Bubble Bobble - Different Arcade Versions There are 4 common variations of the Bubble Bobble arcade game - 2 licensed and 2 bootleg versions. The versions can be identified from the main Bubble Bobble logo screen in the attract mode. Original Taito Version
This is the Taito original, and for the Bubble Bobble purist probably the best version of the game as its unmodified. Romstar Version
Taito licensed Bubble Bobble to Romstar for US release, as is clearly shown in the legal text. The Romstar version is almost identical to the Taito version of the game. The one difference for the US was the addition of a mode select screen.
This allows the player to select whether to play Normal Mode or Super Mode games upon the start of a new game. In the Taito version the only way to select Super Mode was to enter the secret code on the main menu. Bobble Bobble
Bobble Bobble was a bootlegged (i.e. pirated) release of Bubble Bobble - one can only assume the name was (badly) changed in some way to try and avoid legal issues. Gameplay wise it is almost identical to the Taito Bubble Bobble version and doesn't have a mode select screen. One difference between the bootlegged versions and the official boards is that the pirates didn't manage to dump the contents of the chip that controlled the bubble movement and appearance of pickups. They rewrote this code as closely as possible to emulate the behavior of the original game, and whilst superficially the same it is not accurate. Super Bobble Bobble
The second bootlegged version of Bubble Bobble was Super Bobble Bobble. The main difference between this and the Bobble Bobble bootlegged board is that this version defaulted to the much more difficult Super Mode rather than Normal Mode like all the other versions. It had the same issues as Bobble Bobble with the emulated rewrite of the chip that controls bubble movement and pickup spawning. |
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