After so many years of creating things, Bubble Bobble Extended continues to remain one of my biggest projects ever. So much time and effort went into this rom hack, and on this page I want to talk a bit more about its creation, as well as showcase several things related to its development!
It all started when I stumbled upon a video of someone who was showcasing a custom yellow Pac-Man NES cartridge they had gotten with a rom hack on it. I thought it was so cool, and wanted to get my hands on one. But I then decided it would be even better if I made a hack myself to put on a cartridge, rather than taking someone else's. I was playing a lot of NES Bubble Bobble at that time, as I had just gotten into the series earlier that year, and decided that would be the game I would work with. From there, the journey officially began!
I had done a couple smaller NES hacks before this project, but none of them were to the extent I was aiming for with this one. From the very beginning I wanted it to feel almost like the Bubble Bobble of Super Mario Bros 2 (JP). New levels and sprites, a couple small changes here and there, but still the same game everyone knows and loves with some harder levels sprinkled about. Luckily for me, I was able to find a program called "Bubbled", which helped greatly in designing the new levels for the first few months!
This program did the job well, but it had a couple issues. Every 16 levels would have a glitch that displayed a bugged sprite in the corner of the stage, and I was limited to where I could place the bonus items since they would overlap with the bubble flow tiles. Because of this, I ended up moving over to another editor called "Bobblicious" which ended up working much better for me, and had LOTS of other new options to mess with (even though I had to get my hands on a Mac in order to use it).
It wasn't long after that I went all in finishing the levels, finalizing their look and tweaking certain elements in each one to provide a smooth gameplay experience! I must've put a good half a year into playtesting alone.
Of course, I also needed a name and logo for my hack! "Bubble Bobble Extended" came to me almost instantly, as this would be an extension of the original game, and like... the EXTEND bubbles were right there, how could I resist? After that, I began designing the logo for both the cartridge, and title screen. Both of which went through many changes before I landed on the final look!
Creating the in-game logo was one of the biggest headaches I had. Tiles being reused made it difficult at first to work around, but once I began drawing the final design, I was able to cut and reuse other tiles to make a bigger, more bold version!
On the topic of sprites, BOY did I have a field day with these! My original goal was to just give Bub and Bob smiles, maybe a couple other small things, and that was it. Instead, as I continued working on this hack, I found myself changing more and more until eventually I had remade about 90% of the sprites, including the font!
Most of this process was done on a giant paint page where I made the new graphics, added notes, and more! Here's a couple of highlights:
While creating stages and items for this hack, I of course had to throw in a couple different references! Some personal, some inside jokes with friends, and others more obvious (if a little obscure).
I had done a couple smaller NES hacks before this project, but none of them were to the extent I was aiming for with this one. From the very beginning I wanted it to feel almost like the Bubble Bobble of Super Mario Bros 2 (JP). New levels and sprites, a couple small changes here and there, but still the same game everyone knows and loves with some harder levels sprinkled about. Luckily for me, I was able to find a program called "Bubbled", which helped greatly in designing the new levels for the first few months!
The first level I made for the hack.
This program did the job well, but it had a couple issues. Every 16 levels would have a glitch that displayed a bugged sprite in the corner of the stage, and I was limited to where I could place the bonus items since they would overlap with the bubble flow tiles. Because of this, I ended up moving over to another editor called "Bobblicious" which ended up working much better for me, and had LOTS of other new options to mess with (even though I had to get my hands on a Mac in order to use it).
It wasn't long after that I went all in finishing the levels, finalizing their look and tweaking certain elements in each one to provide a smooth gameplay experience! I must've put a good half a year into playtesting alone.
Of course, I also needed a name and logo for my hack! "Bubble Bobble Extended" came to me almost instantly, as this would be an extension of the original game, and like... the EXTEND bubbles were right there, how could I resist? After that, I began designing the logo for both the cartridge, and title screen. Both of which went through many changes before I landed on the final look!
Creating the in-game logo was one of the biggest headaches I had. Tiles being reused made it difficult at first to work around, but once I began drawing the final design, I was able to cut and reuse other tiles to make a bigger, more bold version!
On the topic of sprites, BOY did I have a field day with these! My original goal was to just give Bub and Bob smiles, maybe a couple other small things, and that was it. Instead, as I continued working on this hack, I found myself changing more and more until eventually I had remade about 90% of the sprites, including the font!
Most of this process was done on a giant paint page where I made the new graphics, added notes, and more! Here's a couple of highlights:
While creating stages and items for this hack, I of course had to throw in a couple different references! Some personal, some inside jokes with friends, and others more obvious (if a little obscure).
Evil Otto Berzerk
Pac-Man Maze Bottom Left
stage dedicated to my art teacher, who grew up with this game, and still loves it
Tetris Blocks
Numskull Logo
Crab Invader
Arcade1UP Logo
Ms.
