Bomberman (NES, Famicom Disk System)

Bomberman marks the first second appearance of the titular character in his familiar robotic form. It pretty much set the standard for future Bomberman games. It's also the prequel to Hudson's Lode Runner port.

Sub-Page#

Notes

Bit Reversal#

This game's sample is corrupted by the 2A03's bit reversal bug. For more information, click here.

Debug Mode#

Setting RAM address $94 to a non-zero value before entering a level will cause the game to render hidden tiles (doors and powerups) as red half-destroyed walls until they are revealed. In the screenshot above, the left wall is a door, and the right wall is an item. Interestingly, this also occurs if you use the glitched password IIIIIJJJJJKKKKKNNNNN to enter Stage 53 (past the game's regular 50 stage bounds) and beyond.

Bonus Items#

While these items are used, the conditions that must be met before they appear are so amazingly obscure, it's very unlikely you'd ever see one by accident, save for maybe the Bonus Target or Famicom. Note that you only have about eight and a half seconds to find and grab an item before it disappears!

Bonus Target#

Points: 10,000
Method: Reveal the exit and walk over it before killing any enemies.
Stages: 6, 8, 14, 16, 22, 24, 30, 32, 38, 40, 46, 48

These come from the space shooter Star Force, which was ported to the Famicom by Hudson Soft.

Goddess Mask#

Points: 20,000
Method: Circle the outer ring of the level after killing every enemy in the stage.
Stages: 1, 7, 9, 15, 17, 23, 25, 31, 33, 39, 41, 47, 49

Appears in Star Force as a 1,000,000 point bonus item.

Cola Bottle#

Points: 30,000
Method: Reveal the exit, walk over it, and continue to walk in any direction (do not let go of the D-Pad) for approximately 15 seconds before killing any enemies.
Stages: 4, 12, 20, 28, 36, 44

Famicom#

Points: 500,000
Method: Kill every enemy, then create 248 chain reactions with your bombs (one chain reaction = one bomb detonating another).
Stages: 3, 11, 19, 27, 35, 43

NOTE: This bonus cannot be obtained if you have the Detonator!

Nakamoto-san#

Points: 10,000,000
Method: Kill every enemy without destroying a single wall.
Stages: 2, 10, 18, 26, 34, 42, 50

This is a portrait of programmer (and later vice president of Hudson) Shinichi Nakamoto.

Dezeniman-san#

Points: 20,000,000
Method: Destroy every wall and bomb the exit three times without killing any enemies (including those that come out of the door).
Stages: 5, 13, 21, 29, 37, 45

This is the hero of the goofy computer adventure game Dezeni World.

Version Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	North America

To make room for the expanded copyright information in the North American release, the border around the logo was removed and the game options were placed side-by-side.

Ending#

Japan	North America

The ending text was beefed up a bit for the North American release, obscuring the Lode Runner plug in the process. This was possibly done because Broderbund already published Lode Runner in the west earlier.

A port of this game was included in the Game Boy Atomic Punk similarly obscures the Lode Runner reference in all regions. The American text also spells "Bomberman" without a space, unlike the Japanese text. The Japanese Famicom version was included in the Super Bomberman Collection but mirrors the North American NES ending text.

References#