Bubble Ghost

Bubble Ghost
Company type	Video game
Industry	Video games
Founded	1987
Founder	Christophe Andréani
Products	Bubble Ghost (video game)

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Bubble Ghost, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 9 August 2025

Bubble Ghost is an action video game created by Christophe Andréani for the Atari ST platform in 1987. In this title, players assume the role of a ghost who directs a drifting bubble through a series of corridors inside a haunted mansion, steering clear of dangers that could cause the bubble to burst.

A remastered edition developed by Nakama Game Studio was released in March 2025, available on Windows, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Gameplay

The core gameplay involves guiding a bubble through diverse haunted mansion corridors while avoiding environmental threats such as walls, lit candles, electrical hazards, and fans that can pop the bubble. The ghost character can interact with these elements by blowing to propel the bubble faster, extinguishing flames, or operating switches.

Players control the ghost using a mouse: left-click rotates it counterclockwise, right-click rotates clockwise, and holding Shift triggers the ghost’s blowing action.

There are 35 distinct stages in total. Successfully escorting the bubble out of each corridor rewards players with 1,000 points plus any accumulated bonuses; performing special maneuvers can yield up to 5,000 additional points. Bonuses reset at the start of each level, and completing a corridor grants an extra bubble life.

Ports

Originally developed by Christophe Andréani (who handled both design and programming) on an Atari ST system, Bubble Ghost was subsequently ported to various platforms internationally.

Following the acquisition of ERE Informatique by Infogrames, an enhanced version titled Bubble + (or Bubble Plus) was released. The 1990 Game Boy adaptation was notable as the first French-developed game for that handheld console and featured a soundtrack composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto.

In 2025, Spanish developers introduced Bubble Ghost Remake, coinciding with an interview featuring Andréani. This remake debuted on March 27, 2025, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and via Steam.

Development

The original game was programmed using C (specifically Megamax C) alongside 68000 assembly language on an Atari 1040 ST. Visual assets were created with Degas Elite, while sound effects utilized the Atari ST’s built-in synthesizer. The opening voice message ("Welcome to Bubble Ghost") was recorded by Andréani himself using ST Replay technology.

Reception

Bubble Ghost received coverage in numerous French magazines such as SVM Science et Vie Micro, ST Magazine, Micro News, Le Tatou, 1ST (FirST), Jeux et Stratégie, Génération 4, Amstrad Cent Pour Cent, Player One, Joypad, and Consoles +. It also appeared in American publications including VideoGames and Computer Entertainment, Antic, and ST-Log.

The upgraded edition Bubble + was reviewed in Génération 4 and Micro News.

Posterity

Book - Corey Sandler, Tom Badgett, Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Game Boy Strategies, Bantam Books, 1991. The Game Boy edition is mentioned on page 49.
Book - Anna Anthropy, Naomi Clark, A Game Design Vocabulary, Exploring the Foundational Principles Behind Good Game Design, Pearson Education, February 2014. The Atari ST version appears on page 28.
Book - Julien Mailland, Kevin Driscoll, Minitel, Welcome to the Internet, MIT Press, June 2017. The Atari ST release is cited on page 145.
Book - Brett Weiss, Classic Home Video Games, 1989-1990, McFarland Publishers, July 2018. The Game Boy port is referenced on page 300.
Book - Florent Gorges, L'Histoire de Nintendo, Omaké Books, Collection « Volume 4, 1989-1999 L'incroyable histoire de la Game Boy», March 2019. The Game Boy version is noted on page 199.
Book - Jamie Lendino, Faster Than Light, The Atari ST and the 16-Bit Revolution, Steel Gear Press, June 2019. The Atari ST edition is cited on page 171.
Video - Rétro Découverte (November 2021), featuring an interview with Christophe Andréani.
Book - Jamie Lendino, Starflight, How the PC and DOS Exploded Computer Gaming 1987-1994, Steel Gear Press, 2022. The Atari ST version is mentioned on page 112.

External links