Bubble Bobble Basic Information

Characters

Our Heroes!

	Bub (Bubblun)
	Bob (Bobblun)

The Enemies

The types of enemies are listed here with their names and the first screen on which they appear. The first column of names is taken from this picture which came from The Bub and Bob Page; it is from a user manual from the 1980's somewhere. The second column of names is from the credits when you complete the game. The enemies are shown in their three main states - normal, angry and bubbled.

pic name	credit name	first stage
Bubble Buster	Zen-Chan	1
Stoner	Mighta/Maita¹	6
Beluga	Monsta	10
Hullaballoon	Pulpul	20
Colley	Banebou	30
Incendo	Hidegonsu	40
Willy Whistle	Drunk	50
Super Socket	Invader	60

¹It's called a Mighta if you finish the normal game and a Maita if you get the true and happy ending. Probably just inconsistency in English / Japanese spelling.

Most of these enemies make guest appearances every 16 level, with big versions of them carrying your girlfriends. Just to remind you that you're supposed to be rescuing them, in case you'd forgotten.

level enemy level enemy level enemy

16 32 48

64 80 96

level	enemy	level	enemy	level	enemy
16		32		48
64		80		96

Special Enemies

Baron von Blubba (Skel-Monsta) is indestructible and will chase you around a screen if you take too long to finish it.

Rascal is similar to Baron von Blubba and appears on the secret levels.

Grumple Grommit (aka Super Drunk) is the final boss on level 100.

Points from popping enemies

Points

The number of points you get for actually popping the enemies trapped in bubbles depends on how many trapped enemies you pop at the same time. The points go up exponentially, so popping as many as you can at once can be very helpful.

The formula looks like (2 ^ (x - 1)) * 1000 where x is the number of trapped enemies that are popped at the same time. This of course yields the following:

x points

1 1000

2 2000

3 4000

4 8000

5 16000

6 32000

7 64000

x	points
1	1000
2	2000
3	4000
4	8000
5	16000
6	32000
7	64000

Fruit

When you pop a bubble with an enemy inside it, a piece of fruit appears. The different sorts of fruit are worth different numbers of points and their appearance depends on how many enemies you pop at the same time. These fruits look the same as the randomly appearing fruit discussed later but have different point values. If two enemies are popped at once then two pieces of fruit will appear; the first two in the following table. If five were popped then the first five on the table would appear, etc...

num		points
1	banana	500
2	orange	1000
3	peach	2000
4	watermelon	3000
5	grapes	4000
6	pineapple	5000
7	pink diamond	6000

Special Bubbles

Apart from normal bubbles that appear (and that you blow), there are a number of special sorts of bubbles that can appear. The effect of these bubbles are listed here.

bubble effect

water Water flows down the screen (starting in the opposite direction to which you're facing). Enemies that are caught in the water turn into 7000 pt diamonds.

lightning Lightning shoots across the screen (in the opposite direction to which you're facing). Enemies that are hit turn into 8000 pt diamonds.

fire Fire to falls onto the platform below. Enemies that are hit turn into 9000 pt diamonds.

fire breath See here

bubble	effect
	water	Water flows down the screen (starting in the opposite direction to which you're facing). Enemies that are caught in the water turn into 7000 pt diamonds.
	lightning	Lightning shoots across the screen (in the opposite direction to which you're facing). Enemies that are hit turn into 8000 pt diamonds.
	fire	Fire to falls onto the platform below. Enemies that are hit turn into 9000 pt diamonds.
	fire breath	See here

The bubbles are explained here.

Falling Food

When you you kill the last enemy on a level that's divisible by 5 up to level 50 (also level 1 and some of the final few levels) then all the remaining bubbles will turn into food (or rather odd items in the case of the final levels). Regardless of what these items look like they'll all be worth 700 points.

This will also happen on other levels if your score matches certain criteria. If the tens and hundreds digits of one of your scores are the same (i.e. your score is abcdd0) then it will happen, or if the tens and hundreds digits of your score match those of your partner's. So playing with two players makes this a lot easier as one can blow bubbles while the other gets his score ready. The actual items that you get depend on what these digits are although it doesn't really make much different since they're all worth 700 points.

The items that you get automatically on certain levels are shown here:

screen item

1 cherries

5 pink pudding

10 strawberry

15 brown lolly

20 tomato

25 donut

30 candy apple?

