Bubble Bobble FAQ V 1.0
(Nintendo Entertainment System version)
Written By Ron Glenn (
[email protected])
************************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
************************************************
I Table of Contents
II Introduction
A Preface
B About the Game
III Playing the Game
A Defeating Enemies
B Gaining Extra Lives
C Special Bubbles
1 Attack Bubbles
2 E-X-T-E-N-D'ing Your Game
D Angry Enemies
IV List of Enemies
A Baron von Blubba
V Special items
A Enhanecment Items
B Bonus Items
C Offensive Items
VI End of Round Bonus
VII Defeating The Boss
A Super Bobble
VII Changes From Arcade
A Gameplay Changes
B Cosmetic Changes (Graphics)
C Scoring Changes
IX Gameplay Quirks
X Secrets and Codes
XI Ending (Spoiler)
*************************************************
INTRODUCTION
*************************************************
---------------------------
Preface
---------------------------
Hello, and welcome to my Bubble Bobble FAQ. I've written this FAQ
because this was, and still is one of my all time favorite N.E.S games,
and amazing enough, while there are FAQs for the arcade version, there
are none for the NES port. GameFAQs has arcade FAQs posted for the NES
section on the site, but this is erroneous as there were some DRASTIC
changes that has quite an effect on the gameplay. When I was very
young, my cousin brought over this game, along with Contra. While Contra
is one of the greatest games ever made, I immediately fell in love with
Bubble Bobble due to its very addictive gameplay and it was just plain
fun. I played Bubble Bobble so much, that became familiar with the
coding, and know the game inside and out. Even though I haven't played
the game regularly in many years, I'm almost writing this FAQ purely
from memory. I hope this FAQ brings back fond memories for anyone that
has played this great game, and also to explain basically why stuff
happened in the game.
-----------------------
About the Game
-----------------------
Bubble Bobble was released for the NES back in 1988, which was the
golden year of the NES because a lot of great games were released that
year. It was a port of the Arcade game which was released 2 years
earlier. Oddly enough, I only was able to play the Arcade version
recently, and although the NES version was only a port, I always
considered the NES port the "original" version mainly due to the fact
that I played the NES port so often and I was accustomed to the gameplay
modifications and the Arcade original seemed foreign to me. Bubble
Bobble is a 1 or 2 player game, and while the game can be played just
fine with a single player, it (along with all sequals) was definately
meant to be played as a 2 player game, as a lot more bonuses are
rewarded and the game MUST be played in 2 player mode in order to truly
complete the game...therefore, teamwork is essential.
*************************************************
PLAYING THE GAME
*************************************************
As Bub and Bob, you must descend 112 levels (224 counting the "super
bubble bobble" levels), blow enemies into bubbles, pop them. and collect
te goodies left behind, collect the occasional special item...basically
survive. BB is very easy to pick up.
The B Button blows bubbles and the A button jumps. When you pop a
bubble, either by jumping into it, pushing it into a wall, or "sitting"
on it, it pops and you get 10 points. If you blow a bubble, then jump on
it while holding the jump button, you'll hop on it. This is useful to
access parts of levels where there isn't a way to get to those places
otherwise. You can continue to hop on the bubble until it pops, and each
hop nets you 10 points. If the bubbles are close together in a group,
and you pop one of them, a chain reaction ensues and they all pop. This
is something to remember when defeating trapped enemies. There can be
only a limited number of bubbles on the screen, counting any special
bubbles that drift onto the stage; if you reach the limit, and you blow
another bubble, the earliest **normal** bubble will dissappear. This
also can lead to something unfortunate if you're not careful
---------------------------
Defeating Enemies
---------------------------
Defeating enemies is easy. When you blow a bubble, if the enemy is in
the range of when the bubble is forming, they will be trapped in the
bubble (they won't be trapped once the bubble becomes transparent) Once
the enemy is trapped in the bubble, pop it, and the enemy will be
defeated. It will bounce around the screen a bit before landing and
turning into a bonus item..one of dozens of food items. If 2 or more
trapped enemies are touching each other, or any other bubbles, you can
pop them all at once due to the chain-reaction effect. This is actually
pretty important as not only can you get big points for this, but there
are also other benefits of defeating multiple enemies which is explained
later. The scoring is as follows:
Defeat Bonus points Food Bonus
1 Enemy 1,000 Orange
(1,000)
Total: 2,000
2 Enemies 2,000 Orange,G.Pepper
(1,000+2,000)
Total: 5,000
3 Enemies 4,000 Orange,G.Pepper,Grapes
(1,000+2,000+3,000)
Total: 10,000
4 Enemies 8,000 Orange,G.Pepper,Grapes,Tomato
(1,000+2,000+3,000+4,000)
Total: 18,000
5 Enemies 16,000 Orange,G.Pepper,Grapes,Tomato,Cherry
(1,000+2,000+3,000+4,000+5,000)
Total: 31,000
6 Enemies 32,000 Orange,G.Pepper,Grapes,Tomato,Cherry,Mushroom
(1,000+2,000+3,000+4,000+5,000,6,000)
Total: 53,000
7 Enemies 64,000 Orange,G.Pepper,Grapes,Tomato,Cherry,Mushroom,
Pickle
(1,000+2,000+3,000+4,000+5,000+6,000+7,000)
Total: 92,000!!!!
