Bubble Bobble

Bubble Bobble's NES version is a careful conversion of Taito's 1986 arcade hit. Two brothers, Bub and Bob, have been turned into bubble-blowing dragons; they fight through a hundred single-screen rooms to free their girlfriends from the Cave of Monsters.

Each room is a self-contained puzzle: blow a bubble, trap an enemy inside it, then burst it by touching the bubble or jumping on it. Some rooms are pure arcade action, others are laid out as platform puzzles where a single wrong move traps you. Cleared enemies leave fruit that scores, and special items appear from bubbles under specific conditions. Beating room 100 is only the first ending - the game continues into a harder loop with the true finale reserved for the second time round.

• ▸100 single-screen rooms, each a small self-contained puzzle
• ▸Bubble trapping and bursting as the core mechanic
• ▸Two-player co-op, which changes several solutions
• ▸Second, harder loop after the first ending with the true finale