Sorry for the blurriness of the live footage. Apparently my camera doesn't auto-focus long-range stuff properly. Same goes for that strange tinkling sound in the audio. It's only a $200 video camera; one of the cheapest you can buy that can actually be called as such. :P
The "bubble" in the live action is actually just a beachball from www.beachballs.com. They actually have them in MUCH larger sizes, which I think is pretty awesome, though the prices skyrocket once you get into the unusually large sizes. :o
I actually did have footage recorded of the fireball bubble I encountered, but accidentally deleted it at some point. I also somehow managed to capture no footage at all of the shoe powerup or the necklace that emits the flying death orb. :/
My method for getting around the copy protection was to first examine a pre-cracked EXE file to see what they did, compare with the EXE data on my original disks, and then I cut and pasted in the missing code. However, I'm not convinced this is what caused all my problems with certain powerups and such. Remember what happened with the AI in Traffic Department 2192 when running in DOSBox 0.74? ...in fact, I'm gonna test that this weekend, see if Bubble Bobble acts differently in earlier versions of DOSBox. ;)
Bubble Bobble is an incredibly difficult game for the most part and while the DOS version is easier than most ports, the easiest versions have to be the NES and Gameboy versions, though be careful if you go for the original Gameboy version because it's a very different experience and has no two-player mode. (Still a fun game though!)
Clever viewers and fans of Bubble Bobble will have noticed that when time expired in the secret level, it simply automatically moved on to the next level. In the arcade version, a strange green creature known as Rascal shows up and chases you just like Baron von Blubba.
A little after getting this video uploaded I did some major testing, adjusting numerous DOSBox settings, graphics settings, sound settings, etc., and discovered that the shoes and rings only show up and work properly when Tandy graphics are engaged. The CGA, EGA and VGA modes, all have issues with those two powerups. In fact, the timings of some things are ever-so-slightly slower in Tandy mode.
Part of the reason why the sequels Bubble Symphony and Bubble Memories are largely unknown is because of Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars, two games which billed themselves in North America as being the second and third games in the series, even though they were totally different games, just staring the same characters. From what I understand, Bubble Symphony has four different characters you can play as, each with some sort of special ability, and Bubble Memories allows you to charge up your bubble blowing powers on command to blow MASSIVE bubbles that can trap entire groups of enemies all at once! :O
Don't get the reference at the end or are wondering exactly which episode it came from? Here's a hint: "It is said that broken friendship is best mended by tragedy or apology." Coincidentally, based on the ending of the DOS version, it looks like Bubble Bobble knew friendship was magic long before any ponies did. ;D
It also turns out that if you run the game with a slow enough cycles setting, or on a slow enough computer, it drops the maximum enemy count from 6 to 4 to keep the game from turning into a slideshow. :O
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