Bubble Bobble 4 Friends | Switch Review

Few games defined my childhood quite like Bubble Bobble on the NES. I spent countless hours with my family racing through the 100+ levels over and over again. That ear worm of a theme song is forever burned into my memory, and I absolutely love it. I even have my 4th grade students addicted to the game, as they love playing it in my classroom during recess.  The game brilliantly meshes a simplistic format with increasingly complex level design that felt ahead of its time.

It should go without saying that I’ve been chomping at the bit to play Bubble Bobble 4 Friends, the latest entry on the Switch. While I’m happier than a clam to have the original arcade version of the game on a modern console, the new content leaves a bit to be desired.

Float On

If you’ve never played Bubble Bobble, the concept is deceptively simple. You play as one of two dinosaurs, Bub and Bob, who are on a mission to save their girlfriends. Each level is a single screen filled with platforms and enemies. Your job is to clear the enemies on the screen and advance to the next level. To do this, you must first capture enemies in bubbles blown by your character. Once they’re encased, you pop the bubble by jumping through it. The enemy turns into fruit, which you then collect for points.

If you’ve played the original, I’m happy to report that the full game is available as soon as you fire up Bubble Bobble 4 Friends. It’s not the NES port of the game, but it plays nearly identical. It’s just as much of a delight to play as it was when I was a kid, and I’m thankful to have it on a modern console.

Don’t Mean to Burst Your Bubble

Sadly, that’s where most of the positives end for me with this title. The new adventure follows the game formula of the original, but the magic is sorely lacking. It feels more like a puzzle game instead of a platformer. Although the main goal is the same, it’s clear that this game is now a score grab instead. The levels are designed in a way that make it obvious the developers want you to discover ways to group enemies for higher scores. Sure, this idea was present in the original, but the joy there wasn’t in scoring points. Satisfaction came from discovering what type of level was in store for you in the next room. I appreciate the attempt to mix things up a bit, but it’s truly not what I wanted from a new Bubble Bobble game.

Even the power-ups feel completely unnecessary. Half the fun of the original was waiting in anticipation to see what item was going to appear on the screen, and race to nab it before it disappeared. Here you’re granted certain abilities like lightning bubbles or quick fire. But they’re limited in use and again seem to benefit your score more than progression.

Taito also brought bosses to the table this time around. Sure, we had one final boss in the original, but it required a certain level of patience to reach. The bosses here made me feel like I was playing a side-scrolling shooter and gave me very little satisfaction. When I passed one, my reaction was more akin to “Thank God I don’t have to play those levels again;” and that’s not something you want to experience when playing a Bubble Bobble title.

A Bubble with a Silver Lining

That’s not to say the game is bad. There are some very clever boards that take some figuring out to master. Unfortunately, those don’t come until the late-game, and by then I was ready for it to be over. Also, the remixed soundtrack is solid, giving that all-too-familiar jingle a bit of life.

Another selling point to Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is its co-op mode. You and three other friends can team up to take on each level together. Much like the single-player mode, this feels more focused on the points, but in this case it’s not a bad thing. Clearing each board yields a screen full of fruit. This causes a mad dash to gather points before your friends do to see who has the higher tally at the end of each level.

Bubble Bobble 4 Friends Final Verdict

The real reason to own this title is to have the arcade version of Bubble Bobble on your Switch. The rest is very much “take it or leave it” to me. I hate to sound so negative about a game that clearly has a lot of work put into it, but it’s not what fans are craving. Those of us who grew up with Bub and Bob would much rather take more of the same. Give us more levels in the original engine with some fun new power-ups, and we’ll throw our money at you. Anything else is just a tease.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItnhYNzMzDw

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Bubble Bobble 4 Friends provided by Hound Picked Games for coverage purposes. The game is exclusive to this platform.