Bubble Trouble Strategy Guide by Lord Seth This is just a simple strategy guide. I'm not going to do a walkthrough (though I do give some information on some of the levels), for the simple reason that it's extremely difficult to do with this game. I'll basically talk about strategies, the enemies, and so on. Contact information: lseths@yahoo.com Contact me if you found any mistakes in this guide or have any suggestions for improvement. I. Intro II. Version History III. Enemies IV. Bubbles V. Power-Ups VI. Strategies/Tidbits VII. Levels VIII. Codes IX. Credits I. Intro Bubble Trouble is a fast-paced arcade-style game for Macintosh published by Ambrosia Software. In the game, you try to move bubbles around to try to squish the enemy fish without letting them squish you!. Bubble Trouble was also released natively for Mac OS X (Bubble Trouble X). Fortunately, Bubble Trouble X costs less to register (it's shareware--you must register to get the full game) if you've previously registered the Classic version. Oh, and if you like it, be sure to register it. Ambrosia Software needs money to bring out more games! Now, just a bit of legal stuff... This is my guide. You can't take credit for it. You can read it and use the information to make your own guide, but GIVE ME CREDIT. I mean, you don't have to do much other than "Thanks to Lord Seth for his guide, which helped me out". You can't copy this guide and put it on another site, even if you do give me credit. If you want to show it, give a link to gamefaqs. Gamefaqs.com is the only site that currently has permission to show this guide. It's unlikely I'll give any other site permission, so Gamefaqs.com being the only site allowed to show this is probably not going to. change. II. Version History 1.01. Initial and, unless some errors are found, probably the final release. III. Enemies There are really only four enemies. Let's go over them. (note that these names are unofficial). Fish: These blue fish (first enemies you ever encounter) are slow and are barely a threat. They can't even move the bubbles themselves, only pop them. Plus they take a while to even do that (they basically face the bubble for a while, then pop it). Snakes: These are a bit more of a challenge. They're quicker AND can move bubbles. Still not very difficult. Shark: These guys aren't much worse than the snakes, with one exception--they can shoot these little bubbles (not the normal bubbles, of course) at you. If it hits you, it'll imprison you for a while. Unfortunately, before you get away, one will usually hit you, causing you to lose a life. So try to either have bubbles (the ones you can move) between you and them or make sure you're not on the same horizontal/vertical line. Starfish: Not only are these guys extremely quick, they can also push bubbles around quickly. Take care of them ASAP. You really don't want a bunch of these moving around. And try to keep your distance. They can actually catch up to you if they're going quickly enough. IV. Bubbles There are several kinds of bubbles to deal with. White (normal) bubbles are just normal bubbles. If you push them, they'll stop until they hit another bubble or the edge of the screen. Like most bubbles, if they're next to another bubble and you try to push it to that bubble, the bubble you're pushing pops. "Diamond" bubbles are different. They actually go into each other. If you get all 3 (or 4...later levels have 4) of them together, all the enemy fish are imprisoned in bubbles and you get a few points. However, for each combination of them you get before that, a Starfish appears. Note that once two are combined, they cannot be moved. I personally would not suggest bothering trying to put them together. It just takes too much time and effort to get them together, and the reward isn't too great. Blue bubbles, like white bubbles, go in a straight line until they hit a bubble or the edge. Unlike white bubbles, after they hit a bubble/edge, they bounce back until they hit a bubble/edge again. Then they stay stationary. Purple bubbles are just like Blue bubbles, except they bounce again AFTER the second bounce. Naturally, Purple bubbles are very useful for eliminating enemies. Normal dynamite bubbles continue until they hit the edge or a bubble, then explode, destroying all fish next to them (including diagonals). Note that if you try to push them into a bubble next to them, a fuse is lit and they explode in a few seconds, with the same effect as if they exploded after being pushed. "Super" dynamite bubbles are distinguishable from normal dynamite bubbles by the fact their dynamite is purple and they have a star on them. They have a larger blast radius--they destroy all fish within a two-bubble blast radius (though they only have a one-bubble diagonal blast radius). So be careful that when you push them, they blow up far enough away that you're not destroyed. Like "normal" dynamite bubbles, if you push them in a direction of an adjacent bubble, they start a fuse and explode in a few seconds. V. Power-Ups Now for the the power-ups. They're basically the floating bubbles you see on the screen every now and then. If you touch one, it'll "pop" and the power-up will be released. The ones that have letters in them will add a letter to your "EXTRA" (at the bottom). If you get all the letters, all the fish on the screen (except for you, of course) will be imprisoned in a bubble for a short time, AND you'll get an extra life. The bubble that has a fish in a bubble in it will cause all other fish to be imprisoned in bubbles for a short time. You can actually touch them when they're like this to automatically kill them. Unfortunately, you only get 100 points for it, instead of the normal 200. Bubbles with numbers in them add that much to your point total. The bubble with the pale fish in it will make you temporarily invincible (though you won't kill enemy fish just by walking through them) The bubble with a bunch of purple bubbles in it will make blue/purple bubbles appear. This will also kill any enemies that are where the new bubbles appear! VI. Strategies/Tidbits Here's some information about the game... If you hit 3 or more fishes with one bubble, you'll hear a voice say "Eat seaweed, fish breath!" and your "bonus multiplier" (which multiplies the bonus points by a certain number. The bonus points are those points that decrease as time goes on--they're added when you complete a level) will increase by 1 for each fish beyond the second that you hit. So, if you hit 3 fish, the multiplier becomes x2. 