There is a pattern, of course. For each enemy that is defeated, the base
bonus score of 1,000 gets multiplied by 2 and gets doubled each time.
Also, the food items accumulate and add 1,000 to the base value of 1,000
(Orange). This is one way to high scores and should be attempted as
many times as possible (Actually, you'll get a few points more than
92,000 due to the fact that you also get 10 points for each bubble
popped. :P ). As for how easy it is to defeat multiple enemies at once,
it depends almost totally on the stage. On each stage, there are
invisible air currents that guide the bubbles on pre-determined paths.
On some of the stages, the air currents converge to a single spot where
the bubbles gather and group up, which makes it easy to pop multiple
enemies. Otherwise, the bubbles will float around freely making it a bit
more difficult to pop multiple enemies, but still entirely possible.
Also, there can be up to a half second delay between popping enemies for
the game to still count it as a "chain reaction" and will give you the
appropiate points. EX. 2 trapped enemies are rising up, one above the
other and they are seperate. You can jump down and pop the top enemy,
keep falling and pop the bottom enemy a half second and it will still
count as a chain reaction. :)
---------------------------
Gaining Extra Lives
---------------------------
Getting extra lives are always good. There are 4 ways to gain more
lives:
*** Score
*** completing EXTEND (see "special bubbles" section)
*** getting a Red dinosaur (see "special items and power-ups" section)
*** getting all the icons from the potion (see "special items and power-
ups" section).
To get an extra life from the score, you must gain a certain amount of
points. The points are: 30,000, 100,000, 200,000, 400,000, and
1,000,000.
As you can see, there are 5 lives you can gain from scoring. Once you
passed the 1,000,000, you can no longer gain extra lives from the score
However, the other methods are all repeatable.
------------------------
Special Bubbles
------------------------
Most of the time the screen will be filled with bubbles that you've
blown yourself, but on a few of the stages special bubbles will drift on
the stage..
*****Attack Bubbles*****
Attack bubbles come in three different flavors: water, lightning, and
fire. Their uses are all very different, and it will take some
strategy, skill, and a little luck to get the most effectiveness out of
them. Enemies that are sucessfully hit with any of these bubbles will
change into valuable items for that are worth more than the usual fruit
that you usually get. The attack bubbles are listed in the order that
they first appear.
Water Bubbles: When you pop these, a wave of "water" will flow from the
bubble in the opposite direction of where your character is facing (or
straight down if there isn't any land below the bubble. Any enemy that
is in the path of the wave will be washed down to the bottom of the
stage. Unlike other methods of defeating enemies where the enemy bounces
around the stage a bit then lands and becomes an item, when hit with the
wave, the enemies get washed to the bottom, and crystals will fall from
the top of the level. The waves can wash Bub and Bob away also, but
you're invulnerable while inside the wave. Be aware that you can only
have ONE wave on the screen at once. If you pop another water bubble
while another wave is on the screen, the bubble will do nothing. The
water bubble changes enemies into blue crystals worth 6,000 points. It
first appears on stage 5.
Lightning Bubbles: Popping the lightning bubble will cause a small bolt
of lightning to travel across the screen in the opposite direction of
where your character is facing. When the lightning hits an enemy, it
stops momentarily, defeating the enemy, then continues forward. You can
take out multiple enemies if they're all in the horizontal path of the
bolt. You can have as many bolts as there are lightning bubbles on the
screen If Bub and Bob get hit by a bolt, they are momentarily stunned,
but does no other harm. They're kinda hard to use since the bolt is so
small, but is worth the effort since defeat enemies change into pink
crystals worth 8,000 points. These first appear on the 17'th stage.
Fire Bubbles. These bubbles are hot stuff. When you pop them, a small
flame slowly falls downward. If there is no ground below the flame,
it'll fall silently off the screen, but if it reaches ground, it'll
spread out and any enemy that touches the flames will be defeated. You
can pup multiple fire bubbles and fill up the entire floor with
flames...that may be a bad idea since it'll cause lots of flickering and
slowdown, plus while you're in the fire, you move at about a third of
the speed you normally do, and you can't jump. Enemies that touch the
fire will turn change into yellow crystals worth 7,000 points. They
first appear on level 25.
It's a good idea to at least pop any attack bubbles you see on the
screen as they have an influence on making good special items appear (it
doesn't matter if you actually hit an enemy with one, just a long as you
pop the bubble. There can only be a max of 5 attack bubbles on the
screen at once. Normally there is only one type of attack bubble on a
level. A few of them have 2, but there are not any stages that have all
3 types of attack bubbles on the screen. Anyway, it there is no way to
defeat multiple enemies at once, definately try to use the attack
bubbles so you can get the more valuable items.
----------------------------------
E-X-T-E-N-D'ing Your Game
----------------------------------
Along with the special attack bubbles, you'll see different colored
bubbles with letters on them..these are the E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles. There
are 2 ways to make these appear: getting the blue pearl necklace (see
"special items" section)and defeating 3 or more enemies simultaneously.
