Bubble Bobble (NES, Famicom Disk System)

They may have lost the original arcade source code somewhere along the way, but that certainly never stopped Taito from trying to port it to anything with a CPU.

Unused Music#

Track 35 on the NSF (34 in the sound test) is an interesting folk dance-like tune, normally accessible through the sound test. This tune is not in the arcade version, so it was probably included as a bonus for those who managed to unlock the sound test.

Interestingly, this track was used in the American/Japanese version of Rainbow Islands as the staff roll theme!

Regional Differences#

To do: There are still a few more differences.

Bubble Bobble was first released on in Japan for the Famicom Disk System. Outside of Japan, it was converted to cartridge and was released for the NES.

Many years later, the NES cartridge version would see a release in Japan as it was re-released as a Console Archives title for the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 worldwide.

Title Screen#

The NES version has a new Taito logo. The Bubble Bobble logo was also moved to make more room for the new "Licensed by Nintendo of America Inc." or just "Licensed by Nintendo" text if it's the European version.

Japan	US	Europe

Game Select#

The FDS version uses the save function to select the current level progress. The NES version allows the use of a password system to select levels.

FDS	NES

Intro Text#

The intro text was given a clean up for the NES version by fixing a typo on "Now it is the Beginning of a Fantastic Story!" part. For some reason, the exclamation mark was made taller.

FDS	NES

Color Palette#

For some reason, the FDS version leaves the PPU's red emphasis bit on at all times, giving the entire game a red tint. The NES version leaves all emphasis bits turned off.

FDS	NES

Game Over#

In the FDS version, return to the game selection screen immediately after the music is played. The password is added in the NES version, After the music is played, the player needs to press the start button to return to the game selection screen.

FDS	NES