Review: Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons Is Repetitive

I didn’t expect Taito to get in on the roguelike trend with Bubble Bobble, but here we are. Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons combines the traditional style stages of the game with the ability to bring in items or learn skills for each run to get through a set number unscathed in the name of getting treasure. While it does sort of work, it all ends up blurring together due to design choices and sometimes feels too unfair to be really fun.

The concept behind Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons is incredibly simple. Dolcen heard about Bub, the bubble-blowing dragon who can’t get enough of adventuring. He grabbed him and brought him to a place where he can go through castles and dungeons to collect treasure. Since Bub loves adventure, he doesn’t question the whole possible-abduction thing and agrees to go castle-crashing and dungeon-diving. 

The gameplay for Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons is pretty much identical to past games. Bub goes through stages, attempting to reach the door to the next one. Enemies appear, and they can be trapped in his bubbles. Once popped, they’re eliminated and you’re rewarded. However, since the goal is to either reach the boss in a castle or the exit in a dungeon, it isn’t about defeating every enemy to clear a room and move on. You just want to get in and out as fast as possible. Since you also can bring in items, such as ones cause fire to damage enemies, and also jump on bubbles to ride air currents to float to platforms, it can feel more focused on platforming than puzzling things out. The roguelike nod comes from going on successful runs, eventually going back with items that could help or getting skills like a rolling attack that you boost to make surviving and getting further next time easier. It’s a generally typical Bubble Bobble experience and, in isolated runs or the castle portions, can feel fine.

I think the thing that gets to me most about Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons is how it all blurs together. While there is some slight variation to each area of the dungeon and run, they all tend to have similar color schemes due to it all being candy, cookie, and pastry-themed. A lot of it is just pink on pink on pink on other pastels that sometimes aren’t all that far off from pink. While the runs are randomized, the layouts aren’t. So you’ll eventually recognize the patterns and see the same sorts of stages over and over again. The Castles avoid this issue, since they are predetermined, but the dungeons really suffer from this. 

There’s also an issue with difficulty in Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons, which is exacerbated by the return of the invincible ghost that returns if you run out of time when going through the stages. The layout and position of enemies can sometimes be a bit intimidating or awkward, which isn’t the issue. Especially if you did bring in some of the limited-use materials. But the problem comes from a run being done in a dungeon if you get hit even once. Since it’s going to be tens of floors before you reach the end, the ghost is going to appear. It took me hours before I managed to get through a full, 40-floor dungeon without being touched by the ghost or hit by an enemy, and by the end I wasn’t having fun. I was just stressed. 

A perk of this release is also getting Bubble Symphony with the pack. It’s a fantastic game! This is a more traditional Bubble Bobble experience, with players needing to trap enemies in bubbles or use their human forms’ wands to attack them in consecutive stages, getting treasures and rewards for clearing each screen. The more frequent boss fights and ability to choose our paths after clearing one. This is a great bonus and honestly helps make the whole package feel more worthwhile.

Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons has its moments, but the inclusion of Bubble Symphony helps it feel worth the try. The base game itself is fine, and I had fun with the castle portions. The repetitious colors and stage layouts coupled with the dungeon difficulty is a bit much. 

Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons is available for the Switch, PS5, and PC.