0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Bomberman World
Bomberman World is an
isometric action arcade game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Hudson
soft for it’s Japanese release. The North American release of the game was
published by Atlus Software while the European release was published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
The game released
first in Japan on the 29th of January 1998, the PAL release of the game would come on
the 15th of August of the same year with a North American release
coming the following month on the 30th of September 1998.
Notable people who worked on this
game, Hiroyuki Kumamoto worked on Bomberman Land two years following his work
on Bomberman World, working as a Programmer on both titles, in 2013 he would go
on to work on Metal Gear Rising Revengeance as a Stage Programmer before
working on Bayonetta 2 in 2014 as a Programmer.
Hironao Yamamoto who worked as a Music Composer on Bomberman World, the
year prior to this he worked as a Music Composer on Mario Party. He would go on
to work on the next two Mario Party releases, as well as working on Bomberman
64 The Second Attack and Bomberman Online.
Jun Chikuma who worked as a Music Composer on the game has a long
history with the Bomberman series, working as a Music Composer on games in the
series dating all the way back to the very first Bomberman game that was
released back in 1985.
The main mode to Bomberman World is the Story
Mode also known as Bomber Worlds, this mode is made up of five planets each
consisting of five stages, this mode has a total of five planets to play
through. The aim of each of stage is to collect all of the crystals, once
collected the exit to the stage wll open. The final two stages of each planet
are always boss stages with the player going up against a Dark Force Bomber then
against a monster which is themed on the world you are currently on.
Once you have defeated one of the Dark Force
Bombers the player is awarded a unique set of battle armor to wear for the next
boss battle, this unique armor has both a normal attack as well as a special
attack, this special armor is only used for the boss battles, meaning once you
have progressed onto the next world that armor will be lost.
Multiplayer as it should in a Bomberman game
also plays a big part, as with previous Bomberman games the last one standing
is the winner, with players placing bombs to destroy your opponents as well as
soft blocks to earn power ups. Bomberman World offers different modes for
multiplayer, such as a single match and maniac mode, with the player able to choose
between ten different unique maps to battle on, with each map having a
different twist or theme to the gameplay.
A single match is the basic Bomberman
multiplayer game in which up to 5 players if you have access to a multitap
battle it out, this mode is sub divided into two modes with Tag Match or Battle
Royale match on offer. The Tag match allows players to choose two teams to
fight against each other, while the Battle Royale mode is a free for all with
up to five players.
Additional options are available as well, like
the number of rounds needed to win the match, the time limit for each round,
sudden death, bad bomber and others. Sudden Death happens once a certain amount
of time has passed, when the match enters sudden death the map will rapidly start
falling apart, automatically killing any player that is stood on a space that
falls apart.
Bad Bomber is an alternative option you can
choose, this mode allows players who have been killed to hover around the edge
of the map and shoot bombs onto the map in the hopes of taking out other
bombers. Setting the option to Super will allow the player to return to life if
they kill another bomber with one of these thrown in bombs.
Maniac Mode is another multiplayer mode in
which the players choose items which they want to appear on the field and how
many of the said items, this allows for some creative matches with options such
as maximum fire matches or merely a max amount of bombs with no firepower. This
mode also features special powers which do not appear in a normal single match
game, such as an item that allows the player to walk through walls.
Special Mode allows the player to play a
special level with a pre determined amount of time to complete, this mode is
limited to either a 2 minute or 5 minute time limit. The player also picks a
selection of items to start with, in addition to those there are three
selections each containing three different items or amounts of a certain item.
The aim of this mode is to rack up as many
points as possible within the time limit, this is done by planting bombs to
destroy monsters on the map, more points are awarded if the player is able to
destroy multiple enemies with a single bomb. The player also picks up letters
as well as facing off against a final boss, defeating this boss will reward the
player with a larger number of points.
The game is over once the player either dies or
defeats the final boss, when the game has finished the player will be given a
rank, if the player has done well they will receive a positive ranking such as
good bomber, if they however failed miserably they will be ranked with
something like worst bomber. Sadly the game does not have an actual score
ranking system to keep track of your best performance.
Long ago there were four evil Bombers called
the Dark Force Bombers who tried to bring darkness to the Bomberman World. The
ancient ancestors of the Bombermen were able to imprison the Dark Force Bombers
in Blue Crystal.
Millions of years later and Bagular would appear from another
time space continuum and destroy the Blue Crystal and thus release the Dark
Force Bombers upon the world under the leadership of Bagular they would go on
to conquer the four worlds.
Bomberman World was generally well received by
critics, with the game earning six reviews in the 80s range, as well a few
respectable review scores in 70 range, with all bar one review score not
falling below a 70, the single review that did fall below this rated at an
average 52.
As usual we will start the best of them which
comes from NowGamer who rated the game at a good 85, with the reviewer finding
the only thing missing that would have qualified the game for the substantial
cash sum being asked for would have been a classic Bomberman mode, an exact
copy of one from the 16-bit series. They continued by saying. Ah well maybe
next time, but it is guaranteed you’ll be hooked on the flaming annihilation of
these group games until the next one in the series is released
For the next review we head over to Sweden and
the publication Super Play who rated the game at one point lower with an 84
rated review. The reviewer finding that like other Bomberman games the game
design is ultra sweet, although when playing against opponents it suddenly
becomes deadly serious.
They continued by saying. A match with five
people at a time can only be compared to a game of Risk or Ludo, therefore
Bomberman remains the game that develops the worst of people with or without
the cute design.
