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Bubble Memories - the lost and unloved member of the Bubble Bobble Family

Ninjadom

Ninjadom

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,191
London, UK
Anyone fancy doing a list of the Bubble Bobble games and where to play them?

For me, it's all about Bubble Bobble (arcade), Rainbow Islands Extra (Megadrive), Parasol Stars (Gameboy).

I wanna get Bubble Bobble 4 Friends on Switch as it has Bubble Bobble arcade in there, but Taito are charging far too much money for it.
 
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VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
Ninjadom said:
Anyone fancy doing a list of the Bubble Bobble games and where to play them?

For me, it's all about Bubble Bobble (arcade), Rainbow Islands Extra (Megadrive), Parasol Stars (Gameboy).

I wanna get Bubble Bobble 4 Friends on Switch as it has Bubble Bobble arcade in there, but Taito are charging far too much money for it.
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right? It's been sitting at $40 forever with no change in price. Feels more like a $30 game.

Parasol Stars is awesome on PC Engine. I play Bubble Bobble on Saturn and/or FM Towns Marty as both are near arcade perfect.
 
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VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
arcadepc said:
I see. I'd be interested to learn more, eg is music CD audio with better sampling rate quality or just the same as the rom?

I meant in Bubble Symphony the 3 music boxes you have to collect every 7 levels to get the key. In the first 7 levels they are hidden and become visible only if you reach the their spot. But after the stages after the first boss battle, they become semi-transparent, making it easier to spot them. In Memories the 3 magic potions are always non-visible. So I wonder if they did not emulate it properly or it exists in the original too. Taito F3 graphics emulation is still incomplete.

Also in Memories during boss battle there appears a cloud from wherethe boss jumps out,coming from below. Though he is visible even before appearing in the cloud.
Initially I thought that he should be invisible from the start, like it happens with the game intro in the theater curtain. But it seems this exists in the original arcade too, I just could not remember it.
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as far as I can tell the Korean PC release is just a straight across the board port. Nothing different at all.

I'll have to check my copy of Symphony. I don't recall the keys ever being visible but it's been some time since I last played so I am going off memory
 
MikeProtagonist

MikeProtagonist

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,297
I haven't played it in a while, but I remember the Amiga version of Parasol Stars feeling better than the PC Engine one that I tried recently on the Mini.

I do have Taito Memories but not the second version, apparently.
 
fiendcode

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,909
VGEsoterica said:
yes Rainbow Islands is legit. As is Parasol Stars. They are all awesome in their own right even if Bubble Bobble is my favorite variant in the series
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I'm not sure if they're official but Chack'n Pop is sort of like a proto-BB and I also feel like Liquid Kids is sort of related, expanding the formula out into a traditional platformer.
 
Ninjadom

Ninjadom

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,191
London, UK
VGEsoterica said:
right? It's been sitting at $40 forever with no change in price. Feels more like a $30 game.

Parasol Stars is awesome on PC Engine. I play Bubble Bobble on Saturn and/or FM Towns Marty as both are near arcade perfect.
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I did read that a lot of ports of OG Bubble Bobble miss having the full "arcade logic". The actual reason for items appearing in the order that they do.

That's why the Megadrive port of Rainbow Islands Extra is so good. The full arcade logic is represented in the port. Taito Japan did this themselves.
 
eso76

eso76

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 8, 2017
8,106
MikeProtagonist said:
I haven't played it in a while, but I remember the Amiga version of Parasol Stars feeling better than the PC Engine one that I tried recently on the Mini.

I do have Taito Memories but not the second version, apparently.
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I developed muscle memory with Amiga one button setup, so PC Engine 2 buttons felt weird at first. Also Amiga had an entirely new world (that wasn't great though and couldn't be cleared playing solo).

But the game is 60fps on PC Engine (25/30 on Amiga) and better looking.

I had the same problem with Rainbow Islands, being used to Amiga setup and holding the stick up to bounce on rainbows worked great in that game, unlearning 1 button wasn't easy.
 
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VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
Ninjadom said:
I did read that a lot of ports of OG Bubble Bobble miss having the full "arcade logic". The actual reason for items appearing in the order that they do.

That's why the Megadrive port of Rainbow Islands Extra is so good. The full arcade logic is represented in the port. Taito Japan did this themselves.
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yes most ports simplify the logic behind drops in Bubble Bobble. There is a pretty complex routine in the code that dictates / keeps track of basically everything.

so the console ports are simplified, but not in the way of fun. So really it's different but not subjectively worse
 
ThisOne

ThisOne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,938
Was Rainbow Islands ever released on Virtual Console or anything? What's the best (legitimate) way to play it nowadays?
 
Fularu

Fularu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,609
The best Bubble Bobble not named Bubble Bobble is Liquid Kids

it's also super expensive
 
dock

dock

Game Designer
Verified
Nov 5, 2017
1,367
I don't know what happened at Taito that made them start using those hideous photos as backgrounds. The Puzzle Bobble games really suffered from it.

Bubble Memories is my least favourite game in the official series (everything post 2002 was a weirdly licensed out reboot).

Parasol Stars is probably the weirdest game in the series. The PC Engine game is pretty great.

I think Rainbow Islands having such a terrible NES port is why american Retro outlets disregard the game.

One of my fondest memories was the arcade operator accidentally leaving the coin door unlocked so you could open it and catch your coin. I played so much Rainbow Islands that day.
 
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VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
Fularu said:
I have the PCE game :p (and also those emulation discs but the PS2 really struggled at times with many of the games)
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yeah I've tried Symphony and Memories on the Taito discs and it's definitely not running properly. Not so bad it's terrible but rough enough where I wouldn't make it my go to way to experience the games
 
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