Over 8 million people purchased Halo 3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold a whopping 12 million. And Nintendo can’t defecate out Pokémon and “Wii Insert Random Thing To Do Here” games fast enough to completely satisfy the masses. But with all these amazing successes, there have been numerous games and even complete series that have fallen to the wayside. Remember: for every Super Mario Bros., there’s a Shutokou Battle 2: Drift King Keichii Tsuchiya & Masaaki Bandoh. As a proud gamer, I feel that it is my privilege—nay, my duty—to take some time and offer a brief glimpse at many of the games that disappeared into bargain bins and trash bins alike due to overshadowing from more prominent titles, as well as titles that will forever remain sequestered within one region of the world. You’d better be prepared to be educated a little, because there is much that you haven’t seen.
June 2011: Magic Bubble
I’VE BEEN WAITING A REALLY LONG TIME FOR YOU TO GET HERE…
Wow, that’s surprising. You’re not one to enjoy my company…or the company of anybody, to be honest.
I THINK YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHY.
Oh, because you said you’d be swearing like no tomorrow?
$%@# YEAH!!
Well, I doubt that nonsense is suitable for this month’s game.
WHUUUUUT?!
I’m afraid I didn’t bring you anything obscene this time. Today, I bring you an arcade game called Magic Bubble.
UH…LIKE MAYBE A MAGIC FART BUBBLE?
Nope, just a regular bubble that you pop. I’m sure most visitors to this site know all about the Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble series, that now legendary puzzler where you have to use a little shooting device at the bottom of the screen to pop coloured bubbles into the playing field and try to connect matching colours to make them disappear until all bubbles have been eliminated. Magic Bubble, courtesy of Yun Sung, was released in 1990 (actually predating the original Puzzle Bobble by four years) and follows the same premise, even up to the same sound effects as used by Taito four years later! That’s right—methinkst Taito has committed plagiarism! GAMING plagiarism!
It’s not entirely the same, though it’s mostly the same. One of the major differences, aside from the distinctive lack of those cute dinosaurs, Bub and Bob, is the implementation of a scale system, where a pulley balances two initially equal bunches of bubbles. Pop some from one side, and the other side falls closer to the bottom (increasing your chances of level failure unless you even things out). It’s a neat system that could make or break you, depending upon your skill.
As well, the game boasts–
WHAT THE FLYING FILETS?!
Is there a problem?
YOU BET YOUR SWEET FILETS THERE’S A PROBLEM! I CAME HERE EXPECTING OBSCENITY AND ALL YOU GIVE ME IS AN ADORABLE PUZZLE GAME? C’MON, MAN, GIVE ME SOMETHING HERE! I HAVEN’T HAD A GIRL OVER IN AGES, AND I NEED SOMETHING WITH A BIT OF PANACHE, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!
Oh goodness, heh heh…
WHAT’S SO FUNNY, YOU BEANPOLE MAN-TOAD?
OK, OK, I’m sorry. I’ve been toying with you a bit. There’s actually an ADULT version of Magic Bubble as well where, after completing a board, you get to reveal a picture of nearly unclothed women doing various things.
YOU BETTER HAVE BROUGHT PICTURES!
*sigh* Fine.
CHEATER!
Porn on GameCola?! Finally, I have a justifiable reason for masturbating to it.
Didn’t Forbidden Chamber do anything for you? Wow.
Hey, weren’t these photos in some of Comad’s games, like Miss World ’98 and Fantasia? At a second, more deeper glance…
I’m sure these photos popped up in all sorts of adult games — I think Pamela Anderson is in every single one. Ever.
There were actually MORE images at the end, but whoever edited this article cut back the number by about half. (Plus, I left out an image out of good taste — let’s just say it was fuzzier than the rest… and I don’t mean blurry…)
I’m so sad I know what Matt’s talking about. I saw those pictures and I thought “Hey, I’ve traced lines around those ladies before only to see them turn into fucking Pinhead right before my eyes.”
Oh my god we have porn on Gamecola.
@Meteo: You’re welcome.