Proto:Bubble Bobble (Arcade)

This page details one or more prototype versions of Bubble Bobble (Arcade).

This late prototype of Bubble Bobble was dumped by brizzo and added to MAME in July 2017. The main gameplay is close to finished, but it's missing a lot of the polish and hidden secrets found in the final version.

A message in the sub-CPU gives a build date of May 14, 1986, about three months earlier than the first retail build of the game.

Attract Mode

Prototype	Final

• Hardware developer K.Nishiyori's high score name changed from K.N to NSO. Whatever the K stands for is unknown.
• Music plays during the tutorial if demo sounds are on. The final version only has the sound effects audible.

Prototype	Final

• Today's Record has an exclamation point at the end in the prototype.

General Changes

Secrets

All of the elements related to unlocking Super Bubble Bobble mode are absent from the prototype, including the following:

• The treasure doors on Rounds 20, 30, and 40 and the simple substitution cipher puzzle within. This also means that the Rascal enemy is missing from the prototype.

• The coded message at the very end of the Happy End that gives the code to Super Bubble Bobble mode.
• The actual Super Bubble Bobble mode and code, of course.

The "POWER UP!" and "ORIGINAL GAME..." codes are similarly absent.

Difficulty

The final game has a dynamic difficulty system. The game's current difficulty value is stored at RAM address (0xE5DC), and is initially set to one of four values depending on the difficulty dip switches (Switches B1+B2):

• Easy: 04
• Normal: 07
• Hard: 0A
• Very Hard: 0D

The difficulty variable is influenced by a number of actions: For instance, going a certain number of rounds without dying will increment the counter, and dying decrements the counter. Difficulty caps at 1E.

The prototype has a much simpler difficulty system: Every time the game wants to adjust something based on difficulty, it just checks the difficulty dip switches. This means that the game's difficulty is static unless the difficulty dip switches are set to some other value during play.

Special Items

Conditions

To determine what special item will appear in each stage, the game checks the condition for every special item in reverse ID order at the start of the stage. The player has to pass a certain threshold to get an item to drop. That threshold can be one of four numbers depending on the game's current difficulty value.

Difficulty Ranges

• D1: Range 00-04. If difficulty dip switch is set to "Easy", player starts in this range.
• D2: Range 05-07. If difficulty dip switch is set to "Normal", player starts in this range.
• D3: Range 08-0B. If difficulty dip switch is set to "Hard", player starts in this range.
• D4: Range 0C-1E. If difficulty dip switch is set to "Very Hard", player starts in this range.

Altered values are in bold.

		Proto					Final
Item	Condition	D1	D2	D3	D4		D1	D2	D3	D4
	Blow <X> bubbles	20	35	40	50		35	35	35	35
	Pop <X> bubbles	20	35	40	50		35	35	35	35
	Jump <X> times	20	35	40	50		35	35	35	35
	Pop <X> lightning bubbles	10	13	20	25		12	12	12	12
	Pop <X> fire bubbles	10	13	20	25		10	13	16	19
	Pop <X> water bubbles	22	22	22	22		20	20	20	20
	Pop <X> water bubbles	35	35	35	35		25	25	25	25
	Fall through screen <X> times	15	20	25	30		15	15	15	15
	Fall through screen <X> times	16	21	26	31		16	16	16	16
	Fall through screen <X> times	17	22	27	32		17	17	17	17
	Fall through screen <X> times	18	23	28	33		18	18	18	18
	Fall through screen <X> times	19	24	29	34		19	19	19	19
	Collect <X> enemy fruits	30	35	40	50		50	55	60	65
	Collect <X> Blue Candies	2	3	4	5		3	3	3	3
	Collect <X> Yellow Candies	2	3	4	5		3	3	3	3
	Collect <X> Pink Candies	2	3	4	5		3	3	3	3
	Collect <X> special items	10	12	14	16		10	11	12	13
	1P joined game <X> times	4	5	6	7		5	5	5	5
	2P joined game <X> times	4	5	6	7		5	5	5	5
	Collect <X> umbrellas	1	2	3	4		1	1	2	2
	Defeat <X> enemies with fire bubbles	5	7	9	11		10	12	14	16
	Defeat <X> enemies with lightning bubbles	5	7	9	11		10	12	14	16

In both versions, special red pulsating bubbles will randomly replace one of the bubbles that flow into the stage. In the prototype, there's a 1 in 256 chance of this occurring. In the final, it's a much less likely 1 in 4096 chance.

Missing Items

The following items are missing from the prototype:

• All Cane and Treasure Chest items: These spawn a giant point item at the end of the round (worth between 10,000 and 80,000 points) and turn all bubbles at the end of the round into smaller versions of that item (worth 700 points).
• Bell: Chimes whenever a special attack item is set to spawn in a round.
• High Score entry items: The octopus, lager, pink flamingo, knife, and Coke items haven't been coded or drawn yet. The unique point items that the first three special items produce (wooden crosses, pizzas, and pink poop respectively) are similarly absent.
• Crystal Ball: Makes point and special items spawn faster and simultaneously.
• Crayon: Acts like a yellow potion and turns the next three special items into potions. Appears every 777(!) rounds.
• Skull: Spawns a grey comet. Once the comet exits the screen, the round goes into "HURRY UP!" mode.
• All doors: Includes the three treasure room doors on Rounds 20, 30, and 40, and the warp to Round 70 in Round 50.

