Main
Features
 FOTD
 Toy Fair 2023
 SDCC 2023
 Toy Fair 2020
 NYCC 2019
 SDCC 2019
 Toy Fair 2019
 SDCC 2018
 Toy Fair 2018
 HasCon 2017
 SDCC 2017
 Toy Fair 2017
 SDCC 2016
 Toy Fair 2016
 SDCC 2015
 Toy Fair 2015
 SDCC 2014
 C2E2 2014
 Toy Fair 2014
 SDCC 2013
 C2E2 2013
 Toy Fair 2013
 SDCC 2012
 C2E2 2012
 Toy Fair 2012
 NYCC 2011
 SDCC 2011
 Toy Fair 2011
Archives
 Books
 DVD
 Music
 Statues
 Prop Replicas
 Toys
 Video Games
Credits
Contact


This site is part of Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Entertainment Earth affiliate programs. We may earn a commission when you click one of their links.


Related Links:
16bit Tumblr
16bit Twitter
16bit Instagram
ASWN
EE Podcast
Galactic Hunter
Glyos News
OSM News

Bubble Bobble Neo Taito, Microsoft Xbox 360 Live Arcade, September 2009

Bubble Bobble Neo
Developer
Year
Players
Price
Taito
2009
1-4
$10 (800 MS points)
The 1980s provided gamers with tons of classics at the arcade, some of which became better known as NES hits. Bubble Bobble Neo is one better known to most American gamers as an NES title, now upgraded, and arguably worth it. It's classic Bubble Bobble (with more power-ups than you remember from the NES), plus a remixed game with new stages and the ability to walk up and down a 45-degree incline, which makes things surprisingly difficult in places.

What you need to know: it's freaking Bubble Bobble and it's just as good or better than you remember it. It has new modes, new graphics, really everything you might hope for short of actual meaningful online multiplayer.

Control

It's Bubble Bobble, which you probably know damn well how it controls. if not: move a dinosaur around, jump, spit bubbles, jump on bubbles. You can collect all sorts of power-ups, from sneakers that make you run faster to a little dongle that lets you spit fire. There's just enough to keep the game very interesting while you catch villains in bubbles, pop the bubbles, and eat the fruit they leave behind. It's total 2D classic stuff that was rendered just fine on the NES, and the controls are basically the same as you might remember from the original game releases. Or any of the many rereleases.

Now Let Us Make Journey To The Cave Of Monsters

The game's story is razor-thin. Save your girlfriend! That's basically it. Just be glad that the gameplay is really something.


Graphics & Sound

The first stills that came out looked pretty awful, but it turns out the hi-res redrawn art looks pretty good while in motion. The characters have a good redrawn look and seem to move around in this world just fine. The backgrounds are colorful and clear, as are the enemies, but one of the trappings of these old games is that sometimes so much goes on to the screen that you lose track of which character is you, what can shoot at you, and so on. You're going to die a lot, this adorable game has fairly sharp fangs. The music is a remix of the original sounds, so it basically feels like you're right at home-- it's not jarring or anything. As retro upgrades go, it's pretty much exactly what a recreation should give you.

The Multiplayer and other modes

Play with up to 4 buddies, if you're so inclined. It does not seem to have online support, unfortunately, so it's "Live on your couch." Which really sucks, as online multiplayer is part of what games like this and various other very long arcade games great on Xbox Live. Taito's 2009 lineup of remakes has been mostly stellar-- this one is no different in the sense that you're going to have a great time.

Is it worth buying?

PASS OR FAIL?
PASS!
WE LIKED IT!
If it weren't for the fact that you likely own Bubble Bobble Neo's main selling point, the original game, this is a must-own game. This is the game you show your non-gamer girlfriends, your old gamer buddies, and people that just need to kill some time before the movie starts. It's a genuine classic, and the new modes keep that classic look and feel. Unfortunately, like its classic ancestors, there's no online multiplayer.

Ten bucks is a lot to ask for a game you've probably bought (and beat) many times over, but the upgrade is pretty nice and the multi-player functionality is certainly nice to have. I've been playing this one a lot, and I'll probably pick it up every few months and play it some more. It's hard to deny that's a good thing and worthy of the purchase, even if it isn't some brand-spanking-new game mode like Pac-Man: Championship Edition. There's nothing wrong with it, for all practical purposes it's the original, only better, with a little more going on in it.

--Adam Pawlus
November 9, 2009

Other Links

Game Reviews

Arcade Games
 Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR

Gear
 Rollacrit Bag of Holding

PC Peripherals
 MT80 White Mechanical Keyboard

Nintendo Wii
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
 Main Game
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
 Homestar Ruiner
 Strong Badia the Free
 Baddest of the Bands
 Dangeresque 3
 8-Bit Is Enough

PSP
 Kurulin Fusion
 Thexder Neo

Xbox 360
 Battleship
 Bubble Bobble Neo
 Bust-A-Move Live!
 Comic Jumper
 Connect 4
 Encleverment Experiment
 G.I. Joe: ROC
 Gel: Set & Match
 Hard Corps: Uprising
 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 Lode Runner
 Mega Man 9
 Puzzle Quest Galactrix
 Qix++
 R-Type Dimensions
 Scrabble
 Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
 Space Invaders Extreme
 Space Invaders Infinity Gene
 Splosion Man
 Trivial Pursuit
 Yahtzee
 Zombie Apocalypse
 Zombie Wranglers
Walking Dead
 Episode 1
Wallace & Gromit
 Fright of the Bumblebees
 The Last Resort
  Muzzled!
 The Bogey Man

GameBoy
 GameBoy Advance SP Famicom Color

Saturn
 Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus

16bit.com is best not viewed in Apple's Safari browser, we don't know why. All material on this site copyright their respective copyright holders. All materials appear hear for informative and entertainment purposes. 16bit.com is not to be held responsible for anything, ever. Photos taken by the 16bit.com staff. Site design, graphics, writing, and whatnot credited on the credits page. Be cool-- don't steal.
We know where you live and we'll break your friggin' legs.