The more enemies from 3 and above you defeat all at once, the more
EXTEND bubbles will appear. The rate that they appear are as follows:
Defeat 1 or 2 Enemies 0 bubbles
3 enemies 1 bubble
4 enemies 2 bubbles
5 enemies 3 bubbles
6 enemies 4 bubbles
7 enemies 5 bubbles
The pattern is that you get 2 less bubbles from the total of enemies you
defeat. EXTEND has six letters in it, so defeating all 7 enemies will
get you all the letters except 1. The letters are chosen at random, so
the letter that you need will always be different. The acquired letters
will appear on the side of the screen to keep track of what you
collected allready If the stage has "gaps" in the top or bottom of it,
the bubbles will appear immediately, if not, they'll appear on the next
stage that has the gaps. A great thing to know is that the EXTEND
bubbles are cumulative. The bubbles add up if you defeat multiple
enemies on more than one stage that doesn't have the "gaps". Example: 2
stages don't have gaps, but the 3'rd one does. on the 1'st gapless
stage, you defeat 5 enemies simultaneously, then on the 2'nd gapless
stage, you defeat 7 enemies. When you come to the stage with the gaps,
you 'll get 8 EXTEND bubbles (3 from the 5 defeat enemies + the 5 from
the 7 defeat enemies). However, the game re-randomizes each set of
bubbles from each batch of enemies you defeat without accounting for any
letters of EXTEND you've allready collected. Even though in the above
example with 8 bubbles appearing, it's still possible that you may not
immediately spell EXTEND and may have duplicate letters. Basically, you
can defeat a bunch of enemies on multiple stages and spell EXTEND
immediately, or you may advance dozens of stages missing one letter. :)
Anyway, once you spell EXTEND, the level abruptly ends, the screen fills
with color-cycling EXTEND bubbles, the winning "speller" jumps up and
down, and you hear the jingle that's heard at the title screen. After
all that displaying, you'll get an Extra Life, then you advance to the
next level and start the process all over again. Sometimes some stray
EXTEND bubbles will appear on the next gapped stage. I'm, not sure how
that works, but maybe you'll be lucky and it'll be a letter you need to
complete the word.
----------------------------------
Angry Enemies
----------------------------------
When an enemy gets angry, it turns a shade of orange, and their faces
change into an angry look. Their speed doubles, and they become a lot
harder to deal with. The causes of an enemy being angry are:
*** Being trapped insode of a bubble for an extended period of time
without being popped. The length of time varies with each stage.
*** Staying on a level for too long ( "Hurry Up" appears). Again, the
time depends on the stage.
*** Failing to defeat all the enemies before the Chakn Heart
invincibility wears off.
Needless to say, it's bad news when this happens. Only way to get the
enemies back to normal state is to......Die.
*************************************************
ENEMY LIST
*************************************************
You'll meet a small variety of enemies along your journey that will stop
you in whatever you're trying to accomplish on your journey. Even
though there are different types of enemies, their AI is somewhat the
same, so the same attack "strategies" can be used. Enemies are listed
in the order in which they appear in the game.
Zen-Chan: These are the little wind-up mouth thingies you first see, and
also one of the few "walking" enemies that doesn't have a projectile.
They can jump over gaps, and cab "rise" through the stage to higher
platforms. These are probably the easiest enemies to deal with. They
first appear on stage 1.
Mighta: These are the little ghost things. They have the same AI as the
Zen-Chans, except they can shoot a projectile. They stop, create this
rock looking spell, then shoot it. The spell goes at the same speed as
the Mightas, which gives the appearance that they're pushing it, when in
fact they're just running behind it. They first appear on stage 6.
Monsta: They look like small flying whales. They do not track you at
all and just bounce around the level a 90 degree diagonal angles They
appear on level 10.
PulPul: These flying enemies are very simular to the Monstas except
they fly very slowly vertically. Also instead of bouncing off the walls,
it kind of rubs up against them before changing directions, which makes
them a little hard to predict which direction it will fly.
Banebou: These are the little hopping spring enemies. Besides the fact
that they hop instead of "walk", there aren't much different than the
Zen-Chans. They first appear on level 30.
Hidegonsu: One of the first potentially dangerous enemies you face
because of their ability to shoot fireballs, so beware when directly in
front of them. Their fireballs can't go through walls, so that's a
small consulation. While they can rise up through platforms, they
cannot jump over gaps in the levels. First apears on level 40.
Drunk: Has the same AI as all of the walking enemies, except they can
shoot a "boomerang bottle". When they shoot it, it'll rebound off the
wall and return to them. While they're waiting, they can't move, so
that's a good time to get behind them and bubble them. Appears first on
level 49
Invader: These are the guys from Space Invaders, and like on that game,
they shoot missiles that fall to the ground, so watch out when they're
above you. They do not track you, jump, or rise through platforms.
First appear on level 49.
