Game 477: Bomberman

 

Hudson Soft's first whale is, suitably, Bomberman for the Famicom, and now we're starting to actually see a game that resembles the series as we know it. We have powerups hidden in the walls. We have classic chain reaction physics. We have bombs that trap enemies inside their soon-to-be tombs. We have Bomberman's classic chubby robot man design. We have recognizable, albeit repetitive music. We have a crunchy "boom" sound on the PCM channel.

We just don't have multiplayer yet. And without that, Bomberman isn't very good.

 

There's not much strategy initially. Avoid the slow-moving balloon monsters, try to trap them with a bomb, and don't destroy too much terrain just yet. Once they're all dead, start bombing the terrain until you find the level's powerup and the exit. And don't leave until you've found the powerup (or accidentally bomb it or the exit).

Flame up. This extends your blast by one tile.

After that, repeat the process for a few more levels. There are several powerups available; bigger blasts, more bombs, more speed, ability to walk through bombs, even the ability to walk through walls, but the real reward is the remote detonator, first found on level 4. You'll need it to catch the quicker and more slippery monsters, some of whom can slip through walls themselves. And you'd better not die, because you'll lose it if you do, and the monsters won't relent just because you don't have it.

All isn't lost if you die; you lose the remote detonator, but not your extra bombs or blast powers, and you can find it again about every five levels. Did I mention the game has fifty levels, and very little to distinguish them? Bomberman is generous with extra lives, and effectively grants unlimited continues with a password system as long as you don't care about score (and you're insane if you do - more on that later). But you'll have a much easier time if you never lose it to begin with.

Find the fireproof vest on level 30 and you're basically unstoppable. Just don't let your nigh-invulnerability make you get reckless, because you lose it if you die.

 

With the remote detonator and firerpoof vest, the rest is trivial. Finish level 50 and Bomberman becomes just Man.

As for optimizing your score, there's a few things you can do beyond just finishing without continues. You have bonus rounds, in which enemies respawn indefinitely and can't hurt you. You can trigger additional enemy spawns by bombing the exit door, and this is repeatable until the clock runs down.

But this is insignificant compared to secret items, which are hidden on every level and can be worth millions.

Dezeniman makes a sweaty cameo if you're Nuts enough.

 

All you got to do, is complete a level-specific Tower of Druaga-style challenge with zero hints or indications that this is a thing.  

 

Might be that you need to clear the level perimeter once. Might be that you need to chain-detonate exactly 248 bombs. The biggest reward of all comes from destroying every wall and then bombing the exit three times, all without killing a single monster, and grants you 20 million points.

Anyway, 

GAB rating: Below average. It's better than the BASIC original, which proved barely tolerable, but this early version gets boring really fast. At least it's also easy.