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Way back in the mists of time when 500K was considered to be a rather large amount of memory for a home computer (hey - there was a time when 64K was considered impressive!) there existed a game like no other.

The premise was simple - two little bubble-blowing dragons had to rid the world of a really nasty creature (we forget his name) and rescue their respective girlfriends in the process. Those dragons were called Bub and Bob and the game was Bubble Bobble.

Now, many years on, Bubble Bobble has spawned all manner of spin-off games, the best being the Bust-A-Move series, and yet the original has never been bettered. Enter stage left: the Game Boy Color version of the original Bubble Bobble!

The story goes something like this... you're a little dragon called Bub and your brother Bob is seriously ill. Only the application of something called "Moon Water" can save him and big brother Bub is the only being in the universe that can get hold of it.

When you consider that this game was converted for such illustrious gaming machines as the ZX Spectrum, the Game Boy Color seems like so much less of an achievement, but the fact remains that Bubble Bobble for the Game Boy is one of the most addictive games to reach Nintendo's hand-held so far! Rather than trying to fit all the action on-screen at once Kemco have instead taking the route of using a scrolling playing area - and it works incredibly well!

As you wander around the colourful stages all manner of strange, and not incredibly friendly, creatures come after you and only by trapping them in bubbles and then bursting these with the bad guys inside can you vanquish the nasty beasties. To help you out a number of special bubbles exist which appear from time to time and these have various different effects when burst: from sending lightning bolts zapping across the screen to letting loose a flood of water.

With everything from the manic levels of the original arcade game right down to the superbly addictive theme music recreated on your Game Boy Color Bubble Bobble offers you a classic piece of videogaming history. The simplistic yet addictive gameplay ensures that this is one game that you won't want to put down and the only thing that stops it getting a perfect score is that there's no two-player link-up mode!

The added advantage of random level selection after the first few stages means that no matter how often you play this classic arcade game the experience will never be quite the same twice! As it stands, Bubble Bobble is a tremendously fun game that no-one with a Game Boy Color should miss out on!

One of the first games I ever pumped 10ps into as a kid was Bubble Bobble. The fair that came to my hometown once a year had the arcade version - and I believe they've still got it today, only at 50p a go instead!

This new Game Boy Color conversion of the classic game has many of the elements that made the original such a hit, except one - there's no two player mode! One of the greatest things about the game was working together to defeat the monster scum. Shame.

Graphics 100%
Fantastic! Lots of detail.

Sound 100%
The original catchy tune.

Playability 100%
This game is just the best.

Lastability 100%
You never play the same game twice!

Overall 96%
Buy it. Buy it now.