Bubble Bobble FAQ V 1.0 (Nintendo Entertainment System version) Written By Ron Glenn (smashjackson@hotmail.com) ************************************************ 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.