Rochdale Observer

I

-

T was one of the shining lights on a trip to the arcade in 80s – Bubble Bobble.

It’s certainly one of the first games I can remember playing, when my nan would cave in and let us go into the Golden Goose on day trips to the seaside.

Fast forward a few years, and the game’s catchy chiptune music drifting from my bedroom was always a give away that I was playing Bubble Bobble on my Atari rather than doing my homework.

So it was with no small amount of excitement that I learned last year’s Switch release – Bubble Bobble 4 Friends – was getting a PlayStatio­n release. And what’s more, it was stuffed full of new levels.

Taito’s 1986 classic is regularly voted one of the best games of all time for a reason – it is completely addictive.

The fast paced gameplay sees you racing around the level to clear the pesky bad guys before you run out of time ... and Baron von Blubba appears, to mercilessl­y hunt you down.

The game’s adorable protagonis­ts – Bub and Bob – are as kawaii as ever, and this time they’re joined by two new dragons, Peb and Pab.

This means that you don’t have to limit the co-op fun to just two players, the whole family can join in.

As you can imagine, after 34 years the game has had a bit of a makeover.

The graphics have had some spit and polish, the brilliant colours fairly popping off the screen, while the trademark music, now heard through a far superior sound system, still has that wonderful 8-bit chirpiness to it.

There are now 200 levels to plough through, each one offering a cute new set of baddies to catch and pop. There is a twist though, in that some of the more challengin­g levels start with Baron von Blubba on the screen, the Skel-Monsta following you around the screen like a shadow until you have dispatched all the bad guys.

Once you’ve blitzed through the first set of 50 stages or so, you’ll unlock hard mode, which is quite a game changer. Those bewitching

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom