He waited to make a game that required co-op by making it fun and accessible. The other came from his experience in Japanese ‘game centres’ in the 80s, watching boys play arcade games as their girlfriends stood to one side, waiting and bored. One was Mitsuji’s desire to make a “comical game”. But it was his next project that would be a runaway hit, and it stemmed from two inspirations. Some of Mitsuji’s early successes included the four-screen racing game Super Dead Heat, and the shooting game Halley’s Comet (inspired by the fact the actual comet would be passing Earth that year). One game was designed with the intention that it would be played by young men and their girlfriends – that game was Bubble Bobble Compared with Namco’s offerings, they were very much lagging behind.” He wanted to help turn the company around, and he turned down an opportunity to move to Namco because he felt there was more to do at Taito: “Because I felt Taito’s games weren’t up to snuff, it actually made me want to challenge myself and my abilities to see if I could change that.” He said: “Taito’s games then seemed kind of cheap and lame to me, both in terms of graphics and gameplay. The idea for Bubble Bobble came from a developer called Fukio ‘MTJ’ Mitsuji, who joined Taito in 1986 because he thought their output was poor. It’s a simple and fun premise, and it’s an enjoyable game if you’ve never played it.

Enemies can be trapped in bubbles and defeated when the bubbles are popped, leaving behind bonus items when they are defeated. They set out to save their girlfriends from the Cave of Monsters, fighting through the 100 levels with their ability to blow bubbles. It was a co-op experience, which put you in control of one of two little boys that had been transformed into dragons (the game’s adorable main characters, Bub and Bob).

One game was designed with the intention that it would be played by young men and their girlfriends – that game was Bubble Bobble.īubble Bobble was an arcade game developed by Taito. It’s a cringe-worthy thing to write, but that was the perception, and so one 1986 game sought to change that.

For a long period, video games were perceived as a boy’s hobby – boys would play to the detriment of their relationships with girls.

Bubble bobble