Mega Bomberman
From Sega Retro
Mega Bomberman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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System(s): Sega Mega Drive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Sega | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Developer: Westone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Licensor: Hudson Soft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sound driver: Westone/Shinichi Sakamoto | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peripherals supported: 4 Way Play, Team Player | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre: Action[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of players: 1-4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mega Bomberman is a Bomberman video game released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. Though marketed as a Mega Drive exclusive, Mega Bomberman is derived from the 1993 PC Engine title Bomberman '94 by Hudson Soft, which was not released outside of Japan.
Mega Bomberman is the first of five Bomberman video games to be released on a Sega system (second of six if one includes the unlicensed Bomberman Special for SG-1000), and the only "traditional" Bomberman game to be released on the Mega Drive, compared to the five released on the Super Famicom/Super NES and the three released on the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16.
Contents
Story
Bomber Planet was originally a peaceful planet, protected by five spirits. One day, the peace was disturbed by an invading army of robots led by Bagulaa, who shattered the Spirit Pictures across the planet. Without the power of the spirits, the planet is thrown off balance and split into five fragments. To restore peace to his home planet, Bomberman must fight back against Bagulaa and his army to reassemble the Spirit Pictures and bring the pieces of Bomber Planet back together again.
Gameplay
Mega Bomberman is a typical Bomberman game with both single player and four-player multiplayer modes. In both modes, Bomberman can be moved with the D-Pad and place bombs that explode in a cross pattern with .
Normal Game
Normal Game is a single player mode in which the player, as Bomberman, must strategically set bombs to clear through soft blocks and defeat enemies in order to recover the Spirit Picture fragment of each stage before time runs out. In order to proceed between each screen and open the capsule containing the fragment, the player must destroy all the keys with their bombs. Some keys are carried by enemies, in which case the enemy needs to be destroyed first. Once the Spirit Picture fragment has been collected in a stage, all remaining soft blocks will turn into coins rewarding 500 points each, and the player has 15 seconds to collect them all.
There are a total of six areas in a game, and each area has three or four stages to clear. Cleared stages can be revisited and play exactly the same as usual, though all keys will remain destroyed and the exit will always be open. After all stages in an area have been cleared, a boss will appear, and the player must defeat it in order to progress to the next area.
Stages
Jammin' Jungle | |
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Stages: 3 | |
A forest area with no notable gimmicks.
The boss is a robotic banana accompanied by a monkey with a remote control. The banana will move around aimlessly, but will chase after Bomberman if the monkey is attacked. The monkey will actively avoid Bomberman if he gets too close to it (within two tiles) but won't react to bombs. The banana takes 8 hits to defeat, though the monkey can be defeated in 4 hits which will also destroy the banana instantly. | |
Vexin' Volcano | |
Stages: 4 | |
Some stages in this fiery area feature small volcanoes that will rain fireballs periodically, which can detonate bombs or stun Bomberman upon contact. Mine carts can also be used to travel from one location to another.
The boss is a pyramid golem who will slowly pursue Bomberman and attack by launching its fists that will follow him for a while, launch three fireballs into the air that will land in random locations with a three-tile blast radius, or stomp the ground to stun Bomberman for a second. Takes 6 hits to defeat. | |
Slammin' Sea | |
Stages: 4 | |
An undersea area with no notable gimmicks.
The boss is a giant crab who moves aimlessly around the arena, but will speed up and pursue Bomberman if he stands next to it. It will also spit four homing bubbles that will stun Bomberman and weaken the blast radius of any set bombs they smother, and its claw will extinguish bombs. 6 hits will destroy its shell, making its movement and attacks more aggressive, requiring 5 more hits to defeat. | |
Crankin' Castle | |
Stages: 4 | |
Some stages in this spooky area are shrouded in darkness, meaning only Bomberman and the whites of enemies' eyes can be seen. Some rooms also have large barrels which can stun enemies if the player destroys the posts holding them up, so long as the player is out of the barrel's way.
