simplistic gaming bliss
There are modifying items in addition to the produce plethora, such as a speed-inducing red shoe or candies that augment bubble-blowing abilities. These are usually awarded once per stage and are available for only a few seconds. Some of these upgrades are time limited, others last until you die. Some are nigh-essential to finishing a stage, some are just helpful, and others seem like a nasty trick to make you do something stupid. Impeding your progress are the baddies. I really can't describe these things as anything more than sprite "things" that float around free of gravity at various speeds and kill your character (green is Bub, blue is Bob, I think). Some look like ghosts, some look like whales, some look like helicopters. Anyway, if you kill them, done by trapping them in a bubble and then popping said bubble, you get food. This food is worth points, not health. There is no health. The more baddies you pop at once, the better the food and the higher the points. Get enough points, get another life. It is simple. Every level is full of baddies of various types and supposedly become more and more difficult as you descend. Also, the enemies "go red" faster. This means that they become angry and therefore move much faster. There are also modified bubbles that are used in certain stages to help your conquest. Some of them blast a lightning bold upon impact while others act like a deluge and send you streaming into enemies unharmed while turning them into some kind of crystal thingie for which you get mucho points. There also also letter balloons which, when all are collected, you get an extra life. The only other way to get extra lives is to put yourself in a corner and blow bubbles like a speed addict. Every bubble you pop, even your own, gives you a small # of points, and so enough of this can yield an extra lives. This should only be attempted when there is only 1 baddie left and it is stuck somehow. There is no real save system, but each stage corresponds to a 5 letter password. So running out of lives is no big deal, really. There is only 1 boss, but there is a secret to getting more out of the game. If, on one of the last levels, you manage to collect a certain item and then defeat the boss, you are "rewarded" by playing the entire thing over again on a higher difficulty setting. Doing this will allow you to see the true ending. Yay. Now for the gripe: the sound is maddening. It is the same tune, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. There are sound effects, at least, that are about as good as the NES can offer. Various cartoony sounds, like ZAP, SPLAT, DING...you get the picture. Audio is definitely the weakest part of the game.
To me, this is the ultimate game to play when drinking or drunk.