Miscellaneous Changes

• The red pulsating bubbles, when popped, give the player 100,000 points in the prototype. In the final game, popping one of those red bubbles gives the player the Red Cross' fire-breathing effect for five rounds and 100,000 points.

Both versions have an item that only spawns after Round 100 has been cleared (either ending counts):

• In the prototype, the item that spawns is a gold crown. This is identical to the highest point item in the game - the only difference is where it spawns.
• In the final game, the item that spawns is a magenta chest. Collecting the chest and completing the round will spawn a giant diamond worth 80,000 points!

EXTEND

The prototype's EXTEND animation is very much unfinished. The bubbles bounce up and down for a few seconds before the game moves on to the next round.

In the final game, Bub or Bob bounces on each bubble, bursting them and revealing the sparkling letters inside.

After that, the player will jump repeatedly on the side of the screen, the letters will form into a single spark, and "NICE 1P!" or "NICE 2P!" will appear on the screen. The spark will then add an extra life to the player's life bar.

Prototype	Final

In the final version, the EXTEND bubbles are initially animated much faster than they are in the prototype. Once Bub or Bob bounces on the first letter, they revert back to their original speed.

Miscellaneous

• There's no pre-game intro in the prototype.
• In the prototype, the main theme starts over from the beginning every time a new round starts. This was thankfully fixed in the final version.
• The difficulty dip switches have an odd extra feature in this version: the game attempts to read from a table of four values (2, 1, 4, and 3) and tries to assign Player 2 that number of starting lives. Two problems with this:

1. The game calculates the table offset wrong, so it will always return 2 regardless of difficulty setting.
2. Even it did assign the right value, that value is overwritten by the actual Lives dip switches (B5+B6) number afterwards.

Round Editor

The biggest difference between the prototype and the final game is the inclusion of a fully functioning round editor! Simply start a new game with Edit Mode (Dip Switch B7) active.

Controls

• 1P Left/Right: Cycles through stages.
• 1P Button 1: Brings up the main edit mode menu.

Main Menu

Main selection menu.

Controls

• 1P Up/Down: Cycles between options.
• 1P Button 1: Selects option.
• 1P Button 1 + 1P Button 2 + 1P Start + 2P Start: For some reason, the user has to input this sequence while on Round Select Mode to get it to activate again.

Maze Edit Mode

Brings up the stage editor. That x-shaped symbol is the cursor.

Controls

• 1P Start: Exits back to main menu.
• 1P Joystick: Moves cursor.
• 1P Button 1: Places tile.
• 1P Button 2: Clears tile.
• 2P Button 1 + 2P Button 2: Clears entire screen.

Air Edit Mode

Allows the user to change the air currents in the stage.

Controls

• 1P Start: Exits back to main menu.
• 1P Joystick: Moves cursor.
• 1P Button 1: Places current.
• 1P Button 2: Clears current.
• 2P Start: Cycles between Up, Down, Left, and Right air currents.
• 2P Button 1 + 2P Button 2: Clears entire screen.

Food Edit Mode

Allows the user to change the spawning positions of the point and special items.

Controls

• 1P Start: Exits back to main menu.
• 1P Joystick: Moves selected item.
• 1P Button 1: Switches between point and special items.

Enemy Edit Mode

An enemy placement mode. Up to seven enemies can be placed in a round.

Controls

• 1P Start: Exits back to main menu.
• 1P Joystick: Moves enemy / adjusts enemy timer.
• 1P Button 1: Place enemies / sets enemy timer.
• 1P Button 2: Deletes selected enemy.
• 2P Start + 1P Left/Right: Changes the enemy type.
• 2P Button 1 + 2P Button 2: Deletes all enemies.

Bubble Air Mode

The name of this mode is a little confusing - this allows the user to create those holes in the floor and ceiling that bubbles flow out of (like the EXTEND letters and Fire / Water / Lighting bubbles).

Controls

• 1P Start: Exits back to main menu.
• 1P Button 1: Places hole.
• 1P Button 2: Clears hole.
• 2P Start: Switches between upward and downward currents for the hole.

Timer Mode

Exits menu, counts down for 243 frames, then resets the game. That's it.

Round Select Mode

This is the same mode seen when the user starts a new game with Edit Mode active.

Color Edit Mode

Chooses one of eight palettes for the stage.

Controls

• 1P Left/Right: Selects palette.
• 1P Button 1: Exits back to main menu.

Test Playing

Tests the current room setup. The player will stay in the same round even after all enemies have been defeated.

Press 1P Start to go back to the debug menu.

Round Differences

Prototype	Final

Rounds 34 and 35 switched palettes in the final version.

