''Bomberman Blast'' is an

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developed and published by

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...

for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

and

WiiWare WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii S ...

as part of the ''Bomberman'' franchise. The game was released as two versions: a fully featured retail release and a WiiWare version known as . The retail version was released in Japan on September 25, 2008, while the WiiWare version was released on September 30, 2008. The WiiWare version was released in Europe on September 12, 2008, and in North America on September 29, 2008.

Overview

The WiiWare version of ''Bomberman Blast'' only contains the traditional battle mode, while the retail release also includes a story mode and other additional features. The plot of the story mode revolves around Bomberman saving the player's Miis by defeating five bosses who have kidnapped them. The story mode covers 39 stages across 5 worlds, featuring 31 different unique enemies. The game features new items, such as a rocket that enables the player to fly, and a shield. A number of items are activated by shaking the Wii Remote. In the retail version, players are also able to purchase upgrades and

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s by cashing in gems collected during play, such as Hearts, Fire Ups, Bomb Ups and Speed Ups. In addition, players are also able to use their Miis during play, and the retail version features a mode called ''Bomberman for Beginners'' which teaches novice players the basics of the game. The game is primarily controlled with the Wii Remote held on its side

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gamepad-style. It also supports

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controllers but not Classic Controllers; and supports

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and 16:9

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display modes, but does not output in

Dolby Pro Logic II Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby Stereo (also known as ''Dolby MP'' or ''Dolby SVA'') was developed by Dolby in 1976 fo ...

. When four Wii remotes and four GameCube controllers are used in conjunction, this game can support 8-player offline play.

Battle mode

The game's battle mode features eight-player, worldwide online play with rankings, and players with the retail and WiiWare versions of the game are able to compete against each other. 10 battle stages are included with the WiiWare version, while the retail release includes an extra 2 stages, for a total of 12. Eight-player battle mode is supported by having four players using GameCube controllers and four players using Wii remotes. Battle mode also introduces "appeal motions", an

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players can perform. WiiWare players have access to 10 motions, while retail players have access to 20 in total.

Development and release

2008, the year ''Bomberman Blast'' was released, was the 25th anniversary of the ''Bomberman'' franchise. The game is developed in-house by Hudson, unlike ''

Bomberman Live ''Bomberman Live'' is a downloadable video game for the Xbox Live Arcade, developed by Backbone Entertainment as part of the ''Bomberman'' franchise. The game was announced on May 16, 2007 and released later that year. It would later see a retail ...

'' for Xbox Live Arcade which was outsourced to Backbone Entertainment. The game was originally scheduled to be released in June 2008, but was later delayed to September 2008 due to Hudson wanting to make sure the online mode was top-notch. The official website initially opened on March 28, 2008, and fully opened on July 11, 2008. The final name was revealed through the game's rating by the German USK on July 9, 2008. To celebrate the release of ''Bomberman Blast'', Hudson held a ''Bomberman Blast'' tournament called "Bomb It Up".

Reception

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the

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website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. In Japan, however, ''

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'' gave the retail version a score of one seven, one five, and two sixes for a total of 24 out of 40. ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

'' was impressed by the many game modes and options available., although they believed the game was "a tad pricey" at 1000

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, but otherwise felt that "it's hard to quibble over such a dependable game". '' Official Nintendo Magazine'' called it a "brilliant version" of ''Bomberman'' and recommended it over ''

Bomberman '93 is a video game in the Bomberman series. It was released on the PC Engine on December 11, 1992 in Japan, with western TurboGrafx-16 releases following in 1993. The game was also re-released for PCs in 2002 alongside the TurboGrafx-16 version ...

'' on the

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. However, despite the general praise of the online play, they did voice some minor concern about "a few instances" of lag, and also believed some players may be put off by the WiiWare version's focus on multiplayer battling. The magazine also ranked it the 98th best game available on Nintendo platforms. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' claimed that despite the lack of innovation and some minor interface hiccups, the game is "a blast to play" and maintains "that classic, addictive quality" from past ''Bomberman'' games.

Sequel

A sequel was announced by Hudson titled '' Bomberman Live: Battlefest'' on WiiWare in 2009. However, the release was cancelled for WiiWare, and released only on Xbox 360 Arcade in 2010.

References

External links

Official Bomberman Blast Website (Japanese)Official Bomberman Blast Website (English)Hudson Entertainment Bomberman Blast Tournament Page (English)Hudson Soft's Bomberman Blast (Wii) Page (Japanese)Hudson Soft's Bomberman Blast (WiiWare) Page (Japanese)
* {{Bomberman 2008 video games Action video games Blast Hudson Soft games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in Japan Wii-only games Wii Wi-Fi games WiiWare games