Bomb Jack

Bomb Jack
Developer(s) Tehkan
Publisher(s) Tehkan
Designer(s) Michitaka Tsuruta
Kazutoshi Ueda
Platform(s) Arcade, Various
Release date(s) 1984
Genre(s) Platform game
Mode(s) Single player, 2-player alternating
Cabinet Upright/Table-Top
Arcade system Main CPUs: Z80 (4MHz)
Sound Sound CPU: Z80 (3.072MHz)
Sound Chips: 3 × AY-3-8910A (1.5MHz)
Display Standard resolution raster
Video: 256×224 60Hz

Bomb Jack[1] is an arcade platform game that was released in 1984 by Tehkan (known today as Tecmo). It was followed by two official sequels, the console and computer title Mighty Bomb Jack, and the arcade game Bomb Jack Twin[2] and Bomb Jack II, which was licensed for home computers only.

Plot and gameplay

Bomb Jacks' Arcade version
Round 1, The Great Pyramids on Background.

Bomb Jack is a hero who can perform high jumps and float in the air. His goal is to collect all red bombs on the screen. The game's antagonists are enemies such as birds and mummies which, once they drop in the bottom of the screen, can morph into things like flying saucers and orbs that float around the screen, making Jack lose a life if he touches them. Collecting bombs will increase the bonus meter at the top of the screen (collecting lit bombs increases it more). When the meter is completely filled up, a circular bouncing "P" appears, and when collected, it will turn all the enemies into bonus coins for a short period during which Jack may collect them. Other similar bonuses are the B (Bonus) which increases the score multiplier (up to 5x), the E (Extra) which gives an extra life, and the rare S (Special), which awards a free game. There are five different screens in the game, each featuring a distinct scheme of platforms (the fifth has no platforms at all). There is a special bonus for collecting 21 or more lit bombs in a row, out of the 24 bombs of each round.

Development

Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 versions.

Bomb Jack was ported to various home computer systems from 1985 to 2009. A Java ME version was published in 2003.

The Spectrum version of the game went to number 2 in the UK sales charts, behind Green Beret.[3]

Reception

Crash magazine gave the Sinclair ZX Spectrum version a 92% rating with the comment "A great arcade conversion, don’t miss it",[4] while Zzap!64 was less enthusiastic for the Commodore 64 version giving it 47%.[5] Commodore User gave the Amiga version 6 out of 10 citing that the Amiga should be well capable of doing better on a then four-year-old arcade game.[6] The Commodore 64 version used Jean-Michel Jarre's Magnetic Fields Part II.[5]

Legacy

Bomb Jack II is a licensed follow-up developed for 8-bit home computers by the British games publisher Elite Systems in 1986. The game went to number 2 in the UK sales charts, behind Leaderboard.[7]

Mighty Bomb Jack was released in 1986. The game was largely identical to the original game in almost all factors, except that the same screen layouts from the first game in the same sequence were now linked in a map-like continuous form by scrolling passages.[8] Mighty Bomb Jack got less favorable reviews than the original game.

Bomb Jack Twin was released in 1993 by NMK. In this version, two players could play simultaneously.

References

  1. ↑ Bomb Jack (ボンジャック Bon Jakku)
  2. ↑ "Bomb Jack". The International Arcade Museum. Retrieved 5 Oct 2013.
  3. ↑ "Your Sinclair Top Ten Games", Your Sinclair (7), July 1986, retrieved 2013-09-29
  4. ↑ "Review - Bomb Jack". Crash (27): 20–21. April 1986. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
  5. 1 2 "Review - Bomb Jack". Zzap!64 (28): 14. June 1986. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
  6. ↑ "Review - Bomb Jack". Commodore User (28): 14. June 1986. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
  7. ↑ "Your Sinclair Top Ten Games", Your Sinclair (17), May 1987, retrieved 2013-09-29
  8. ↑ Thomas, Lucas M. (2007-05-07). "Mighty Bomb Jack Review". IGN. Retrieved 2014-12-17.

External links

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