Bomberman photoshop contest: How to make right out of wrong

by Joystiq Staff { Aug 31st 2006 at 11:55AM }

The latest Bomberman iteration to hit a gaming platform is the terribly flawed Bomberman: Act Zero for the Xbox 360 -- seriously, how do you mess up Bomberman?. Well, after poor reviews kept streaming in, a fan over at the NeoGAF forums decided to put copies of the game to good use: hold a caption contest with the grand prize being a T-shirt with the developer's name on it.

So far, there have been some creative entries and we'll share some with you after the break (including our first impressions of the game). But, now that we can give the contest the proper exposure it deserves, we're sure that our creative readers can add some real competition to the affair.

[Via Game Life]

In all fairness, the game isn't as terribly awful as it may seem in the bad reviews. But, to a Bomberman loyalist, it could be considered an act of treason and utter betrayal. Not only did the game makers decide to lose Bomberman's cutish looks for some lame futuristic mutant, but the game doesn't have offline multiplayer.

That's right, you can't have two or more players on one Xbox 360. You can't have a party and play , what is essentially supposed to be, a great party game. What the hell, Hudson? Seriously, what the hell?

Besides those serious flaws and some other minor annoyances online and off, the game is still fun and somewhat true to the spirit of the original Bomberman. Expect a video review from us some time in the future for our full thoughts on the title. For now, enjoy these funny pictures:

Tags: Bomberman

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Daniel @ Aug 31st 2006 12:02PM

Joystiqqers can do way better than this. I like the first one though...

ShMgS @ Aug 31st 2006 12:09PM

I kinda like the Katamari one.

reebo @ Aug 31st 2006 12:11PM

I think I just died a little inside. I never knew about this Bomberman game. It looks...terrible... It's not even Bomberman...

Didn't really like the pics...

32_Footsteps @ Aug 31st 2006 12:16PM

Guys, blame Konami, not Hudson. It even says so on the front of the box.

Personally, I like the one featuring the Burger King and the "Pwned 360" one. I'd love to see a joke along the lines of "Man, when you're inferior to the N64 version..."

Daniel D @ Aug 31st 2006 12:17PM

Yeah where did this come from? I never heard of it either looks lame as hell they would have done much better with an Xbox live arcade release of it instead. (the old version)

J B Cougar @ Aug 31st 2006 12:22PM

This Bomberman Bomberblows

Johnny @ Aug 31st 2006 12:25PM

most of the jokes tend to be more about the guy being black then the game sucking.

Michael McGuire @ Aug 31st 2006 12:49PM

"most of the jokes tend to be more about the guy being black then the game sucking."

Um, what?

I count maybe 4 tops that possibly make reference to the fact the guy being black. And there many more that a comment about the game. So how could you possibly make this statment?

Twist @ Aug 31st 2006 12:55PM

They should seriously just release Super Bomberman on XBLA. That game really surprised my brother and me. We got it it just for the multi-tap (for three player Secret Of Mana of course) but we ended up playing Super Bomberman all the time. The only multiplayer game that we probably played more was Super Mario Kart.

airpolgas @ Aug 31st 2006 12:51PM

Return to sender all the way. I like how they added more games for effect.

gwangi @ Aug 31st 2006 1:01PM

Sorry can't resist.

http://bomberman.justgotowned.com/

BPM? @ Aug 31st 2006 1:24PM

32_Footsteps, Konami is the publisher, Hudson is still the developer. See, Hudson is now (and has been for a while) owned by Konami.

Now, whether or not Hudson made this of their own will, or because Konami told them to do so, is another question.

I think it's kind of the result of trying too hard to make something appeal to Americans (as 360 sells best outside of Japan), so they figured a "yay cute" Bomberman wouldn't do well, but an "OMG EXTREEEEM" Bomberman would.

