Upcoming release of «Bubble Bobble» for Atari 8-bit | Video

September 27, 2024 • Updated: Mar 12, 2025 - 09:09 PM

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Atari 8-bit enthusiasts are in for a big surprise with the arrival of “Bubble Bobble,” one of the most beloved platform games of all time.

The project was led by Krzysztof "Vega" Góra (Poland), who has been hard at work adapting this iconic game, originally released by Taito in 1986, to the Atari XE/XL systems. This title puts one or two players in control of the adorable dragons Bub and Bob, whose mission is to free their girlfriends trapped in 100 levels filled with enemies and obstacles.

The port is particularly interesting because it is based on the BBC Micro version, which was never officially released. Due to the absence of the original source code, "Vega" had to disassemble and recompose everything from scratch, carefully adapting it for Atari computers. Despite the technical difficulties, he managed to maintain the essence and spirit of the original title, faithfully replicating its gameplay and visual design.

One of the biggest challenges was managing level loading, as Bubble Bobble features over a hundred different screens. To do this, Góra implemented a system that allows levels to be loaded directly from the floppy disk. Thanks to this technique, the level files - which take up around 25 KB - are kept on disk, allowing a full version of the game to be played on a system with only 64 KB of RAM. Level 100, which takes up an additional 7 KB, is loaded only when the player reaches the final boss fight, which considerably optimizes memory usage.

Graphically, the Atari version uses ANTIC 4 mode with a widescreen display that allows for an effective resolution of 128x200 pixels in eight colours, similar to the BBC Micro version. However, replicating this colour gamut on the Atari XL/XE was no easy feat, as by default the machine can only handle five colours. To overcome this limitation, Vega implemented colour shifts during DLI interrupts and PMG overlays under the sprites, thus achieving a striking visual result. Although some players might notice some screen flickering due to the number of animated objects in action, the author assures that the game performs very similarly to the BBC Micro version.

"Vega" stressed that the Atari 8-bit version is not just a simple conversion, but an expanded and optimised version of the BBC Micro's graphics engine. While the original relied on a single drawing procedure, the new version has been enhanced with three different types of routines, which are automatically selected based on the type of sprite on screen. Thanks to these optimisations, the game is able to handle up to 35 sprites simultaneously in moments of maximum action.

The audio, handled by Michael "Miker" Szpilowski, has also been optimized for the Atari hardware. Using Raster Music Tracker (RMT), "Miker" composed a soundtrack that plays on every frame during VBL interruptions, providing an immersive listening experience faithful to the style of the original game.

Bubble Bobble is not only a technical milestone, but also a community effort. Vega thanks several people who helped create this conversion. These include Krzysztof "KAZ" Ziembik, who provided advice on gameplay elements; Jerzy "Mono" Kut, who helped resolve gameplay issues; as well as Zbigniew "Saberman" Zieliński and Giann Velasquez, who were responsible for testing and offering ideas for improving the game. Additionally, Krzysztof "XXL" Dudek facilitated the use of xBootDOS to optimize floppy drive support.

Vega's work is not new to the Atari 8-bit community. In recent months he has released two notable adaptations: "Cyborg Warriors" and "Mikie", which have also surprised with their quality and faithfulness to the originals.

With “Bubble Bobble,” Vega once again demonstrates its ability to bring complete, high-level gaming experiences to Atari 8-bit systems, revitalizing classics that seemed unattainable for this platform.