35 corn cob

40 green and brown pudding

45 mug of beer

50 sweet

85 red music notes

86 odd lamp

92 Bub

93 Chack'n from Chack'n Pop

94 computer

screen	item
1		cherries
5		pink pudding
10		strawberry
15		brown lolly
20		tomato
25		donut
30		candy apple?
35		corn cob
40		green and brown pudding
45		mug of beer
50		sweet
85		red music notes
86		odd lamp
92		Bub
93		Chack'n from Chack'n Pop
94		computer

According to Chris Moore, we've got all the screens that turn your left-over bubbles into items without your score being something specific. We also had a few extra ones but he pointed out that they were erroneous and they're gone now. :-)

The items that you get for a score of the format abcdd0 are shown here:

score item

...000 french fries

...110 double scoop ice cream cone

...220 creme caramel

...330 burger

...440 slice of cake

...550 cupcake

...660 mug of beer

...770 sausage on a stick

...880 white ice cream cone

...990 double blue lolly

The items that you get for matching your tens and hundreds to your partner's are listed here. Although both the tens and hundreds column need to be matched, only the tens column affects what item appears. They turn out to be the lowest 10 food items (the vegetables). They are, of course, all worth 700 points.

score	item
...000		french fries
...110		double scoop ice cream cone
...220		creme caramel
...330		burger
...440		slice of cake
...550		cupcake
...660		mug of beer
...770		sausage on a stick
...880		white ice cream cone
...990		double blue lolly

score item

...00 green pepper

...10 aubergine

...20 carrot

...30 onion

...40 beetroot

...50 turnip

...60 parsnip

...70 marrow

...80 pea pod

...90 mushroom

score	item
...00		green pepper
...10		aubergine
...20		carrot
...30		onion
...40		beetroot
...50		turnip
...60		parsnip
...70		marrow
...80		pea pod
...90		mushroom

EXTEND bubbles

When you collect enough letter bubbles to spell

then the current screen will end and you'll also get a new life. It's a good way to end tough screens if you can... and it's always great to get more lives.

These will appear from the tunnels/holes in the roof and floor of a level (assuming it has tunnels, or as is sometimes called an "open" or "wraparound" level). The way this works is dependent on the number of bubbles you popped at once on the last non-open (ie. no tunnels) level. If you popped three or more at once then you will get (1 less than that number) different types of extend bubbles on this stage. Eg. if you pop all four bubbles at once on stage 2, you will get 3 different extend bubbles on stage 3 where there are tunnels.

If you are on a stage with tunnels, however, popping lots of bubbles at once should have the same effect, but on the current stage.

Baron von Blubba

He goes by many names - the skeleton, the white ghost ghost, the Baron, the shark, whatever you call him. Well, there isn't really much to him... just that he appears when you take too long (except on level 97). On most versions I've played he starts off quite slowly, gets in line with your alternating vertical and horizontal position and speeds up until he catches you, or if you last long enough, he becomes slow again. There *is* a way to get rid of one of them in 2 player mode: if yours kills you and you run into your partner's one while you are still flashing, his one disappears too.

Rascal

Rascal seems to like dark places. He hides in the secret rooms and, if you stay there too long, starts chasing you around the same as Baron von Blubba does. There is no "hurry up" warning before he appears however, he just arrives and starts chasing you.

Finishing the Game

First you have to survive till level 100. Take the lightning potion and hit the bad guy with 100 lightning bolts. It shouldn't be too hard because his pattern is quite easy to follow, just avoid his projectiles. Then he'll end up in a big bubble... pop him for 1000000 points! You've found love and friendship! If you finish the game with only one player then you are told that it is not a true ending and you should "Never forget your friend!"; you are sent back into the game to "try again!!". Even if you finish the game like this with two players, it still isn't the true and happy ending.

How to get Lots of Points

Most of these are self explanatory but they're here anyway. :-) It's very important to pop as many enemies at once because of the huge numbers of points that you can get for this. You also get more points from the items that they leave behind.

Try to get your tens and hundreds digits lined up as often as possible at the ends of stages so that you can get falling food. If you can, kill the enemies quickly so that you can get high valued items on the next screen but it's usually worth waiting and getting more points on the current screen.

Pop all the EXTEND bubbles that you can, even if you already have them because popping lots of the same kind will give you candy canes.

Of course, try to survive until the secret levels so that you can get lots of diamonds!

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This page last changed 2000/04/01