Hello, in my last issue of Retro News Flash, I covered the game Bubble Bobble Remstered and ran a short report on it. It's a really great game, I really liked it. All the best from Magisthan´s Spielekiste. 🙂
Excellent port! Happy to see the continue but fixed as well. Runs well on NTSC. Could you implement pressing fire button on the main menu for starting the game instead of having to press 1?
Very nice remaster of one of the best C64 ports ever released. Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 01:26:33. English subtitles are also available. Subscription to our YouTube and Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
I played this game while helping the Zzap! team fix / test my new disk menu for the Zzap! 64 Micro Action covermount. I love the loading bitmap and the intro music. I am glad the main game music was kept from the original as I would have been lost without it, since I bought the original in a C64 "Taito Arcade Hits" games compilation by Imagine back in the past, The game graphics are polished, and the game characters are still cute. This game deserves a classic looking tape loader like Visi Load, (I have a tape loader that looks a bit like that loader in Totally Tape 1 called Totally Mad . I remember the original Bubble Bobble using Bleepload.
Thank you Richard for your kind words! My original copy of Bubble Bobble was on disk without any loading picture. Do you mean a classic tape loader with color bars? And music while loading?
You should add sounds when they shoot the Bubbles out of their mouths. Also would it be possible to shift the image to the CENTER of the screen and remove the scores from the right and put them on the top and bottom with transparency showing the game behinid the scores so that the game is FULLSCREEN? Anyhow adding sound to themshooting the Bubbles would be great. Havent tried this in NTSC mode as I am used to a faster speed and music.. will try today.
the play area is already “fullscreen”, it is exactly the same width as the arcade and just 1 row shorter, so removing the stats from the right side won’t do any good as there’s no room on the top or bottom.
Hi, great job! However, I have some doubts: many of us would like to showcase this gem of a game at fairs and events dedicated to retrocomputing, so why not release this version with an attract mode that would help us preserve CRT monitors? Even just having the image cycle between the main title and the credits page would be enough.
Additionally, I find anachronistic that the game still uses the keyboard to start. I understand that you've tried to be as faithful to the original as possible, but by keeping that cumbersome aspect, you're not really doing justice to the original arcade title. Nevertheless, you've done an excellent job. Well done!
Thanks a lot for your kind words and great suggestions! 😊
We’ll definitely consider adding an attract mode in a future update. The main challenge is technical — we have to stick closely to the game’s original structure, and deeper changes require a full reverse engineering, plus there’s very little free memory left, if at all.
Same goes for the keyboard start: we agree it would feel more natural on joystick, let’s see what happens in v1.1!
thank you, enjoy!! Yes the game now waits for your input, we could only fit that much new code without breaking something. You can hit Q to quit to the home screen. I hope it’s an acceptable compromise
Awesome, can't wait to give this a try! The original version has a bug where you can kill enemies through walls when both you and the enemy are touching the wall and you're facing right (your bubble pops and takes the enemy with it). Will that be fixed? It makes some levels very easy. I like that there is a strategy for each level, but this bug makes it easier to "break" levels rather than solve them properly.
Nope, only in one direction (just tried it out again, in level 9 where the enemies drop down along the side of this funnel/chute thing and you can hide behind it). It's also not possible on the PC version, FWIW. Another level that "breaks" is the "heart" (level 13?), where you can stand on the upper left edge and just shoot bubbles until you've hit all enemies inside (though sometimes time runs out first).
One thing I’ve always noticed, which I believe is related, can be clearly seen in level 13, the “heart.” If you stand on the highest platforms of the heart, just under the openings in the ceiling, and grab a water bubble from a precise spot, the stream passes through the platform. This is very useful for safely sweeping away enemies or entering the heart. You can do this from both sides, but on the right the correct position seems to be shifted further to the right.
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Excellent version of the great game. I've also included it in my new video along with other recently released games. Hope you like it.
I just bought it from you!! Thanks again for the work done!! ;)
thank you, enjoy!
