Creepy Bad Endings: Bubble Bobble

This is kind of like an old-school Creepy Bad Endings video. Apologies for the somewhat ear-splitting music.

Bad Endings. I don't know about anyone else, but they terrify me. Just when the hero(es) thought everything was finally right, just when it looked like peace had finally returned to the world, something happens that, at best, creates a bittersweet victory and, at worst, spoils everything and the enemies win, despite everything that happened throughout your adventure. Bad endings don't give you any second chances, you screwed things up for everyone and you must pay dearly..

[TheBrawlUnit]

This game punishes you for not having friends, how rude.

[daveincognito]

Less of a "love conquers all" and more of a "I think that's enough quarters from you for now" kind of ending.

[generalcoon]

That would tick me off. It's like the game has to punish me for not being a social butterfly?

[weavileforce]

You beat 100 floors, but you did it without a friend, so you fail!
*tries again*
You beat 100 floors, but you didn't grab a magic ball, so you fail!
*tries again*
You beat 100 floors, but you didn't go through the magic door, so you fail!
*tries again*
You beat 100 floors and went through the door but you forgot to have a friend spawn in, so you fail!
*tries again*
You beat 100 floors and went through the door and battled with your friend, but-
*reaches for a hammer*
Uh, never mind, you won!

[rainbowstreak]

So Bub and Bob are two kids with alcoholic parents who abuse them when they drink.
To cope with their situation, Bub would make up stories about the two of them transforming into dragons to fight off the monsters that made their parents this way. Bob liked the stories, but anytime Bub suggested confronting their parents, Bob was never brave enough to, and Bub always failed.
One day, at the very last minute, Bob finally joined his brother, and they confronted their parents together. Their clear devotion to their family touched their parents, leading them to seriously attempt to turn their lives around. Happy end.

[blitzwinters]

So, the final boss is the character Super Drunk...  And turns out to be Bub and Bob's parents.  Does that mean Bub and Bob's parents were actually abusive alcoholics, and this whole game is about two brothers confronting their abused past?  Am I reading too much into this?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Bubble Bobble's bad endings just scream "Born In The Arcade", don't they?

[sirpuppetdx]

6:13 You bastards! Its not love and friendship it's technology and video games!

[Waialua-Wingfoil]

"Super Drunk"? Boy, that's the worst name I've ever heard for a villain. Is he an alcoholic or something? Maybe that's why he attacks with in a bubble, he hiccups it? Alcoholism in a kid's game is pretty odd.

[Spock]

You need to win in multiplayer? What if you have no friends? What if your a social outcast who's never leaves his basement? What if you only own one controller?

[ProxDee]

Bubble Bobble's bad ending is actually more enraging than creepy.

[sunsethourglass]

"Try again with a friend."

*Bold of you to assume I have friends.*

[tylerchenoweth]

So, what they are saying is, I can't get a good ending just because I need a co-op partner? It's pretty much like saying you got Ending F in DR2 OTR because you didn't have Chuck Greene assisting you in the final battle with Agent S. It's like saying you can't save the world in FF VI without saving ALL friends.
That is some bullshit right there.

[Spock]

It's more likely meant to be a "let's squeeze as much money out of this as we can" scenario, than a "let's inspire teamwork and cooperation" scenario.

[Pensive_Scarlet]

Password is "GEJAJ", a.k.a. the sound of the unintelligible expletive you shout upon seeing those screens.

[AGGSab]

Those developers trolled u by PUTTING TWO BAD ENDS JUST WOW

[JupiterNoose]

Lubble Lobble: Lub-Lub's Big Adventure 2

[mattermat]

The NES version also had a secret music track, which you could only find after getting a good ending and then browsing through the audio library at the end.

[Fjadls]

That normal 2 player ending... Taito probably knew this would happen.

[PeanutTechno]

Oh man, I remember playing this game for hours when I was young! Good times! :D
The bad ending music reminds me of the song "Quiet" from Cave Story.

The bad endings are only dark if you get the good ending. Basically, the final boss is their parents. Two children, transformed into bubble breathing dragons, *kill their parents* !
Let that sink in for a bit.

Oh, and since their parents were the final boss (named Super Drunk), I'm assuming that their parents just like drinking as their favorite pasttime (since the boss throws *a lot* of bottles).

So they're just enjoying their alchoholic beverages...and their children just waltz in and kill them without so much as a second thought. "But the parents were drunk, " you say. "They just did it in self defense, " you say. It doesn't take away from the fact that they just killed their parents instead of trying to just talk and negotiate!

Then there's the fact that those people trapped in bubbles weren't moving at all. They may have been in stasis and *conscious* the whole time with them slowly going mad! ("And I Must Scream", indeed!) That, or they've been slowly suffocating (I'm assuming this, since they're blue when you get to them). Just how long have they been down there?!?
Then there's the fact that the arena was made of skulls. How many others suffered from the same fate before perishing?

Jeez, this game is dark.