Nice Package! (Bubble Bobble, Famicom Disk System)

Last fall, I published a post in which I asked folks to help me solve the "mystery" of Bubble Bobble's many Famicom Disk System releases.

Or at least I thought Taito's classic single-screen platformer had earned a number of FDS releases. In reality, it appears it earned just two: a limited edition that offered buyers a copy of Bubble Bubble's Famicom port plus a larger-than-normal instruction manual and the version that's showcased in photos throughout this write-up.

The second iteration could be purchased for a nominal fee from one of the many Famicom Disk Writer Kiosks (learn more about them at famicomdisksystem.com) Nintendo installed in game stores across Japan from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s.

This "Disk Writer" version of Bobble Bobble has long intrigued me thanks to its two-tone, watermelon-colored manual.

I mean, anyone who has ever visited my Twitter or Tumblr pages knows I'm fond of pink things. Of course, I'm also fond of adorable things--and how else would you describe the cover imagery that's highlighted below?

To be honest, I'd probably have sought out a "Disk Writer" copy of Bobble Bobble's Famicom Disk System port even if its instruction booklet's paper was the color of pea soup thanks to its "lucky cha-cha-cha wow!" tagline.

Thankfully, it's not. And as is hopefully plainly evident in the snapshot below, this booklet's pink-and-green palette looks especially great when employed on its interior pages.

Speaking of which, this particular page of Bubble Bobble's manual highlights some of the game's many point items. My very next blog post will be filled with scans of this manual, by the way, so keep an eye out for it if you get a kick out of stuff like that.

In the meantime, here's one last look at the contents of the "Disk Writer" iteration of Bubble Bobble for FDS. 

It has to be noted that Japanese Famicom owners bought this particular version (with the game written onto "brand new" disks, as Nintendo referred to them at the time) for somewhere between 2,600 and 3,500 yen. 

Bubble Bobble could be "rented" via a Famicom Disk Writer for just 500 yen, too, but folks who went that route had to provide their own blank disks (2,000 yen a pop). Also, rather than receiving a glorious, dual-color booklet like the one that's on display here, they got a folded piece of paper with the game's instructions and accompanying illustrations printed in simple black text.

If you'd like to take a closer look at Bubble Bobble's game disk, you can do so here. Or you can check out its colorful cover slip here. 

See also: previous 'Nice Package!' posts about City Connection, Otocky, Pizza Pop! and Rainbow Islands

Help me solve the mystery of Bubble Bobble's many Famicom Disk System releases

When the NES port of Taito's classic quarter-muncher Bubble Bobble hit North American store shelves back in late 1988, its PCB and ROM were packed inside the standard gray cartridges that are now considered iconic.

The game's Japanese release, however, was quite different. First, it happened a year earlier--just before Halloween in 1987. Second, the game wasn't sold on one of the brilliantly colorful carts that defined Nintendo's Famicom on that side of the pond. Instead, it was sold on one of the banana-yellow diskettes that defined the Japan-only Famicom Disk System.



That's just part of the story, though. How so? Well, most people who have any interest in Bubble Bobble or Nintendo's 8-bit consoles know that Taito offered Japanese consumers an undeniably fabulous limited edition version of the game.

This LE, showcased in the photo below, included a copy of the game and a larger-than-usual instruction manual--both of which were stuffed within a soft plastic pencil case that featured the Bubble Bobble logo and adorable depictions of main characters Bub and Bob.



But that's not the only version of Bubble Bobble that was made available to Famicom Disk System owners. Another was included in a thick plastic case (it's nearly twice as thick as the typical FDS case) and came packaged with a manual that's smaller--and, uh, pinker--than the one made for the above-mentioned LE.

The mystery I'm looking to solve here is this: was this last version of Bubble Bobble FDS released alongside the LE as that region's "standard edition"? And if so, why do copies of it rarely pop up on auction sites like eBay or even in online photos?



In fact, I've come across so few of them over the years that I've long assumed they were bootlegs. I'm now pretty sure they're official, but that doesn't answer the questions I posed a couple of paragraphs ago.

Is it possible more limited editions were produced for Bubble Bobble's Famicom Disk System port than standard ones? Or is there some other explanation to all of this?

If you have an idea--even just a guess--as to what that may be, please share it in the comments section below.

This video of Super Mario Maker's adorable Ice Climbers costume just made my week

I don't own a Wii U. I also don't own a copy of Super Mario Maker. I wish I owned them, though, because if I did, I'd be all over both when the Ice Climbers costume showcased in the following video  is added to the latter.

That's supposed to happen later this week in Japan, by the way. Most folks think it won't be long until it's made available to Super Mario Maker players in other regions, too.



In the meantime, you could do worse than spend some time reading up on the Famicom (or NES, if that's more your kind of thing) game that inspired this drool-worthy bit of DLC. Here's my rather pithy review of Ice Climber, for instance, and here are a couple of photos of (as well as a few thoughts on) that same title's gorgeous Japanese packaging.

If you're still begging for more, check out these write-ups about the Famicom Disk System version of Ice Climber: 'For the sixth game of Christmas, the UPS man brought to me...' and 'Reason #401 I could be considered an eccentric (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer'

See also: 'I think I've changed my mind about Ice Climber'

Why didn't someone tell me Square worked to port its Aliens MSX game to the Famicom Disk System and that the ROM had found its way on line?

Anyone new to this blog may not yet know this bit of oh-so-interesting news, but I am an absolute Alien nut.

Both Ridley Scott's 1979 film and James Cameron's 1986 sequel (called Aliens, naturally) are among my all-time favorite pieces of cinema.

Combine that with my love of video games, and you've got a situation where a person (that would be me) scours the globe in search of quality games that were inspired by the above-mentioned films.

Sadly, that lifelong search has turned up only a few worthwhile possibilities, such as Konami's side-scrolling action game from 1990, 1994's Aliens vs Predator title for the ill-fated Atari Jaguar, WayForward's Aliens Infestation for the DS and last year's Alien: Isolation for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Is the awkwardly named Aliens: Alien 2, made by Square for the MSX computer platform all the way back in 1987, another example? I've never played it, so I have no idea, but videos such as this one certainly make it look like a contender.



I share all of this because I just--well, a couple of days ago--became aware of the fact that the fine folks at Square worked on a Famicom Disk System port of Aliens: Alien 2 at some point in time.

For whatever reason, though, the company's higher-ups weren't happy with the effort and scrapped it before it could be released.

Amazingly, some wonderful person got his or her hands on the game's not-quite-finished prototype and leaked its ROM onto the Internet in 2011--another piece of news that only recently reached my ears.

If you, too, are an Alien buff and this is the first you're hearing of the Famicom Disk System port of Square's Aliens: Alien 2, you may get a kick out of the footage included in the video above.

Personally, I prefer the more minimalist aesthetic of the MSX original, although the FDS version is far from unappealing. What do all of you think?