If you remember my review of the OG Bubble Bobble, you'd remember that I though it was a fun, addicting game ruined by rather outdated design choices, at least if you're trying to play the game through like a normal game, even though I played the game to death as a young'n. Even though Fukio Mitsuji (the creator of Bubble Bobble) was rather infamously against sequels, and this game was indeed done without the involvement of him, I think this is one of the few times where I think the sequel surpassed the original work in question. In short, I think it 's perfection in a single game.
In many ways, this feels like a proper evolution to Bubble Bobble. It still contains the same fun gameplay loop as that, but with a whole host of improvements across the board that make the game less frustrating and way more bearable. Gone with the forced multiplayer (although you still have the fun co-op action at play here, albeit optional!), and the frustrating idiosyncrasies that came from that, you can now continue whether or not you have another player around, and the stages are more of a fair challenge. Even on those fronts, the game is massively improved over it's predecessor.
There's also now more than a few music tracks than the OG, and the graphics are somehow more lively and colorful, even if the latter is because of the better hardware this game runs on. There's also multiple endings like with the OG, and somehow lots of variations of them, but even with that in mind, it's handled way better than in the OG. Still a bit of a process, but their requirements to go about getting them are way more reasonable and fair, so I actually have a chance at getting the better endings myself. And on top of all of that, you have way more secrets than the OG and fun little cameos of characters from other Taito games, who will actually help you defeat the enemies sometimes.
This game, along with Elevator Action Returns and Darius Gaiden, are what I like to call "The Perfect Taito F3 Trilogy", because not only are they good games on their own right, and also they represent the absolute best of what Taito offers, but because they're good examples of how to make great sequels that improve upon their predecessors.
In many ways, this feels like a proper evolution to Bubble Bobble. It still contains the same fun gameplay loop as that, but with a whole host of improvements across the board that make the game less frustrating and way more bearable. Gone with the forced multiplayer (although you still have the fun co-op action at play here, albeit optional!), and the frustrating idiosyncrasies that came from that, you can now continue whether or not you have another player around, and the stages are more of a fair challenge. Even on those fronts, the game is massively improved over it's predecessor.
There's also now more than a few music tracks than the OG, and the graphics are somehow more lively and colorful, even if the latter is because of the better hardware this game runs on. There's also multiple endings like with the OG, and somehow lots of variations of them, but even with that in mind, it's handled way better than in the OG. Still a bit of a process, but their requirements to go about getting them are way more reasonable and fair, so I actually have a chance at getting the better endings myself. And on top of all of that, you have way more secrets than the OG and fun little cameos of characters from other Taito games, who will actually help you defeat the enemies sometimes.
This game, along with Elevator Action Returns and Darius Gaiden, are what I like to call "The Perfect Taito F3 Trilogy", because not only are they good games on their own right, and also they represent the absolute best of what Taito offers, but because they're good examples of how to make great sequels that improve upon their predecessors.