Bomberman 64 (1997 video game)

Not to be confused with Bomberman 64 (2001 video game).

Bomberman 64
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Release	November 271997 December 11997 September 26 1997
Genre(s)	Adventure game, puzzle game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Bomberman 64 is a video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. The game was released in Europe on November 27, 1997 and released in North America on December 1 of the same year. The game is rated K-A by the ESRB. It is known as Baku Bomberman in Japan and not to be confused with another Bomberman title also called Bomberman 64, which is only available in Japan.

Bomberman 64 is the first 3-D game within the Bomberman series.

The game has spawned two sequels on the N64. Bomberman Hero (1998) and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack (2000).

Story

In the game's opening sequence, we see a peaceful-looking planet with gardens, rivers, and residential buildings abound. Seconds later, space pirate Artemis drops from the sky with a band of soldiers and orders them to raid the planet. Meanwhile, Altair, from the Black Fortress, uses his coveted weapon, the Omni Cube, to completely drain the planet's energy, condemning it to a zombie-like state.

Artemis returns to the Black Fortress to meet up with her partners, Orion and Regulus, and her superior, Altair. Together they set their sights on their next target: Planet Bomber, home of the protagonist, Bomberman. They maneuver their fortress into the atmosphere of Planet Bomber.

Bomberman, from atop a cliff, observes the Black Fortress' descent. Not much later, the Fortress begins to open fire on the people of Planet Bomber, firing destructive energy rays into populated areas.

A warrior clad in white then flies out to the surprised Bomberman, and asks if he plans to defeat the assailants. Bomberman gives an affirmative response, and the stranger (later introduced as Sirius) explains that a force field protects the Fortress from any outside attack. Sirius goes on to say that this force field can be deactivated by destroying the four anchors attached to the Fortress; the Green Garden, Blue Resort, Red Mountain, and White Glacier. Once inside the Fortress, they must find and destroy Altair.

Bomberman successfully climbs onto and destroys the four anchors with the help of Sirius, who helps him by supplying power-ups and teaching him new techniques. The force field around the Fortress is deactivated, and the duo enter the Fortress. After sneaking through Altair's security measures, Bomberman finds and confronts Altair, and after a difficult struggle, defeats the pirate. The previously defeated Regulus swoops in and attemps to rescue his master from the battlefield, but is then knocked away by Sirius. Altair drops the Omni Cube, which Sirius lands on the battle platform to retrieve. He holds it up and takes in its power, then, with one blow, disintegrates Altair with a large laser blast. He turns to Bomberman with a menacing look and reveals that he is a space pirate himself, and was the previous owner of the Omni Cube. He states that Altair had stolen it from him, and that the only reason he helped Bomberman was so that he would help him retake the Omni Cube. He continues with the operation of draining Planet Bomber and flies up to the high-reaching Rainbow Palace.

Bomberman gives chase and battles his way through the Palace, making it to the top room where Sirius stood with the Omni Cube. Using the Cube's power, he transforms the room into a battlefield, and the two engage in combat. Bomberman starts fighting a losing battle, and just as Sirius is about to deliver that final blow, Regulus enters and destroys the Omni Cube, reverting the battlefield and ridding Sirius of his power. Then, the team of Regulus and Bomberman easily destroy Sirius and flee the palace, letting it crash into the Fortress, removing both from existence forever. Regulus tells Bomberman that though he respects his abilities, he still dislikes him. Regulus leaves the saved planet on that awkward note, and Bomberman celebrates his victory with the entire population of Planet Bomber.

Gameplay

In both single player and multiplayer modes, Bomberman always has the ability to kick, pick up, and throw bombs. A unique feature of this game is that Bomberman can "pump" a bomb while holding it, which will make the bomb's explosion more powerful. A pumped-up bomb cannot be kicked or picked up again. Unlike most platform games of its time, Bomberman cannot jump, nor can he swim in water, although he can wade in shallow water.

If Bomberman runs into an enemy NPC, or is hit on the head by a small object, such as an unexploded bomb, he will get knocked out temporarily (he will sit there with "X" eyes and stars rotating around his head). While in this state, he can get picked up by an enemy and thrown around or even off the map. Conversely, Bomberman can do the same to an enemy.