*** Baron von Blubba *** (Aka Skel Monsta)
If you dawdle too long on a stage, the "Hurry up" will appear. After
about 10 seconds, you'll hear this dramatic sting music, then Baron von
Blubba will appear. He is a skeletal form of the Monstas and has glowing
eyes. He can go through walls, and is invincible. One will appear for
each player. He moves in a zig-zag patter..he'll move horizontally,
stop, then move vertically, and stop and repeat, all the while tracking
you. If you still are taking to long, he will double his speed (about
the speed you go when you have the shoes) and his distance travelled
with each movement is increased. After a while, he'll increase to his
final speed, which is insanely fast and is incredibly difficult to
dodge. The only way to get rid of him is by dying, or defeating all the
enemies.
*************************************************
Special Items
*************************************************
At the beginning of each level, 2 things will appear: A random points
item that's worth anywhere from 200~900 points, and a special item.
There are a variety of special items that will help you on your quest.
One important note about special items is that they are **NOT** random.
As a matter of fact, besides the E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles, and the random
points item that appears at the beginning of the level, there is NOTHING
in this game that is random. Certain variables have to be met for an
item to appear, and since some of the variables are so complicated, and
interchangable, it might as well be random, and it seems that way if
you're not paying attention, but they're not. It would be pointless, and
very difficult to list all the variables here, but check out Gareth
Hall's excellent Bubble Bobble Arcade FAQ. He explains it VERY well, a
lot better than I ever could. While his FAQ is for the arcade, the
dynamics are very simular in the N.E.S version.
----------------------------------
Enhancement Items
----------------------------------
These items alter the control of Bub and Bob..hopefully for the better.
These items are the most common ones to appear and can make the game a
lot easier. The effects of all these items are cumulative
--- Green Bubble Gum --- Value: 100 pts
This will double the firing rate of your bubbles. This makes it a lot
easier to trap enemies in a group in bubbles a lot faster.
--- Blue Bubble Gum --- Value: 100 pts
This allows your bubbles to travel twice as far as normal. Great for
trapping enemies without being so close to them.
--- Red Bubble Gum --- Value: 100 pts
This gives you the strengths of the green and blue bubble gum instantly.
Shoes Value: 100 pts
This doubles your walking speed. Also doubles your falling and jumping
speed. While there are definately advantages, I would not recommend
using these as it makes it a lot harder to control your
character..especially when trying to safely hop on a bubble.
----------------------------------
Bonus Items
----------------------------------
These items cause events to happen that will usually add a lot of points
to your score..maybe a couple of extra lives also. :)
--- Magic Cane --- (red, blue, green) Value: 500 pts
When you get this, make sure you blow lots of bubbles before you defeat
the last enemy because once you defeat it, a giant something (most of
the game it is a diamond) will fall, and all bubbles will change into
small version of the big item. The big item is worth 10,000, and the
small versions are worth 300 each (see "Gameplay Quirks" section) The
color of the cane doesn't matter. The items that fall will be the same
color as the cane, but it all is worth the same.
--- Treasure Chest --- (red, blue, green) Value: 1,000 pts
Simular to the Magic Cane, except you don't get small versions of the
giant item from your bubbles...however, it you met the other conditions
to get the bubbles to change into items (see "End of Round Bonus"
section), you'll still get those items. (Note: For all the people that
have played the arcade version, YES, I know what you're thinking. See
"Changes from Arcade" section for explanation).
--- Blue Pearl Necklace --- Value: 5,000 pts
(Note, there are 3 colors of this items; red, blue and white, the colors
are very faint and will be hard to tell apart if you don't have a good
TV/monitor)
A pretty cool item. This will cause random E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles to appear
(or appear on the next stage that has gaps). The number appears to be
random, and I've seen anywhere from 2 to 10 (!) bubbles. This, combined
with the ones you get from defeating multiple enemies will net you a LOT
of E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles and a few Extra Lives.
--- Umbrella --- (blue, orange) Value: 500 pts
The effects of the umbrella is instant. The Blue Umbrella advances you
3 levels, and the Orange Umbrella advances you 5 or 7. Can't quite
remember.
--- White Pearl Necklace --- Value: 5,000 pts
(Note, there are 3 colors of this items; red, blue and white, the colors
are very faint and will be hard to tell apart if you don't have a good
TV/monitor)
A very nice item. Blow lots of bubbles when you get this item. Once you
defeat the last enemy, all the bubbles on the stage will change into
pink dinosaurs (pallet swap of Bub and Bob) for 300 pts each, and a red
dinosaur will appear in a random position on the stage worth 3,000, and
an Extra Life. The red dinosaur will appear reguardless if bubbles are
on the stage or not, but might as well get the extra points.
----------------------------------
Offensive Items
----------------------------------
No, these items don't stink, or hurl insults at you...these items either
defeats enemies, or helps you defeat enemies. Unlike defeating enemies
the normal way of blowing them in a bubble and popping them, these items
will defeat them reguardless of them being in a bubble or not, and will
usually wield valuable items. A chart below each item description shows
it's value, whatever points you get from defeating the enemy, value of
items from bubbled enemies, value of items from free enemies, and the
max points possible from defeating 7 free enemies and the items they
give.