The boss is a vampire bat who will land near Bomberman and shoot three fast-moving projectiles from one of its wings (or six projectiles if it opens both wings) or push Bomberman back before flying elsewhere. It will occasionally split into four smaller bats, with the real bat having angry eyes. Takes 6 hits to defeat. | |
Thrashin' Tundra | |
Stages: 4 | |
The stages in this snowy area are lined up with penguins. Some of these penguins can fire rockets at random tiles in a stage, which can detonate bombs, destroy soft blocks and stun Bomberman.
The boss is a witch who will move in Bomberman's general direction and attacks by either hurling her crown like a boomerang or shooting eight snowflakes that will home in on Bomberman and freeze him for a few seconds on contact. Takes 6 hits to defeat. | |
Final Area | |
Stages: 1 | |
Taking place on Bagulaa's ship, this unnamed final area is a single long stage spanning multiple screens and the final battle. Brown hard blocks will periodically spray steam in two directions that will stun Bomberman. Soft blocks with skulls on them will detonate with a long blast radius when bombed.
The final battle with Bagulaa spans three phases:
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Battle Game
Battle Game is the series-staple multiplayer mode for up to four players, in which the objective is to defeat the other players with bombs (all players start each round with one bomb and a two-tile blast radius) and be the last player standing, winning a set number of victories to win the match. In addition to free-for-alls, players can play a Tag match in which players can split into teams and compete to eliminate the opposing team.
Each round has a time limit of 3 minutes, with sudden death starting during the final minute in which hard blocks will rain down clockwise from the top-left corner until there is only a 9x7 patch in the middle of the stage, squashing any players caught underneath. If time runs out completely, the round is declared a draw.
Characters
Mega Bomberman allows players to choose a different character during setup. These characters are purely cosmetic for human players, though have different personalities and fighting styles when controlled by computer players.
Bomberman | |
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Balanced offense and defense. | |
Bomber Lady | |
Holds back on offense, but don't underestimate her. | |
Suicide Bomber | |
Sets bombs everywhere he can without regard to his own life. | |
Grampa Bomber | |
Weak offense, but strong and stubborn defense. | |
Big Bomber | |
Rushes to find and grab all the items he can. | |
Tiny Bomber | |
Moves rapidly and likes sudden ambushes. | |
Bookworm | |
A cunning strategist with strong offense and defense. | |
Bonsaver | |
A very aggressive character. | |
Construction Bomber | |
Ignores opponents and concentrates on destroying blocks. |
Stages
Standard | |
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A basic stage with no gimmicks. | |
Sea Floor | |
Based on Slammin' Sea and features no gimmicks. | |
Conveyor Belt | |
Features conveyor belts that will carry players and bombs. | |
Forest | |
Based on Jammin' Jungle and features walls that form a maze, encouraging close-quarters combat. | |
South Pole | |
Based on Thrashin' Tundra and features rocket-launching penguins. Placing a bomb inside an igloo will extend its blast radius and blow the igloo's top off. | |
Europe | |
Features arrows that will redirect any bomb that is kicked onto them. | |
Ancient Castle | |
Based on Crankin' Castle and features trapdoors that will teleport players in a clockwise fashion. | |
Magma | |
Based on Vexin' Volcano, this stage has no soft blocks. Players instead start with 5 bombs and an 8-tile blast radius. | |
Lightning Quick | |
All players move at maximum speed in this stage. | |
Bush | |
This stage has four canopies that cover portions of the arena, making it harder to see bombs beneath them. |
Items
Louies
Louies are rideable companions that are introduced to the series in this game. After hatching a Louie from an egg, a player can press the button to use the Louie's unique ability depending on its colour. If the player is hit by an enemy or bomb blast, the Louie will die, but the player will survive.
History
Development
A proof-of-concept build was released onto the internet which suggests that Hudson originally commissioned German developer Factor 5 to originally develop the game. This build contains an eight-player battle game (something that would not be seen until many years later), but despite Hudson reportedly being impressed with the demo, they decided to scrap the project and focus on porting Bomberman '94 over to Sega's console.
