Features
Forget your newfangled 3-D graphics and 20-minute-long cut-scenes: Bubble Bobble is back to make gaming fun again with ultra-cool old-skool platforming action. Few games can claim to be as beloved as Bubble Bobble, from its toe-tappingly marvellous music to the simple yet maddingly addictive gameplay that's as fun now as it's always been. This GBA release contains two versions of the game, one a more-or-less exact conversion of the original arcade game and the other a new graphically enhanced version with a few minor gameplay tweaks. The goal in both versions is simple: just clear a single, platform-infested screen of enemies. You get rid of the bad guys by blowing a bubble at them and capturing them inside it, then popping the incarcerated evildoer with the spikes on your dragony back. Apart from the excellent level design and two-player mode--which perfectly balances cooperation and back-stabbing--the game keeps things interesting by offering lots of power-ups and an almost infinite array of different bonuses to pick up.
The game works very well on the GBA but the more pedantic of BB fans will grimace disapprovingly at the fact that the "old" arcade version isn't quite as faithful as it could be, with needlessly altered music and changes to the way the bonuses appear; the new graphics for heroes Bub and Bob aren't much cop in the "new" version either. That's nit-picking, though, for this is still one of the best games yet for the GBA, whether or not you've played it in any of its previous incarnations. --David Jenkins
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