--- Blue Cross ---
When you get this, you'll get free insurance for life...nah. A deluge of
"water" will flood the stage and will defeat all enemies. Bubbled
enemies change to blueberry popsicles and free enemies change to blue
emeralds. Better put on your scuba gear
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 59,000 pts
|
3,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 8,000 |3000+(8000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Red Cross ---
This will allow you to blow 10 fireballs in the same manner as the
Hidegonsu's, except yours go through walls :) Be careful when you get
this item: since you can't blow any bubbles until it wears off, you
won't be able to create bubbles to hop on unless you have a 2'nd player.
Bubbled enemies change to cherry shaved ice, and free enemies change
into red emeralds.
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 66,000 pts
|
3,000 | 0 | 5,000 | 9,000 |3000+(9000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Green Cross ---
The power of the gods will be with you when you retrieve this item. Once
gotten, a bolt of lightning will come from the upper righthand of the
screen and will strike 5 times diagonally down the middle. The first 2
times it defeats any enemy that's in its path, 3'rd strike it defeats
all enemies on the right side of the screen, 4'th strike it defeats all
enemies on the left side of the screen, and the 5'th and final strike it
defeats any enemies that still managed to survive. Bubbled enemies
change into cake with green icing and free enemies change into green
diamonds. This item can be potentially worth a lot of points with a max
value of 87,000 points!!!
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 87,000 pts
|
3,000 | 5,000 | 4,000 | 7,000 |3000+(5,000*7)+(7,000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Blue Book ---
Apparently a lot of people on the west coast keep opening this book. The
screen shakes and all enemies are instantly defeated. Bubbled enemies
change into cheeseburgers, and free ones change into pink emeralds
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 73,000 pts
|
3,000 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 7,000 |3000+(3,000*7)+(7000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Green Book ---
This item allows you to shoot lightning bubbles. You'll still be able
to trap enemies in bubbles normally, but otherwise the bubbles are
lightning bubbles and you can fill up the screen with them. As usual,
you can't hit bubbled enemies with the bolts, and the free enemies
change into pink crystals.
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 59,000 pts
|
3,000 | 0 | 0 | 8,000 |3000+(8,000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Bomb ---
Bomb go BOOM all enemies go BOOM! Bubbled enemies change into cherry
popsicles, free enemies change into pink diamonds
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 63,200 pts
|
200 | 0 | 5,000 | 9,000 |200+(9,000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Blue Tiara ---
When you don this decorative accessory, stars will rain down and defeat
your foes. The first 2 strikes will defeat any enemy that gets hit by a
star, and the last strike will defeat all remaining enemies. Bubbled
enemies change into red pendants, free enemies change into red diamonds
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 55,500 pts
|
3,000 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 6,000 |3000+(1,500*7)+(6,000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Green Tiara ---
Same as the blue tiara, except..apples (??) rain down on your foes.
Reguardless of the goofiness of this item, it's the most valuable
offensive item in the game worth a whopping 101,000 points max; the only
item that gives you more points than defeating all 7 enemies
simultaneously. Bubbled enemies change into brown pendants, free
enemies change into green emeralds.
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 101,000 pts!!!
|
3,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 |3000+(6,000*7)*(8,000*7)
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
--- Red Pearl Necklace ---
(Note, there are 3 colors of this items; red, blue and white, the colors
are very faint and will be hard to tell apart if you don't have a good
TV/monitor)
Once you get this, a multi-color ball (Arkanoid ball?? ) will begin
bouncing around the stage and will defeat any enemy that comes in
contact with it. The ball will release in the opposite direction of
where the character is facing and rising/falling. (EX: if the character
is falling, and facing to the left, the ball will be released going in
the upper-right direction). The ball has some REALLY odd collision
detection as sometimes it'll go straight through an enemy, and sometimes
it can be a good distance away and manage to hit it. Unfortunately this
item can be totally useless on a couple of the levels..on any stage when
the special items appear in a confined area (it'll just bounce around in
that small area, never getting anywhere near the enemies), or vice
versa: the enemy(ies) are in a confined area. Bubbled enemies change
into cake with blue icing, and free enemies change into blue diamonds
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 47,000 pts
|
5,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 6,000 |5000+(6,000*7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Chakn Heart ---
Power Up!!! Getting this will stun all the enemies and make you flash
all sorts of pretty colors, and you speed will increase as if you've
gotten the shoes, and the music changes to this pulse-pounding melody.
This is a sort of invincibility. Running into the stunned enemies will
immediately defeat them. You can still bubble them normally and get the
appropiate points and items. This DOES NOT make you invincible to Baron
von Blubba..he can still kill you. If you happen to die while the Heart
is still working, you will return to normal status, but will still be
able to run into the stunned enemies. Any enemies that you do not
defeat by the time the heart expires will automatically become angry.
The item that you receive when you defeat an enemy when running into it
depends on the type of enemy and is as follows:
Enemy Item Item Value
---------------------------------------------------
Zen-Chan blue crown 2,000
Mighta red crown 3,000
Banebou pink crown 4,000
Hidegonsu green crown 5,000
PulPul blue grandcrown 6,000
Monsta red grandcrown 7,000
Invader pink grandcrown 8,000
Drunk green grandcrown 9,000
------|-----------|---------|-------|-----------------------------------
-|
Value | hit bonus | bubbled | free |max points: 31,000~80,000
|
10,000| 1,000 | N/A |2~9,000|10,000(1,000*7)+(2~9,000+7)
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
--- Blue/Green Potion ---
There are different colors of this, but they both do the same thing.
