Bright & Colorful – Bubble And Squeak
Bubble & Squeak CD32 Front
Bubble and Squeak is one of those games that spoils the gamer with loads of ideas, sometimes too many ideas actually.
It is pretty obvious from the start that a lot of attention to detail and good game mechanics was the main goal and even if the game comes with 3 different gameplay styles the game shows no problems in both style and game mechanics/design.
The game does start with a quite standard looking platformer look, it looks like a cross between James Pond 3 and Super Mario World(?). The game is silky smooth and is most likely 50hz with no choppy scrolling etc.
The game comes in 3 versions on the Amiga, ECS, AGA and CD32 and sadly there ain’t all that much difference between them except for a few layers in the gfx and maybe a detail here and there. The Sega Megadrive version of the game is more or less the very same game as the AGA version except for the typical bad MD/GS sound.
Bubble And Squeak is a very polished game, the graphics are full of small details. The Amiga versions feel a wee bit undercooked in terms of what the hardware was capable of but the whole package makes up for it.
The game is full of small cool things like,
- Blowing chewing gum bubbles
- Piggybacking your friend/co-player
- Calling out commands for you friend like stop, hello, come etc.
- Timer based level design with the water level rising.
- Bubblegum vending machines that work.
- Sfx+music changes the sound output when going underwater.
- Many, many more cool things.
The pictures above show the shoot ’em up sections, yet again nice details all over the place, very quite and clean.
The levels do come out as easy and boring looking here, that is not the thing you will think when playing it.
The music is quite good too and suits the gameplay nicely.
The game box is a bit of a let down really, i mean it does look good but when i look at it today i think it looks like a budget game box.
The CD32 version came in 2 variations, jewel case and big box (above) version, my version is the big box one and i have never seen many of them around so i have a feeling it might be quite rare. (but never checked).
The Big Box version came with no jewel case for the cd, only a plastic sleeve thingy.
There are a few fun facts about this game,
- The game’s first name was ” BubbleGum & Squeak.
- The first version (at least) of the game had 3 names for the game in the same package, Bubble And Squeak, Bubble & Squeak, Bubble(gum) And Squeak.
- Amiga Computing gave the game away in their mag in 1997, Disk Label was: Be a bald baby in the cutest platformer ever from Audiogenic.
- The CD32 version was the first version released.
- The A500 version was released 1 year after the CD32 version.
Bubble And Squeak can be a very hard game at times, this is down to the time pressure and the difficulty of the puzzles. The game can be a bit unclear on what the next objective is so when the rush kicks in then you will most likely panic and do a mistake.
The long play video above seems a bit off in the framerate, not sure why but i guess it is down to the recording and or Youtube as the game on my setup is not choppy.
I wonder how many times this long play gamer used to practice the levels and how many retries used to complete this game so fast, when i watch it now i have to say that it is quite impressive.
Rush out and give this game a try, it is most definitely one of those Amiga platformers that you just have to play.
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I discovered your blog via Spillmuseet’s feature on you, and boy have i sought such reading for a long time!
I keep my CD32 at my parents house back home, which I visit 4-5 times a year. A nice glass of Akevit and a CD32-controller in my “gutterom” sure bring childhood memories back! (minus the beverage of course :P)
Bubble´n´Squeak was one of my favorite games back then, even though i never managed to get a hold of a copy, so i mainly played the demo, but after procuring the game in other ways … 😉 😉 I’ve begun the quest for completing the game, and my biggest gripe is that the level themes mixes. I would much rather prefer completing all the cave levels before moving to the next World. And speaking of worlds! World map! That would certainly show the “universe” which this game is placed in!
Loved the music, artwork, rising water and working with Squeak as an extra character.
Thanks for the lookback, and don’t stop doing this blog! I’m learning new things, and putting up new reminders on my phone for what i’ll play the next time i visit my gutterom!
-Hallvard
Hallvard commented on AmigaGuru’s GamerBlog:
I discovered your blog via Spillmuseet’s feature on you, and boy have i sought such reading for a long time!
I keep my CD32 at my parents house back home, which I visit 4-5 times a year. A nice glass of Akevit and a CD32-controller in my “gutterom” sure bring childhood memories back! (minus the beverage of course :P)
Bubble´n´Squeak was one of my favorite games back then, even though i never managed to get a hold of a copy, so i mainly played the demo, but after procuring the game in other ways … 😉 😉 I’ve begun the quest for completing the game, and my biggest gripe is that the level themes mixes. I would much rather prefer completing all the cave levels before moving to the next World. And speaking of worlds! World map! That would certainly show the “universe” which this game is placed in!
Loved the music, artwork, rising water and working with Squeak as an extra character.
Thanks for the lookback, and don’t stop doing this blog! I’m learning new things, and putting up new reminders on my phone for what i’ll play the next time i visit my gutterom!
-Hallvard
thanks for the kind words Hallvard , more retrospectives due soon.
The next one is actually yet another CD32 game :-),
thanks for the kind words Hallvard , more retrospectives due soon.
The next one is actually yet another CD32 game :-),
Thanks Hallvard for taking the time to publish such a comment!
This kind of users feedback is exactly what we seek. It adds “real life” to our stories and keeps us motivated.
Have a nice evening.
g0blin commented on AmigaGuru’s GamerBlog:
Thanks Hallvard for taking the time to publish such a comment!
This kind of users feedback is exactly what we seek. It adds “real life” to our stories and keeps us motivated.
Have a nice evening.
i will translate the spillmuseum interview and post it here on the blog so everyone can see what i was being interviewed about etc, even moreso that g0blin my co writer can read and understand it too 😀