Bomberman Game For PC

Bomberman is the first game in a series of titles that would go on to play with and tweak the gameplay formula. This early entry still relies too heavily on the basic basics and despite the addition of new enemy types to mix things up, the process of getting through each stage is slow and bland.

Gameplay

The gameplay of bomberman is essentially a series of incredibly similar stages with little to no interesting progression or gimmicks to make them worth playing. It is a slow and thankless process of getting through a set of stages, and even when you are at your peak power level things still feel rather flat as you get sucked into the cycle of waiting on fuses, battling mobile enemies that can completely skip over bricks and just generally pushing through mazes as fast as possible while avoiding enemies and collecting power ups along the way.

The only real gimmick to the game is the ability to collect different power ups that can add more bombs, boost speed, and more. The latter can be especially useful, as the number of enemies and the difficulty of some stages can become daunting if you aren’t able to keep up with them. Increasing the blast radius of your bombs and adding a remote control for them are also helpful, but not enough to take the edge off of the game’s tedium.

In terms of new gameplay, the only other Bomberman clone worth mentioning is a work-in-progress called BOoM! by ichigobankai and Vingazole, which was developed for a SMS coding competition and released in 2014. It features multiplayer support, but requires the use of a multitap.

Graphics

The graphics in this version of Bomberman are top-notch. The characters are large relative to other games, and the colors and shading are vibrant. However, it doesn’t really break any new ground in the series. It seems like it was more influenced by other games from the same period, such as Berzerk from Stern Technologies and Wizard of Wor from Midway.

The main problem is that the game’s story isn’t really all that interesting, and it’s a little bit over-written. The cutscenes that play between levels are especially annoying, with dialogue read slowly and overly theatrical performances that get old quickly.

It also doesn’t quite seem to have the depth of the previous games in the franchise. The level design for some of the brick mazes isn’t very good, and your opponents don’t seem to demand a lot of thought from you to beat them. The power-ups in the game are pretty good though, and they make this version of Bomberman more fun to play.

The last game worth mentioning in the original Bomberman trilogy before Hudson Soft collapsed and merged with Konami is this one. It tries to mix up the formula by adding new enemy types and power-ups, but it still feels like an agonizingly slow game. The sprites look good, but the adjustable camera means that it’s often difficult to know whether you will be able to hit your enemies with your bombs.

Sound

In terms of sound effects, Bomberman is fairly standard. The character’s footsteps and explosions are accompanied by simple but appropriate music. The game’s soundtrack is also reminiscent of other games from the same period, notably those of a German publisher with one of the most interesting back catalogs at the time, Kingsoft.

Bomberman is played on a non-scrolling screen showing a top down view of a grid of 143 (13 x 11) squares. The character can move horizontally and vertically on the grid, but cannot leave it. The character can pick up various items that will help him advance, including power-ups and weapons. When he throws a bomb, it pulses for a brief time and then explodes in a fireball that shoots flames in both directions. Bombs that hit enemies will cause them to detonate, potentially creating large chain reactions.

This first installment in the Bomberman series was developed for the PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 by Hudson Soft, which merged into Konami the year after it was released. It was ported to several home computers, including the Sharp X68000 and Amiga in European markets. In addition to the console versions, this game saw release for a number of handheld devices, including the NES.

While Bomberman is a bit archaic in comparison to the series it inspired, this early game does show the potential for the series to become entertaining. Adding some variety and creativity to the gameplay would go a long way toward making Bomberman much more enjoyable.

Controls

As we look back at the time this game was released, it seems that PC independent development scene had just begun to really thrive. This was a good thing as it meant that Bomberman games could be made for the MS-DOS platform and not just for consoles. There were a few fairly straight Bomberman clones that appeared around this time: Nitro! from PLBM Games, Pyromania from Software 32 and Mr. Boom from Remdy Software.

The game has simple controls: directional pad to move, A button to lay a bomb and B button to detonate it. The bombs can be placed on the floor of a level or on enemies, and there are power-ups to be collected that increase Bomberman’s abilities such as extra bombs, more powerful bomb blasts and even remote control for the bombs.

The game has 50 levels that must be completed and each one contains an enemy that is fought and a hidden exit door to reveal. The levels have no storyline, but there are a number of power-ups that are collected that can make the levels easier or harder. The game also has a score board and the player can earn 1-Ups for each level completed. The game can be played in both single and multiplayer mode. The game also has a high-score list to keep track of the best scores and achievements.

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