What do you call the genre defined by Bubble Bobble? What are your favorite examples?

[+jgkspsx]

I have never really been into Bubble Bobble, but I have been giving it and its clones more of a chance lately. It might be the pandemic. If so I’m not alone:

 

 

There are so many different clones and takeoffs that I have been wondering if there is a name for them. “Bubble Bobble clones” is a boring name. “bubblers”? “bobblers”? “bubbobbers”?

 

Clearly Bubble Bobble is a takeoff on Mario Brothers, but it adds a lot that other games took wholesale. I think the mechanic that defines Bubble Bobble for me is grabbing enemies and throwing them to turn them into items. Wrapping screen edges, capturing enemies, platforms, and food are ingredients but don’t have to be present for it to be a... bubbler.

 

What do you call them? And what are your favorites?

 

 

[+jgkspsx]

As for me, here are some of my favorites and some of the ones I tried.

 

My long-time favorite is Tumblepop for the Game Boy. Ghostbusters and Bubble Bobble: two great tastes that go great together! Add an extensive set of levels accessed through a world map a la Super Mario 3, and you have a great way to kill a lot of time on the go. Don’t play it all in one sitting, though. I’m looking forward to trying the arcade version again on the Evercade.

 

 

Rainbow Islands was the first Bubble Bobble game I played. I was so confused.

 

 

I might have played Snow Brothers first. I liked it a lot better than Bubble Bobble at the time.

 

My interest in bobblers rekindled after about twenty years when Magical Whip came out for the DSi. It was a lot of fun, though kind of excessively hard, and with the rather small selection of games available it made it stand out.

 

I just got Don Doko Don for the PC Engine, which kind of brings the Mario back by giving your character a hammer a la Donkey Kong to wallop your adversaries with: 

 

Liquid Kids: Mizbak’s Adventures isn’t a bobbler but it is a platformer strongly influenced by Bubble Bobble’s bubbling mechanic. I don’t own a copy yet but it’s the next thing on my PC Engine priority list. If only an affordable copy would pop up...

 

 

[pacman000]

Wikipedia calls games like Bubble Bobble & Mario Bros Comical Action Platformers. Not sure if there’s a name for just Bubble-Bobble-influenced games. 

[+jgkspsx]

Interesting! This video has some I’ve heard of and a number I haven’t, including from my nutso favorites FACE. 
 

It’s really remarkable how completely the Bubble Bobble mechanic took over this genre.

 

And I left out the ur-Bubble Bobble, the Fairyland Story! 
 

I really liked Woah Dave on 3DS and Wii U, which was like Bubble Bobble combined with some style cues from Joust.

 

 

And I had no recollection that Joe & Mac Returns in the arcade was a Bubble Bobble clone! Trippy!

 

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

I would call them single screen platformers. 

[+jgkspsx]

Does Burgertime count? Q-Bert? Donkey Kong? Congo Bongo? Pang? It seems like before Bubble Bobble conquered the world there was a lot more diversity in single-screen side-view games.

[+Black_Tiger]

I call them screen clearing games.

[juansolo]

RodLand. There's nothing better than faries beating the shit out of monsters with a stick. Played that to death back in the day on the Amiga. Bubble Bobble also.

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by juansolo

[HoshiChiri]

I'd call them arcade platformers, but that's probably not the best option- I'm sure other people use that term for titles I'd consider side scrollers or beat-em-ups.

[+jgkspsx]

I think even more foundational to this genre than Mario Bros or Donkey Kong is Popeye. You have the super colorful scenery, the collectibles, the food, the screen wrapping, the punching your enemy across the screen...:

 

Yes, in some ways it’s like a side-view Pac Man, but it’s definitely transitional.

 

And then there’s another game that came out the same year that is certainly not comical but rings some of the same bells…

 

 

[Hwlngmad]

On 5/22/2021 at 12:17 PM, jgkspsx said:

As for me, here are some of my favorites and some of the ones I tried.

 

My long-time favorite is Tumblepop for the Game Boy. Ghostbusters and Bubble Bobble: two great tastes that go great together! Add an extensive set of levels accessed through a world map a la Super Mario 3, and you have a great way to kill a lot of time on the go. Don’t play it all in one sitting, though. I’m looking forward to trying the arcade version again on the Evercade.

 

 

Rainbow Islands was the first Bubble Bobble game I played. I was so confused.

 

 

I might have played Snow Brothers first. I liked it a lot better than Bubble Bobble at the time.

 

 

My interest in bobblers rekindled after about twenty years when Magical Whip came out for the DSi. It was a lot of fun, though kind of excessively hard, and with the rather small selection of games available it made it stand out.

 

I just got Don Doko Don for the PC Engine, which kind of brings the Mario back by giving your character a hammer a la Donkey Kong to wallop your adversaries with: 

 

Liquid Kids: Mizbak’s Adventures isn’t a bobbler but it is a platformer strongly influenced by Bubble Bobble’s bubbling mechanic. I don’t own a copy yet but it’s the next thing on my PC Engine priority list. If only an affordable copy would pop up...