Hello, in my last issue of Retro News Flash, I covered the game Bubble Bobble Remstered and ran a short report on it. It's a really great game, I really liked it. All the best from Magisthan´s Spielekiste. 🙂
thank you 😃
Excellent port! Happy to see the continue but fixed as well. Runs well on NTSC. Could you implement pressing fire button on the main menu for starting the game instead of having to press 1?
Hi, thank you! Nice nickname, I love RoboCop! Yes, all going well, the fire-to-start feature is coming in v1.1, along with two-button controls.
I would like to see a fix on the "CONTINUE" issue. I don't understand why there is not a countdown if you want to start over again?
press Q to quit to the title screen. There are that much changes we can do to the original code
OK, I can live with that! :) Thank you so much!
thank you, enjoy!
Very nice remaster of one of the best C64 ports ever released. Our German-language review can be found in our recorded livestream starting at 01:26:33. English subtitles are also available. Subscription to our YouTube and Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
thanks for the video!
Thank you for this, here is my tribute...
Thank you for making a video for our little remaster!😃👍🏻
Absolutely amazing! Loved Bubble Bobble!
thanks, enjoy!😃👍🏻
My fiancée told me she used to love this game. So I want to play it with her.
Amazing job! It's still worth playing the game again. ☺
Thank you! That's exactly what I hoped for. Enjoy!
I played this game while helping the Zzap! team fix / test my new disk menu for the Zzap! 64 Micro Action covermount. I love the loading bitmap and the intro music. I am glad the main game music was kept from the original as I would have been lost without it, since I bought the original in a C64 "Taito Arcade Hits" games compilation by Imagine back in the past, The game graphics are polished, and the game characters are still cute. This game deserves a classic looking tape loader like Visi Load, (I have a tape loader that looks a bit like that loader in Totally Tape 1 called Totally Mad . I remember the original Bubble Bobble using Bleepload.
Thank you Richard for your kind words! My original copy of Bubble Bobble was on disk without any loading picture. Do you mean a classic tape loader with color bars? And music while loading?
Yes, I mean't exactly that. :)
Awesome remastered game !
Thank you!!
Great remaster - i always loved this game in the arcades and when it came out on the C64. Pretty good job ...only arrived to LVL 32 :)
thank you 😊 practice makes perfect 👍🏻
I have a suggestion... on the screen for choosing the number of players (1 or 2), pressing FIRE will start the game with one player.
One of the worst things about many C64 games is that they rely on the keyboard to START playing.
This is probably coming in v1.1 with two buttons control
Genial!!!!
Ragazzi complimenti, lavoro a dir po poco spettacolo!
grazie 🙏🏻 divertiti!
And now i'm into Bubble Bobble so much i'm searching a c64 tape with the "old" version :D
Awesome job, thank you!!
As for the tape, I too went down the same rabbit hole in the past :D
what system does this code run on? How do I play it?
Commodore 64. You either play on a real machine or an emulator like VICE.
You should add sounds when they shoot the Bubbles out of their mouths. Also would it be possible to shift the image to the CENTER of the screen and remove the scores from the right and put them on the top and bottom with transparency showing the game behinid the scores so that the game is FULLSCREEN? Anyhow adding sound to themshooting the Bubbles would be great. Havent tried this in NTSC mode as I am used to a faster speed and music.. will try today.
the play area is already “fullscreen”, it is exactly the same width as the arcade and just 1 row shorter, so removing the stats from the right side won’t do any good as there’s no room on the top or bottom.
This is my kind of Remaster - the Best kind. 10/10
Very nice!!
I loved this as a kid and still do today. Great remaster! Made a longplay as a tribute.
awesome man, thank you!
Total amazing work! Thank you for my C64 life!
thanks, enjoy!! 😉
Hi, great job! However, I have some doubts: many of us would like to showcase this gem of a game at fairs and events dedicated to retrocomputing, so why not release this version with an attract mode that would help us preserve CRT monitors? Even just having the image cycle between the main title and the credits page would be enough.
Additionally, I find anachronistic that the game still uses the keyboard to start. I understand that you've tried to be as faithful to the original as possible, but by keeping that cumbersome aspect, you're not really doing justice to the original arcade title. Nevertheless, you've done an excellent job. Well done!
