Taito F3 Bubble Bobble 2 PROTOTYPE PCB!!!!

Some differences in the prototype:

On demo screen the background is static and the tile graphics are different.
The points font is the same as the original game unlike the finished version, nice!
Sound effects are different.
The entire introduction story and music is missing.
There is no title screen at all.
There is no warning text or Taito logo on startup.
The enemies have different animation and things move differently.
The power up move is missing completely.
Game over font is different.
And the big one is an orchestral version of the original game's music!!!!! Really cool, I had no idea they had done that. Also you'll notice the little tune when it shows the different dragon pics is the game over music from the original game.

witchfinder wrote: Awesome stuff! Love the variation on the original game's music - why on earth would they ditch that for the music in the final version?  So how much do you think it's worth? Not that you'll ever sell it of course...

It's such an amazing find, and I was totally made up when you said it should go home with me. Are you sure you didn't plant it there secretly? 

This board is just like the 2x Jumping Jacks D gave me - I'll never sell them.  If I get the non working one fixed, I'll give it to Hurray Banana, as it's one of his faves and his college class like it too.

Awesome find!

So anyone who knows the game will see there's a lot of differences in this to the final version!

· The prototype has ALL the music from the original done in the new orchestral style, and it sounds bloody great if I may say so!

· The character select, intro music, 'extend' and potion music are like the original as well as the main theme.

· The game plays much more like the original, there's no path selection on level 1, you play through to 10, face a boss, then choose your next path of 10 levels.

· The intro text refers to the first game -

Release version - "THE NEW ADVENTURE OF BUBBLE BOBBLE - THE NEXT GENERATION - LET'S TRY AND CHALLENGE!"


Proto version - "THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BUBBLE BOBBLE - THE RETURN OF SUPER DRUNK - LET'S TRY AND CHALLENGE!"


· The level graphics are all different, as are many of the titles, the enemies on each level are different, and there are also a lot of completely new & different levels!!!!!

· There are no keys or ROD letters to collect, however there are still hidden musical notes to find on each level, but you just get points for them.

· Powerups are different, there are some new/unused ones, others are different from the final version, when you collect a potion the music & graphics are the same as the original game.

· Different extend letter graphics.

· Something quite fundamental to the way I play the original game is different here - I always make use of a simultaneous fire+jump move, so you can bubble an enemy and jump straight in to it to burst it which is essential on the hard levels. On Symphony you can't do it - pressing both buttons just makes you fire a bubble. I found this really frustrating as it's one of my main play techniques.
In this proto version you CAN do it, so they obviously deliberately changed it! I'd really like to know why!


Edited by muddymusic - 31 July 2013 at 10:42am

It's interesting what got changed. Shows how much thought and consideration goes into all aspects of game development, from backdrops to wall tiles. All on a game where the backdrops and wall tiles don't really matter. Serious dedication and perfectionism.

Edited by stevearcade - 31 July 2013 at 2:36pm

I am so loving this thread :)

Bit more info on the game.....

You get to play though 30 levels before the game ends - 9 normal levels - then a boss level, chose a path left or right, and so on.

Each branch gives you a new set of 10 so that gives this version 60 different screens to see - not bad for a proto!

There appear to be 3 bosses that you always fight whichever path you chose, but with a different platform arrangement & graphics depending which route you took.

Laid out in the same way as the finished game, only that has 7 levels then a boss.

A
BC
DEF

Edited by muddymusic - 31 July 2013 at 10:49pm

This is great, real history. Very generous of Dsyde too.