Bubble Bobble + Others

Now, I'm sure everyone reading this has either played or at least heard about Bubble Bobble, if not here's the basic story:
Two boys called Bub and Bob, turned into bubble blowing dinosaurs to save their girlfriends who had been kidnapped, they went through 100 stages, encasing enemies in the bubbles they blew and then popping them to kill the enemy inside.

Bubble Bobble was ported to many different platforms but the game play remained the same, on each level there was a certain number of enemies to kill, when killed they would turn into fruit which you could then collect for points, you could also collect a set of letter which spelled 'EXTEND' which would give you an additional life IIRC...

Player has '-X--N-' of EXTEND

Because Bubble Bobble was such a classic, there were plenty or remakes, clones, spinoffs and other games with the same idea behind it, a few successfuls ones are Rodland, Snow Brothers and Tumblepop

My personal favourite game similar to Bubble Bobble would have to be Don Doko Don,
like Bubble Bobble it's a 2 player game in which you go through 100 levels (50 normal 50 secret)
to rescue a princess, the only differences are, the Graphics and the way you dispatch the enemies
What you would do is, instead of blowing bubbles and popping them, you'd hit them with a hammer, walk up to them, pick them up and then throw them against the wall.
When they died, like in Bubble Bobble they'd turn into fruit which you'd collect for points, there were also various other powerups you could collect.
The music in the game is fantastic, chirpy, upbeat and, in general, real nice to listen to.
I have great memories of playing this game so
Thank you Jamie for introducing this to me :D

Overall, Bubble Bobble and all of the other spin offs it has had are still very playable today, showing just how solid the gameplay is.