Bomberman Hero

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Bomberman Hero
Bomberman Hero box cover
North American Nintendo 64 cover art
Developer(s) Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)
    Director(s) Naruhiro Matsumoto
    Designer(s) Hideyuki Kubota
    Katsumi Miyashita
    Norio Ookubo
    Composer(s) Jun Chikuma
    Series Bomberman
    Platforms Nintendo 64, Virtual Console
    Release date(s) Nintendo 64
      Virtual Console
        Genre(s) Platformer
        Mode(s) Single player

        Bomberman Hero (ボンバーマンヒーロー ~ミリアン王女を救え!~ Bonbāman Hīrō ~Mirian-Ōjo o Sukue!~?, lit. Bomberman Hero: Rescue Princess Millian!) is an action video game and the second Bomberman game for the Nintendo 64. Bomberman Hero is more advanced in terms of gameplay, as well as having more levels, bosses, weapons, and character moves. However, it lacks multiplayer and therefore focuses on the single player action. This game is also available on the Wii's Virtual Console service. Bomberman Hero also serves as the last N64 game to be released on the Virtual Console store for Wii.

        Story

        The story is similar to (and even could have been based upon) Star Wars; a princess steals a secret data disk from an evil empire, and she safely smuggles out the information through a robot, but is captured herself. Bomberman is training in his headquarters when news arrives about the princess being captured. Bomberman chases after the Garaden Empire to save the Princess, but the Empire eventually claims back the disks to rebuild their leader, Bagular, whose body was destroyed in Super Bomberman 3.

        At first Bomberman travels through four worlds; Planet Bomber, Primus Star, Kanatia Star, and Mazone Star. Each world has its respective boss from the Garaden Empire; Endol, Barudia, Bolban, Natia and Cronus. Within each world there are different areas with their own collection of stages. Towards the middle of a world Bomberman encounters Nitros, a mysterious recurring mini-boss similar to Bomberman. While on his adventure Bomberman encounters characters from past games such as Black Bomber and Louie. The basic plot for the first three worlds is that Bomberman chases after Princess Millian only to find that she has been transported to the next world. While on Mazone area three, Bomberman finds Princess Millian safe in a lab. She tells him to find the rest of the disks in the next few levels. After giving the disks to Princess Millian, she turns out to be Natia in disguise. Natia then sends the disks needed to rebuild Bagular to the Garaden base. After Bomberman battles Natia and her robot pet Cronus, he sets out towards Garaden Star.

        Within Garaden Star Bomberman battles resurrected forms of the past bosses through the various stages. Towards the middle of the world Bomberman encounters Nitros for a final battle. After the battle, Nitros snaps out of his brainwashed state, explains himself to Bomberman, shares his power with Bomberman, and then tells him to defeat Bagular for him. At the end of the world Bomberman meets up with the recently resurrected Bagular and engages him in an epic (and rather odd) final battle. As a final act of desperation Bagular self-destructs Garaden Star in an attempt to kill Bomberman. The story seems to end here with the destruction of the Garaden Empire and the credits.

        However, if a perfect score is achieved on every level and all the Adok bombs are collected, a new cutscene takes place after the destruction of Garaden Star. A mysterious figure says "Bagular you fool, you lost again!" and suddenly the final world Gossick Star appears. At the end of the second level Bomberman ascends the elevator to the final battle. There he battles Evil Bomber, the possible real mastermind of the operation. After defeating Evil Bomber, Bomberman flies away in a spaceship with Princess Millian and the credits run. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

        Gameplay

        Bomberman Hero controls very differently from Bomberman 64. In Hero, the character can jump, has a life meter, faces tougher bosses, and has the ability to throw bombs farther, thus, making Hero a more platform-oriented experience. There are several different areas to be encountered, each with about five different stages. A unique feature is that it's possible to play with an extra advancement, such as a jet pack or a submarine.

        There are also several different types of bombs in addition to the regular ones. Ice bombs turn enemies into a block of ice which can be moved around and used to jump on to get to higher places. Salt bombs only harm slugs, which cannot be harmed by any other means. Control bombs explode when remotely detonated; a useful ability against certain bosses.

        Much of the game's replay value is in the sub-mission of scoring the amount of target points per stage, which awards Bomberman a certain amount of stage points (1 through 5) at the end of each level. You can re-enter the stages as often as you like, in order to secure the highest possible score within the stage. Medals are awarded on a per-planet basis, awarded based on the total number of stage points at the planet's completion (red, blue, bronze, silver, and gold). Getting a perfect score on every planet (or rather, a gold medal on each one) will award mini games to be accessed on the options screen. The games include:

        • Slide Racer: Play through the Crystal Hole level on the Bomber Slider, racing against a snowman. Beat him and get the record time to win.
        • Golden Bomber: Bomberman gets the Golden Chip, which allows him to travel underwater with ease. Traverse through three stages to beat the Boss of the Woods.
        • Treasure Hunt: Princess Millian's ship, which was full of treasure taken from Bagular's base, was shot down at the treasures were scattered all over the six planets. Find them all.

        Advertising

        Like the previous Nintendo 64 Bomberman game, Hero was advertised using a remixed and reworded version of the classic Spider-Man theme song.[1]

        Reception

        Reception
        Aggregate score
        Aggregator Score
        GameRankings 58.15%[2]
        Review scores
        Publication Score
        AllGame 2.5/5 stars[3]
        GamePro 2.5/5 stars[2]
        Game Revolution D[4]
        GameSpot 6.7/10[5]
        IGN 6/10 stars[6]

        The game received generally mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. GameSpot gave a 6.7 out of 10, saying, "Despite the uninspired plotline, Bomberman Hero is a rather surprising success. In a departure from Bomberman 64, Bomberman Hero boasts a number of new gameplay features that make this a completely new Bomberman game."[5] On a mixed review, IGN heavily criticized the lack of multiplayer mode, giving it a 6 out of 10 and stating, "Nintendo and Hudson serve up a decidedly average 3D Bomberman sequel -- without a multiplayer mode."[6]

        References

        1. Bomberman Hero Nintendo 64 Commercial (1998)
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