Based on one of the most controversial games for the NES (warning: NSFW), Jayson Lowis Harwin (i.e. me) brings you: Magic Bubble!
Description
Playing "Magic Bubble" is easy. Bubbles of many colors come floating upward. You must fit the Bubble Clusters together so four or more Bubbles of the same color touch one another. When four or more of the same colored bubbles press together, the pressure inside the Bubbles increases causing them to pop.
Keep the bubbles bursting since in every space a Bubble gets stuck there is one less place to put the next Bubble Cluster, and they just keep coming. If you can't pop the Bubbles fast enough, the cave fulls up, and the game will end.
It sounds easy, right? Get read to enjoy all 24 mind-blowing stages of bubble popping excitement!
Controls
- D-PAD: Moves the rising Bubble Cluster RIGHT or LEFT, and controls how fast the Bubble Cluster floats up. Pushing DOWN will release a Magic Bubble (see below).
- Z/C/N: Turns the Bubble Cluster around horizontally (turns left to right).
- X/V/M: Flips the Bubble Cluster vertically (rotates upside down).
Air Pockets
Air Pockets are formed in the empty spaces between Bubbles that don't fit perfectly. One misplaced bubble can cause many Air Pockets, and Air Pockets take up as much space as Bubbles. One way to get rid of Air Pockets is to remove all the Bubbles below it and expose the Air Pocket to open water. When this is done the Air Pocket will dissolve.
If you're not careful Air Pockets will fill the screen faster than Bubble Clusters. Luckily, you can slide Bubbles into Air Pockets. When you pop the Bubbles you will also get rid of the Air Pockets.
Mystic Pearl
Sometimes during game play a Mystic Pearl will be part of a Bubble Cluster. The glow of the Mystic Pearl has magical powers and will change the color of the Bubbles around it to a single color.
Try to maneuver the Bubble Cluster so when the energies of the Mystic Pearl are released it will affect as many Bubbles as possible.
Plan the position of the Mystic Pearl carefully. The number of Bubbles popped can increase or decrease depending on the color the surrounding Bubbles change to.
Magic Bubbles
Every time you pop a Letter Bubble the letter will be placed in the Magic Window at the top of the screen. After you have collected all the letters needed to spell the word MAGIC, you will receive 1 Magic Bubble. To release a Magic Bubble hold down on the D-Pad.
When a Magic Bubble is released it will float motionless at the bottom of the screen until the Bubble Cluster has settled.
The first thing a Magic Bubble does is remove all Air Pockets. This will cause all Bubbles to settle and should cause some Bubbles to pop. The remaining Bubbles will begin to pulsate with energy and change colors. If you're lucky this will cause even more Bubbles to pop.
There is no indication on screen for Magic Bubbles. It's up to you to remember how many you have collected.
Easter Egg
Only do this if you are 18 or older (I'm serious).
Version History
v1.2.1.1 | 2021/9/4
- Removed the cutscene code, because somehow menuitem doesn't behave like it did anymore
v1.2.1 | 2019/3/27
- Fixed a glitch where finishing the game can trap you at the high score screen
v1.2 | 2019/3/26
- Added the Mystic Pearl
v1.1 | 2019/3/21
- Added cutscenes, for those man enough to find them
v1.0 | 2019/3/20
- Initial release
Fantastic job on this! I will be playing this in my living room on my dedicated PICO-8 pi (as well as on my laptop right now!)
this isn't licensed by Lexaloffle, is it? we need more dirty games here, just to prove that the Rule 34 is true. The remaining Panesian games (Peek-A-Boo Poker and Hot Slot), AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting, Idol Shisen Mahjong, AV Hanafuda Club, maybe that Wild Ball game by Hwang Shinwei?
@adrian09_01 I'm sure this would be an unlicensed title if the PICO-8 ever existed. ;)
As far as the other Panesian games...there's a reason I chose this one instead of the other ones: all the other games are boring, and based purely on chance. So while those certainly could be ported in the same way this was, I'm not gonna be the one to do it.
Awesome! Great graphics and spot on music conversion!
Too bad I could never get the hang of the weird clear bubble mechanic >:(
Also should probably win an award for being the first "Adult Oriented" or "H-Game" on PICO-8.
Remember playing the NES version, my mother walking in and her trying to pretend she didn't see the girl at the bottom of the screen. Lol.
We've talked in the discord but this is my first time playing it. I'm both impressed and low-key hate you for porting this to pico-8. Just as frustrating as the NES version was :D
This version is WAYYYY harder than the NES original. I noticed that on the NES version compared to this one, the bubble formations are much more forgiving, yours is much more randomized. After playing your version I played the NES version and got bored hitting level 4 on my first try. Yours, however, I'm struggling to EVER hit stage 2.
I haven't played the 2019 update, but I hope you've addressed this to make it somewhere between stupid hard and stupid easy.
I have 2 versions of this. One where she has fins and the other ... she is in her Birthday Suit !
Likely a hack. Must agree this version seems decidedly more difficult than the NES version.
Here is the video if you need reference to the original.
@dw817 Yes, this game was based on an NES game published in Asia by C&E, called Magic Bubble. It was localized in Japan by Hacker International as Soap Panic, localized in the U.S. by Panesian as Bubble Bath Babes, and licensed in the U.S. by American Video Entertainment as Mermaids of Atlantis: The Riddle of the Magic Bubble. They all play the same, but they generally have different cutscenes from one another, and in the case of Mermaids of Atlantis the static adult cutscenes were replaced with a storyline about an evil "emperor" called O-Dinton who encased all of the merpeople's "games" in "Durabubbles™" that were indestructible (except if you stacked 4 or more of them on top of each other 😛 ).
Of course, I actually drew a few elements from all of them to make Magic Bubble for the PICO-8. The game's title is Magic Bubble, I use Hacker International's credits from Soap Panic, I use the cutscenes from Bubble Bath Babes, and by default the girl at the bottom is the mermaid from Mermaids of Atlantis.
Perhaps I should actually make a hack of this game that replaces all the adult scenes with the story from Mermaids of Atlantis...it's certainly a project to think about.
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