When Bomberman takes damage, he dies. If he has a "heart" powerup when he's hit, he will survive, but he will lose the heart. When he dies all powerups that he had obtained will scatter all over the place. In the Normal single-player mode, taking damage simply causes Bomberman to drop the heart, and if it doesn't bounce off the level, he can pick it up again to survive another hit. In the Hard mode, the heart will simply disappear.

Game progression

Template:Spoiler At the start of the game, Bomberman can enter any of four anchors, which are terrariums of other planets (that were probably drained by Altair). The starting worlds are: Green Garden, Blue Resort, Red Mountain, and White Glacier. In each anchor there are four stages. The first and third stages are adventure stages where Bomberman must navigate through the stage by solving puzzles and blasting his way toward the "Goal Arrow." The second and fourth stages are boss stages, Bomberman must fight Sirius or one of Altair's subordinates in the second stage, and he must fight the world's guardian in the fourth.

After Bomberman beats the first four anchors, he can enter the Black Fortress. Like the previous worlds, the first and third stages are adventure stages, but this time Bomberman must fight the guardian in the second stage and Altair himself in the fourth stage.

In every stage there are five gold cards to collect (100 total). Once all gold cards have been collected, the player can unlock the secret world, Rainbow Palace. After all the gold cards have been collected from there (an additional 20, making a grand total of 120 Gold Cards) the player unlocks more courses in multiplayer mode plus the "Full Power" cheat option. With the cheat activated, Bomberman starts with 8 bombs, 5 flames, power bombs, and remote bombs.

Characters

• White Bomberman

White Bomberman (commonly called simply "Bomberman" as he's the original) is the main hero of "Bomberman 64," as well as the "Bomberman" series as a whole. In this installment, Bomberman finds his home planet relentlessly assaulted by the forces of Altair, bent on harvesting the rich energies of the planet for their "Omni Cube." Desperate, he finds an unlikely ally in space traveler Sirius, whose motives are, at first, unknown. Sirius is willing to not only teach Bomberman newer and deadlier techniques, but will even spar with him in Stage II, "Friend or Foe?"

"Whew! That was close!" ~Bomberman

"I did it!" ~Bomberman

• Sirius

The story of Sirius starts before the beginning of "Bomberman 64," and is not fully explained until near the end. Sirius is an evil space villain who uses the powerful Omni Cube (it is unknown if he found it, stole it, or created it himself) to harvest and manipulate a planet's natural energy. With this artifact, Sirius finds himself to be quite strong, but not great enough to counter resistance. Enemy space pirates Altair, Regulus, Orion, and Artemis band together under Altair's leadership to defeat Sirius, and steal the Omni Cube. Although their combined force is still not as great as his, they still sneak away with the 'cube, as well as their lives.

When Altair's greed and lust for power takes him to Planet Bomber, Sirius seizes the perfect opportunity: combine his powers with that of the planet's champion, Bomberman. Sirius presents himself as a good guy, and deceives Bomberman into taking back the Omni Cube. Sirius steals back his property, and escapes to his Rainbow Palace. Despite the overwhelming might of his Card servants, his second-in-command, Spellmaker the Sorcerer, and the Omni Cube itself, nothing was truly able to stop the will of Bomberman and Regulus, and thus this alliance led to Sirius' demise.

"Altair thinks that your people are dust. If that makes you angry, go finish him!" ~Sirius

"Ha-ha-ha-ha, Give it up!" ~Sirius

"YYYOOUUU!" ~Sirius after Regulus destroys the Omni Cube

• Artemis

Of all six characters, Artemis is arguably the least important. She joins in Altair's struggle against Sirius, and the four space pirates begin to pillage planets in the galaxy. Unlike the others, she actually leads the assaults, her most recent being against another planet, later reincarnated into the Blue Resort.

... So, it's no surprise that she challenges Bomberman here, and being the weakest of the four pirates, she finds herself defeated very quickly.

