Bomb Jack

Bomb Jack
Titelimage from the game
Game No.	61
Voting	6.72 points, 43 votes
Developer	Chris Harvey
Company	Elite Systems, (Original: Tecmo Ltd.)
Publisher	Elite Systems, Encore, EDOS, Pubblirome (Super Game 2000)
Musician	Mark Cooksey
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/C/Cooksey_Mark/Bomb_Jack.sid
Release	1986
Platform	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Atari ST, C16, C64, Gameboy, ZX Spectrum, (Atari XL)
Genre	Shoot'em Up, V-Scrolling
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	aka Attenti Bombe! Follower: 1987: Bomb Jack II 1990: Mighty Bomb Jack 2019: Remake Bomb Jack DX (Beta 7; WIP)

Description[edit | edit source]

The arcade classic game "Bomb Jack" was very popular on video game machines in the 1980s. The player controls the superhero Jack and tries to defuse bombs. If all the bombs are touched in a certain order, the player receives bonus points. The correct sequence is indicated by flashing bombs. Various enemies, such as robots, UFOs and seagulls, move across the field, taking one of the player's lives when touched. After a certain time or after scoring a certain number of points, flying extras appear for a short time in the shape of a circle, which must be collected in order to activate them. There are five different background images, whereby there are always platforms apart from the 5th level. At higher levels (from level 6): The number and speed of the enemies increases and the accessibility of the bombs is made even more difficult at higher levels by walls and more platforms. Depending on the number of lives available, the game can be played indefinitely, even if the level indicator jumps back to 0 after 99.

Design[edit | edit source]

In Bomb Jack you move through each level on a non-scrolling screen. The graphics are multicolour and for the first five levels there is a separate background image, each representing a famous location (from level 6 these are repeated in order):

1. pyramid with sphinx in Cairo (Egypt)

2. acropolis in Athens (Greece)

3. Neuschwanstein Castle near Schwangau (Germany)

4. modern harbour and coastal city of Miami (USA)

5. street view at night

In addition, there are some platforms that constantly change in the first 16 levels, except for every 5th level, which is always platform-free, and the arrangement of the bombs varies in the first 20 levels.
The enemies move very smoothly, as does Jack himself, with whom you can occasionally flutter a little in the air. The animations are well designed. The collision detection does not start immediately when the character appears. This means that it is often possible to touch enemies while they are appearing without taking any damage.
Jack, active and frozen enemies and extras, as well as displayed points are represented by sprites, while the bombs are copied graphic elements.
Furthermore, SFX sounds round off this arcade game realisation.

During the game, a melody plays constantly in the background (a version of ‘Magnetic Fields Part II’ by Jean-Michel Jarre). This changes when you catch the "P" and the enemies become harmless. When the level is finished, another melody plays and Jack performs a little dance. At the end of the game, the "Badinerie" from Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor (BWV 1067) plays.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Control is via joystick in port#2.

Controls[edit | edit source]

: moving Jack left/right.
: jump from the ground.
+ : higher jump from the ground.
in the air : floating (delaying landing).
in the air : faster landing.

Extras[edit | edit source]

These appear after a certain time or after a certain number of collected bombs (in any order; for a certain period of time) in a circle with the corresponding letter and can be collected.

B → Bonus : The extra only appears for a few seconds and falls from top to bottom, possibly over platforms. It only increases the bonus multiplier for correctly defused bombs. Collecting it earns 500 extra points each time and it appears up to three times, i.e. a maximum bonus multiplier of x4 is possible!
P → Power : It changes colour and flies across the screen until it is collected. The enemies turn into fixed faces (smiling suns) for a few seconds, which can be collected for points (i.e. they are harmless during this time). It appears a maximum of twice in a level. All destroyed enemies restart at the same position as at the start of the level.
E → Extra life : (According to the game instructions: Top secret!) It appears for a few seconds approximately every 3-4 levels, for the first time from level 4, directly after quickly collecting the first extra B and hidden bonus points! It also falls from top to bottom, possibly over platforms.

Enemies[edit | edit source]

There is a maximum of 6 different opponents:

Always a flying seagull: Starts in the level at different places and always follows Jack through the air horizontally and vertically to his current person.
Robot: Starts or falls on an upper platform and first runs to the left and right. After a while it duplicates itself. If he himself or his duplicate initially falls onto a platform lower still as a robot, but transforms on contact with the ground into:
Flying balls, cannonball, ufos, television, snail, etc.', which can always move freely across the screen, even through narrow areas.
Every time you come into contact with a grey or black enemy, you lose a life.

Points[edit | edit source]

Each jump: 10 points.
Each non-flashing collected bomb: 100 points.
Each flashing collected bomb: 200 points multiplied by bonus multiplier (1x, 2x, 3x, max. 4x), i.e. 200, 400, 600, max. 800 points.
Each collected Extra B: 500 points plus increase of the bonus multiplier.
Each collected frozen enemy (after collected Extra P, Bomb Jack is also shown in gold-yellow during this time): 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 up to a maximum of 600 points.

