Bomberman (1990 video game)

Bomberman
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft SystemSoft (X68000 version) Actionamics (Amiga version) Hurricane (MS-DOS version)
Publisher(s)	JP: Hudson Soft JP: SystemSoft NA: Turbo Technologies EU: Ubi Soft
Director(s)	Shigeki Fujiwara
Designer(s)	Tsukasa Kuwahara
Artist(s)	Hideyuki Ogura Mika Sasaki
Composer(s)	Jun Chikuma
Series	Bomberman
Platform(s)	PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, X68000
Release	PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 JP: December 7, 1990 NA: 1991 X68000 JP: April 19, 1991 Amiga EU: 1991 MS-DOS EU: 1992 Atari ST EU: 1992
Genre(s)	Action, maze
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Bomberman (ボンバーマン, Bonbāman) is a 1990 action maze video game developed by Hudson Soft for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. Belonging to the Bomberman franchise, it is a greatly expanded re-imagining of the first game in the series.

In Europe, the game was released for the MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari ST, retitled as Dyna Blaster. A Commodore 64 version was advertised as well, but never released.

Story

As White Bomberman, the player must defeat the Black Bomberman, who has kidnapped the daughter of the inventor of both him and White Bomberman, and imprisoned her in his giant castle. To do so, White Bomberman must travel to the top floor of the Black Bomberman's castle, which is crawling with evil monsters and villains that work for him.

Gameplay

Single-player

The single player game is divided into eight worlds, each one divided into eight stages. Each stage is presented as a maze of blocks filled with enemies. By using bombs, the player must destroy the blocks blocking their path and defeat all of the enemies. Once all of the enemies are defeated and the hidden exit is uncovered, the player can proceed to the next stage. Each stage also includes one power-up hidden under one of the blocks, which can increase the number of bombs drops, increase the range of the bombs' explosions, and other useful powers. The eighth stage in each world is a boss battle.

Multiplayer

The game also includes a multi-player mode which allows up to five players to compete against one another. This mode plays identically to the single-player mode, with the exception of power-ups being limited to only Bombs and Fire. There is also an alternate multi-player mode, Skull Mode, in which skulls sometimes appear hidden beneath blocks, which are detrimental if picked up.