Favorite Bubble Bobble games

[KimagureMachibuse]

Which of these games do you prefer?

[Sumez]

If not for Rainbow Islands, this would have been a very tough call. All of the games in this series are amazing.

That is, the "core" series made by Taito themselves of course.
Bubble Bobble II (NES) is very cute, but doesn't at all manage to capture the frantic arcade nature of the original game. And Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is a practical joke.

I could (and have in that past) go on for pages about why the original Bubble Bobble is one of the most brilliant platform games ever created. And I think both of the same-style sequels with Symphony and Memories incredibly enough manage to recreate that experience, each in their own way. Bubble Symphony of course is the horn of plenty with countless hidden secrets, tons of bosses, and Darius-style stage routing. The game has so much it's almost overwhelming.
Memories, on the other hand, dials things back a lot, and even compared to the original game it doesn't seem to have that much stuff going on, outside of the added boss fights every tenth round of course. But I think it's also easily the most underrated game in the series, and I think it's probably on par with the original game in term of pure quality. It's just an overall really fun game, that does away with some of the more janky controls the original did suffer slightly from.

Rainbow Islands is just a masterpiece though. To me it's pretty much the ultimate arcade game. Normally I think upwards of an hour is too long for an arcade game, but this one just makes it work. Making your way through it piece by piece as you gradually improve you skills and learn the stages is a journey worth savoring. Even today I still cannot guarantee that every run will be a 1CC, despite the plethora of extends you get throughout the game.
The unique gameplay of the rainbows is like nothing else in video game history, and the breadth and depth of the utility offered by this very simple move is just staggering. It's action gaming at its finest, and the fact that it can work, and flow so aggressively with one-hit kills for both you and every enemy in the game. is a testament to how finely tuned it is.

[To Far Away Times]

It'll always be the first game for me. It's just so long though. Takes forever to play through. Wish it was like 30 stages or something.

[Mortificator]

I clicked Symphony and hit 'vote' an instant before realizing Rainbow Islands was on there. Funny thing is that I went years without giving RB a try just because of the concept – why would I want to play a Bubble Bobble game without the bubbles? But when I finally did, I was immediately hit by its immense quality.

The original Bubble Bobble's core mechanics are great, but as said above, it goes on for too long. Hearing that same jingle for an hour, no bosses or background changes for variety, and it eventually becomes not so fun. That's why I'd sooner play Symphony or Memories.

On the piece-matching side of things, Puzzle Bobble 2 and 3 are legit.

[BrianC]

It'll always be the first game for me. It's just so long though. Takes forever to play through. Wish it was like 30 stages or something.

Isn't that the length of the AC/NeoGeo Puzzle Bobble?

[Sumez]

I clicked Symphony and hit 'vote' an instant before realizing Rainbow Islands was on there. Funny thing is that I went years without giving RB a try just because of the concept – why would I want to play a Bubble Bobble game without the bubbles? But when I finally did, I was immediately hit by its immense quality.

And to be fair, if you hold on long enough, the game does have bubbles

[Bloodreign]

I'd have voted for almost all of them if I could, outside of Parasol Stars, I have pretty much the entire series, form the arcade original, to Rainbow Islands regular and Extra (from PC Engine to Taito Memories), to the 2 Game Boy titles, to the NES pair, to the SMS Bubble Bobble, to Taito Memories and Saturn for Symphony, and the former for Memories, to the GBA remake of Bubble Bobble (though I dislike the remake, I only play the original mode that is on there). Thank goodness the Taito Memories compilation has the key 4 (all except Parasol Stars because ya know, console only), plus a better version of Puzzle Bobble 2 than Taito Legends 2 has (and it doesn't have it, false advertising on the back of the box). I also own a lot of Puzzle Bobble/Bust A Move games, shame that one Taito G Net Super Puzzle Bobble never got a home port, to me that is the last great game of the series, the ones after are either alright (Space Bust A Move DS and Bust A Move DX PSP), or entirely boring as hell (Bust A Move Plus). Even have Bubble Bobble Plus on my old Wii, I am alright with it.

To the person that said Rainbow Islands plays the same tune for an hour, the Arkanoid Island has no music at all, and all sound effects are from Arkanoid. The last 3 hidden islands also have their own theme music.

[Sumez]

That comment was on Bubble Bobble 1
For some reason I misread it first as well.

[To Far Away Times]

The whole Puzzle Bobble/Bubble Bobble thing is so needlessly confusing.

I'd call Puzzle Bobble by it's US name "Bust-A-Move" instead, but Bust-A-Move 2 got fucked with really badly and is tough to recommend when a far superior and more feature complete original version exists, so you're kind of in a bind no matter what you call it.

[BrianC]

I'd call Puzzle Bobble by it's US name "Bust-A-Move" instead, but Bust-A-Move 2 got fucked with really badly and is tough to recommend when a far superior and more feature complete original version exists, so you're kind of in a bind no matter what you call it.

Only the Taito F3 version. The NeoGeo version of Bust-A-Move Again kept the Bubble Bobble characters intact. I have only seen the NeoGeo version in arcades. Also, oddly enough, most of the home ports of BAM2 prior to TL2, including the Saturn and PS1 versions were also intact. The Saturn version even has the Puzzle Bobble 2x stuff and edit mode intact, despite using the US title.

[To Far Away Times]

I had the (mis)fortune of running into a Bust-A-Move 2 arcade machine in the wild, and that was actually my introduction to the game and well before most people used the internet like they do today, and I thought it was a cheap knockoff. It kept me from trying other Bust-A-Move sequels for years.

[BrianC]

The Taito Legends 2 version of Bust-A-Move Again is actually worse. They pretty much just set one of EU or JP roms of PB2 to US mode and didn't even check to see if the music works properly (it doesn't). There's quite a bit that wasn't checked since there are input glitches in various other games in the collection that weren't in the Taito Memories counterparts and, despite the delay, the developer didn't even bother to fix the glitches for the US version.

[Mortificator]

Edited my earlier post for clarity.

On naming, I think "Puzzle Bobble" makes perfect sense for a puzzle-based spin-off of Bubble Bobble. "Bust-A-Move" sounds more like a dance-off

[cj iwakura]

Just need to point out that the Groove Coaster level is incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfr3cuoIQdE&t=80s

Massive love letter.