11 - Bomberman
Become a Patron!
On June 11th, 2018, character designer and artist Shoji Mizuno passed away. He was a key figure back in the 1990s at the now-defunct Hudson Soft, a renowned Japanese games publisher — having directed art or design, or sometimes both, on more than a dozen games in the popular Bomberman franchise as well as providing original character designs for the Beyblade anime series.
Since this year is also the 35th anniversary of the release of the first Bomberman game on the MSX, I thought now would be a good time to look back on how the explosive puzzle franchise made its way into the world — and into the hearts of millions.
Support comes from my Patreon and PayPal backers, with special credit going to Wade Tregaskis, Simon Moss, and Vivek Mohan. Thanks fellas!
Music and SFX credits:
- The Take That Dyna Blaster segment from GamesMaster season 2, episode 5 (1992)
- All music is my own work
Sources:
- The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 2 by John Szczepaniak
- Edge Magazine issue 6, March 1994
- Edge Magazine issue 17, February 1995
- Game Players magazine issue 22, April 1991
- Game Developers Magazine issue 1,
- RETRO magazine issue 6
- The One magazine issue 81, July 1995
- Edge Magazine issue 67, January 1999
- multiple pages from Ragey's Totally Bombastic Bomberman Shrine Place
- The Complete History of Bomberman - Tired Old Hack
- Games Nobody Talks About Anymore: Eric and the Floaters - Den of Geek
- Retro Gamer Magazine issues 66 and 67 (they have a two-part history of Hudson Soft)
- Computer & Video Games Magazine issue 34, August 1984
- CRASH Magazine, July 1984
- Sinclair User, July 1984
The Life & Times of Video Games on the Web and social media
- Website: lifeandtimes.games
- Twitter: @LifeandTimesVG
- Instagram: @lifeandtimesvg
- YouTube: lifeandtimes.games/youtube
You can make a donation to help cover running costs and allow me to rely less on freelance income via
- Patreon: lifeandtimes.games/patreon
- or PayPal: paypal.me/mossrc
My book, The Secret History of Mac Gaming, is available in bookstores in the UK and Australia, as well as on the likes of Book Depository and Amazon. See the official website for more info.
Can't afford to give me money? Consider listening via the RadioPublic app for Android or iOS. It's free. And if you enable analytics then I get paid a couple of cents each time you listen to my show. Head to RadioPublic.com for more info.