Bonus points table[edit | edit source]

Points	Blinking bombs
50.000	23
22.000	22
21.000	21
20.000	20

Solution[edit | edit source]

The player always starts with 3 lives.
Jack always starts in the centre of the playing field and then falls to the ground. This must be observed in some levels if you want to keep to the correct bomb sequence!
Which bomb has to be defused first depends on the first bomb collected: The order itself remains the same in the level, only the starting point can be chosen freely.
There are always 24 bombs per level. Special points are awarded for the first 23 to 20 flashing bombs collected in the correct order. If this is successful, a short bonus hint screen appears before the next level is started.
The extras appear according to the number of bombs collected at the start of each level, regardless of whether the correct bomb sequence is followed. You should wait until the points display disappears again or, when collecting an extra life, that the life has arrived in the life display!
- After every 6 bombs collected, the extra B appears if it has been collected,
- (and if a jump has been made in the centre of the screen, the Extra E will appear immediately after the 4th level - not in every level, but every 3-4 levels later).
- If no points display and possibly the extra life have been collected, the extra P appears after 5 more collected bombs.
- After destroying an enemy and collecting another bomb, the Extra B appears again,
- after collecting another 6 bombs, the Extra B appears again
- Finally, shortly before collecting the last bomb (i.e. after collecting another 5 bombs), the Extra P appears again.
With the collected Extra P, the following points are awarded for the destroyed enemies (max. 6): 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and max. 600.
Extra E only appears once in levels 4, 12, 16, 19, 23, 27, 31, 34, 38, 42, 46, 49, 53, 57, 61, 64, 68, 72, 76, 79, 83, 87, 91, 94, 98, (102, 106, 109, 113, 117, 121, 124, 138, 132,) etc.
If you lose a life before collecting the Extra E, the Extra E can appear immediately after a jump when you restart the level.
A maximum of 6 lives are displayed.
Touching all 6 possible grey or black enemies should be avoided, otherwise a life will be lost!
It is wise (with the collected Extra P) not to destroy all yellow frozen enemies in the platform level and thus forgo some points: If at least one flying object remains, often no new enemies (except the seagull) will appear and you will only have to deal with 2 enemies.
If the frozen enemies are close together, they must be jumped at several times to destroy them!

Cheats[edit | edit source]

The version by "Remember" contains next to the manual and a storable highscore also the following "trainer": unlimited lives, no collision query with the enemies, with "C=" key to the next level.
It exists also cheats by POKE e.g. for unlimited life, etc.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
6.72 points at 43 votes (rank 580). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	9	21st October 2007 - "Top" - 10843 downs
Lemon64	6,8	21st October 2007 - 88 votes
Kultboy.com	7,8	28th July 2008 - 21 votes
ASM	10/10	Edition 5/86
ZZap64	47%	Edition 6/86

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Werner: "In my opinion this game is too difficult. However, it gets 8 points from me."

Jodigi: "Finally a 1:1 conversion of an arcade game. It is a very good game, in the video game machine as well as on the C64."

Robotron2084: "I'd say it is NO 1:1 conversion from the machine, as the sprites are at least twice the size of the amusement arcade model, which makes the targeted collection of bombs a matter of luck and calls up unnecessary frustration. Also does Magnetic Fields 2 as background music -although it might be nice- not correspond to the original. Without the oversized sprites the game would be a big hit, so I give it 7 out of 10 points."

Goondoc: "This amusement arcade conversion is no way 1:1! A very decisive mistake was made, which unnecessarily aggravates the game. This is the upper edge. It is too low down or the two upper platforms are to far up respectively, so getting through (jumping over) while the platform is occupied (robots) gets impossible. This is different on the arcade machine and simplifies collection the bombs in the right order. However, not all levels are affected by this mistake, as the level design doesn't have platforms at that height everywhere."

Shakermaker303: "I don't know the arcade machine version and vote without prejudice. It is partially really a bit hard because of the big enemies. On the other hand it s designed rather well, the music is ok and the steering is quite funny. I had my fun with this game and give it 8 points."

Camailleon: "The game reminds me of the evenings of playing with my dad, when I was little, where we outbid each others scores again and again. Also I don't know the arcade version and therefore I can only say something about the C64 version. And this is lots of fun!"

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Cover[edit | edit source]

Disk back cover Encore version ...

Diskette[edit | edit source]

Bugfix[edit | edit source]

Probably because nobody can play that far, the following curiosities:

The Highscore jumps back to 0 when exceeding 999,999 points. This could happen even before level 20 if the 50,000 bonus points from the correct bomb defusing are always collected.
After level 99, the level display shows 00, but the next extra life extra is at level 102 (level display: 02)
In very rare cases, if Jack loses a life by touching an opponent and falls on the last bomb, which is then considered collected, the level can no longer be solved and the game is over for the player because the next game start in the level contains no more bombs!