Games - Bomberman

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	Games - Bomberman

Bomberman is a strategic, maze-based computer and video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft.

Gameplay

The general goal throughout the series is to complete the levels by strategically placing bombs to kill enemies and destroy obstacles. 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.

The term bomberman also refers to the main characters of the series. A "Bomberman" is a little robotic man with a flat computer screen face (they have eyes, but no visible mouth,) long arms and legs, and a circular helmet. Although the series first began as Bombermen being a robots, this has not been used again in the more recent games, and it is now thought that Bombermen are in fact organic.

Legacy

Hudson Soft's 1985 NES title Bomberman—known as Eric and the Floaters in Europe—is the first in the series and considered the origin of the Bomberman concept.

Following that, ports and retoolings of the game have been released on virtually all major video game systems, including the Arcade, NES, Super NES, N64, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and others. Because of its simplistic gameplay, the Bomberman series has been widely copied through knock-offs and copycat titles. There are dozens of unofficial ports of the game for graphing calculators; it is a favorite among TI-89 gamers.

Versions of Bomberman released by Ubisoft for home computer systems were re-titled Dynablaster.

Powerups

The Bomberman games usually include many powerups that are found beneath destructible blocks. These include:

Player powerups

Skates - Increases Bomberman's walking speed.
Boot/Bomb Kick - Allows Bomberman to kick dropped bombs out of the way. Cancels out Bomb Pass.
Clog/Sandals - Decreases Bomberman's walking speed.
Mitts/Power Glove - Bomberman can pick up and throw bombs over walls and obstacles for short distances. If one were to throw a bomb onto an opponent, it will be stunned for a few seconds and a number of its powerups will be dropped, allowing another Bomberman to take them.
Boxing Glove - Bomberman can punch bombs that are in front of him over walls for short distances.
Block/Wall Pass - Allows Bomberman to walk through destructible walls. A Bomberman in a wall which is being blasted apart by a bomb will be killed.
Extra Bombs - Bomberman is allowed to drop an additional bomb without waiting for its predecessor to explode. Multiple Extra Bomb powerups can be collected.
Blast Radius Increase - The area covered by an exploding bomb increases.
Bomb Pass - Allows Bomberman to walk through bombs; also cancels out Bomb Kick.
Detonator/Remote Control - Allows Bomberman to explode his bomb at will.
Line Bomb - Allows Bomberman to drop all of his available bombs in a row in the direction he is facing.
Egg - Contains a variety of animals which Bomberman can ride on. Different games have different animals, each with unique abilities, some of which cannot be replicated by other powerups. In recent games, these eggs have been replaced by the Charaboms.

Life powerups

Fire Suit/FlameProof Jacket - Lets Bomberman be invincible from everything for approximately 10 seconds. The receiver of this powerup will "blink" rapidly.
Heart - Allows Bomberman to take an extra hit (from a bomb blast or an enemy) before dying.

1-up- Increases the life count by one, so that the player can continue the game even though his Bomberman died. (Only in Single Player mode)

Infection powerups

Skull - Infects Bomberman with a random disease. Effects range from being unable to drop bombs, swapping player positions with another random player, continuously dropping all available bombs, slowing movement speed, continuously moving in the direction one is facing, a temporarily inverted control scheme, or death. Skulls act differently in different Bomberman games. For example, in Super Bomberman, the skull disease can be passed to another player by touching them and is lost when collecting a powerup, and in Saturn Bomberman the disease is spread to whomever the player touches.
Combine/Merger (found only in Saturn Bomberman) - Allows Bomberman to merge with any player he touches, causing him to grow slightly and gaining any powerups the other player had. If only two players are left in the arena (with the rest being killed or merged) and the player with Merger powerup touches the other player, the Merger is cancelled, causing all merged players to be released. While the powerup is in effect the player flashes red in colour. It lasts a limited amount of time and 2 players with the Merger powerup cannot merge together.
Ebola (Found only in Atomic Bomberman) - Infects the player with up to 3 random diseases.
Evil (Found only in Bomberman 64) - Initiates a stage-wide hazard, like a firestorm or an evil disco light that eventually kills everybody in the arena.
Devil (Found only in Saturn Bomberman) - Infects all players with a random disease, including the player who picked up the powerup. A bat is displayed over the player who collected the powerup, which lasts a limited amount of time.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bomberman ]

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