Hi!
Thanks a lot for your kind words and great suggestions! 😊
We’ll definitely consider adding an attract mode in a future update. The main challenge is technical — we have to stick closely to the game’s original structure, and deeper changes require a full reverse engineering, plus there’s very little free memory left, if at all.
Same goes for the keyboard start: we agree it would feel more natural on joystick, let’s see what happens in v1.1!
Thanks again for the support!
Crystalct from lemon64 has modiefied the original BB (and many others) to start with fire button, perhaps he can help? https://github.com/crystalct/5plusbuttonsJoystick
He is in fact already helping us for v1.1, but thank you very much for the heads up anyway!!👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻😃
maybe add "How to run" instructions for noobs like me, pls?
Sure! 😊
If you’re using VICE, it’s super easy — just drag and drop the .prg file onto the emulator window, and the game will start automatically.
If you don’t have VICE yet, you can grab it for free online (it’s the most popular Commodore 64 emulator). Once installed, you’re ready to play!
Brilliant job
Awesome video thank you!
Sounds great! 😊 Did you fix that special items appear on the right condition?(https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Bubble_Bobble/Special_items)
Hi there, I hope you don't mind, but I put this awesome release in with this months best homebrew releases.
Awesome, thank you!
you are most welcome :)
Excellent!! Well done and thank you!
enjoy!!😃👍🏻
thanks 😊
does it support a second button for jump?
not yet but it’s coming in version 1.1!
Nice!!
nice
Looks great! Also love that I can continue now! although if i don't continue the game seems to go on forever even though I am dead
oh i can hit q to go back
thank you, enjoy!! Yes the game now waits for your input, we could only fit that much new code without breaking something. You can hit Q to quit to the home screen. I hope it’s an acceptable compromise
Awesome game!
thank you enjoy!!
Awesome, can't wait to give this a try! The original version has a bug where you can kill enemies through walls when both you and the enemy are touching the wall and you're facing right (your bubble pops and takes the enemy with it). Will that be fixed? It makes some levels very easy. I like that there is a strategy for each level, but this bug makes it easier to "break" levels rather than solve them properly.
Isn't this also a thing when facing left?
Nope, only in one direction (just tried it out again, in level 9 where the enemies drop down along the side of this funnel/chute thing and you can hide behind it). It's also not possible on the PC version, FWIW. Another level that "breaks" is the "heart" (level 13?), where you can stand on the upper left edge and just shoot bubbles until you've hit all enemies inside (though sometimes time runs out first).
Due to my style of play, I never really noticed or assumed it was a bug. Now I want to try!
One thing I’ve always noticed, which I believe is related, can be clearly seen in level 13, the “heart.” If you stand on the highest platforms of the heart, just under the openings in the ceiling, and grab a water bubble from a precise spot, the stream passes through the platform. This is very useful for safely sweeping away enemies or entering the heart. You can do this from both sides, but on the right the correct position seems to be shifted further to the right.
Dave let me know if you would like me to promote your remastered Commodore 64 games on my X channel, for free of course. x.com/museumcommodore
A speed-up using C128 2mhz mode would be great as the original occasionally stutters or slows down.
I wonder if you could get some nice colour effects using the C128's extra video ram bank?
Sorry but a heavy rewrite of this old game is out of the scope of the remaster... Unless some expert C64 coder wants to join, but I doubt it.
Looking good, can't wait to play it :)
thank you 😊 hopefully it won’t be too long
When ?
looks really nice so far! bravo!
thank you 😊
Ciao Davide, avresti spazio per aggiungere la gestione del 2° fire (gestione POTX) opzionale per saltare?
Ciao, è una cosa che verificheremo
Se vuoi dare un occhiata su come viene giocare con due fire, nella mia pagina github https://github.com/crystalct/5plusbuttonsJoystick trovi la mia versione di bubble bobble per C64 GS
Ciao, come possiamo sentirci in pvt?
Oppure se hai un account su lemon64, rispondimi in questo thread:
https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=80233
very good
😃👍🏻