"You're mine!" ~Artemis

"Bye-Bye!" ~Artemis

• Orion

Orion, although not being as powerful as Regulus or Altair, is still a brilliant character in his own right. He joins the alliance between himself, Artemis, Regulus, and Altair to steal the Omni Cube from Sirius, and they are successful. He is the mastermind behind many of the machines found in the game, most notably his ex-mining machine Hades, which he uses to nearly defeat Bomberman at the end of his lair, the Red Mountain.

Unlike the other subordinates, he actually is persistent enough to mount two attacks against: one without any help, and another with the power of his Hades robot. The first time he is simply humiliated, but the second go around leads him to his molten grave.

"HUH!!" ~Orion

• Regulus

Regulus is not just another subordinate to Altair; he's his right-hand man, and was the biggest proponent of Altair's during the mission to steal the Omni Cube from Sirius. His home turf is the White Glacier anchor, and there he challenges the mysterious Bomberman, duped by Sirius. Regulus finds himself somewhat overwhelmed, issues Bomb a compliment, and flies off to who-knows-where.

Later, after Bomberman successfully defeats the space pirate leader Altair, Regulus attempts to evacuate Altair to safety. Unfortunately, their old foe, Sirius, comes and lays the beatdown on Altair, humiliating Regulus, and forcing him to once again retreat against overwhelming odds. With his leader's entire legion lost, Regulus has no choice but to wait and hope. This most certainly pays off when Bomberman attacks Sirius and the Rainbow Palace. Keeping the two-faced villain occupied, Regulus reappears to destroy the Omni Cube, the very thing he and his comrades fought for from the beginning. Without the power of the Omni Cube, Sirius is forced to take on both Bomberman and Regulus with no backup. This unlikely team defeats Sirius, and narrowly escapes the collapsing Rainbow Palace. Regulus then explains the background of Altair's operation, and an ominous message to Bomberman, keeping their rivalry alive and well. He reappears in the sequel, Bomberman 64: The Second Attack, but his current whereabouts are unknown...

"The 4 of us were barely able to steal the Omni Cube from him. Yet, you were able to defeat him. I respect you abilities, but that doesn't change that fact I dislike you. You and I will settle this. For now, take care of yourself" ~Regulus

"I underestimated you. However, you've upset me. Prepare to meet your fate." ~Regulus

"Huh, What a joke? Hey, Bomb. I'm take care of you later. But first, I need to get rid of him." ~Regulus

• Altair

Altair is the leader of the space pirates who joined together to steal the Omni Cube from Sirius. He leads a campaign of terror, and destroys/harvests four planets, which eventually become the anchors of his base. They are, "Green Garden," "Blue Resort," "Red Mountain," and "White Glacier." Altair then sets his sights on Planet Bomber. Unfortunately, not only does his old nemesis, Sirius, aid the planet's greatest hero to assault the Black Fortress, but all of his subordinates are easily dealt with. It is at the very top of the Black Fortress where Altair chooses to do battle with Bomberman.

... And battle they did. Although Altair had an early disadvantage, he quickly rebounded after fusing with Vega, his servant robot, to exponentially gain in speed and power. All seems lost for the Bomber... Until a little luck caught Altair off guard, and he was defeated. Although Regulus attempted to save Altair from danger, Sirius arrived on the scene to reclaim the Omni Cube and blast Altair to kingdom come. However, Regulus would avenge him...

