Finally got this at a good price (£22 for those that have to know.) And, if the absolute low bar is the execrable PSP version, this ranks somewhere in the middle.
In fact, if anything, it can be summed up with one word, Mid.
It takes place in some unknown child's bedroom with a toy version of Bub and Hyper Drunk. That come to life, and the various levels seem to be based around the room they are in. The privileged little fucker seems to have a Bubble Bobble arcade cab in his room, and a quick blast confirms that this is still fun . Though how the fuck you get the special ending on Switch lite, when it's only one player is a mystery to me.
Less fun are the new levels that you have to play with. Gone are the iconic enemies and in their stead are weird little tanks and Lego blocks. A new version of Zen-chan would have been nice as well as Stoner and Beluga. Though the bouncing due on the second level rivals this for sheer cunt levels. Oh and the first boss is a piece of piss to beat, just stand on the blocks above him and wait till he rams himself into the wall and bubble him till he's fully encased.
Bubble Trouble.
Which brings us to another thing blocks and scoring. There is no special drug in which to cull off bosses nor do you get any of the regular powerups in a level. The only thing you get are Extend bubbles which don't give you a 1up but extend the use of powerups you get for beating a boss.
They're triggered by the shoulder buttons and you can't bubble while crouching. Your basic shot is just a short range attack that is serviceable but not to be fully relied upon. So far I've seen no way to fall through the floor nor trigger element bubbles that were part of the original. Oh and did I mention that apart from the weird glass floor, you cannot jump through platforms.
Boring scoring.
We finally come to the meat of the problem and it has to be said, its redemption, too. Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is pitched more like a score attack game than the old game. With all special power ups stripped out, and a guaranteed bonus at the end of level (no matching digits here.) Your overall bonus is dependent on the biggest amount of enemies you've bubbled up. Plus the mobilesque end of level bonus with its three star rating and EXTEND bubble log, you are immediately looking for ways to exploit the levels for bigger bonuses.
Overall. Unless we get a port of Bubble Bobble Neo from the Wii / XBOX 360 or Bubble Memories as an Arcade Archive. This is about the best you can do for the modern era. It's far from perfect but at the same time not a total abomination.
Final score 60%
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