The mid to late '80s were a wondrous time for gamers. 1986 in specific was the year when arcade gaming had really rooted deeply into the societal psyche and exploded into a cultural phenomenon that would endure decades, and home consoles such as the Sega Master System were starting to deliver arcade ports to your living room. Amongst a multitude of notable releases that year including Castlevania, Arkanoid, Wonderboy, Outrun, and Rampage, Taito unleashed Bub and Bob on the world. With its highly acclaimed "milestone gameplay" thanks to the determination of developer Fukio Mitsuji, Taito strove to up the ante of their gaming credentials in comparison to those of their direct peer Namco's incredibly high-quality output. The original Bubble Bobble came out to rapturous praise, with reviewers enthusiastic that the fast-paced and colourful arcade magic had been successfully captured for home consoles and portables, with its challenging and addictive gameplay set across a hundred levels. Honestly, I had kind of forgotten about this series, which consistently released almost 20 spin-offs or sequels, up until around 2009, where it all but seemingly dropped off of everyone's radar. Now, 34 years after the original's release, Taito have rolled out Bubble Bobble 4 Friends for the Nintendo Switch, but will it prove to be as incredible now as the original was then?

Firing it up, I was immediately taken back to the Commodore 64 days, a simpler time with simpler games. I wondered how this game would modernise and update the three-and-a-half decades-old formula, and how it would remain relevant in 2020. Bubble Bobble 4 Friends builds on the original's arcade legacy by offering 100 levels split into two tiers: 50 fun, light-hearted levels and 50 challenging versions of those stages, making it harder than hard in some cases. The inclusion of the original 1986 coin-op game is a welcome one, so that you can directly compare the original, quirky, bottled-lightning title that inspired so many games over the years. But in comparison, looking directly at this 2020 incarnation, you can't help but feel that it really doesn't push itself far enough. The game kicks off in a child's bedroom, with stages named after the bedside furniture, but when the stages start you simply have the blurred out image of the bedroom in the background, with generic level-themed platforms placed on top of this. I found it rather jarring as the levels could quite honestly have just been set anywhere since their theme bore zero relation to what you had to do; bubble up enemies and mindlessly collect fruit.

2020's incarnation of the franchise includes a couple of fresh additions that aim to enhance the gameplay somewhat. E-X-T-E-N-D mode allows you to collect various power-ups throughout the level hubs by simply collecting the word EXTEND across the sub levels. Once you have the word in full, you are gifted successions of gimmicky devices to make the gameplay more varied. Using the L or R shoulder buttons, you can utilise these skills in-game, though you have a power bar that depletes the more you spam them, so don't forget to keep an eye on that too. The powers you can unlock include: Long Shot to increase the range of the bubbles you fire, Thunder Bubble which zaps enemies horizontally when the bubble is burst, Bomb Bubble which causes a timed explosive, Stop Wind prevents the flow interfering with your bubbles for a few seconds, and Dash Skill allows you to phase through enemies to get to the end quicker. You only get to use these upgrades if you collect EXTEND and then beat the boss fight, but once you have it locked down, you can opt to turn on or off these adornments at the beginning of each stage, with the key being to select the most useful gear for the level at hand to augment your journey. Play it wise, but remember: you really don't need to use any of these in order to be able to complete the game if you want to go truly hardcore.

Four-player modes that are exclusive to the Nintendo Switch mean you no longer have to play story modes all on your lonesome. Bub & Bob can be joined by two more of the spicey dinosaurs: Peb and Pab, to make the outing a proper team affair. As far as multiplayer goes, it can be mildly fun, but it runs out of ideas very quickly and its full potential is completely missed in terms of competitive modes and more creative levels. Nostalgia aside, I can't help but feel that the price tag is also a hefty miss on Taito's behalf. I would want a heck of a lot more for my money these days, even if the 4 player modes are exclusive to Nintendo's Switch console. It just doesn't add up to splurge £35 on such a simplistic, barebones outing.

The download weighs in at a hefty 824mb and while it essentially encompasses 50 stages, and includes some fun boss battles, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends seems rather large for such a sparse title. £35 gets you a game that offers four-player couch co-operative gameplay, but with a lack of online modes or, at very least, high score or speed run tables, there is little to no replayability due to the very few competitive options available. As a follow-up to a long-standing series, I think that it is a decent attempt to bring things up to date, however, it just misses the mark on a lot of counts. The gameplay is one-to-one, arcade-perfect from the original game, but giving it a pseudo 2D/3D lick of paint doesn't make it relevant in today's constant swathe of varied and fully featured games. If you're into the retro vibe then this is for you as it is as faithful as you like and plays perfectly as you would remember, but I think that modern gamers will find it unimpressively shallow once they have collected all the E-X-T-E-N-D power-ups, and if they can be bothered to endure each stage and see it all through to the end.

The boss battles were a particular highlight during the course of reviewing this title, as they offered a nice break from the linearity of the formulaic levels, with oversized enemies, and more eclectic patterns to decrypt and overcome. Even these fights, in essence, are very similar to one another, with very little variation other than difficulty and speed. Disappointingly there are only five boss fights to enjoy, systematically inserted after every tenth stage of bubble bursting and fruit collection. I wish there had been more of these as they were truly the parts I enjoyed most. Figuring out the boss' patterns and decimating them with my dragon's inflated spittle felt unimpressively simplistic though, and any challenges they initially offered were nerfed with weaknesses far too quick to identify, exploit and hammer bubbles at. Even if they offered a fully fleshed out boss battle mode, so you could re-enjoy these segments, it would be over in a matter of minutes at best, which is probably why they didn't.

Overall, I don't feel that this title lived up to its full potential, mainly by lacking competitive replayability and offering a lacklustre and uninspired backdrop. Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is also missing too much content to be a viable purchase in today's varied gaming market. While some could argue that it's an injection of nostalgia which aimed to keep it simple, I would counter that it has gone too far in keeping everything simplistic and, as a result, it has not pushed the franchise forward enough. What's more is that it is clearly relying on an antiquated 34-year-old formula while existing in a modern age of far more feature-rich games with seemingly wonderous value for money in comparison. Taito has recently expressed that there is free DLC on the way, including new levels, new enemies including "Baron Von Blubba" and additional features, but as it stands today, there is simply not enough progression and not enough content, meaning that it is not an essential purchase; save your money.