Prototype	Final

Betty and Patty are missing from Round 100.

In the prototype, players have the ability to shoot lightning bubbles in this round for no explained reason. In the final game, players need to collect one of the lightning potions at the top of the stage to shoot lightning bubbles.

Graphic Differences

Point Items

Proto	Final	Value
		5000
		6000
		7000
		8000

In the prototype, four of the high-value point items are treasure chests. These were all turned into different items with unique graphics in the final version. The treasure chests were later redrawn and turned into special items (see above).

Special Items

Proto	Final

Both versions will spawn a special item on Round 1 if the player enters the name "SEX" into the high score table. In the prototype, it's an eggplant. In the final game, it's a fork.

Think about it.

Unused Graphics

While the first animated butterfly graphic was repurposed as an inanimate treasure, the second one wasn't so lucky. These graphics were overwritten by the clear bubble graphics seen in the intro screen.

So, the remaining mystery: What were these animated butterflies supposed to be used for, anyway?

Missing Graphics

Besides the content already covered in previous sections - Super Bubble Bobble mode, missing special items, etc. - graphics for the unused slot machine icons and basket items are also missing from the prototype.

Audio Differences

At this point, the YM3526 sound chip has not been added to the game, with all audio instead coming from the YM2203.

Changed Tracks

ID	Proto	Final	Notes
08			The high score theme. The prototype version is more repetitive but is technically longer.
0A			The special item theme (used for the five potions, the super heart, and the "EXTEND" screen) is more sedate in the prototype...
0B			...while the game over track is a lot more sinister.
30			The main theme has barely been worked on. All that's here is a bass loop for the start of the song.

Unused Tracks

ID	Track	Notes
05		The first track by ID in the prototype, this might have been the original main theme. There's nothing in this ID slot in the final version. Sorry for getting this stuck in your head.
06		Suspenseful track! Might have played when the player lost a life. Nothing in this ID slot in the final version either.
07		A simple little jingle. Maybe it's an early Game Over piece? The intro theme uses this ID in the final version.

Unused Sound Effects

ID	Sound	Notes
10		Maybe an early item collection sound? The "EXTEND" music track is in this slot in the final version.
1B		Sounds like ticking. Could have been used when the Clock item was activated. The giant point item sound effect occupies this slot in the final game.
1F		Simple sound, not sure of the purpose though. There's nothing using this ID in the final version.
32		This is before the lightning bubble sound in the ROM. Based on its position and how it sounds, it might have been used by the water bubbles. This slot was later used by the potion bonus sound effect.

Ending & Credits

All Endings

• In the final game, players are locked into place after Super Drunk is defeated. The prototype basically treats this like any other round ending, with the same timer and the players keeping control of their character.
• In the prototype, both players receive 1,000,000 points when the ending starts. In the final game, only the player who popped Super Drunk's bubble will get the million points, and they also have to trigger the Happy End.

Prototype	Final

• The round clear animation was redone in the final version. It looks less like the blocks are crumbling, and more like they're fading out of existence.
• Both endings reuse the high score entry track in the prototype. The final game adds appropriate music for both endings.

Bad End

Prototype	Final

• Bubby, Bobby, Betty, and Patty are missing from the bad end screen.

Proto	Final

• The "You Zapped To..." text is white in the prototype and red in the final version, properly matching the text in The Tower of Druaga.
• In the prototype, the text doesn't blink as the game warps to Round 50.

Happy End

Prototype	Final

• The prototype is missing the 1,000,000 points graphic (which will be either green or blue depending on which player popped Super Drunk), the Happy End text, Bobby, Betty, Bubby, and Patty. All of these are in the graphics ROM, just unused at this point.

Prototype	Final

• There's less space in-between the Happy End message and the staff list in the final version.

Prototype	Final

• YSH/Yoshida went from Logo Design to Instruction in the credits.
• KTU (likely Katujiro Fujimoto, credited on Final Blow under Hardware) and SAK (Seigo Sakamoto, who worked on at least three other games, including Darius) were added to a new "Hardware" section. This was presumably added after the game was moved off of Tokio's hardware.

Prototype	Final

• Nakamura (real name unknown) is credited as "NAK" in the prototype and "SKE" in the final version.
• Seigo Sakamoto was moved from Special Thanks to Hardware.
• ONJ (Hiroshi Tsujino, graphic designer for many Taito games in the '80s), AKR (Akira Fujita, designer of Arkanoid and one of the designers of Darius), HDG (real name unknown), and MIE (possibly Mitsukoh Kimura) were removed from the Special Thanks.
• PAN (likely Kazuo Nakagawa, who did design work and other miscellaneous jobs for Taito) and OTO (probably Yoshino Imamura, a composer who also worked on Chack'n Pop) were added to the Special Thanks.

Prototype	Final

• まいた is romanized as "Maita" in the prototype and "Mighta" in the final version. Whoever updated it forgot about the credits in Super Game mode's best ending, which still says "Maita".
• Super Drunk and Rascal are missing from the prototype's character list.