Another major departure is collecting all letters doesn’t instantly end the level as in previous games. This is particularly critical for the powerful thunder gear, as it only offers a single use without an upgrade.
Bubble bobble bosses upgrade#
Most stages in each world have E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles that, when all are collected, upgrade the available uses of the gear collected at the end of the stage. This often means that fruit – and diamonds and crowns if you’re really good – need to be shared among all players so they’re charged and ready for the next stage. Losing a life doesn’t result in a loss of the gear, fortunately, but each can only be used a certain number of times before needing to be recharged with fruit point items. A few others are brand new the bomb gear fires a timed bubble that detonates in a large explosion, while the dash gear enables players to dash through enemies and hazards without being harmed. Most of the gear are copies of the old Bubble Bobble powerups – such as gear that extends the range of the players’ bubbles and one that enables the Bubble Dragons to fire thunder bubbles at will. Players can jump into the arcade original Bubble Bobble at any time as well, though there’s an odd degree of input lag that may hamper the experience.Īll items have been removed from the game and replaced with equippable gear that is rewarded after clearing each world. There are only 50 stages in the main game, and each has been separated into 10 level worlds with a world map separating each. Most of Bubble Bobble’s cryptic gameplay has been stripped out in favor of making 4 Friends a lightweight, pick up and play experience. Whereas most console entries of Bubble Bobble gradually became single player affairs, 4 Friends does its best to return to Fukio Mitsuji’s original vision of a cute game based heavily in teamplay.
It’s worth noting Bub and Bob’s origins are a major departure in this game, as they were young boys in previous games who had been transformed into Bubble Dragons. It’s up to Bub and Bob, along with Peb and Pab, to charge through 50 levels and stop Drunk’s nonsense. Drunk (now Bonner in western releases) hates their status bitterly and sets out to antagonize Bub and Bob and cause mischief in the room once a mysterious light brings all the toys to life. Both Bub and Bob are the favorite toys of their owner – an unnamed child whose room the game takes place in. Once Bubble Bobble 4 Friends was announced, players would finally see the first true console Bubble Bobble game since Bubble Symphony for the Sega Saturn in 1997.īubble Bobble 4 Friends doesn’t waste much time getting straight into the action. Since 2009 players would occasionally see a few ports of the originals pop up in the form of Bubble Bobble Neo/Plus, along with a few gacha mobile releases later on such as Bubble Bobble Returns in Korea and Bubble Bobble for Kakao in Korea and Japan – but nothing truly substantial. Although the earliest entries of Bubble Bobble and Bubble Bobble 2 for the Gameboy were great, later additions on the Gameboy Color and Nintendo DS were either frustrating, ugly, or unplayable to a certain point. Bubble Bobble definitely hit hard times once it transitioned to handheld consoles.