Bomb Jack

In 1984 Tehkan released Bomb Jack a simple game in which you played the 'hero' of Bomb Jack and bounced around collecting well bombs. The game is what you may call just simply a collecting game, that is your only goal since you have no way of actually getting rid of your enemies.

Also:

- Published by: Tehkan
- Developed by: Tehkan
- Designer: Tehkan
- Platform: Arcade
- Year Released: 1984

Significant Contributors to Game Development:
- Genre: Platform Game
Other Games in Series: Bomb Jack II

History

In 1984 Tehkan made the world wide release of Bomb Jack.

Tenkan was a new and upcoming company, having released its first game only three years earlier.

Game Design Elements

Gameplay

With this game you have no weapons so your only defense against the Snowmen, Snails, and black bombs is too jump and try to always catch the blue B balls to have extra jumping power. Your only goal is to collect all the bombs on your level and not get killed because you only have three lives and one run in with a bad guy and you loose a life.

Controls

The controls for the flash game are as with most games to jump you hit the space bar and to move about you can use either the left or right arrow key. For the original arcade style I think it is safe to assume you had a joy stick to move your character and a single button with which to make him jump around.

Plot

The game plot is to collect Bombs that have been placed around the world, the story is not explained beyond this and you are sent on your mission. You are but a single player and must avoid the Snowmen, and Snails that move back and forth across various places in the scene, not to mention the black bombs that come in during higher levels. Your setting is a background of one of the great places of the world mountains, castles etc. and you have several yellow 'shelves' that you can bounce around on. It isn't clear where you are, just that you are out in some sort of place out of the norm.

Characters

Player: The hero Bomb Jack, you wear a blue mask, a fetching red jump suit, and complete it all with a wonderful yellow cape that follows you around as you jump from shelf to shelf.

Evil: Snowmen are the bad guys that patrol your path and can

kill you with one touch, though they are slow.

Snails happen to be faster than the snowmen so you have to be careful

and watch these little guys as they zoom around the screen.

Art

Visual

Flash Game:

Most of the art is just to look pretty, or as pretty as a pixel game can get. The colors are vibrant on everything from the background to the little snowmen wandering around. The more decorative function, I think, is to distract you from how pointless the game actually is because each background is different it makes you want to win to see the next level. With only 2D animation there is no depth and the animation, if you can call it that, is simply the characters moving back and forth. While they do move they don't walk they simply glide, and jumping looks as if you were tossed onto a trampoline and simply bounce back up.

Arcade Game:

For the most part the arcade game was the same visually but the characters actually would walk and look as if they were jumping. Instead of staying in there place and just gliding back and forth the bad guys could drop from their perches and follow you around the game. Not nearly as safe as the Flash version.

Sound

In the game I found to play (Flash Version) there was no background music beside the little trumpet fan-fare at the start page. As Bomb Jack jumps the computerized sound of a spring is what you will hear, collect the bombs will get you a triumphant dig, while picking up coins gets you something that sounds like a computerized clap or a computerized gun shot...

References

- http://arcade.svatopluk.com/tehkan/bomb_jack/
  - - http://www.arcade-gameover.com/
      - http://www.giantbomb.com/bomb-jack/61-185/
        http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7180