I’m a giant Bubble Bobble nut, and although I never finished the whole game on the Famicom, I did spent a lot of years back in 8th grade perfecting my Bubble Bobble skills when I discovered NES emulators.  I used to take notes on certain levels; crafting nice cocktail matrix of timing specifics, special bonus items, warp umbrellas, and foe moving patterns.  Also, it helped that I didn’t really have a life in 8th grade.

So Japan gaming magazine/bible Famitsu has a screenshot-heavy article about the upcoming Bubble Bobble Wii.  My burning questions are: is it going to still have the same 8-bit charm as the original?  Will the new gameplay be worth it?  Will this game be so awesome that I will resort back to the obsessive hermit ways of my 8th grade self?  Or will this revitalized version shatter my treasured childhood memories (I’m looking at you, Galaga: Legions)?

Observation #1:

First off, I’m sorry, the new Bubble Bobble dinosaurs are fug.  I dare say they’re even panda-dogs.  My main complaint is that the top-most dinosaur spike/saggital crest is way too prominent so it looks like a giant spike.  Head spikes are for lowly henchman foes in 8-bit video games.  They’re like the Red Shirts of the monster squad.  Bubble Bobble dinos are heroes, goddammit, and they deserve to be cute and likeable.

Observation #2:

HOLY CRAP, SLOPES!  This is probably the biggest new change in the game, in my opinion.  It’d be interesting to see if gravity has an effect on the sloped surfaces.  Will you automatically slide down, or do you need to press down to slide down?  Will the BB dinos move slower when walking uphill?  Since the dinosaurs in the screenshot above all are standing on flat surfaces, my guess is that there is automatic slide, and you can only escape from sloped trapped spaces by bubble-jumping yourself out.  Makes sense, since Famitsu is hyping about the difficulty of the new game.

Observation #3:

So there’s up to 4P multiplayer in Bubble Bobble Wii.  BUT, from the screen above, it seems like some of the attack item bubbles are color coded according to the player colors.  This might mean that the bubble attacks like lightning and fire are player-specific.  I have no idea whether or not this will hurt or enhance multiplayer.  I guess in theory, in a co-op game, players have to work together and delegate bubble duty; and in a versus game, someone can sabotage others by bursting and wasting their attack bubbles.

Observation #4:

Wow, these are some of the worst textures I’ve ever seen.  These look like they were made from an illegal copy Photoshop 3 Elements.

Mystery #5:

THESE LETTERS ON THE LEFT ARE KILLING ME!  I’ve always liked the E-X-T-E-N-D 1UP bubble collecting mini-game but what could the letters on the left be spelling?

H_RO_ _ _

_V_R

Help!