Game:

Bomb Jack (1984)

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MAME ID: bombjack
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Bomb Jack (c) 1984 Tehkan.

Bomb Jack is a fast-moving platform game in which the aim is to collect all of the bombs on each level before progressing to the next. A variety of constantly spawning mechanical enemies patrol the platforms and airspace so the longer a player takes to collect all of the bombs, the more difficult progress becomes.

Extra point bonuses are awarded for collecting bombs with their fuses lit. Only one bomb at any time has a lit fuse, and collecting twenty or more of these lit bombs on any given level will earn the player points bonus (see TIPS AND TRICKS for details). Jack is pursued around each level by the spawning enemies and when he gets killed, he drops down to the nearest platform, always landing on his head.

A 'Powerball' appears at semi-regular intervals and moves diagonally around the screen. If the player manages to grab this, all of the level's monsters are frozen for several seconds and can then be killed by having Jack fly into them (similar to the 'Powerpill' feature in ""Pac-Man""). Collecting the Bonus 'B' symbols will increase the amount of points awarded for collecting bombs with their fuses lit. Picking up an 'Extra' symbol awards the player with an additional life, while catching the 'Special' symbol will give the player an extra credit.

Each of Bomb Jack's levels feature one of five different background pictures, some of which represent famous historical landmarks. They are: the Sphinx in Egypt, the Acropolis in Greece, Castle Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, skyscrapers and a cityscape by night. While the backgrounds themselves are repeated as the game progresses, the platform layouts for each level are completely different. At least until level 18, after which the levels are repeated.

The basic play mechanic of collecting objects to clear a level, as well as the powerball feature, is hugely reminiscent of Namco's seminal ""Pac-Man"".

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)
Sound Chips : (3x) General Instrument AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz)

Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 1 (JUMP)

- TRIVIA -

Bomb Jack was released in October 1984.

The original idea for Bomb Jack was conceived by Michitaka Tsuruta, lead designer for Guzzler and Solomon's Key, under the supervision of Kazutoshi Ueda, the genius behind Mr. Do, Lady Bug and other Universal coin-ops.

Curiously enough, the infamous Sphinx in the opening round was not rendered by the graphic designer of the game, but by Tsukasa Masuko, the sound designer. Tsuruta-san recalls how roles in Japanese development teams were quite interchangeable, in those early years.

Round 1 music is the ending song from the Japanese animated cartoon series 'Spoon Oba-san', sung by the ultra-popular Mari Ijima (Lynn Minmay's voice in Macross). The anime was aired in 1983... at that time, Bomb Jack development was just starting : something more than a coincidence, then.
Round 2 features the music of 'Lady Madonna', by The Beatles. Tsuruta-san, recalls that rights were paid for the licensed music at the time; still, later ports (PS2 and Xbox) come with a replaced soundtrack (mostly the Vs. Mighty Bomb Jack score).

""Bomb Jack II"" has nothing really to do with Tekhan or Tecmo : it was developed by British Elite Systems for European home computers only, in an attempt to follow the huge success of the Bomb Jack coin-op conversion. They basically bought the license for the name, and then proceeded to create a mediocre maze game.

Giauco Bondavalli holds the official record for this game with 20,010,960 points on November 3, 1984.

Alfa Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Tecmo Game Music - 28XA-95) on 25/09/1986.

- UPDATES -

The older version (set 2) says 'YOU ARE LUCY' instead of 'YOU ARE LUCKY'.

- SCORING -

Jumping, hitting a wall or falling from a platform : 10 points x bonus multiplier value.
Normal bomb : 100 points x bonus multiplier value.
Firebomb : 200 points x bonus multiplier value.

(P) Power : 100 when blue, 200 when red, 300 when purple, 500 when green, 800 when cyan, 1,200 when yellow and 2,000 points when grey x bonus multiplier value.

(B) Bonus Multiplier: 1,000 points x bonus multiplier value.
(E) Extra Life : 1,000 points x bonus multiplier value plus an extra life.
(S) Special : 1,000 points x bonus multiplier value plus a free credit.

Killing monsters while (P) is active : 100, 200, 300, 500, 800, 1,200 and 2,000 points. These are all multiplied by the current bonus multiplier value.

End of level bonus :
23 firebombs defused : 50,000 points.
22 firebombs : 30,000 points.
21 firebombs : 20,000 points.
20 firebombs : 10,000 points.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* A little information about t[...]
- CONTRIBUTE -

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