The reason that this is in the offensive weapons section is because once
you get this, all remaining enemies will just sorta dissappear. Icons
will appear on the level and it's a race to see who gets the most. The
icons will appear wherever there is a black background, and due to the
configuration of the stages, depending on the stage, there could be
anywhere from 2 to over a hundred of whatever icon that appears. A 30
second timer starts counting down, and the object is to get all the
icons before the clock expires. Whoever gets the most items wins! Each
icon is worth 500 pts, and in a 2 player game, the outcome is the
following:
The player that gets the least icons will gain 50,000 points. He doesn't
even have to get any icons at all to get those points.
The player that gets the most icons will gain 100,000 points
If both players get the same amount of icons (which can only happen on
stages where an even number of icons appear, of course) both players
will get 100,000 points
If it's only 1 player...well, the one player will get 100,000 points. :)
Reguardless of who wins, if all the icons are collected before the timer
is up, both players will also receive an extra life. :D
If all the icons aren't collected, the game simply tallies up the total
number of icons collected, no more points are gives, and the round ends
and the next stage is advanced.
*************************************************
END OF ROUND BONUS
*************************************************
On some stages you might have noticed that when you defeat the last
enemy, all the normal bubbles that remain on the screen turn to
food/jewels. It seems random, and for all intents and purposes, it might
as well be, but like the special items, it is NOT. One of 2 conditions
must be met before this happens: either you're on a stage where it
happens automatically, or the ten's and hundreds digits of your score
match.
The stages that gives you bonus items are the first stage, and every
8'th stage after. The items pretty much are worth the same, but for the
sake of completion, the items and stages are as follows:
Stage Item
****************
1 Pickles
9 Carrots
17 Turnips
25 Mushrooms
33 Ice Cream Swirls
41 Donuts(?)
49 Fries
57 Cheeseburgers
65 some orange thing (I have no earthly idea what these are)
73 Cherries
81 Blue Cocktails
88 Red Cocktails
97 Green Cocktails
A5 Pink Crystals
To get items from your score, the tens and the hundreds place must
match. It's pointless to list which numbers give which items since
they're all the same, but I'll list the items anyway. :)
Pink/Blue Emeralds
Turnips
Blue/Green Cocktails
Yellow Crystals
Blue/Green Popsicles
Blue/Green GrandCrowns
Ice Cream Swirls
those orange things again
Fries
Apples
Red Peppers
Blue/Green Shaved Ice
Red Diamonds
Cake with orange icing
If you don't pay attention to your score, there is a 1 in 10 chance of
the digits matching. If there's a 2 player game, there is a 1 in 5
chance. Why make it a chance? While one player defeats the enemies, the
other pop bubbles until the digits match, therefore getting bonuses in
every stage. An interesting thing to note is that if your score match on
a stage where the bonus happens automatically, the item you get from the
score match will override whatever item you get from that level.
************************************************
MEETING AND DEFEATING THE BOSS
************************************************
The boss is quite easy, but you have to get to him first. On level 99, a
crystal ball will appear. If you manage to retrieve the crystal ball, a
doorway will appear in the small space in the middle of the stage (A
Pulpul is in front of it). It will stay out there for quite a while, so
you have some time to get it. If you don't get it, once you defeat the
enemies (there is no "hurry up, btw) you'll advance to level A0 (100) to
fight the Super Drunk. If you defeat him, you'll get the "bad ending".
If you manage to get to the doorway, you'll advance to stage A1 (101)
and will progress through 12 new stages. Once completed, you'll face the
Super Drunk. He really isn't hard at all, it's just that you have to hit
him a LOT of times, and survive long enough. He bounces around the room
in diagonal 90 degree angles like the monsta's, and since he only
bounces between the outer walls of the stage, he's very predictable in
the direction that he will end up. The main worry is getting hit by a
stray bottle when he shoots them. To defeat him, you must retrieve one
of the magic lightning potion at the top of the stage. The potion will
give you lightning bubbles, rapid fire, and fast speed (green book,
green candy, shoes). You must hit him 80 times with lightning. Try to
avoid going on any of the platforms if at all possible, or you'll be
setting yourself up for a quick death. An approach to register as many
hits as possible is to blow a clutter of lightning bubbles and release
them all at once. They will take out any bottles that are shot at you,
and will hit him multiple times. He has no damage protection so all the
lightning will register a hit. You get 1,000 points for every hit, so
you'll gain a couple of extra lives in the process. Dying can be doubly
bad news, because not only do you lose that life, but the power of the
magic potion goes and you have to rush back to the top and grab another
one, all the while opening yourself up to an attack with no way to
defend yourself. Make use of the short damage protection period. After
scoring 80 hits, he will become encased in a bubble. Quickly pop him,
because if you wait, he'll eventually burst out and not only will he
have *all* of his energy back, but will be in "anger" mode, and he's
pretty much impossible to deal with then. Popping him will net you
1,000,000 points, and what happpens next depends on the situation. If
you failed to reach the door on stage 99, or you aren't in 2 player
mode, you'll get the bad ending. If you got the door, and are in 2
player mode, you'll get the first good ending, and will advance
to.......
