BUBBLE BOBBLE
(Firebird, 1987)
I'm not sure why I'm reviewing these two games, they're a bit mainstream for my usual obscure tastes. But I've got heavily into doing 'toofers' of late and thought these would go rather nicely together. It was suggested to me recently, as a joke admittedly, that I review Manic Miner. But I'm not sure where I'd begin - trying to say anything remotely original about that game seems impossible, and I'm not really into repeating what other people say ad nauseam, I'll leave that to plenty of others who are quite happy to do it on Facebook and Youtube. Miaow!
So Bubble Bobble it is then. A Firebird arcade conversion, which U.S. Gold must have missed somehow. It's quite cutesy isn't it, let's check the inlay. Bub and Bob are dinosaurs and they've lost their jurassic main squeezes, the dino doofuses! There are apparently 100 caves in the way, which sounds like quite a drag, but dinos gotta get some dino lovin', otherwise they'll all die out. Oh wait.
Their main weapon is blowing bubbles since they're too cute to actually fight the cave dwellers properly. Once they've trapped a pest in a bubble, they then pop it and the pest's gone, and turns into fruit to eat very logically. Watery bubbles can also be popped and ridden, and if you spot an umbrella, that will send you onward 5 screens all at once. It's a Japanese arcade game, it doesn't have to make sense, just enjoy the mad ride.
Before I summarise, m'lud, let's see what those '80s rags made of BB, that's always fun. Well actually it's a bit boring this time round, everyone loved the arse off it. Oh except for SU, trust them! 8/10 only. Tamara Howard called it "nauseatingly cute" with "love/hate potential". Not hardcore enough for Ms. Blood & Guts, I guess. Not that anyone cared, but The Games Machine (who?) scoffed that "Firebird could hardly fail, probably one of the easiest coin-ops to convert to the Spectrum". I'd like to see them try themselves, cheeky twonks!
So what do I think? I can't disagree with those who love it. It's such a simple game, but deceptively tricky to get far into (level 20 was my best effort). Reminds me of Bomb Jack in that respect, another relatively simple classic. The graphics are cute, it's true (alright Tamara) but full of character, there's colour by the bucketful and a cracking tune yet again from Tim 'Tunes' Follin, whose bro Mike wrote the game itself - a talented family indeed. It's dangerously addictive and even more so with the ace two player option. In short it's definitely a Spectral classic which still plays great after all this time.
RAINBOW ISLANDS
(Ocean, 1990)
Three years later it was Ocean's turn to release the sequel to Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands. But wait. What does this have to do with our dino pals Bub and Bob? The R.I. protaganist appears to be a small rotund boy. Well, if you'd finished the first game you'd know. Bub and Bob regained their human form after defeating Baron von Blubba (Jabba The Hutt's best man). Of course.
Now they've got more work to do. They got suckered into buying a timeshare in beautiful Rainbow Islands and all went well until the place was sent into turmoil by either the returning Count (mind the spelling) or bizarrely, Doh according to some sources. He must have got bored with all that Arkanoid faff and decided to branch out by infesting holiday destinations with cute monsters.
There are 7 groups of islands in the archaeopaelio... arcanepeloton... group of islands. Start with Insect Island, the least popular with tourists, then onto Combat Island, full of tanks shooting at you, and on it goes. On each level Bubtopher, or possibly Bobert, must reach the very top by firing rainbows around, which he can climb on or destroy enemies with. He's got an infinite supply, so just let 'em rip. Just mind your chubby little noggin, as the monsters nearly always come from above, and contact with them is ouchy. When you win, fruit flies everywhere, yay! Not fruit flies the insects, ah never mind.
Let's do the usual and check out the gutter press before spouting my own uninformed opinion on the matter. History is repeating itself as all the mags rated it well into the 90% bracket. But I found one that didn't! Spain's MicroHobby mag thought that "Bub y Bob" merited a paltry 89% and they added insult to injury by mis-naming it "Rainbow Island". Outrageous behaviour from our Hispanic cousins. It was probably too easy for them, with all their Dinamic games and all.
So am I going to buck the trend and be a controversial trailblazer in saying it's a load of tosh? Too right I am! It's far too colourful and noisy, the action is too fast and frantic, it's stupidly playable to an irresponsible degree and frankly nowhere near cute enough. The only good thing is there's no 2 player mode, so you have no choice but to suffer on your lonely ownsome. This game is truly the nadir of Spectrum software - avoid at all costs.
RAINBOW RATINGS
BUBBLE BOBBLE 92%
RAINBOW ISLANDS 94%
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