"You want to fight me?" ~Altair

"Play time is over." ~Altair

"I'll finish you!!" ~Altair

"You'll pay!!" ~Altair

"Ha!" ~Altair

Powerups and items

• Bomb — Bomberman can place 1 more bomb for each collected, up to 8. 2 is the default.
• Firepower — The bombs' explosion radius increases by 1. The maximum is 3 for normal bombs, and 5 for power bombs. The default is 1 in Adventure mode and 2 in Battle mode. When converting to power bombs, the firepower rating carries over.
• Power Bomb — (a.k.a. "Red Bomb" a.k.a. "Ultra Bomb" a.k.a. "Cherry Bomb") Increases the bomb's power by 1. Can destroy certain objects that normal bombs cannot.
• Remote Bomb — Allows Bomberman to safely detonate a bomb remotely. However, bombs are still vulnerable to open flames.
• Heart — Bomberman can survive one hit, he can only carry one heart at a time. In single player (normal mode) and multiplayer, the heart will "jump" out of Bomberman (or sub-boss) when hit, and can be picked up again by any player. In single player hard mode, the heart will "vaporize" when Bomberman or the sub-boss takes a hit, and can't be re-used.
• Gold Card (single player only) There are five of these hidden in each stage, and they are the key to unlocking the sixth world and a few other easter eggs. In the non-boss stages, three can be found in the level itself, one is found by defeating 30 enemies, and the last is obtained by finishing the level within a target time. When fighting the Bomberman-sized bosses, the first three gold cards require special conditions to obtain (such as hitting the boss with the explosion of a pumped bomb), the fourth is the prize for winning the battle, and the fifth is obtained by beating the boss within the target time. When battling the oversized bosses, the first four gold cards are typically obtained by destroying or burning parts of the boss's body with bombs, and the last is gotten by defeating the boss within the target time. In both types of boss stages, all five gold cards must be obtained in one playthrough, otherwise they will not count towards the total.
• Gems — In single player mode, collect fifty to receive an extra credit. Credits in turn allow Bomberman to continue playing after a game over. In multiplayer team battles, crystals belonging to the other team need to be destroyed in order to win. Blue Gems are worth 1, while Red Gems are worth 5.
• Custom Item (single player only) — Add clothing items to the customization part of the game, allowing the player to dress up Bomberman with the custom items. The player can use their own costume for multiplayer mode after saving the customization data to a memory card.
• Virus (multiplayer only, with the exception of one boss battle) — Infects the player's character with a random curse or 'disease', and the player will flash yellow for a moment to indicate it(excluding Fire). Sometimes the curse can be advantageous to the player that gets infected. All of the virus's effects(excluding Fire) can be passed onto another player by touching them, and the effects will go away after some time; however, if the effect is passed on to another player, the timer for when it goes away will reset, resulting in a possible infinite effect. The possible curses are the following:

Instant: The player's bombs take a lot less time to detonate.

Disguise: The player's bombs create the same enormous explosions as maxed-out red bombs, but maintain their normal black color.

Disable: The player is no longer able to drop bombs, or make pumped bombs.

Speed Reverser: The player's control stick sensitivity is reversed so that when the control stick is at rest, Bomberman moves at full speed, and when the control stick is moved all the way, Bomberman stops moving.

Big: The player's character increases in size and moves very slow.

Small: The player's character decreases in size and moves at a more rapid speed.

Fire: The player flashes red and fire eminates from his body, and trails him as he moves. If he touches other players, they are damaged. If Bomberman touches a bomb while in this state, the bomb explodes, and they may also destroy blocks. The fire will eventually damage the player's character when the virus wears off. The player cannot drop any bombs while in this state.

• Evil (multiplayer only) — Looks like a blue mask, and may appear after 45 seconds have passed in Battle mode. Creates a 'curse', but this curse will affect everyone on the stage. Like the Virus, there is a time limit to each of them(possibly excluding Gargantua). The possible effects are the following:

Tornado: A huge tornado appears in the stage. When any object touches it, it will fly in a random direction at a very fast speed.

Gargantua: Everyone becomes large as if they were infected by a Virus with the same effect.

Plague: At regular intervals, some characters are randomly knocked unconscious.

Disco: The whole screen is engulfed in nearly opaque bright colors that make it a lot more difficult to concentrate on the game.

Full Power: Everyone receives red bombs and the maximum amount of bombs and firepower.

Hot Potato: Everyone acts as if the B button is tapped at constant intervals, picking up and throwing anything in front of them.

Shuffle: At regular intervals, some characters randomly switch places.

Advertising

For the promotion of Bomberman 64 in the 1997 holiday season, Nintendo of America released a commercial featuring an altered version of the theme song of the 1967 Spider-Man TV series. The lyrics are below:

"Bomberman, Bomberman, mass destruction across the land.
Makes a bomb, any size.
And he's yours to customize. Oh yeah! Your very own bomberman!
Cross his path, you'll explode, in the brand new adventure mode.
Different levels to explore, on Nintendo 64.
Watch out! It's the new BOMBERMAN!"

The commercial can be viewed here.

External link

• Bomberman 64 at MobyGames