Saturn Bomberman

Infobox VG| title = Saturn Bomberman


developer = Hudson Soft
publisher = Hudson Soft
designer =
engine =
released = flagicon|Japan July 19, 1996
flagicon|Europe January, 1997
flagicon|United States August 22, 1997
genre = Action
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ELSPA: 3+
ESRB: Everyone (E)
platforms = Sega Saturn
media =
requirements =
input =

"Saturn Bomberman" is video game for the Sega Saturn. It is part of the "Bomberman" series.

tory

As from the instruction manual::"The Fuse Is Lit":It was just another seemingly routine day for Bomberman. While flying on patrol, looking for threats to the sanctity of peace that the world so enjoyed, Bomberman stumbled upon something that could potentially throw it all into shambles. Deep in the tangled underbrush of the rainforest, a glint caught Bomberman's keen eye. Rising from the green depths, the Crystal Tower loomed. But the crystals which held the horrible monster Crator inside the tower were missing, and so was Crator. Then a radio message crackled into the cockpit. It was Dr. I...:"Bomberman, Mr Meanie has unleashed Crator and is using his powers to conquer the world! You must get the crystals back before it's too late! The MeanieLand Amusement Park is their secret base. Please hurry!":It is up to Bomberman to regain control of the crystals and restore order to a crumbling planet, crushing the evil Mr. Meanie along the way. With that, a new chapter in the fight between good and bad begins...

Gameplay

Like most "Bomberman" games, "Saturn Bomberman" features a battle mode as well as a story mode. Along with them is a master mode in which the player races to finish a series of levels after which the player is given a rank based on time taken. This time is then saved to memory and kept on a scoreboard for future reference. The game also features several new powerups.

"Saturn Bomberman" utilizes Dinosaur helpers, which are initially found as eggs released upon the destruction of a soft block. Dinosaurs come in three levels: babies (the weakest), adolescents, and adults (the strongest). Dinosaurs can only take one hit no matter how large they are. If a player is riding a dinosaur when this happens, the dinosaur takes the hit instead of the player. As powerups are collected, a special meter at the top of the screen slowly builds up. Once this meter is full, the dinosaur will grow one level, from baby to adolescent or adolescent to adult. However, in battle mode this system works differently. Whenever a player collects an egg while riding on a dinosaur, the dinosaur will grow. The player can jump off of the dinosaur at any time.

The dinosaurs come in five different colors:
*"Purple Dinosaur:" This dinosaur emits ultrasonic waves to explode bombs and reveal the contents of soft (bombable) blocks. His ultrasonic waves grow as he grows bigger.
*"Blue Dinosaur:" This dinosaur can kick bombs over objects. His kicking ability grows as he grows bigger.
*"Green Dinosaur:" This dinosaur sprints down the line until stopped by an obstacle. As he gets bigger, he becomes faster and gains the ability to stop running and make turns while running.
*"Yellow Dinosaur:" This dinosaur can stop your opponents in their tracks with his roar. His roar range grows as he grows. His roar causes other players to drop powerups
*"Pink Dinosaur:" This dinosaur can jump over soft blocks. When grown, he can also jump over hard blocks, and jump further distances.

tory mode

"Saturn Bomberman" has a story mode which can be played single player or two-player.

The story mode levels involve blowing up poles with glowing red orbs on the top which are known as Zarfs while avoiding enemies, blowing up blocks and collecting powerups. Once all the zarfs on a level have been destroyed an exit appears, upon entering the exit Bomberman will do a victory pose then a short cut scene takes place showing a piece of scenery moving out of the way then Bomberman walking through something then closes up the way he came from and the next level begins.

Battle mode

"Saturn Bomberman" supports up to ten human players on battle mode with 2 Multi-taps, 7 players with just one Multi-tap, or only two players without any multi-taps.

If the number of players in a game exceeds eight, the game is played on a widescreen arena, shrinking the characters and blocks to tiny proportions, making the playing field very large. This also disables many of the powerups including dinosaurs.

Characters

This mode also had characters from other Hudson games as selectable characters. These characters included Master Higgins of "Adventure Island", Milon of "Milon's Secret Castle", Bonk of "Bonk's Adventure", Kinu, Sengoku Manjimaru, Kabuki Danjyuro and Manto of the "Tengai Makyou" series, Kotetsu of "Momotaro Densetsu" and Yuna of "Galaxy Fraulein Yuna".

* White Bomberman
* Black Bomberman
* Miss Honey
* Kotetsu
* Bonk
* Milion
* Kabuki Danjyuro
* Master Higgins (Chin)
* Manjimaru ("Tengai Makyou II: Manjimaru")
* Kinu

Secret Characters
* Manto
* Yuna Kagurazuka ("Galaxy Fraulein Yuna")

Online Play

The Japanese version of "Saturn Bomberman" also supported online play via SEGA and Xband's "SEGASATURN NETWORKS" prepaid-card-based pay-per-play service that utilized the SEGASATURN NETWORKS 14k modem. Players ran prepaid cards with credits for specific "SEGASATURN NETWORK"-enabled games through the grayish unit's built-in card reader which would then provide access to the "SEGASATURN NETWORKS" service and online play against others.

The North American release was significantly delayed to include support for the very different NetLink modem, a 28k modem released for the SEGA Saturn in North America that used direct-dial technology to connect players directly to one another as opposed to a server-based system. As with all NetLink games players dial one another directly over telephone lines and as such battle 'online' with surprisingly little lag time; and as with all NetLink games it remains as such 'online forever', outlasting all other console-based online Bomberman titles including "Bomberman Online" for the Saturn's successor, the SEGA Dreamcast.

The European PAL version of "Saturn Bomberman" included no online support of any kind, no modem for the SEGA Saturn having been released in Europe (save alleged test-market units in Finland).

External links

*
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OPYrdoCUWg Video of the gameplay of Saturn Bomberman]
* [http://www.saturn-arena.desoku.de DESOKU e.V. - German Sega Saturn NetLink League] -- Hook up with German fellow NetLink users and play Saturn Bomberman online