Foreword

BB4CPC (shorthand for Bubble Bobble For CPC) is a retro remake of Bubble Bobble, Taito's unforgettable 1986 arcade game hit, for the Amstrad CPC 8-bit home computer series. It was developed with the purpose of running on any CPC machine, regardless of RAM size or CRTC model, while staying as faithful to the original game as it could be done in 48 kB of code and data.

BB4CPC was developed by CngSoft. BB4CPC is freeware; it is provided "as is" with no warranty. Being a fan work, the copyright of the original arcade game belongs to Taito; I just hold rights over this remake.

Gameplay

The player assumes the role of a cute baby dragon whose single weapon is his bubble breath: he can defeat his enemies by blowing bubbles at them, then popping these before they break free of their soap prison and strike back.

The game is made of 100 stages plagued by monsters whose contact is lethal to the player; by defeating all monsters in a stage, the player can move on to the next stage. But beware, time is limited: at the first warning, monsters will turn red, faster and more aggressive; the second warning will spawn an invulnerable monster who hunts the player!

Fortunately, the game provides items that boost the player's score and provide him with power-ups, and two players can play at once and cooperate in their quest through the cave of monsters. And the bubbles themselves can be very useful for reaching far or high locations too!

The default controls are both joysticks (FIRE1: shoot bubbles, FIRE2: jump) but players can redefine them if needed. The key P pauses and unpauses the game, and ESCAPE aborts it and returns to the title screen.

Characters

Noteworthy Items

Hints

1. Popping more than one bubbled enemy at once awards higher scores and better items.
2. Bubbles can be pushed by walking towards them, but they'll pop if pushed too hard.
3. Many seemingly random events in the game actually follow a logic. Stay attentive.
4. Prioritize scoring over fast gameplay at the beginning; you'll need those extra lives.

Afterword

The author would like to pay homage to the memory of Fukio "MTJ" Mitsuji (1960-2008), the creator of the original Bubble Bobble.

BB4CPC was mostly the work of a single person; external input was sadly limited to several musical scores by Tom & Jerry and some few weeks of beta-testing. So, if you liked the game but you found certain details in need of improvement, just write me a message and we'll see what can be done. Do you believe that you can draw a better title screen for the game, for instance? Sure, draw one! Are you able to write better music and sound effects? Go ahead, the more the merrier! BB4CPC can become the best retro remake ever thanks to your cooperation.