Bubble Bobble cover art

Game entry

Bubble Bobble

1986 · Platformer, Puzzle, Arcade · Arcade · Taito

Bubble Bobble carries 1,533 ELO points on GameForever and holds position no. 1,561 in the world ranking, with 42% of duels won out of 131 played. Against Super Mario Odyssey, the opponent it meets most often, the tally stands at 0 wins to 3 losses in 3 duels. Measured against its own family, it climbs to no. 8 out of 19 (1986).

World rank

no. 1,561

ELO score

1,533

Wins

42%

Duels played

131

About Bubble Bobble

In the game, each player controls one of the two Bubble Dragons, Bub and Bob. The player can move along platforms, as well as jump to those above and to the side, similar to most platform games.

The player can also blow bubbles. These can trap enemies, who are defeated if the bubble is then burst by the player's spiny back. Bubbles that contain enemies can be popped at the same time resulting in different foods being projected around the level. Each enemy trapped in a bubble equates to a different food. Food is consumed and transferred to points (an increasing scale of 1000 points is awarded for each enemy burst in tandem with another meaning: one enemy burst equals one food item worth 1000 points, two enemies burst equals two food items worth 1000 and 2000 points, three enemies burst equals three food items worth 1000, 2000 and 4000 points, and so on), which results in earning lives. These same bubbles also float for a time before bursting, and can be jumped on, allowing access to otherwise inaccessible areas. Players progress to the next level once all enemies on the current level are defeated.

Enemies turn "angry" — becoming pink-colored and moving faster — if they are the last enemy remaining, escape from a bubble after being left too long or a certain amount of time has been spent on the current level. A monster will also become angry if either player collects a skull (the only negative item in the game), and the monster is hit by the resulting comet crossing the screen (however, this is a rare occurrence).

After a further time limit expires, an additional invincible enemy appears for each player, actively chasing them using only vertical and horizontal movements. These do not need to be defeated to complete the level, and disappear once a player's life is lost.

Contact with enemies and their projectiles (rocks, lasers, fireballs, etc.) results in death.

ELO progression

Score moved from 1,500 to 1,533 ELO points over the last 170 days.

Head-to-head

Direct record on the most played match-ups.

In the same genre

All Platformer games →
  1. 25 Super Mario Galaxy 22010 · Platformer 1,884
  2. 46 Super Mario World1990 · Platformer 1,871
  3. 48 Super Mario Bros.1985 · Platformer 1,867
  4. 75 Limbo2010 · Platformer 1,848
  5. 90 Cuphead2017 · Platformer 1,842

Keep exploring

The standing

Where Bubble Bobble ranks

The world rank mixes every family of games. Here is where Bubble Bobble stands in each of the ones it belongs to. Its best standing, all families considered: 8 out of 19 (1986).

Where Bubble Bobble ranks
Ranking Position Games competing
World ranking 1,561 5,035
Platformer 184 620
1980s 33 155
1986 8 19

The community

The debate

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