---------------------------
Super Bubble Bobble
---------------------------
Yep, while that was a "good" ending, it wasn't the true ending. You have
to go through all 112 stages again in "Super Bubble Bobble". Mostly
everything's the same except a few key differences: the "textures" on
the tiles that make up each stage are changed, and the order of the
enemies are swapped the following way:
Zen-Chans are swapped with Hidegonsus
Pulpuls are swapped with Monstas
Mightas are swapped with Banebous
Invaders are swapped with Drunks.
This will increase the difficulty of some stages, and decrease it in
others, so a change of strategy will also be needed.
Fighting Super Drunk and getting to him is the same. He's a bit tougher
this time as he requires 120 hits insteadof 80 as before. If you manage
to defeat him, and have 2 players, you'll finally see the true ending!
************************************************
CHANGES FROM ARCADE
************************************************
Like I mentioned above, I always considered the NES Bubble Bobble the
original, because I've never played, or even heard of the arcade version
until a few years back. Now that M.A.M.E emulates it, it's easy to see
that quite a few changes have been made, some for the better, and some
for the worse.
---------------------------
Gameplay Changes
---------------------------
One of the biggest changes is your ability to hop on bubbles..it's a LOT
easier to do it on the N.E.S version. The N.E.S version also adds the
abillty to jump up on bubbles when against the wall, or inside a solid
part of the stage. If you time it right..by blowing the bubble near the
ascension of your jump, the bubble will form below you and you can hop
on it. If you time the rhythm of your blowing and your jumps, and the
bubbles aren't moving at an abnormally fast speed, you can climb up the
side of a wall, or through the solid part of the stage quite easily.
It's very difficult, if not impossible to do this on the arcade version,
as the bubble will always pop. I believe this change was intentional
because some stages on the N.E.S version are impossible to beat without
doing this. Also, it seems to have been added to make the game a bit
easier, because it's possible to get stuck on a few of the levels and
you basically have to loose a life to get un-stuck.
Also, while the N.E.S version has quite a few special items on it, a few
of them have been changed from the arcade, and a LOT of items have been
left on the cutting room floor. While some items have been added to the
N.E.S version, it isn't anywhere near the number that was dropped.
*** Dropped Items ***
These items were removed from the N.E.S version
Rings. Value: 1,000
Red Ring: Gives you 100 points for blowing bubble
Purple Ring: Gives you 500 points per jumo
Blue Ring: 10 points for each pixel moved while walking.
(These lasted for a while on a single level).
Lanterns. Value: 2,000
Purple: Similar effect as a Bomb.
Blue: Gives you the bonus for all rings simultaneously
Yellow: Gives you the bonus for all candy simultaneously
Red: Gives you the bonuses for all candy and rings (!!!)
Clock. Value: 200
Depending on if you were playing the bootleg or original version. In
the bootleg version, it prevents Baron Von Blubba from appearing. In the
original, it freezes the enemies in place for a few seconds.
Bell/Chime. Value: 1,000
This will alert you when a offensive special item will appear on the
current stage. Last for 10 rounds.
Crystal Ball. Value: 5,000
Makes the items appear faster at the beginning of each level. Lasts for
10 levels.
Cigar. Value: 100
Makes the next 3 items be potions.
Skull. Value: 10
The one bad item in the game, and like the clock, it has different
effects depending on the version. In the bootleg it caused an automatic
"Hurry Up", and in the original, it caused a shooting star to shoot
across the screen, and any enemy that touched it become angry.
Fire Bubble Value: 100,000 (!!!)
The legendary fire bubble. Has only a 1 in 4,096 chance of appearing,
and if you pop it, you get 100,000 points! The effect is similar to the
Red Cross, except you get unlimited fireballs for 5 levels.
The weapons that they added were the Green Book, Green Tiara, and White
Pearl Necklace.
Also, all of the secrets have been removed. You don't get the secret
rooms for reaching certain stages without dying. None of the codes work,
and since there is no longer a high score list, that cancels out all the
secrets you got from putting certain initials in.
12 stages were added to the N.E.S version, so I guess that's a small
consolation for all the deleted stuff.
---------------------------
Cosmetic Changes
---------------------------
All of the character sprites remain unaltered. The Arcade version had
slightly higher resolution and color depth, but otherwise, it's
identical.
The sounds are slightly different, but nothing major.
Almost all the food items are different.
The only drastic changes has been to the stages. Some of them have been
left alone, but a lot of them have been re-order, swapped, and altered,
and some completely changed. This is probably to make more use of the
ability of being easily able to hop on bubbles.
---------------------------
Scoring Changes
---------------------------
There has been numerous scoring changes. Quite a few happen to be the
result of changes in special items, so those aren't really mentioning,
but there still has been quite a few changes:
The bonus items you get at the end of the round from bubbles in the
arcade version are worth 700 points, while they're worth 300 points in
the N.E.S version (not always true, see "gameplay quirks" section)
The items you get from defeating enemies simultaneously was altered
slightly. The arcade version's fruit value started at 500 pts, then
1,000 and increases in 1,000 increments up to 6,000. In the N.E.S
version, the fruit value starts at 1,000 and goes up to 7,000, so you
get 6,500 max points on the N.E.S version (85,500 vs 92,000 ).
