Bubble Bobble/NES Walkthrough

Changes from the arcade
The NES (and Famicom Disk System) conversion of the Bubble Bobble game is very close to the arcade original. Some sacrifices have been made to the quality of the graphics, as the arcade hardware was capable of displaying many more colors at one time than the NES. While many of the levels are identical, there are a number of levels which contain different arrangements and layouts of platforms. Additionally, this conversion of the game contains 113 levels as opposed to 100 (not counting the Super version of the game.) Scoring, items earned, and number of EXTEND bubbles for defeated monsters has changed as well.

Many more subtle changes are detailed below.
 * Extra lives: In addition to collecting EXTEND bubbles, you can earn an extra life by reaching not three, but five distinct scores: 30,000, 100,000, 200,000, 400,000, and 1,000,000. Once you surpass one million points, you will not earn more extra lives through points.  There is a red dinosaur item unique to the NES version which appears when you collect the white beaded necklace, and grants an extra life if collected.
 * Life stealing: In a 2-player game, a player who has run out of lives may siphon any of the remaining lives from his or her opponent simply by pressing . This will return the deceased player to the game while reducing the other player's lives by one.
 * Bubble hopping: Compared to the arcade game, hopping on bubbles by holding is much easier, particularly when standing adjacent to a wall.  While newly formed bubbles popped very easily in the arcade when squeezed between a wall and the player, bubbles on the NES cannot be popped until they inflate to full size, make it much easier to blow a bubble while jumping against a wall and landing on it to jump off of it again.
 * Fewer items: The NES version contains fewer items to collect, and many of them provide fewer points than their arcade counterparts. Included in the list of items missing are all rings, lanterns, the clock, the bell, the crystal ball (re-purposed), lipstick, the skull, and the pulse bubble which has a 1 in 4096 random chance of appearing.  However, three new items were added, including a green book, a green bracelet, and white beads.
 * Green book: Allows you to blow lightning bubbles just like the lightning potion. While you are blowing lightning bubbles, you can still trap enemies in the bubbles you blow.  Worth 3000 points.
 * Green bracelet: Like the regular bracelet, the green bracelet produces an object that rains down on enemies and destroys them on contact. However, instead of stars, the objects that drop are tomatoes.  This is a valuable item, worth 3000 points to collect, 6000 points for each hit enemy, which will produce an 8000 point object if they are free or a 4000 point object if they are bubbled.
 * White beads: Like the staffs or treasure chests, this items turns free bubbles into items when the last enemy is defeated. It turns them into pink dinos which can be collected for 300 points each.  Additionally, just one red dinosaur will appear somewhere.  If a player can collect it, it awards 3000 points and one extra life.
 * Crystal ball: The crystal ball now serves a different purpose, appearing only in stage 99. If you fail to collect it, you will advance immediately to the final boss of the game.  If you do collect it before it disappears (much easier to do with a second player), a gate will appear in the lower middle part of the screen. Jumping into this gate will take you on to stage A0, and you'll play through 12 more stages before reaching the final boss.  You must succeed at this task to get the best ending.
 * No secret rooms: No matter how far you progress in the game without dying, you will never be presented with a door to a secret room, nor a door that will warp you to another level (other than the door that appears in stage 99, on collection of the crystal ball).
 * End level item bonus points: When you finish certain levels, or collect particular items, all remaining bubbles will transform into items for you to collect. Whenever you collect these items, they will report a value of 300 points.  However, as the game progresses, the value of these items actually increases by 100 points, every couple of levels, up to a maximum of 900 points, despite the 300 that is shown when collected.
 * Passwords: One obvious difference between the NES version of the game and the arcade is the ability to enter passwords that will allow you to automatically advance to a particular level. You do not need to enter a password if you have not turned off the NES, as the game will allow you to continue from any level up to the highest level visited.  After entering the password, you can select which level you'd like to continue from by highlighting the continue portion of the main menu, and pressing  to decrease, or  to increase, the desired level.
 * Multiple endings: In addition to two different good endings, there are also two different bad endings, based on your ability to collect the crystal in Round 99.  The endings break down as follows:
 * Worst ending: Fail to collect the crystal in Round 99, and defeat the final boss.
 * Bad ending: Collect the crystal in Round 99, and defeat the final boss in a single player game.
 * Good ending: Collect the crystal in Round 99, and defeat the final boss in a two player game.
 * Best ending: Collect the crystal in Round 99, and defeat the final boss in Super Bubble Bobble mode in a two player game. You will also unlock a Sound Test mode.