4 fish? x3. And so on. The highest multiplier you can have is x5. This is a great way to rack up points, and more importantly, lives! Note that if you hit 3 fish with one bubble and later on hit 3 fish with a different one, your bonus multiplier will originally be x2, then will be x3. WARNING: If you lose a life, you lose ALL of the bonus multiplier. When trying to increase the bonus multiplier, purple bubbles are key. They let you hit more fish than normal bubbles, and even blue bubbles, could. When a fish is still in a bubble (before they "hatch"), if you try to push the bubble, it'll pop and the fish will be gone! Unfortunately, you only get 50 points for this, but hey, who's complaining? As with many games like this, if you get enough points, you'll get extra lives. You get an extra life when you hit 10,000 points, and later 40,000 points. After that, you get an extra life every time you hit 40,000 +40,000X points, where X is a positive integer. In other words, 80,000, 120,000, 160,000, etc. If you pop a bubble, your score will increase by 1. So, at the end of levels, try to pop a few bubbles to increase your score a bit. Okay, so it's only 1. So what? Be extremely careful when dealing with Starfish. They are extremely fast. Keep your distance. You can hit the power-ups with normal bubbles to pop them! If you get enough points for the time bonus, you hear a weird voice say "Oh my". Note that pretty much the only way to do that is to use bonus multipliers. Try to take out the enemy fish quickly. While it's nice to try to get bonus multipliers, remember that if you die, you lose all of the multipliers! While it's always nice to get bonus multipliers, staying alive should be your #1 priority. VII. Levels Here's some information about some of the levels. Level 1: It's the first level. Pretty simple, really. Push the bubbles into the enemies. You only have to deal with the fish. This is a cinch. I don't even know WHY I'm bothering with this level. Level 3: This is the first level with the snakes. They're only a bit faster than the fish, but beware: They can push bubbles, not just pop them. Fortunately, they take a while to do so. They basically stand (well, swim) in front of a bubble for a few seconds before they actually push it. Level 6: First level with the sharks. They're actually kind of slow, but beware of the bubbles they shoot out--they'll make you stay in one place for a few crucial moments. Level 8: With the new purple bubbles, you can probably kill a few more fish per bubble, giving you more points, and best of all, bonus multipliers! However, if you want to get a really good range, pop one of the purple bubbles before bouncing the other. Unfortunately, this only gives you one try. It's your call. Level 10: This is a really important level. It gives you an excellent chance to rack up some bonus multipliers. There are three purple bubbles, but the middle one is your best bet. You want it to bounce left/right. So, clear out the bubbles in the way, and, when the enemy fish are around there, let it rip and get those multipliers! This is possibly the best level to get bonus multipliers. Don't waste it. Level 12: This is the first level with the starfish. Fortunately, they're not out in force. Since there's a bunch of emptiness near the middle of the level (or at least there will be soon), try staying near the edges and hitting the enemy fish with bubbles from afar. Level 13: This is the first level to have FOUR of the diamond bubbles. This makes them harder to get together, AND you have to deal with more Starfish on the way. Level 26: Wow, a big leap, eh? The beginning of this level is where you might get screwed up. You're surrounded by 4 purple bubbles. Push the one to the right (and only that one), then get the heck out of there because it'll bounce back at you. Pushing any of the others will cause immediate destruction of yourself because they'll bounce back and hit you before you can get away. Level 28: Like in Level 26, you have to be careful at the beginning. Don't hit the dynamite bubbles yet! They'll explode in close proximity to you, taking you out. Wait until the area clears a bit, THEN use them. VIII. Codes (thanks to gamewinners.com for helping with this information! Please note that these codes apply to Bubble Trouble X, which had slightly different codes from Bubble Trouble) Press "L" at the main screen to give you a level select. Unfortunately, it only goes up to 30, and if you use it, you can't get high scores. Press "X" at the main screen to get a poem. Hold down Shift, Control, Option, or Command (you know, the button with the little apple symbol) and click the "Bubble Trouble" title on the main screen to view some...interesting stuff. Press Option and click on the information bar at the bottom of the main screen for it to display a lot of whacky and random messages. While in the game, press Caps Lock to pause it and try typing the following: EXTRA INVIS CATCH SCORE Warning: Using these disables high scores in your game. IX. Credits Thanks to Ambrosia Software for making Bubble Trouble. Thanks to Gamewinners.com for providing codes. Thanks to GameFAQs for showing this Thanks to me for writing this. Copyright 2004 Lord Seth.