Bubble Bobble clone should be a video game genre all its own. Well, single screen action sort of is, but the aforementioned game is the best known of the bunch. Taito, the developer behind Bubble Bobble, struck gold. The problem was that the title wasn’t geared well for sequels. They tried a part 2 but it wasn’t very successful. Taito had more luck transforming the series into Rainbow Islands, but things just weren’t the same. I recently learned that Taito then created their own Bubble Bobble clone (ironic, isn’t it?) called Don Doko Don! This title was released in the arcades as well as for the Famicom and PC-Engine in Japan. I’m here to talk about the latter version today in this review.
Don Doko Don begins with a princess being kidnapped from a castle, and in a flash, two dwarves are in hot pursuit! Yeah, I’m playing it up a bit but the intro is kind of charming nonetheless. From here you’re whisked off to the start of your journey which will take you through five differently themed worlds with ten levels apiece. As far as themes go Don Doko Don runs the usual gamut. The first area is a forest (which makes sense considering the protagonists are dwarves), and you also have the traditional ice based world as well as a sky themed area and more. There are a few weird ideas, such as the dessert motif, but I’ll forgive it because it’s fun.
As I mentioned in the introduction this is a single screen game. You view the action from a side view and control one of two dwarf protagonists. You can walk, jump, and swing your oversized mallet. That’s your only means of attack in Don Doko Don, but thankfully it’s effective. Your goal in each screen is to defeat all of the enemies. Upon clobbering them with your hammer they flatten out, and in this state you can pick them up and throw them. Any foes they hit as projectiles are also defeated. They’re defeated when they hit a wall and leave behind items such as apples and grapes which give you extra points. The dwarves are basically fruitarians, and they won’t go hungry with the massive amounts of healthy snacks found here.
The dwarves in Don Doko Don don’t move as fluidly as you would expect. With every step and jump you’ll notice there’s a definitive sense of weight to the characters. I could see both sides of the argument on this one, and personally I didn’t mind it. In my opinion it helps Don Doko Don carve out its own identity from the rest of the Bubble Bobble impersonators from this time period. The game never requires particular precision when it comes to platforming, and when dodging projectiles I found you’re better suited to staying on the ground. Games like this generally tend to be floaty, and the sense of weight in this one is a welcome change.
Be prepared to die a lot; Don Doko Don loves to kill your character off at every turn. Both dwarves can only take a single hit before they die, but rather than start the stage over, you’re instead thrown right back into the action. The same goes for using a credit to continue. Don Doko Don is a pretty difficult game but the fact that you can continue eases the pain a bit. The game’s arcade roots are apparent within seconds of starting. You can see just how this one was designed to eat quarters. Having a second player can make things less frustrating, and working together is the most fun you’ll have with Don Doko Don. Playing alone is fun, but let’s get real; you want to bring a friend.
A Bubble Bobble clone is only as strong as it’s power-ups are good. Thankfully Don Doko Don does it up with style. There are two different upgrades to the mallet for example. One of these turns your hammer gray and kills enemies with just one hit. No need to throw them when you have this. Another power-up gives you blue colored mallets that can be thrown. This game is based around close quartered fighting and so having a projectile attack certainly makes things easier. You also have two different potions; one increases your movement speed while the other your dwarf’s throwing strength. The most interesting one tops time temporarily. I like the spread here.
One advantage Don Doko Don has over, say, Bubble Bobble is the boss encounters. At the end of each world you’ll face off against a much bigger enemy that can take a multitude of hits before going down. The interesting gimmick is that your mallet is useless against them. You can only damage the boss characters by throwing flattened foes at them. It changes the basic tactics of the game, and helps to keep gameplay fresh. Boss characters range from a flying jack-o-lantern to a mouse pastry chef and finally the king of the dragons. They’re all really well done.
Don Doko Don looks better than most games for the PC-Engine. It looks like something that would be perfectly at home on the Super Nintendo, and too colorful for the Sega Genesis. I really like the whimsical art style. The two protagonists are very cute in design as are the multitude of different enemies based off of plants and animals. The backgrounds have a lot of cool details in them and are nicely drawn. It doesn’t have that old pixelation problem that so many early games on the platform suffered from. I couldn’t find any instance of slowdown or flickering which is amazing. The music is bouncy and fun. It’s nothing particularly special, but I can appreciate it for what it is. Same thing goes for the sound effects which, while not groundbreaking, get the job done with style.
It’s pretty tough to make a bad Bubble Bobble clone. I would have been even more surprised if Taito themselves were behind one. Thankfully that’s not the case. Don Doko Don might not quite measure up to Bubble Bobble, or even a few efforts from other developers (Snow Brothers for example) but it’s a great game in its own right. As far as arcade ports goes this is the version of the game you’re going to want to go with. Don Doko Don is worth the extra costs to import.