Legacy
Mega Bomberman was ultimately more successful than Bomberman '94 as it was not restricted to Japan. It was re-released as part of the Mega Hit Series in North America.
Versions
Though well received at the time of release, Mega Bomberman is considered to be a relatively poor conversion of the game, as Bomberman '94, despite supposedly running on inferior hardware, supports up to five players and features brighter graphics with more animation. Mega Bomberman also features a slightly altered soundtrack, possibly to appeal more to overseas markets.
Production credits
- Programers: Yuichi Ito, Hideo Iwakawa, Kazuyuki Kimura
- Graphic Designers: Takuya Aoyama, Yuji Iwahara, Tomomi Tada
- Sound Programers: Hajime Ohara, Takashi Morio
- Special Thanks: Kesuke Matsuura
- Music Composer: Jun Chiki Chikuma
- Art Director: Shoji Mizuno
- Producer: Hiroki Shimada
- Supervisor: Toshiki Fujiwara
- Director: Yoshiyuki Kawaguchi
- Basic Game Designer: Shinichi Nakamoto
- Presented by: Hudson Soft
Magazine articles
- Main article: Mega Bomberman/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Physical scans
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82 | |
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Based on 28 reviews |
Mega Drive, US |
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Mega Drive, US (Mega Hit Series) |
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Mega Drive, AU |
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Technical information
- Main article: Mega Bomberman/Technical information.
References
NEC Retro has more information related to Bomberman '94
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- ↑ File:MegaBomberman MD KR Box.jpg
- ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 8 No. 2 February 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 11
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Press release: 1997-06-19: BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND -- SEGA RELAUNCHES GENESIS GAMES AT VALUE PRICES
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sega Magazine, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-10-15), page 84
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Computer & Video Games, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-10-15), page 81
- ↑ Sega Megazone, "January 1995" (AU; 199x-xx-xx), page 20
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 127
- ↑ Consoles +, "Septembre 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 112
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "February 1995" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 32
- ↑ Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 331
- ↑ GamePro, "February 1995" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 40
- ↑ GamesMaster, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-10-20), page 62
- ↑ GamesMaster (UK) "Series 4, episode 5" (1994-10-18, 24:00) (+7:50)
- ↑ Games World: The Magazine, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-11-xx), page 14
- ↑ Joypad, "Septembre 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 92
- ↑ MAN!AC, "11/94" (DE; 1994-10-12), page 58
- ↑ Mega, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-10-27), page 54
- ↑ Mega Force, "Septembre 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 104
- ↑ Mega Fun, "11/94" (DE; 1994-10-19), page 73
- ↑ Mega Play, "February/March 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 47
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-09-30), page 16
- ↑ Next Generation, "March 1995" (US; 1995-02-21), page 100
- ↑ Player One, "Septembre 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 44
- ↑ Play Time, "12/94" (DE; 1994-11-09), page 106
- ↑ Power Up!, "Saturday, November 26, 1994" (UK; 1994-11-26), page 1
- ↑ Sega Power, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-10-20), page 52
- ↑ Sega Pro, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-11-03), page 54
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Supersonic, "Octobre 1994" (FR; 1994-xx-xx), page 44
- ↑ Todo Sega, "Octubre 1994" (ES; 1994-xx-xx), page 52
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 113
- ↑ Video Games, "12/94" (DE; 1994-11-23), page 100
- ↑ VideoGames, "June 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 92
Mega Bomberman | |
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Main page | Comparisons | Maps | Passwords | Hidden content | Magazine articles | Video coverage | Reception | Region coding | Technical information | Bootlegs
Prototypes: Special 8-Player Demo
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Bomberman games for Sega systems | |
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Bomberman Special (198x) | |
Mega Bomberman (1994) | Mega Bomberman: Special 8 Player Demo (unreleased) | |
Saturn Bomberman (XBAND) (1996) | Saturn Bomberman Fight!! (1997) | Bomberman Wars (1998) | |
Bomberman Online (2001) |
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