In 1986, a company called Taito made a game that reached arcades with a strong footing; it was soon released on several consoles and PC. Bubble Bobble is not the typical shooting adventure with strong as steel warriors, but a combination of cute and charming characters and the boldness of being a platform action game.

In this game we take control of one of the two available charming little dragons, named Bub and Bob, these peculiar heroes have to fight a horde of enemies to rescue their princess from the typical kidnaper-villain. And as expected, both characters must fight many foes to complete all of the levels.

The most notorious characteristic about Bubble Bobble is the way Bub and Bob attack their foes; unlike typical dragons, they don’t spew fire, they actually throw bubbles in which they trap their enemies, leaving them out of combat and vulnerable for any of the two heroes to pop the bubble and get rid of the enemy inside of it.

Despite the cutesy graphic style, Bubble Bobble is a game with a good difficulty level; the way the bubbles react physically is really cool, almost real. The two dragons can take advantage of the projectiles, jumping on top of them to reach higher places, and making masterful moves to end as many enemies as possible. When one of the enemies is destroyed within the bubble, a prize will be rewarded to the player.

Each level is shown in a still screen; the dragons can move over all the platforms, jumping and attacking at ease. In some stages is possible to fall into holes in the inferior part of the screen and reappear in the superior part; this, besides helping you escape, also provides passages to reach places that are harder or plain impossible to get to by simply jumping.

It’s worth mentioning that this was one of the first games to have more than one ending, the NES version has to be finished by two players to obtain the true ending. Another curious thing is that this game sparked various sequels and alternative versions, and the little heroic dragons have made several cameos in other games.

In conclusion, this was a very funny classic that is quite accessible for all types of demographics that you simply can’t let pass unnoticed.