The cane and treasure box special items have been nerfed BIG TIME on the
N.E.S. In the arcade, there were numerous colors of the cane, and
depending on which color you got, you would get a giant food item worth
anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 pts and small versions of the big food
from remaining bubblesworth 700 pts each. On the N.E.S version, the
different colors only change the color of the item, and it is ALWAYS
worth 10,000 (usually a giant diamond) and 300 pt small items from the
remaining bubbles. The treasure box is hosed royally on the N.E.S.
While in the arcade, the different colors of treasure boxes give you
giant diamonds worth anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 points. On the
N.E.S, you get the same 10,000 point item that the cane gives you....but
that's it!!! You get NO small items from the bubbles unless you meet the
usual requirements of getting bonus items from the bubbles (matching
score digits, or on certain stages) This is a huge loss in scoring with
these 2 items.
************************************************
GAMEPLAY QUIRKS
************************************************
This is a section of stuff that goes on in the game that doesn't fit
anywhere else. :)
*** The collision detection is **VERY** unforgiving. If the game even
thinks that you've touched an enemy or a projectile, you'll lose a life.
This is especially true for the Invader's missiles.
*** Sometimes having too many E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles isn't always a good
thing. If you advance through enough gapless stages, and maybe defeat a
lot of enemies on multiple stages, and maybe even pick up a blue pearl
necklace on the way. On the next gapped stage you should get a ton of E-
X-T-E-N-D bubbles. Well, the gap could be so small, that all those
bubbles will be trying to push their way through the gap, and some will
end up being pushed back through the gap and get lost. Regular bubbles
will go through the tops and bottoms of the stage and re-appear on the
other side, but any special bubble will dissappear, so you could end up
losing a lot of your E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles. In one game, I was doing
particular well in defeating enemies simultanously and on the next
gapped stage, I had 15 E-X-T-E-N-D bubbles..all the letters twice, plus
an X, T, and N. They were pushing trying to come on the stage, but then
most of them got push back down so I only got 2 green E's and a T. :/
*** The bubble bonus items may display that you get 300 points for them,
but the value actually increase. When you get to about level 25, the
value increases to 400 points, and around every 15 or so stages the
value goes up by 100 points. Once you get up in the 90's stages, your
items will be worth 900 points instead, but they will still be
displaying 300 points when you get them. Watch your score. :)
*** For most of the game, the giant item (10,000 points) is a diamond.
Around level 50 or so, it changes into a Popsicle. Around every couple
of dozen stages or so it will change to an apple and finally a grand
crown.
*** The sound engine of this game is vewry quirky. The N.E.S had only
about 4 sound channels, so programmers had to put sounds on a kind of
heirarchy. If 2 or more sounds need to be played, the sound that the
programmers deemed "most important" would play and overlap the other
sounds. Well, in Bubble Bobble, it seems that when certain combinations
of sounds are played, instead of one overlapping the other, the computer
attempted to play both sounds simultaneously. That leads to some rather
strange noises. This is most apparent when the Invaders drop their
missiles, the Hidegonsu's shoot their fireballs, and the spike ball is
bouncing around.
************************************************
SECRETS AND CODES
************************************************
***Life "borrow"***
Player 1 has the ability to give lives, as well as take them. Whenever
one of the players run out of lives, or are in the middle of a 1 player
game, player 1 can pause the game then press "select" and you'll hear a
"ching" sound (the sound of the Invader's missiles). If the 2'nd player
is out of lives, he'll get one of player 1's. If player 1 is out of
lives, he'll take one of player 2's. This does not work for the 2'nd
player.
***Passwords***
Level B2 (112) on normal Bubble Bobble: EEEEB
Level B2 (112) on super Bubble Bobble: EECFG
Basically these 2 passwords allow you to play any level in the game
since you can push B and A button to chose any stage.
************************************************
ENDING
************************************************
If you haven't seen the ending on a 13 year old game, then shame on you,
however, for those that haven't seen it, here it is.
Once you defeat Super Drunk, it explodes, and 2 figures are released (I
guess they're Bub and Bob's parents or something). Their girlfriends?
are released from the bubble prisons and Bub and Bob return to humn
form. Bub and Bob embrace with their girlfriends. Their parents(??) stop
crying and smile, and the words "Happy End" is shown on the screen, then
a curtain falls. The next screen shows Bub, Bob, and all the enemies
waving(??) at you with some happy bouncy music playing with the words
"Thank You" shown on the screen then the curtain falls again. The
curtain slowly rises the the follow is scrolled up the screen:
"CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE FOUND THE MOST IMPORTANT MAGIC IN THE WORLD
IT IS LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP" (ick). Then the credits scroll up. At the end
of the credits, you see the copyright screen. Press start, then you can
do the sound test. YAY!! Sound 34 is a song that's not played anywhere
in the game. Probably for the one of the secrets that was removed.
Ok. that's the end of the FAQ. Nothing more to see. Move along people
I mean it...go away.
