Bomber Game — The Game of A Generation
It was a simpler time
If you are in your 30s and feel nostalgic about your childhood sometimes, there is something you probably couldn’t forget, Bomberman. It was everywhere in the late 80s and 90s, whether you were in North America, Europe or Asia. That was the time PCs were still running MS-DOS. NES, and later the SNES were considered the best gaming consoles at the time. Yet, next to the likes of Super Mario, Star-Fox, and Legend of Zelda, Bomberman still took a special place in gamers’ memories because of its straightforward gameplay, art style, and one of the first to offer local multiplayer. Do you still remember the times you have to blow into the cartridge to get it working?
Yeah, me too.
Later in your childhood, Crazy Arcade, another Bomber game bring its unique twist by replacing bombs with water balloons and traps the characters who are hit by its splash in bubbles. Both are fun to play, and both are histories. Let’s have a quick drive through the memory lane.
The Brief History and Trivia of Bomberman and Crazy Arcade
The first Bomberman (Bakudan Otoko) was released by Hudson Soft in July 1983 for Japanese home computers. The main mechanic of Bomberman was already employed in the game, which you control the character and drop bombs to create vertical and horizontal explosions to destroy your enemies and weak blocks. It had a different name for Europe release as “Eric And The Floaters” to fit more to the storyline of a archaeologist called Eric to discover an ancient temple and battle enemies called “Floaters” to find the treasure hidden within.
Bomberman released on December 7th, 1990 is the first version of this franchise to have multiplayer mode, allowing 5 players to battle each other.
Super Bomberman released on April 28th, 1993 is the first version of this franchise to have the “Bomberman” name in Europe.
Bomberman was not the only name for the franchise, it had changed to different names mainly based on regional release or storyline difference. The variations are:
- Eric And The Floaters (EU)
- Lode Runner (JP)
- Bomber King (JP)
- Blaster Master (NA)
- RoboWarrior (EU)
- Dynablaster (EU)
- Atomic Punk (NA)
Bomberman franchise doesn’t only have players placing bombs to destroy monsters and bricks, they offer many other spinoffs such as:
- Tetris-like puzzle game
- Bubble-shooter-like puzzle game
- 3D Bomber game with round-wave explosion bombs
- 2D platformer bomb game
- 3D platformer bomb game
- Turn-based isometric strategy game
- Kart racing game
- Role-playing game
- Sports game
- Theme park mini games
Crazy Arcade was released in 2001 as a free online multiplayer Bomber game developed by South Korean game studio Nexon.
Crazy Arcade replaced bombs with water balloons and trapped the characters who are hit by its splash in bubbles. The enemies popping the bubble will result in the player losing a life, while the allied players popping it will save the player.
Crazy Arcade was released in 6 different countries under different names:
- Crazy Arcade (KR)
- PopTag! (NA)
- BnB (JP)
- Boom Online (VN)
Crazy Arcade franchise also has 3 spinoffs:
- CrazyRacing KartRider
- CrazyShooting BubbleFighter
- CrazyRacing AirRider
A peak of 50,000 Concurrent Users in Boom Online(VN) was recorded in June 2009.
Hudson Soft, the company behind the Bomberman franchise was acquired by Konami Digital Entertainment on March 1st, 2012.
Bomberman has a mobile game on iOS and Android that allows the player to battle 100 other AI enemies.
The latest release of the Bomberman franchise is in 2017 with the title “Super Bomberman R” on Nintendo Switch.
MetaBomb and the Future of Bomber Game
Let’s face the harsh reality. You are looking for a game to revive your childhood, but responsibilities wouldn’t let you. Whether it is your mom, your partner, your kid, your love interest, your cat, or even your job, you need a break sometimes. MetaBomb might be the right place for you to start.
MetaBomb has PVP, where you can battle other players in a single battle or in a tournament. It also has PVE, where you can work with others to bring powerful bosses to its knees. And if you are busy with your responsibilities, you can always leave it running on Idle Farming mode in Treasure Hunt.
Your responsibilities can’t say: “You are wasting your time on video games, again?” because you are giving your time. And in MetaBomb, time is money, literally.
I can’t say MetaBomb will be with you forever, not even your cat can stay with you forever, but I can guarantee that you waste no time in the world of MetaBomb. So why don’t you give your childhood a try?