Markster @ Aug 31st 2006 3:41PM

Missed the best one.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b295/juubei-2/hudson_t2B.jpg

AlloyNES @ Aug 31st 2006 4:00PM

I get it. It's cool to hate Bomberman: Act Zero. But, seriously, how's the online play? I have yet to hear about it.

All I keep hearing is "They changed teh style!!11!! Oh noes!1! Itz c001 to dis it!1!!!"

Robert Summa @ Aug 31st 2006 4:08PM

Hey AlloyNES,

Like I said, I'll be posting a review of this game, possibly this weekend.

I'll say this for now, multiplayer is fun. There are those very major annoyances for offline and some online, but all in all, it's Bomberman and it's fun to play online. I just wish more people had it and were playing.

AlloyNES @ Aug 31st 2006 4:23PM

Robert Summa,

I will be getting it. Feel free to add me to your XboxLive friend list. My gamertag is AlloyNES

I was turned off by the new style at first, as in "What the heck?!" But then it grew on me. And I LOVE Bomberman, bottom line. So, of course I'm getting it.

I find it so strange how people call it a bad game before hardly anyone has played it. I know plenty of games with bad reviews that ended up being gems. So, even if the single player is shallow, I'm anxious to try the online and have a "blast."

blahman @ Aug 31st 2006 4:31PM

I doubt the game is bad, but you gotta admit, when you walk by this in Gamestop, it's hard to control your laughter.

Dr.Swiss @ Aug 31st 2006 5:50PM

I just don't understand why they made it this way.

If they wanted to appeal to people just make it like any wrestling game/tony hawk game or whatever and let the player create their own bomberman. Then they can make it as eXXXTREEEMe or cutsie as they want.

I remmber the N64 one you could add costumes and stuff to customize your bomberman, do any of the newer ones do that?

At least add the classic cutsie bomberman as a code or secret or something, give us a chance.
I bet this game is like Halo where everyone looks the same but are tinted different colours.

BPM? @ Aug 31st 2006 7:06PM

#18 Dr.Swiss:
"I remmber the N64 one you could add costumes and stuff to customize your bomberman, do any of the newer ones do that?"
Sadly, no. Only Bomberman 64 and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack! had the Custom Bomber feature. None of the GameCube entires had it.
Too bad, too. It was one of my favorite things about the N64 Bomberman games!
(Aside from the fact they had GREAT multiplayer modes and good singleplayer, too)

"I bet this game is like Halo where everyone looks the same but are tinted different colours."
Pretty much. Except the Bomberwomen have a feminine shape to their armor.
But, even in the original Bomberman style, most of the characters were recolors, too. The exceptions were the bosses (like Thunder Bomber or Mermaid Bomber, etc.) that had unique designs. But other than that, you had White Bomber, Black Bomber, Blue Bomber, Red Bomber, etc...

Dr.Swiss @ Aug 31st 2006 8:32PM

You're right, BPM, I forgot about that.

Still, costumes like in the N64 version would of been cool. Win matches online to get cash to buy stuff from the ingame store and such.

I'm still waiting for character customization for console online first person shooters and fighting games.

Rawkser @ Aug 31st 2006 10:32PM

I'm pretty sure deamentia (the topic creator) isn't a fan, he actually works at Hudson.

epobirs @ Aug 31st 2006 10:56PM

It's a shame when a developer tries to do something new with an old franchise, it goes terribly wrong, and yet they don't seem to notice in time to pull back and change course. It reminds me of the horrible results of William Gibson's work on the movie of 'Johnny Mnemonic.' Much was made of the original author being a very direct participant in the making of the movie, yet the end product was a terrible mish mash with just a few bits carried over from the source material.

If a unrelated company had decided to do a Bomberman clone and produced this, they might have gotten a better reception. A clone has more freedom to experiment while the originator has to avoid messing with success.

The 360 still needs a Bomberman. Actually, it needs two. One classic version to go on XBLA, and a more elaborate and technically advanced version that remains true to the franchise.