I was re-reading this MySpace blog post I had written about Bubble Bobble and my gaming roots, and I really liked how it sounded. I thought it would be really nice having it here as well, it’s the post which first gave me the idea of having a more permanent blog so I’m copying it onto here. This was originally written on December 5th 2007, one of the days I was playing a lot of BB with Mario.
I was writing a huge blog entry, detailing what my November was like, and how I feel about the forthcoming Christmas. Yes, one wrong keypress and all of my time went in vain… And why is all this I wrote POSTDATA? Can Tom answer me this simple question? Eh? AND WHO THE HELL HAD THIS FANTASTIC IDEA OF HAVING BACKSPACE AS A SHORTCUT FOR BACK?!
I can’t be bothered to write it again, so I guess you’ll read a really huge blog entry from me some other time. Or perhaps I should start a more permanent blog at some site? Hm, why not… It’s not like I haven’t been feeling the waves of inspiration flowing through me as of late. But then again, why should I share this inspiration with you? Maybe I shouldn’t! *trick question*
Anyway, I soon plan on posting a tribute to N64, in a few weeks 10 years will have gone by since I got my little kiddy hands on the thing. And gaming never was the same again for me. Speaking about gaming and matters concerning the whole universe being permanently altered, yesterday and today Mario and me blew through Bubble Bobble, a super classic for me and perhaps the first game I ever played and finished (credit goes to Shaman Alex for the help back then *hi-5*, if he ever reads this. :P)
My first contact with gaming was on an Atari 2600 that I barely remember, and my real first contact with games that I clearly remember was in Australia in 1993, when some kids of a friend of my dad’s played Super Mario Bros. I think I played as well, but seeing how it was my first time with a controller, I failed miserably. Yes I know, other people finished the same game at the same age. Shortly thereafter (or what would appear shortly in a child’s eyes) ,it was a pseudo-NES my dad bought for me. The games it had: Bubble Bobble and 83 games in one. And I remember the first time my dad showed me how to play the game. After that?
It may have been the bubbly bobbly intro screen, the cutesy dinosaurs that made such a weird face when they died, the huge array of different goodies and their “mysterious powers” (it was awesome when a cross appeared on the screen… Now what the hell’s gonna happen, all the bad guys are gonna die!), from tomatoes to diamonds and from cakes to umbrellas, it was all so happy! The baddies were happy, the music was cheerful, loopy and catchy (what every 8-bit tune should be like) and most important of all, the game was fun, even more fun than picking ice from your refrigerator, trying to chase the little scar in your eye fluid or beatboxing with your mouth. It was more fun than doing these combined. How can you not have fun when blowing baddies into bubbles, hopping on your own bubbles or running away from the white “grim reaper whale” who appears in the backdrop of those 5 dreadful notes? It’s such a classic, and rightfully so.
My cartridge back then was hacked and cracked, and we had the choice of playing any stage we wanted, even the boss, and unlocking the good ending the easy way. It was a stunning moment for us, we had seen the ending to that game! We hadn’t played it to its entirety and we didn’t even care, we just saw the dinosaurs saving their girlfriends and the day. But only yesterday, while playing the game with Marios, did I realise that I had never actually and rightfully beaten the game. I had cheated! So, now was the time! We played through every floor, unlocked the happy ending (although I admit we had some trouble figuring HOW to do it) and kicked the crap out of that sorcerer thing. After almost 13 years, I had come back to my first game and beaten it the right way. And that’s just how it all felt; right.
Bubble Bobble, ladies and gentlemen, a game we can truly call a retro classic – just as playable as it was back then, it is today. Let’s see Crysis reaching that kind of status.
