When Tsuyoshi Tozak, director of Bubble Bobble 4 Friends, was asked about if Bub and Bob would appear in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, they simply responded "let's skip that question". The interviewer theorized that they may have been under a non-disclosure agreement, citing a similar response when asking Studio MDHR, the developers of Cuphead, about if they wanted to make an animated series based on their game, which did eventually happen. However, come the end of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's DLC cycle, a Bubble Bobble multimedia adaptation did not happen in any form, suggesting that Tozak was likely indifferent on the possibility rather than under NDA.