Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is getting a Switch 2 edition with new stages and a webcam gimmick
Taito has announced Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back! - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Stardrop Mountain, adding a vertically scrolling new stage set and a Camera Play mode that puts players' faces inside the bubbles.
Taito is bringing Bubble Bobble 4 Friends back for a third time. Announced on September 30, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back! - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Stardrop Mountain bundles the 2019 original, its Baron is Back expansion and a new chunk of stages into one Switch 2 release.
Stardrop Mountain
The new content is Stardrop Mountain, set in a picture-book world and built as a vertical climb rather than the series' usual single-screen arenas: the view scrolls upward as you play, and you get to the summit by riding your own bubbles. New enemies and hazards are in, including a villain called Invaduh. Taito puts the total across the package at 200 levels, and the 1986 arcade Bubble Bobble is included as well.
Your face, in a bubble
The Switch 2-exclusive feature is Camera Play. Plug a USB camera into the console and the game displays players' faces in real time inside the bubbles on screen - a use for Nintendo's camera support that is at least in keeping with a game about four people shouting at each other on a couch. Local co-op still goes up to four players.
Why it matters
Bubble Bobble 4 Friends has now been re-released twice over, and the Switch 2 version is the first to add a stage set built around vertical scrolling rather than single screens.