pots with the flashes and then throw the flashes from the bubbles towards the enemies. 

If you have made the 100th stage, you get about 1.000.000 points. 

To challenge other enemies who shoot fire balls, press the following keys when the title screen appears: [S] [U] [P] [O] [R] [commodore key].If the side of the screen turns red for a short period of time, start the game. 

Alternate Titles

"泡泡龍" -- Chinese spelling (traditional)
"Final Bubble Bobble" -- Japanese SEGA Master System title
"Dragon Maze" -- Brazilian SEGA Master System title

Trivia

Sometime in the early 2000s, Stephen Ruddy (author of the C64 conversion) attempted to port the game to mobile phones using Java. All 100 levels were copied across, including most of the movement patterns, but the game was never completed. 

Bubble Bobble was voted #7 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll in Retro Gamer Magazine (Issue 37).

If you finished level 99 by killing the enemies you got the bad ending. You had to get the secret key which opened up another 120 or so levels!

Bub & Bob were mutated humans who returned in human form in the sequels (Rainbow Islands & Parasol Stars)

Though there have been many games based on the Bubble Bobble characters, a game called "Chackn Pop" (1984) featured several of the characters and powerups later seen in Bubble Bobble. The main character from that game, Chackn, appears as one of the level designs in Bubble Bobble and also makes cameos in most of the sequels and derivative games.

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Description from the packaging  (US) :

These are two hungry dino-mights and they've got bubble fight'n fun down tight...You and your two brontosaurus buddies, Bub and Bob, are up to your brows in bubble trouble. You've got to battle battalions of bullies by blowing and bursting billions of bubbles. It's a fast-paced bubble banquet through 100 screens of slap-happy suds. Got an appetite for fun... then get blowin'.

Get ready for the original mind blowin' Bubble Bobble boogie. The home version of this laugh-packed arcade screamer is here! Bubble Bobble has been the number one game in Europe for over three months in a row. 100 screens of addictive action are ready and waiting to drive you crazy. Bub and 
Bob need your help if they're ever to survive the attack of evil beasties. If you hurry, it might not be too late.

Bubble Bobble features arcade quality graphics, one or two player action and 100 screens.


http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Bubble_Bobble
http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/bubble-bobble
