"In a strange and magical forest full of danger and delight, where everything is good to eat and happy dinosaurs bounce and play in peace, lived two such creatures called Bubblen and Bobblen. One day Bubblen and Bobblen got word that two of their Brontosaurus buddies had been abducted by Baron von Blubba who lived in the evil forest just beyond the horizon. So Bubblen and Bobblen set off to find their friends and bring them to safety, but the Baron had sent many ill-tempered and hungry beasties to the forest to stop Bubblen and Bobblen from finding their friends. Only Bubblen and Bobblen's magical bubble blowing powers could save them." well that is what the packaging tells you about this game.

Bubble Bobble was an old 8-bit 1986 arcade game. This has been given the once over for the Game Boy Advance, but as a novel approach the original arcade game is also included to give you two for one. The basic idea of the game is to fire bubbles at the enemies. If successful the bubble will encase the enemy. To complete the 'kill' you then have to burst the bubble either by jumping on it, or at it. If you are too slow at bursting the bubble, the enemy comes back to life, but this time he is angry and goes faster!! Obviously as you progress further the enemies get trickier to beat. There are 100 levels on the new version of Bubble Bobble, so the durability of the game is guaranteed.

When you burst the bubbles containing the enemy these release fruits and other goodies which you need to try and pick up to gain bonus points. There are also specialised bubbles floating around which you need to use to kill certain enemies. These include water bubbles which when burst create a torrent of water which kills the enemies in it's path. If you are in its path you are carried along with the flow. This tactic is needed to complete certain levels, where it is impossible to get by walls any other way. There are also electric bubbles which when burst send a lightning bolt left or right depending on the colour of the bubble. These are required to kill robot-like enemies. You can also use bubbles to gain height. By holding down the jump button when you land on a bubble you keep jumping rather than burst the bubble. This is required to navigate certain levels.

Take too long to complete a stage and you are warned to hurry. Failure to complete the level soon after this means Skull Monsta appears. He will track you down and kill you pretty quickly, and your bubbles are useless against him.

Other game features, which are good, are the fact you can store two user's games on the cartridge, and return to where you left off. Each user's session contains their positions on both the new and old games. Also, some of the bubbles you burst have other bonus functionality such as freezing all enemies temporarily so you can 'bubble' them with ease, or clearing all enemies with one burst (this one is rare unfortunately). There is also a multi-play option that can be used with a single game cartridge with limited functionality (12 old levels). With two cartridges you get the full game for both players to play together.

Overall, I found this game really addictive and hard to put down. It's excellently made with many challenging levels, which require some logical thinking as well as just a fast bubble-firing finger. As with all platform type games there are certain points of frustration where you think it's impossible to get past. But after some perseverance you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Control of Bubblen is really responsive, and jumps, etc. execute really accurately. There aren't any really niggly faults on the game. Sometimes death comes very quickly as you try and work out a level, but due to the ability to continue your next game from where you left off, you aren't placed in the frustrating situation of going back to the start. Sound and graphics are excellent for a GBA game. There are some great blooping noises to accompany the bubbles!

So to sum up Bubble Bobble is a superb multi level game which will have you blowing and bursting bubbles for many hours to come. It's certainly no 5-minute pushover, and is excellent value for money.

Reviewed by AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).