Bubble Memories: The Story Of Bubble Bobble III (Ver 2.3J 1996/02/07) - MAME machine

Taito F3 cart. published 28 years ago:

Bubble Memories - The Story of Bubble Bobble III © 1996 Taito.

One day in the land of the Rainbow Island, twin brothers Bubby and Bobby are playing together in the shadow of the tower that watches over and protects their homeland when suddenly, they are transformed into bubble-blowing dragons by the evil Super Dark Great Dragon. The Great Dragon then takes possession of the tower and destroys the 'Magical Rainbow Potion' from which the tower draws its strength, causing it to separate into seven differently-coloured potions.

The twins must climb the 80 floors of the tower to free it from his clutches and regain their human forms. The final ten levels of the tower can only be accessed by collecting 7 differently-coloured potions to reform the Magical Rainbow Potion.

The fourth and final arcade outing for Bub and Bob (not counting the "Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-Move" series), "Bubble Memories" returns once more to the classic, single-screen gameplay of the series' legendary first outing. Graphically, the game is very similar to "Bubble Symphony", released two years earlier, with the only real visual difference being the latter game's use of digitized animal and plant photographs to form the game's backdrops.

One major new gameplay addition is the introduction of 'Super Bubbles'. There are now two sizes of bubbles - standard and large; players can now hold down the bubble button until their characters glow, then release it to produce a giant bubble. This bubble can trap either a single large enemy (another new addition to the game), or several standard enemies. This replaces the 'Multiple Bubble' ability of the previous game in the series.

Bubby and Bobby are young boys in the intro, indicating that this is a prequel to the series.

TECHNICAL
Runs on the "Taito F3 System" Hardware.

Prom Stickers: E21

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick.
Buttons: 2 per player.
= > [1] Bubble, [2] Jump

TRIVIA
Even if the title screen says 1995, Bubble Memories was released in February 1996.

In the Taito logo sequence, a 'Zen-Chan' monster chases Bub from the right side of the screen to the left. When Bub reaches the left of the screen, he stops, turns around and traps Zen-Chan in a bubble. The bubble then pops, Zen-Chan is killed, and the Taito logo appears on screen.

The entire cast of basic enemies from the original "Bubble Bobble" (including 'Skel', aka "Baron Von Blubba", so continue to watch out for him if you take too much time in a room; 'Rascal' also returns if you take too much time in a secret room) returns once again (however, the original game's end boss, 'Super Drunk' does not appear in this game), along with many of the characters first introduced in "Bubble Symphony". There is also a new version of 'Monsta' with a teal body and yellow eyes, who moves horizontally and vertically, as opposed to the regular 'Monsta' who moves diagonally.

Chack'n from "Chack'n Pop" joins Zen-Chan and company in the pursuit of Bub and Bob. In this game, he dons a blue helmet. There is also a large version of him requiring a giant bubble to trap and kill. There are also giant versions of Zen-Chan, PulPul, and Puka Puka.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Power Up Mode: Press Up, Right, Down, Left, Up, Right, Down, Left at the title screen. Rotate the Joystick clockwise in two circles to give Bub and Bob permanent shoes, blue gum and yellow gum.
• Super Mode: Press Left, Start, Fire, Jump, Up, Down, Start, Right at the title screen to unlock another set of levels.
• Original Mode: Press Start, Left, Fire, Jump, Fire, Jump, Fire, Jump. Secret rooms will always appear in levels 7 and 37.

SERIES

• Bubble Bobble (1986, Arcade)
• Rainbow Islands - The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 (1987, Arcade)
• Parasol Stars - The Story of Bubble Bobble III [Model TP03017] (1991, PC-Engine)
• Bubble Bobble Part 2 (1993, Famicom)
• Bubble Bobble II (1994, Arcade)
• Bubble Memories - The Story of Bubble Bobble III (1996, Arcade)
• Rainbow Islands - Putty's Party (2000, Wonderswan)
• Bubble Bobble Revolution (2005, DS)
• New Rainbow Islands (2005, DS)
• Bubble Bobble Evolution (2006, PSP)
• Bubble Bobble Double Shot (2007, DS)
• Rainbow Islands Towering Adventure! (2009, WiiWare)
• Bubble Bobble Plus! (2009, WiiWare)
• Bubble Bobble Neo! (2009, XBLA)

STAFF
Software design: Harumi. K, Meltycat!
Character design: Voosy Marler, Aki, Mari Chan, Miwa Kamiya
Map design: Taka. Furukawa, FJT
Music by: Yasuko Yamada (Zuntata)
Sound Effects by: Ishikawa Babio (BABI) (Zuntata)
Design works: Kumi Mizore, Jun Iwata
Hardware design: Takeshi Kinugasa, Katsumi Kaneoka, Tomio Takeda, Kazuhiko Bando

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

[JP] Sony PS2 (jan.25, 2007) "Taito Memories II Joukan [Model SLPM-66649]"

CONTRIBUTE
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