Monday Morning MAME Club [4/12/04] - Bomb Jack

[Flack]

Greetings and salutations fellow MAME'ers!

I changed up the title of the post a little bit to make it stand out a bit more, I hope you all like it! Be sure to check the forums every Monday morning to find out what this week's ROM is!

This week's choice comes to us from TheSmirk, and it looks like a doozy. Look closely, those aren't Easter eggs you're throwing down. Bombs, platforms, and grey monsters can only mean one thing ...

BOMB JACK is the MAME Club pick of the week!
Link to rom will be posted shortly.

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/B/wBomb_Jack.png

Download the ROM if you don't already have it, give it a spin, and respond to this topic with your review! Have you played this game before, or is it brand new to you? Do you like the genre? How did it run on your computer? Did you beat it? If so, how long did it take? What was your high score? How far can you get? Did you have any problems emulating the game?

When writing your review, post it right here in the sticky topic and include any thoughts you have about the game. Remember, YOU are the reviewer. Let us know anything and everything you think about the game!

Club Members:

Gamereviewgod
Wisesalesman
scooterb23
ddockery
AlanD
digitalpress
IntvGene
NE146
jonjandran
Flack
IGotTheDot
zektor
buttasuperb
chadtower
Sotenga
Stark
christianscott27
ECWSandmanECW
TripppsK
vespertillio
ghsqb (MIA)
* TheSmirk
anotherfluke
BHvrd
ManekiNeko
MarioAllStar2600
Ze_ro
slip81
Qbert
k8track
Hamsnibit
Lady Jaye
Sofa King Gud
jgenotte
Schenley
Kaine23

Next week's choice will come from Anotherfluke, and I'll bet it'll be a classic! In the meantime, suit up, grab a bomb and ...

... MAME On!

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Very cool game, i played it for first time in a friend´s birthday (he had rented some arcade machines and Bomb jack was there), i think i spent all the night playing it while so many boys rounded me and cried because i had passed Level 7 or 8...i think.
One of the best MAME games in my opinion, it gave me old memories from that birthday... :(

PS: Hey Flack!!!add me to the list!!!remember!!! :roll:

Matías

[Ze_ro]

Man, I love BombJack! Totally an underrated classic in my opinion. It's almost the closest thing I can think of that combines platformers and puzzle games.

I totally have to take a stab at racking up a high score for this one...

--Zero

[kainemaxwell]

One of the first MAME titles I got when I first started and a classic. Pretty and colorful graphics with intresting gameplay does make this a classic!

[Ze_ro]

Well, I gave it a good run and managed a high score of 112,730, dying on the 6th level. Anyone else got any high scores to share?

--Zero

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Well, I gave it a good run and managed a high score of 112,730, dying on the 6th level. Anyone else got any high scores to share?

--Zero
113,540 dying in 7th level...

[TheSmirk]

As a few of you have already stated, this is definately a UNDERRATED classic and thats why I picked it this week. What always impressed me was just how good it looked for the time it came out, great music, great graphics, great gameplay! :D

I'll be posting some of my high scores later, I'm at work right now :)

[slip81]

Bomjack is always great fun. Like many great games, it's charm is in it's simplicity. So far my high score is level 4 25,220 and man is it a pain in the rearend to play this game with a keyboard. Grreat game though, and how cool would it have been if the NES Club game of the week was Mighty Bomjack :)

Oh yeah, also you gotta repsect any game that plays Beatles tunes in the background

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Post the Bomb Jack rom please!!!

[IntvGene]

This is one of those games where I refuse to try and get a "high score", mainly because I suck at it. I can get to level 7, but my score is about 50,000. Whenever I try and go for a high score, I end up dead on about level 2.

The controls are just messed with me on this game. I understand them, but they just aren't intuitive, and it frustrates me to no end. My brain is not wired correctly to play this game well.

Anyway, I had never played Bomb Jack in the arcades before, and this one eluded me, that's what's awesome about MAME club.

[Ze_ro]

I never realized how much control you have over your jumps in this game until this very week... so for anyone who didn't already know (maybe it's just me?) here's some tricks:
If you hold up while jumping, you can jump even higher than you already can. All the way to the top of the screen from the bottom I think.
While you're on an upward jump, you can tap jump again to "cancel" your jump. This is VERY useful if you only want to make a short jump.
While you're in the air, if you repeatedly tap jump quickly, you can float in the air and move side to side.
I can't believe I didn't know about this stuff before. Some Bomb Jack fan I am!

--Zero

[QBert]

My mame machine is down right now...boooo
just need a new monitor and Im in business which is very soon.
I just wanted to add that Bomb Jack rocks, always liked it......I was just never great at it.


Qbert

[TheSmirk]

This is one of those games where I refuse to try and get a "high score", mainly because I suck at it. I can get to level 7, but my score is about 50,000. Whenever I try and go for a high score, I end up dead on about level 2.

If anyone didn't know this....if you collect the a majority of the bombs when they are lit, you get major bonuses at the end of the rounds

[Nature Boy]

I remember playing this in Conestoga Mall just by the one set of exit doors (where there were like 3 arcade machines setup) back when it was new. And, you know, I never remembered seeing it *anywhere* else - not even the proper arcades I'd pop into now and again.

I certainly wasn't very good at it back then. Mind you I didn't know about the bonuses nor the super high jump.

These days is another matter entirely. Since I no longer have to use the keyboard (I use a PS controller) I play this game a *lot*. My current high score is 578430 (Level 11). (Including that I've got one 400k score, 8 300k scores, and a 280k score in my top 10 right now).

It's easily one of my top 3 MAME favourites.