Bubble Symphony Longplay (Arcade) [QHD] [All Endings]

Developed and published by Taito in 1994

Bubble Symphony is the third arcade game in the Bubble Bobble franchise (Parasol Stars was only ever released in the home market), and it's a return to the bubble-blowing antics of the original game. The monsters decide to take revenge on Bub and Bob, the series original protagonists, by turning their offspring into bubble dragons, forcing them to find a way to dispel the curse and return to their human forms.

Much like other games in the franchise, Bubble Symphony is a deeper game than you might think. In order to beat the game and get the true ending, not only will you need to find a way to return to your human form, you also need to gather four keys to unlock the sixth and final game world.

Regaining your humanity requires collecting three letters that spell out the word "ROD", which summons a magical rod that dispels the curse placed upon you. These letters will only appear on specific stages in the game, and only after receiving a "Hurry Up" warning on said level, at which point a bubble containing a letter will appear. The letter that appears in each world is predetermined, so you'll need to discover which letters appear in which world and choose a path accordingly.

Finding keys is more straightforward than getting the rod, but it's still a difficult task. You'll need to collect three key icons hidden throughout the various levels in each world, upon which point the key itself will spawn; grab this, and you'll be one step closer to unlocking the final level. If you haven't secured all the keys by the end of world five the game ends there and then, regardless of whether you're in human form or not; you'll get different endings depending on the world you were last in when the game ended, as well as which form you were in.

It also shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that, even when you do beat the final world in human form, the ending you get isn't quite the true ending. For that, you'll need to unlock the "Super Mode" during the game's attract mode by inputting a code, a code which you learn by accessing secret rooms throughout the game, which only become accessible by never dying.

Super mode plays pretty much the same as the regular game, except the enemies in each level are generally more dangerous, which makes beating the game an even more challenging task. You still need the keys and rod to beat the game, and the true ending features slightly different dialogue and an additional screen.

If you enjoyed Bubble Bobble then Bubble Symphony is pretty much the same game with improved visuals and snappier gameplay. I'm not sure I would recommend it over the original (or Rainbow Islands), but it's decent sequel.

Chapters
00:00 Attract Mode
02:22 Normal Mode: Entrance World
06:46 Normal Mode: Kiki Kaikai
11:42 Normal Mode: TV Machine
17:44 Normal Mode: Computer World
23:46 Normal Mode: Treasure Desert
30:05 Normal Mode: Final World
37:47 Normal Mode: Good Ending
44:04 Super Mode: Entrance World
46:37 Super Mode: Radish Land
51:14 Super Mode: Sun "A"-Zone
57:06 Super Mode: Central Park
1:02:43 Super Mode: Japanesque
1:09:12 Super Mode: Final World
1:16:29 Super Mode: True Ending
1:20:56 Bad Ending 1 (Final world/no rod)
1:21:30 Bad Ending 2 (missing keys/no rod)
1:21:54 Bad Ending 3 (missing keys/with rod)
1:22:19 Bad Ending 4 (missing keys/no rod)
1:22:41 Bad Ending 5 (Missing keys/with rod)
1:23:06 Bad Ending 6 (missing keys/no rod)
1:23:29 Bad Ending 7 (missing keys/with rod)
1:23:49 Bad Ending 8 (missing keys/no rod)
1:24:08 Bad Ending 9 (missing keys/with rod)
1:24:27 Bad Ending 10 (missing keys/no rod)
1:24:47 Bad Ending 11 (missing keys/with rod)

#bubblesymphony
#bubblebobble2
#retrogames