Pac-Man Maze, Top Left
Pac-Man Maze, Top Left
Galaxian Alien
Ptolemy, with the newzealand story's layout.
Toaplan Logo
Arkanoid
/
Breakout
/
Breakout
Atari 2600
Pac-Man
Pac-Man
Bendy
MOG
"But Clyde"
Taito Logo
Sketch Bubblun
Packy
Rally-X Special Flag
As I was nearing the end of the hack's creation, I started to think... should I ONLY get a cartridge with the game, or do I go all in? I had the cartridge label all set to go, but for something to the scale I ended up making, it only felt natural to get a box and instruction booklet to go along with it.
So that's exactly what I did! The next few months were spent with me designing the two, which I would then get custom made through Etsy. It was a lot of fun getting to stylize them to look and feel like real NES items from that era, and I ended up loving how they looked next to the other official Bubble Bobble NES graphics!
Here's a clear front and back view of the box I designed (thanks so much to GoBoxIt for putting this and my manual together)! When Bubble Bobble first released on the NES here, they decided to use arcade screenshots on the back of the box.
Two can play that game.....
As well as that, here's the raw photos of the back screenshots! Taken directly off my CRT to give them a more authentic feel.
This pancake sketch as well, which I planned to put on the back of the box, but ultimately scrapped it, since the box was starting to get full of other things.
After around two years, the hack was finally finished! I had received a physical copy for both myself, as well as my art teacher who grew up with the original NES release, and had a level dedicated to her! It was a very moving moment for us both, one I still have very fond memories about to this day.
And with the general history of the hack done, time to segway into...
I had made a good handful of things to use in this hack, some of which went unused for one reason or another.
So that's exactly what I did! The next few months were spent with me designing the two, which I would then get custom made through Etsy. It was a lot of fun getting to stylize them to look and feel like real NES items from that era, and I ended up loving how they looked next to the other official Bubble Bobble NES graphics!
Here's a clear front and back view of the box I designed (thanks so much to GoBoxIt for putting this and my manual together)! When Bubble Bobble first released on the NES here, they decided to use arcade screenshots on the back of the box.
Two can play that game.....
As well as that, here's the raw photos of the back screenshots! Taken directly off my CRT to give them a more authentic feel.
This pancake sketch as well, which I planned to put on the back of the box, but ultimately scrapped it, since the box was starting to get full of other things.
After around two years, the hack was finally finished! I had received a physical copy for both myself, as well as my art teacher who grew up with the original NES release, and had a level dedicated to her! It was a very moving moment for us both, one I still have very fond memories about to this day.
And with the general history of the hack done, time to segway into...
Unused Content!
I had made a good handful of things to use in this hack, some of which went unused for one reason or another.
This unused death animation was a small idea I came up with to see how it would look in-game, as well as an attempt to provide new looking animations. In the end it was scrapped since the old spinning was nicer looking, and part of the death sprite gets used when Bub or Bob get hit by lightning.
One of the first things I put together for the hack was this new Baron animation. I always loved the look of him with deep black eye sockets, and wanted to try replicating that here. Unfortunately, the NES uses the black on these sprites as a transparent color, making him look real awkward when going through things. So it was never used.
An unused title screen icon I made, and had planned to place next to the logo. I was still struggling with the tile placements at this point, and by the time I completed the logo's final design I had no space for this.
During the final cutscene of the game, I had made some new sprites to better show the transformation between the bubble dragon, and human form of the characters that would've replaced the smoke. Similarly to the death animation, however, those smoke sprites were used elsewhere in the game, so this was scrapped. Below is a video showing the sprites, as well as what they would've looked like, had they been implemented properly.
One of the first things I put together for the hack was this new Baron animation. I always loved the look of him with deep black eye sockets, and wanted to try replicating that here. Unfortunately, the NES uses the black on these sprites as a transparent color, making him look real awkward when going through things. So it was never used.
An unused title screen icon I made, and had planned to place next to the logo. I was still struggling with the tile placements at this point, and by the time I completed the logo's final design I had no space for this.
During the final cutscene of the game, I had made some new sprites to better show the transformation between the bubble dragon, and human form of the characters that would've replaced the smoke. Similarly to the death animation, however, those smoke sprites were used elsewhere in the game, so this was scrapped. Below is a video showing the sprites, as well as what they would've looked like, had they been implemented properly.
With that, I think that just about covers everything! Bubble Bobble Extended is a project that I'll always look back on with fond memories. I had a fantastic time learning new rom hacking tricks, and getting to put together something as grand as I did. To all my friends who helped me along the way, you rock! And to everyone else, I sincerely hope you enjoy playing through this hack, just as much as I enjoyed making it.
