The Sega Master System conversion of Bubble Bobble was converted by Taito themselves and published by Sega in 1988 in Japan and 1991 in Europe. Not only is it one of the best of the early console conversions, but it also differs from most of the other conversions in a significant way.
The original Japanese title for the game was “Final Bubble Bobble“.
Is the Game Boy Color conversion of Bubble Bobble better than the awful Game Boy version? In a word: no. It isn’t. It’s arguably worse…
The PC MS-DOS port is actually one of the better Bubble Bobble conversions, with graphics that don’t flicker and are more or less the authentic experience. The play area is slightly wider than the arcade original, but it doesn’t affect gameplay, which is excellent overall.
For my money the MSX conversion is the best 8-bit home computer port of Bubble Bobble out there. It was developed by Taito themselves, who know the game inside-out and obviously knew what they were doing when they programmed it.
The Nintendo Game Boy conversion of Bubble Bobble is not an authentic port of the arcade game, even though it was developed by Taito themselves. Continue reading Bubble Bobble, Game Boy
The Famicom Disk System version of Bubble Bobble is mostly the same as the NES version, although it came out slightly earlier and was supplied on a two-sided floppy disk.
The Nintendo Entertainment System conversion of Bubble Bobble features beautiful graphics, with some colour changes to the original, but in general it is a very authentic port of the classic Taito arcade game.
The Apple II conversion of Bubble Bobble was developed by Novalogic (like the MS-DOS version), and it must be said that it’s not particularly authentic. In fact, it’s probably the worst version of Bubble Bobble available.
The Sega Game Gear conversion of Bubble Bobble was developed and published by Taito themselves and it is a damn sight better than the flawed Game Boy and Game Boy Color conversions, even though the levels in this have been adapted to fit the Game Gear‘s tiny screen.
This conversion of Taito‘s classic arcade game to the Atari VCS/2600 was first released in 1980, and – boy – did it shift some units…
