Bub and Bob are back, and this time they’re on hardware that didn’t exist when they first started blowing bubbles at things.
Taito’s arcade platformer Bubble Bobble is now playable on Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5. No trailer campaign, no countdown. The re-release just showed up. For anyone who’s kept a soft spot for retro arcade games, that quiet arrival is still worth noticing.
The game first hit arcades in 1986 and then spread to what feels like every machine ever built: the NES, the Sega Saturn, the original Game Boy, the Amiga. The Game Boy Color got its own take, Classic Bubble Bobble, in 1999. Now, with the series nearing its 40th anniversary, it’s on current-gen consoles again.
The company behind it makes a habit of this
The re-release comes from Hamster, the Japanese outfit that’s built its whole reputation on excavating older games that would otherwise sit forgotten. This is far from its first attempt. Hamster has a long track record of putting classic titles back into circulation, and Bubble Bobble is the latest name on that list.
It costs $7.99, and you can grab it through the PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop for PlayStation 5 and Switch 2. Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 owners can get it too, via Hamster’s Arcade Archives series.
Yes, there’s a CRT filter
Hamster tossed in a few conveniences for modern players. You can remap the buttons, save your progress and tweak the display however you like. The visual options include a CRT-style filter that mimics the look of an old television.
If you’d rather play Bubble Bobble closer to how it originally looked and felt, that’s what those display settings are for. The game can be shown in different screen layouts, and the CRT filter piles on the old-school atmosphere.
The plot is exactly as ridiculous as you remember
Bub and Bob are two friends who’ve been turned into bubble-blowing dragons. Their girlfriends, Betty and Patty, have been kidnapped by the wizard Baron von Blubba. The rescue mission runs 100 levels deep.
By current standards the setup is simple and the gameplay is straightforward. But the formula is instantly recognizable decades later, which is more than most 1986 games can claim.
You trap enemies inside bubbles, pop them, collect whatever items fall out and push through stages that keep getting harder. Easy to understand. Surprisingly demanding once you’re deep in it. That’s arcade design doing its job.
Who’s this actually for
Whether a newcomer with no attachment to the genre gets the same mileage out of it is a fair question. For anyone who grew up with the game, though, the pull is obvious. The colorful characters, the bubble mechanic and the arcade-style difficulty are why it’s stayed one of Taito’s most recognizable classics.
The 40th anniversary timing works in its favor. And no, this isn’t the first time Bubble Bobble has resurfaced on modern platforms, but the new Console Archives release hands PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 owners their own shot at it.
Eight bucks, 100 levels, two dragons and a wizard named Baron von Blubba. You could do considerably worse.
