Puzzle Bobble (all games in
series)
Puzzle Bobble
Manufacturer: Taito, 1994
Design team:
Game designer: Seiichi Nakakuki
Programmer & Game designer: Tkhc.02
Programmer & System designer: Tmr
Programmer & Play designer: Nob
Character & Game designer: Kazuhiro Kinoshita
Character designers: Komai Ryota, Miwa Kamiya
Music composed by: Kazuko Umino, Yasuko Yamada
Sound effects: Hideki Takahagi
Sound software: Naoto Yagishita
Sound producer: Hiroshige Tonomura
Designers: Hiroyasu Nagai (Super Star Nagai), T. Yoshiba, M. Osaka,
Nobuaki Kuroki, Y. Onogi
Program supervisors: Masaki Yagi, T. Saito, G Rox, H. Kato, K.
Tajima
Description:
The first in the hugely successful puzzle series from Taito, Puzzle
Bobble is a game for 1 or 2 players based on the Bubble Bobble games
first produced in 1986, in which the aim is to clear each play area
of the colored bubbles that litter it. This is achieved by firing
bubbles up the screen - with the angle of trajectory dictated by the
player - at the clusters of static colored bubbles that litter each
play area. The aim is to forms chains of like-colored bubbles, thus
making them disappear. At regular intervals, the bubbles will drop
one row down the screen, making life more difficult for the players.
The game is over when the bubbles reach the very bottom of the play
area.
In the 1-player game there are thirty rounds to complete, whereas in
the 2-player Vs. mode, the winner is the player who clears their
play area first. The addictive yet straightforward game-play
mechanic ensured that the Puzzle Bobble games would be the most
successful of their genre since Russian programmer, Alexey
Pajitnov's legendary Tetris was unleashed upon the gaming world in
the late 1980s.
As well as typically cute Japanese animation (the characters from
"Bubble Bobble" operate the cannon) and music, the game's mechanics
and level design were beautifully balanced, and the game was
terrifically successful at the arcades, spawning several sequels
(see Series section for more information). It is unusual in being
popular with women and girls.
If you look closely at the bubbles, you'll notice that the enemies
from "Bubble Bobble" are trapped inside; a different enemy for each
different colored bubble. The following chart shows which enemies
are trapped in which color bubble :
Legend : Color of Bubble => "Bubble Bobble" Enemy Inside
Blue => Zen-Chan
Yellow => Pulpul
Red => Invader
Green => Drunk
Purple => Monsta
Orange => Banebou
Black => Hidegonsu
White => Mighta
During the credits you can see one of the constellations form the
image of a fish, that fish is a boss from the "Darius" series; also
made by Taito.
Scoring and tips:
Pop bubbles of the same color : each bubble is worth 10 points.
Drop bubbles : the first bubble is 20, and each additional bubble
scores double.
Thus : bubbles dropped score
1 20
2 40
3 80
4 160
5 320
6 640
7 1280
8 2560
9 5120
10 10240
11 20480
12 40960
13 81920
14 163840
15 327680
16 655360
17 or more 1310720
Bonus points are awarded based on how fast you completed the stage.
Time you completed points awarded
0-5 sec. 50,000
6 sec. 49,160
7 sec. 48,320
8 sec. 47,480
9 sec. 46,640
10 sec. 45,800
64 sec. 440
65+ seconds or greater: no bonus given
There is a special bonus of a million points on rounds 9 and 13.
This is achieved by linking up a number of orange bubbles on round 9
and blue bubbles on round 13.
Puzzle
Bobble 2
Manufacturer: Taito, 1995
Design team:
Game designer: Seiichi Nakakuki
Character designers: Kazuhiro Kinoshita, Baw Baw (Bawbaw), Ko-Ji
Terada, Kat, T. Akitsu-Osaru-, Rie Amino, Uoosy Maler, Yuko
Kajihara, Ryota Sasaki, Yasunobu Kousokabe, Miwa Kamiya, Rieko
Kobayashi, Miyabi Tashiro, Masami Kikuchi, Anpanmanda, Saori
Hiratsuka, Vap Corp.
Programmers: Hiroshi Maruyama, Junichiro Noguchi
Sound (Zuntata): Nakayama Joutohei, Kazuko Umino, Yasuko Yamada, Syu
Designers: Kumi Mizobe, T. Yoshiba, M. Osaka, Y. Mori
Description:
The followup features a wider screen in single player mode, making
it more challenging to aim for bubbles to join together and clear.
If you look closely at the bubbles, you'll notice that the enemies
from "Bubble Bobble" are trapped inside; a different enemy for each
different colored bubble. The following chart shows which enemies
are trapped in which color bubble :
Legend : Color of Bubble => "Bubble Bobble" Enemy Inside
Blue => Zen-Chan
Yellow => Pulpul
Red => Invader
Green => Drunk
Purple => Monsta
Orange => Banebou
Black => Hidegonsu
White => Mighta
On the last level, you will see characters from "Bubble Bobble"
& "Rainbow Islands".
Scoring and tips:
Pop a bubble : 10 points.
Drop bubbles : the first bubble is 20, and each additional bubble
scores double.
Thus : bubbles dropped score
1 20
2 40
3 80
4 160
5 320
6 640
7 1280
8 2560
9 5120
10 10240
11 20480
12 40960
13 81920
14 163840
15 327680
16 655360
17 or more 1310720
Unlike the first Puzzle Bobble, there is a way to get more than 1.31
million points. It's possible to get 2621440, 5242880, or even
10485760 points! To do this:
* You need 17 or more bubbles.
* One of these bubbles must touch exactly one bubble of a group of
similarly colored bubbles.
