Bubble Bobble started as a Taito arcade game in 1986 and quickly became one of the NES era’s most beloved co-op platformers. You play as Bub and Bob — two small bubble-blowing dragons on a mission to rescue their captured girlfriends — across 100 single-screen levels. The mechanic is simple and addictive: blow a bubble to trap an enemy inside it, then jump on the bubble to pop it. Popped enemies scatter fruit and sweets worth points, and clearing every enemy on a screen advances you to the next round.
How to play
Use the arrow keys to move left and right. Press X to jump and Z to blow a bubble. You cannot harm enemies by direct contact — you must first trap them in a bubble (they flash and wriggle as they try to escape) then pop it by jumping on top. Letting a trapped enemy escape or walking into any free enemy costs a life. A second gamepad can be connected for simultaneous co-op play.
| Action | Key (Player 1) |
|---|---|
| Move | Arrow keys |
| Jump | X |
| Blow bubble | Z |
| Start / Pause | Enter |
| Select | Shift |
Tips
- Pop in clusters for bigger rewards. Burst multiple enemy bubbles at once and they release larger, higher-value food items instead of single pieces — a key strategy for chasing high scores.
- Collect the EXTEND letters. Special bubbles occasionally carry the letters E-X-T-E-N-D. Grab all six in a single run to earn an extra life.
- Don’t stall. Linger too long on any level and Baron Von Blubba — an indestructible white bubble — appears and hunts you until you clear the stage or die. Keep moving.
- The true ending requires two players. Finishing the 100 levels alone gives an incomplete conclusion; the real final sequence is only accessible in co-op mode.
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