Next up is German publication Mega Fun who
rated the game at a good 83, the reviewer commented that it is good news with
even Playstation owners are finally allowed to direct the plump bombers through
the mazes. They continued however by saying, Those who expect a playful
revelation in the story mode should be disappointed, because the altogether 25
levels only offer a little innovation and will likely be solved within the day
even with the hard bosses.
They concluded by saying. The bottom line of
the game is a two part picture, for soloists the story mode and survival mode
offer only short term fun, while the battle mode is not as lush or long as the
Saturn Bomberman release, the usual ingenious party play is still an
attraction.
Next up is Dutch publication Power Unlimited
who rated the game at solid 83, the review saying that Bomberman World
absolutely belongs in your collection if you own a Playstation. If you have a
SNES or different console with Bomberman on it get one of those versions first
as the first Bomberman is and will remain the king.
Intensepsx.com are the next up with their 80
rated review which came out a few months after the game release, with the
review able to play quite a bit of the game, with the reviewer finding the game
to be overall a good addition to any Bomberman fan’s collection.
They continued by saying. It may be missing a
few elements that the other Bomberman games, but it has a few tricks of its own
to keep you interested. While the
game can’t really compete with Saturn Bomberman, but if you and four friends
are looking for a good time on the Playstation and you don't have (or are sick
of) Poy Poy, Bomberman World is a great addition to your collection.
Next we head over to France and the publication
Consoles Plus, the review finding the three quarter view reduces manoeuvrability,
but gives a small extra dimension, as does the inclusion of the vibration
function. Concluding however the review said, if you already have a version of
Bomberman, continue your slaughter with friends and wait a bit before buying
this one.
IGN are next up with a 78 rated review, the
reviewer calling the game a good Bomberman title, with Hudson Soft not trying
to push the game over the top, still the classic Bomberman titles on the SNES
are the better bet over this one.
Absolute Playstation rated the game at a decent
77, the reviewer found the first time they played Bomberman they found it very
disappointing, with the reviewer finding the game to be a stupid kids game with
graphics straight out of the 80s.
They continued however by saying, But once they
got past the graphics and sounds and really started playing the game, I fell in
love with it, it really is a lot of fun and will definitely test your will and
patience with its many game modes and many levels Bomberman has the ability to
provide hours of gaming entertainment if you let it.
Back to Germany for the penultimate review
which comes from Video Games, who rated the game at a decent 70. The reviewer
finding that the countless sequels and attempts to improve have left a negative
mark on the gameplay. Bomberman World is not as refreshingly uncomplicated as
out favourite Super Bomberman from the SNES.
The reviewer also found that the multiplayer
battle stages have been overloaded with too many effects that the player can no
longer predict, so instead of timing and skill, confusion and luck will be the
key factors in the outcome of games. The reviewer also found the switch to an
isometric views contributes more to the complexity with corners no longer
visible.
To conclude the reviewer said. For a solo
player BW is anyway a bad investment, since fun has always come up in this
series only to several Do not get me wrong: The PS version of the cult series
is still a good game for a hearty multi tap round, the charm and the Genius of
the original but go down in the design of something unsuccessful Battle Stages.
The final review comes from GameSpot who rated
Bomberman World at an average 52, the reviewer finding Bomberman World isn’t a
particularly bad game per se, it’s clearly not the best representation of what
the series has to offer.
The reviewer continued by saying, it’s a real
shame the two best Bomberman’s in recent memory Saturn Bomberman and Saturn
Bomberman Fight, the latter being an import only have been on the least popular
system here in the States.
Concluding the reviewer had the following to
say. t's unfortunate that the first Bomberman title for the Sony PlayStation
really won't be wowing the new players it's bound to attract. Here's to hoping
that the next titles find some better way of bringing back the game everyone
seems to have grown dangerously attached to.
This is the part of 0
to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the
title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this
title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,
eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very
location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge
stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable
at other retailers.
So lets get down to
business with Gamedude, where unsurprisingly we don’t find this game available,
the same goes for Retrogames.co.uk as well. At eStarland.com we do find games listed
under the Bomberman Land title but sadly not the Playstation 1 version of the
game.
So we head over to
Amazon.com in the hopes of finding at least one copy of the game listed, we
find a decent supply of the game listed here, with a good number of copies
listed on the first page being disc only or incomplete copies of the game.
The cheapest complete
used copy of the game we find is a very good condition copy which is priced at
$23.98, this is for the Black Label version of the game. Another very good condition
copy is priced at $24, this copy is shipped by Amazon however, so the free
shipping only applies to those spending $25 or those with Prime membership.
Another copy this
time in good condition is also available for $24.28. if you are looking for a
like new copy of the game the cheapest currently on offer is priced at $39.44,
another very good condition copy is also priced at $39.99. From here there are
two other used copies priced at $44.58 and $49.99 respectively, from here
prices just up sharply.
We find another like
new copy of the game priced up at $204.98, this however is chump change
compared to the price of a new copy of the game, with the cheapest currently on
offer at $498.82, with a second new copy priced at $508.30, all these copies
are for the North American version of the game.
If you are interested
in the Japanese imported version of the game a similar amount of copies are on
the market at Amazon.com. here we find that a good or very good condition used
copy of the game can easily be picked up for between $7.95 and $12. A few of
the used prices do go beyond this price point but the majority do fall within
it. At the time of writing there are currently no new copies of the Japanese
version on the market.
Written by
P J Gibbon
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