* The bubble that pops the similarly colored group of bubbles must
not touch the group of 17 or more bubbles.
Bonus points are awarded based on how fast you completed the stage.
Time you completed points awarded
1-5 sec. 500,000
6 sec. 494,600
7 sec. 481,700
8 sec. 469,400
9 sec. 458,400
46 sec. 14,100
47 sec. as low as 300 or no bonus
48+ seconds or greater: no bonus
Note:
There was a special version of this game called "2X" released a
couple months afterwards that expands some of the program features.
Puzzle
Bobble 3
Manufacturer: Taito, 1996
Design team:
Game designers: Seiichi Nakakuki, T. Saito
Programmers: Nak (Njk Techno), Maru (Njk Techno)
Character designers: Takao Yoshiba, Midori, Mari, Chino Maeda, M.
Ishizuka
Music composer: Yukiharu Urita (Zuntata)
Designer: Kumi Mizobe
Round designers: Aya Yamamoto, Ayako Ishitsuka, Ayumi Kuroda, Chiaki
Tanaka, Daiki Tanihiro, Etsuko Nakaya, Iesato Mikami, Ikue Sakuma,
Junichi Sakurada, Junko Tanaka, Kaori Saito, Kazuaki Kimura, Kazuma
Mori, Keiko Yano, Kiyotaka Yokota, Kuniaki Yamamoto, Mai Miyata,
Masahiko Inoue, Masaki Iida, Miwa Akieda, Naoko Okada, Naoki
Matsumoto, Naomi Abe, Ryo Sasaki, Souichiro Takakura, Sumiyo
Kurosaki, Susumu Tsukamoto, Tsuyoshi Kanetani, Yasuki Fujino,
Yoshimichi Omori
Voice performers: Adachi Tsubame Youchien, C. Tanaka, Y. Sekiguchi
Narration assists: Norihiro Furukawa (Zuntata), Richard H.B
(Zuntata)
Description:
This third entry adds a list of selectable players who can have
different advantages and disadvantages in the 2 player mode. One of
the playable characters is an enemy character from Sonic Blast Man 2
- Real Puncher. Another of the characters is a homage to Capcom's
Ryu from the Street Fighter series, complete with Shouryuken and
Hadoken motions when he gets good combos. In his winning pose (where
he turns his back to the player), he has the Taito logo on his back.
Tips:
Alternative Game-play: press Shoot, Left, Right, Shoot on the
title-screen before inserting coins in the arcade version. If done
correctly, a small character will appear. On the next play, you will
play on a different stage layout.
Puzzle
Bobble 4
Manufacturer: Taito, 1997
Design team:
Director: Kazuhiro Oohara
Planners: Kazuhiro Oohara, Tsukasa Ohshima, Nobuaki Kuroki, Takayasu
Masaki
Base game designer: Seiichi Nakakuki
Programmers: Hiroshi Maruyama, Emoyan, Okazu Taiyaki, Nak
Character designer: Miyabi Tashiro
Graphic designers: Miyabi Tashiro, Chino Maeda, Ken Ninomiya, Mari
Fukusaki, Sakotan, Debi, Kao, Kimiaki Yomo, Seiryu Kitagishi
Sound producer: Hisayoshi Ogura (Zuntata)
Sound director: Munehiro Nakanishi (Zuntata)
Sound composer: Rim. (Zuntata)
Voice actors & actresses: Hisayoshi Ogura (Zuntata), Naoto
Yagishita (Yag) (Zuntata), Nakayama Jyotohei (Zuntata), Mizuki.U
(Zuntata), Kumi.K, Takako.A, Chinami Nishimura (B1Produce)
Design works: Mihoko Sudoh
Quartity warranty: Nobuhiro Koyama, Makoto Obonai, Satoshi
Katsumata, Eiji Kawabata
Production control: Seiji Watanabe, Kazuyori Masumoto, Kazuhiko
Azuma, Eiji Maruyama, Takeshi Nakatani
Description:
The fourth entry features another new cast besides Bub and Bob, plus
a special story in single player mode where you need to defeat the
witch who was the main boss in the original Bubble Bobble.
Super
Puzzle Bobble
Manufacturer: Taito, 1999
Design team:
Planning: Nobuaki Kuroki, Takayasu Masaki (NJK-Techno)
Base Game Design: Seiichi Nakakuki
Program: Hiroshi Maruyama (NJK-Techno), Jun-ichiro Noguchi
(NJK-Techno), TMR, Hitoshi Ohno (DAI), Akira Ohtsuki
Character Design: Akiyoshi Takada, Miyabi Tashiro (NJK-Techno)
Graphic: Akiyoshi Takada, Miyabi Tashiro (NJK-Techno), SAKOTAN
(NJK-Techno), Kaori.K (NJK-Techno), Kimiaki Yomo (NJK-Techno),
Nobuhisa Kitagishi (NJK-Techno), AYA (NJK-Techno)
Sound Director: Tono (Zuntata)
Composer: Sayoko (Zuntata)
Sound Effects: Mu-Nakanishi (Zuntata)
Voice Actor & Actress: Yoko Kaneko, KARU (Zuntata), KUNI
(Zuntata), BABO (Zuntata), OTONO (Zuntata), Sumie Baba (81 Produce),
Yumiko Shibata (81 Produce), Hidetoshi Nakamura (81 Produce), Yuriko
Yamguchi (81 Produce), Ayusei Nakao (81 Produce), Motoko Kumai (81
Produce), Manami Nakayama (Aoni Production)
Design Works: Toshiyuki Takenami, Rika.K
Production Control: Seiji Watanabe, Takeshi Nakatani
Description:
Still more zaniness and bubble bursting, and this time 2 characters
can be selected by one player with whom to play.
