Wednesday, August 01, 2012

You say Bubble Bobble clone, I say Fairyland Story clone

Over the years, a lot of games--such as Chip Chan Kick!, Don Doko Don, Parasol StarsRod Land and Snow Bros.--have been called "Bubble Bobble clones." That's always struck me as a bit funny (despite the fact that I've often used the phrase myself--in this recent post about Pop'n Magic, for instance), as I think it would be a lot more accurate to call them clones of The Fairyland Story.


What, you've never heard of The Fairyland Story? No worries, here's a brief history of this not-quite-classic: Developed by Taito, it first hit the floors of the world's arcades--and bars and bowling alleys and whatnot--in 1985. The game's protagonist, a puny witch named Ptolemy, prances from castle-themed stage to castle-themed stage while transforming a cast of surprisingly cuddly enemies--including dragons, helmeted (and knife-wielding) pigs and wizards--into cakes with her trusty wand and then smooshing them to smithereens (often by pushing them off of ledges and onto unsuspecting baddies).


Getting back to why the above-mentioned games should be called clones of The Fairyland Story and not Bubble Bobble, there are three reasons for it, in my mind: 1) The Fairyland Story predates Bubble Bobble by a year, 2) the former clearly informed the development of the latter (a number of The Fairyland Story's power-ups, such as the fire cross and the earthquake book, also appear in Bubble Bobble) and 3) none of the titles listed in the opening paragraph of this post actually copied the mechanics of Taito's most classic of quarter-muchers.


So, does all of this mean that I'll stop describing games as "Bubble Bobble clones" and start calling them clones of The Fairyland Story instead? Probably not, but only because most folks have never heard of the earlier title. That said, I'll do my best to plop the phrase "Fairyland Story clone" into a post every now and then--you know, just to keep things honest.

9 comments:

RetroKingSimon said...

This splendid-looking game has been on my 'to do' list for a good few months now but I'm going to start running our of them soon! :P It's a great point though - Bubble Bobble is the best and most famous, but not the first... :|

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I had no idea this existed. Funny that Taito made two games so similar. Are they mythologically linked in any way?

SpeLinnea said...

Whoah! I'v never reflected over this subject, and I have even played this game. Interesting!

warp said...

Thanks for turning me onto this. Just tried it out -- it is a LOT like Bubble Bobble, and quite fun. Wikipedia says the protagonist even appears as a bonus in Bubble Symphony.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Simon: Well, then, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this game. It's very nice, in my opinion, but not amazing -- due, mostly, to its rather repetitive graphics. After a while, it feels like you're just playing the same board over and over again, you know? At least Bubble Bobble kept things interesting by making each board/screen unique.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Justin: Taito made a lot of single-screen platformers. They also made Don Doko Don, for instance, which is much more similar to The Fairyland Story than it is to Bubble Bobble.

As for The Fairyland Story being linked, mythologically or otherwise, to Bubble Bobble: Not that I know of. I'm guessing the same folks worked on both games, though, hence the fact that some of The Fairyland Story's items appear in Bubble Bobble.

Bryan Ochalla said...

BTW, this game is included on one of the two Taito Legends compilations released for the PS2. I can't remember which one right now, though...

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there, Linnea! Well, leave it to me to think of something completely random, right?

I've actually been thinking of writing this post for ages. Not sure why it took me until yesterday to finally write it up. I guess I have Bubble Bobble on the brain right now!

Bryan Ochalla said...

warp: Glad I could turn you onto a game you hadn't played before! That's always a nice bonus :)

I completely forgot about Ptolemy showing up in Bubble Symphony, by the way. Yet another reason I have to spend some quality time with that game soon!