Bomberman

File:Bomberman Logo.jpg

Bomberman is a strategic, maze-based computer and video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft. The original game was published in 1983 and new games in the series are still being published to this day. Today, Bomberman is featured in over 60 different games.

Gameplay

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A wall crumbles in Bomberman Generation

The general goal throughout the series is to complete the levels by strategically placing bombs in order to kill enemies and destroy obstacles. Exploding bombs can set off other bombs, kill or injure enemies and destroy obstacles. However, they can also kill or injure the player character, destroy powerups, and sometimes "anger" the exit, causing it to generate more enemies. Most Bomberman games also feature a multiplayer mode, where other Bombermen act as opponents, and the last one standing is the winner. In this mode, powerups are plentiful. Although most games in the Bomberman series use the same type of maze-based levels established by the original game, some are Zelda-like adventure games, Mario-like platformers, Tetris-like puzzle games, and kart racers. It is considered to be a classic franchise by many video game players.

Bomberman

The term Bomberman also refers to the actual "species" of the series's protagonists and titular character. A "Bomberman" is a robotic-like man with a flat computer screen face which have eyes, but no visible mouth, within a sometimes squared, sometimes circular helmet, with a roundish body, long limbs and usually balled hands and feet. The series first began with a Bomberman that went from being a robot to achieving humanity (and change its appearance accordingly). Should Bomberman Act: Zero in fact be a prequel to all the other games in the series, it may be taken as proof that Bombermen are cybernetic (though, arguably no longer, in later games, necessarily made out of pre-existing beings).

Powerups

The Bomberman games usually include many powerups that are found beneath destructible blocks. Powerups are an important element of the Bomberman series. They provide things such as Health and speed.

Main Characters

Main article: List of Bomberman series characters

White Bomberman in his current appearance

White Bomberman

Although he is also referred to as "White Bomb", "White Bomber", "Shirobon", or most recently "Cheerful White", the hero of the series is usually simply called "Bomberman". In the standard games, he is the star and is always controlled by the player in the single player modes. He is portrayed as the heroic yet cheerful (and sometimes goofy) type, often saving his home planet from disaster. Like all Bombermen he has the ability to generate bombs in his hands. In the earlier titles he battles his rival, who was a black version of himself called "Kurobon", with whom he would later become friends and allies. In later games, such as Bomberman Max and Bomberman Tournament, he is shown to be part of an interplanetary police force stationed at Bomber Base. White Bomberman always tries to help and he means well.

The White Bomberman also made appearances in other games, such as Wario Blast, a Bomberman game featuring Nintendo mascot Mario's rival, Wario. He also appears in DreamMix TV World Fighters, a Hudson fighting game with characters from Hudson Soft, Konami and Takara.

Black Bomberman

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A Black Bomberman keychain

Also known as "Kurobon" or most recently "Cool Black", Black Bomberman (AKA Black Bomb or Black Bomber) looks identical to Bomberman, only colored black and does not wear white tights. In many of his first appearances, he was shown to be the main rival to Bomberman. His activities have included robbing banks (Bomberman 2), kidnapping (PC Engine Bomberman) and disabling cities (Bomberman '93). However, with the Super Bomberman series on the SNES, he was changed to being a gradual friend of Bomberman (a sure sign is in Bomberman Hero as he is seen flying White Bomber's space ship). In many games since then he is controlled by the second player in the two-player story modes. Hudson has given him a cool and collected personality in the later games (most notably in Bomberman Land Touch!).

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Max in his Bomberman Jetters appearance

Max

Bomberman's ally who likes to do things his own way. He is, however, a villain throughout the Bomberman Jetters anime. Max wears a black suit/droid-like armor with a helmet that resembles Ultraman. It is noted however that this is not his "skin" as he appears to be of Bomberman's species (or possibly of the human-like people found on planet Phantarion in Bomberman Tournament; Max has a five fingered hand as compared to a pink ball Bomberman's species have in the game.) In Jetters, however, he is purely android. Max appears in the later Bomberman games. Max is the main character in Bomberman Max Red Challenger for GBC and Bomberman Max Red Advance for the GBA, and uses his own set of plasma bombs (which are no different from Bomberman's). Max's disappearance is an important part of the plot of Bomberman Story/Bomberman Tournament, which reveals some of Max's backstory. He has also made an appearance in the game Bomberman Generation. When Bomberman is in a boss fight and is low on health, he'll appear and aid Bomberman by taking a chunk of the boss' health (exactly one full heart,) and dropping a heart into the arena, if Bomberman has collected enough lightning cards. He is also a playable character in the game Bomberman Jetters. He is similar to Bomberman, but is unable to use Charaboms. He can use the Hyper Plasma Bomb to blow away enemies, but this is not very effective against bosses, only doing one small heart's worth of damage.

See also

• List of Bomberman games

External links

• Hudson Entertainment Homepage - New versions of Bomberman
• Bomberman series at MobyGames
• Bomberman Series at the Open Directory Project