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Bubble Bobble Old & New
  GBAPlatformerPAL  
  opened by paleface at 03:50:54 08/08/04  
  last modified by paleface at 12:23:17 03/05/24  
  paleface [sys=GBA; cat=Platformer; reg=EUR]
           
Nice port of the classic co-op action/puzzle/platformer--a port of the arcade version, mind you, not the weedy NES version, and then they pile in a "new" version of the original with remixed graphics and sound.
 
What's kind of neat is that the game saves your progress in each one separately. What isn't so neat is that the "new" version sucks--the backgrounds look nice but it is difficult to pick out the character sprites against their vibrant colors, and the character sprites themselves are just bad--scrawny-looking and weird. They shouldn't have tried to mess with the sprites, nobody on Earth can make more appealing sprites than those of the old Taito. Silly new Taito. The music is also redone, and has kind of a heavy baseline... not bad, but not as "classic"-sounding as the original.
 
Due to the GBA's tiny screen resolution, you can't see the whole room at once by default, but the left shoulder button toggles a zoom mode that will enable you to see it all while zoomed out--at the cost of some rather unattractive scaling of the graphics. I wouldn't use it unless just briefly to locate something.
 
Other than that, the port seems pretty much spot-on. As a super bonus, according to the box and game menus, you can play co-op with just one cartridge--I'll have to give that a try.
 
  paleface 19:11:21 08/08/04
           
Having actually perused the manual, I see that single-cart co-op only lets you play through levels 1-12, which is too bad (and also the powerups are limited).
 
On the plus side, there are a lot of secrets. Codes will open powered-up modes in the Old game, and a remixed "Super" mode in the New game, with much more difficult enemies in the old levels. Of course you have to play it New style, with the tarted-up graphics and talking dinosaurs, but it's still kind of neat.
 
Also, if you beat the game (I hear) you can then play along in simulated co-op with a CPU-controlled player 2. Interesting.
    
downloads:
· library.jpg
· new.jpg
· old.jpg
· oldzoom.jpg
 
references:
· Arcade Archives Bubble Bobble (PS4)
· Bubble Bobble also featuring Rainbow Islands (PS1)
· Bubble Bobble Part 2 (GB)
· Bust-A-Move 4 (DC)
· Taito Memories: 1st Volume (PS2)
· Taito Memories II: 1st Volume (PS2)
· Taito Memories II: Last Volume (PS2)

 
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