I'll eventually write about this in TangoPunk, but after sleeping and almost 12 hours later, my brain is still overwhelmed with thoughts of Final Bubble Bobble, so I must try to get them into words to get it out of my system.
- The Japanese version of Final Bubble Bobble has hints about the locations of secret doors whenever you get a game over.
- One of the hints is that on level 175, you should try to cover all the enemies in bubbles simultaneously.
- This is basically impossible without a TAS because the enemies on level 175 escape from bubbles almost immediately
- But! If you DID somehow do it, the game is programmed to put a secret door, just like the hint said.
- This door leads to a secret code room, where a code is written on the wall (keep in mind it's near-impossible for a normal person to see this room)
- If you enter the unobtainable secret code on the main menu, the border flashes to recognise the code was accepted, but it does nothing at all.
To recap, the game is programmed to recognise a secret code you can't find, shown in a secret room that can't be reached, entered from a door that can't be spawned, and this is hinted at.
Now I am battling with three possibilities and can't decide which because all are plausible.
- They removed the cheat code's effects because they knew that finding it would be impossible, but they forgot to remove the hint.
- It is intentionally put into the game to screw with people, making people constantly die on a level with an unobtainable secret, so they can taunt people for years by saying, "Ahaha have you found the door on Level 175 yet?"
- It is intentionally put into the game to screw with people editing the game's data to find secrets, by having a useless secret code and a useless secret code room that does nothing.