 

 

I would call these single screen puzzle platformers.  Also, I need to give a few of these of go for sure.  However, the one game I have played in this genre I felt was the best (so far for me personally) is Nightmare in the Dark on the Neo Geo.  Definitely check it out if/when you can. 

 

[Hakogame 箱亀]

I think Parasol Stars might be my favorite game in this genre.

I usually call them something like "single screen arcade platformers" or just "bubble bobble style games"

[Mikebloke]

Once upon a time all I had with any decent number of games was a amstrad 464. Of that machine, bubble bobble, parasol stars and New Zealand story was probably the most played games I had. I love them all for different reasons, and wasn't fully aware that they were made by the same people at the time (youth, init). 

 

I'd regard them as platformers, and good ones at that. When I found I could play it on that beast of a system the gx4000 it's all I played for a long time. 

[+jgkspsx]

I love NewZealand Story, but like Liquid Kids I think it’s more influenced by the genre than really part of it.

 

 

[+Gemintronic]

Single Screen Action Puzzle.. I guess.

 

Same as Solomon's Key, Nuts & Milk, Binary Land, Door Door, etc..

 

 

[electricmastro]

Games that have been compared to Bubble Bobble:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mikebloke]

Even though its got horizontal scrolling, Flicky is probably another good example of a single screen clone, slightly different mechanics but slightly puzzle platformer. 

[+jgkspsx]

I am informed that actual Bubble Bobble clones are called "elimination platformers". I still like bobbler better.

Pang/Buster Bros feels more like an unusual shmup than a platformer but maybe that's because I don't survive long enough to get there.

 

Chack'n Pop was another forefather of Bubble Bobble and the origin of one of BB's most fearsome enemies. The SG-1000 version is my favorite since it's the easiest and it's a really hard game.

 

 

Speaking of SG-1000 C-So! is a great one (also on MSX) by the awesome Compile. 
 

 

Evercade relatively recently got two I had never heard of before, both from Korean developer Unico:

 

Magic Purple is a hybrid of a bobbler and a shooter.

 

And so is Fancy World, with the added bonus of looking like it was drawn in MSPaint:

 

 

They're fun enough but because they're shooters they are less mechanically interesting than most games in the genre.

 

[BassGuitari]

Broadly, I would file Bubble Bobble under "Platformer."

 

More specifically, I would call it an "Arcade Platformer" or "Action-Puzzle Platformer."

[+GoldLeader]

54 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

I am informed that actual Bubble Bobble clones are called "elimination platformers". I still like bobbler better.

Pang/Buster Bros feels more like an unusual shmup than a platformer but maybe that's because I don't survive long enough to get there.

 

Chack'n Pop was another forefather of Bubble Bobble and the origin of one of BB's most fearsome enemies. The SG-1000 version is my favorite since it's the easiest and it's a really hard game.

 

 

Speaking of SG-1000 C-So! is a great one (also on MSX) by the awesome Compile. 
 

 

Evercade relatively recently got two I had never heard of before, both from Korean developer Unico:

 

Magic Purple is a hybrid of a bobbler and a shooter.

 

And so is Fancy World, with the added bonus of looking like it was drawn in MSPaint:

 

 

They're fun enough but because they're shooters they are less mechanically interesting than most games in the genre.

 

Bobbler!  Haaa,   I like that!

 

You mentioned Tumble Pop for Game Boy way earlier and it triggered a memory for me.  I bought that game (as a poor college student without a lot of cash to burn on games at the time) based on a review in a magazine.  Anyway in that review (about 1992) he called it a "Platform" Game,  which we would later call "Platformers"...It stood out to me as that was the very first time I heard a game called that.   It seems so common now,  but back then...

 

 

 

BTW,  I'm not saying that was the first use of the term,  but it was the first time I became aware of it.

[newtmonkey]

Genre: Bubble Bobble clone

Favorite in genre: Bubble Bobble

[r_chase]

In Japan, they call these "comical action games". I personally just call them "single-screen platformers".

[+jgkspsx]

1 hour ago, r_chase said:

In Japan, they call these "comical action games". I personally just call them "single-screen platformers".

The former is a much larger genre that encompasses Donkey Kong, Frogger, and so on. The latter still includes Donkey Kong, Popeye, Hustle Chumy, and so on.

 

What I am talking about is games where you advance by eliminating all the enemies on each level and usually collect a lot of items while doing so. Come to think of it that does disqualify Chack'n Pop.

[r_chase]

4 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

The former is a much larger genre that encompasses Donkey Kong, Frogger, and so on. The latter still includes Donkey Kong, Popeye, Hustle Chumy, and so on.

 

What I am talking about is games where you advance by eliminating all the enemies on each level and usually collect a lot of items while doing so. Come to think of it that does disqualify Chack'n Pop.

Yeah, after making my web game, I might consider figuring out how to make a single-screen platformer with a goal similar to Fast Eddie...but with other standard elements like defeating enemies.

[Pixelboy]

Bobblevania.