Various ports of BUBBLE BOBBLE & some questions.

[craptest]

Hey. I have a few specific questions regarding certain versions of Bubble Bobble.

1. Is the emulation of Bubble Bobble for 'Taito Memories Vol 1' (PS2 Japanese) the same as that which I (unfortunately) experienced with 'Taito Legends' (PAL PS2)? I read a thread a while ago where someone suggested the Japanese disc was vastly superior. Import snobbery or truth?

2. Is the Japanese 'Taito Memories' on a DVD or drive killing CD (as was the case with Taito Legends 1)? Can you configure the buttons in the Taito Memories version of Bubble Bobble? If not are the jump and shoot the right way around? Any extra content on the Japanese compilation?

3. The PS1 / Saturn version of Bubble Bobble is based on an old Amiga port ...right??? Though not arcade perfect, is this version worth getting? Would you recommend it over the recent PAL & Japanese PS2 conversions?

4. What is the best version of Bubble Bobble available on any system? It need not be arcade perfect. Bubble Bobble for the Master system?

The only version of Bubble Bobble I currently own is the "Old & New" GBA release. Pretty good - apart from the changed music and lack of 2 player 1 cart support.

Thanks

[DCharlie]

What is the best version of Bubble Bobble available on any system? It need not be arcade perfect. Bubble Bobble for the Master system?

Reservoir Gods Double Bobble 2000 for the falcon is the winner for me.



Has a level editor with the registered version too

[wheelaa]

Towns version for me. Awesome conversion (as you'd expect). Lush box art too, best I've seen for any BB conversion. Good luck finding it complete though.

[gordon]

I thought the Commodore 64 version got it pretty much spot-on in terms of "feel", and looked pretty good, too.

[Kubrick]

1. The simple fact that you can use an Arcade stick makes the Japanese version superior for me (you can't in Legends). As for the emulation, I have no idea if the PAL version is iffy or not but it wouldn't surprise me if Memories was more accurate since TAITO Japan produced it. Whereas, I believe the guy that invented MAME was involved with Legends.

2. It's on a DVD-ROM and you configure the buttons how you like. Not just for Bubble Bobble but for any game.

3. I wouldn't recommend it over Taito Memories, but it's probably decent enough. I think the music was changed though. If it's based on Amiga versions then it won't be 100% accurate - eg: the Amiga port of Rainbow Islands never included the 3 secret levels.

4. I don't see anything wrong with the version on Taito Memories Gekan. It basically is the Arcade version.

[Mayhem]

I thought the Commodore 64 version got it pretty much spot-on in terms of "feel", and looked pretty good, too.

I always vote it best conversion on the C64

(my brother and I wasted countless hundreds of hours playing it)

It still holds up well today... though having playing the real arcade to death via MAME etc, there are a couple of noticable differences. The C64 version is more forgiving for starters!

[CMcK]

The Master System version may not be the most accurate and has plenty of sprite flicker when it gets busy. But it does feature an extra 100 levels.

[MattyD]

Wasn't the Xbox version of Taito Legends supposed to be better? IIRC the PS2 version was done by Taito and quite badly at that, whereas the Xbox one just uses a slightly modified version of MAME that runs the original ROMS.

[C']

The Taito Memories/Legends situation is quite confusing.

The first 2 games were the NTSC-J releases of Taito Memories Joukan (Vol.1) and Gekan (Vol.2). These were both developed by Taito themselves and overall the accuracy of the games (including Bubble Bobble) is incredibly accurate. They also allow all games’ controls to be fully customised.

Empire obtained the license to release a Taito retro collection (Taito Legends), however Taito would not provide the code from the Taito Memories collections so they had to write their own emulator for the PS2 and Xbox versions (the fact that both games’ front end was significantly different from the Memories games is a clear indicator of this). In the case of Bubble Bobble (as per the original post) the emulation had a number of glitches and was not as accurate as the NTSC-J PS2 version (bubbles not acting in the correct way for example). The Taito Legends games also did not allow customisable controls and were not compatible with an arcade stick (as Kubrick highlighted). Taito themselves were not involved with either the PS2 or Xbox version of Legends.

For Taito Legends 2, Taito allowed Empire to use the Memories code for the PS2 version but had to write their own Xbox version again (as Taito had never produced an Xbox version of Memories).

Also, just to clarify, the version of Bubble Bobble on the Saturn/Playstation is ported from the Atari ST version, not the Amiga. Apparently this is because the arcade’s source code was lost many years ago.

[Womble9]

Personally I think it's fair to say that this is a game that's been converted pretty well all round. I've played many of them but the Saturn and the GBA versions have probably taken most of my time. Does anyone know of a version that's a stinker?.

[anagrama]

*insert obligatory recommendation of Master System version*

[Ouenben]

The master system one is def my fave one ever.

It's the only one I know (apart from the gb one which is a diff game) that actually has the bosses on level 48, 80 etc and has the extra 100 levels and bonus door on level 1 (if you wait long enough without killing the last guy), level 10 for the orb, level 20 etc...

The arcade version seems to be missing alot of the bonus doors (some of them you had to get to without dying which was too difficult imo) and level 48 has a few small enemies instead of a boss ghost.

Dunno if others had a password save system too?
also pics after level 100 of

->Open Spoiler<-

The monsters trying to marry bob/bubs girlfriends iirc

Master system version for me, lovely levels, brilliant sound, lots of extras, easier i think too.

[Ouenben]

. double post

[jnm23]

I'm sorry but the music in the master system version was too painful, much as I wanted to appreciate it.

Actually liked the bubble memories version best (which i guess effectively is the ST version). Difficulty had been toned down from the arcade e.g. enemies stay in their bubbles for longer. Whereas on the arcade there are some evil levels where the enemies only stay bubbled for about 2 seconds ft: