Review: Bubble

Ability : Bubble

Title : Kirby Squeak Squad

Reviewer : Mrgameandpie


Kirby can often be seen as a very joyous, bubbly figure, and nowhere is that more apparent than with the Bubble ability! Kirby grabs a shower cap (even though he has no hair to protect with it) and gets ready to set everything to suds with his bubble wand!

The Bubble ability only has one appearance so far, Kirby Squeak Squad. Squeak Squad had a variety of gimmicks unique to that game alone, and one such gimmick was Kirby's stomach storage. Kirby could hold all sorts of items inside himself from treasure chests to food items and even copy abilities! However, for Kirby to store an item, it had to be in a bubble first. Normally players would have to find preset bubbles throughout the various stages, but every attack the Bubble ability has allows the players to transform their enemies into bubbles to be stored! Enemies that give copy abilities become bubbles containing that ability, enemies that don't give abilities become bubbles containing stars, either way the player gets to horde a whole collection of offensive options for later!

At its core, Bubble operates much like Fire or Ice do, with Kirby's bubble wand firing off a short stream of bubbles nearly identical to how his fire and ice breaths work. However, while all of these streams may have roughly the same range, Bubble is slightly better in that it can be aimed up and down to much more extreme degrees. For Fire and Ice this aiming creates a very minor change in trajectory, but for Bubble it can allow Kirby to reach foes the other two abilities could only dream of hitting.

Another unique element of Squeak Squad was the copy ability scrolls. They were one of the numerous treasures players could find, and would give a new move or component to every ability. For Bubble, this was the Big Bubble attack. Pressing left or right and B at the same time would launch a large bubble that would instantly defeat any regular foe and would do massive damage to everything else. Alongside its excellent power its movement could be highly influenced after it was fired. In general, the bubble would float forwards and upwards, but how fast it flew and how quickly it rose could be drastically altered with the control pad, creating an attack that was not only powerful, but also highly accurate. The scroll for Bubble appeared in level 4-1, roughly halfway through the game giving the player ample time to use this attack in their adventure.

The Bubble ability gave Kirby an excellent combination of range and power and maximized the effectiveness of the game's storage system. As great as the ability is, it is unlikely to ever return. With the introduction of the Water ability in Return to Dreamland, and without the return of the storage system, Bubble's more unique properties have disappeared from the series. It may have only gotten one chance to shine, but Bubble managed to make its one appearance really pop!


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Last Updated - July 13, 2017