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From Topic: Finally can play PAL and import discs on my PS2
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DragonBomber
Bomberman

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Joined: 28 Apr 2008
Posts: 302
Post#3  Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:44 am  Reply with quote + 
Duke Serkol wrote:
DragonBomber wrote:
Bomberman Hardball is better than I hoped it would be. Baseball is really entertaining to play with someone else, and it was actually the first thing my wife and I played after I forced BattleMode on her.

Anything noteworthy about battle mode?

Edit Do you mean battlemode racing or battlemode tossing bombs at each other? This has both and I am guessing you mean the bomb tossing. I at first misread that, so will keep what I originally typed here as well. It is pretty similar to the Gamecube versions. Nice range of powerups, normal options to be turned on or left off, and a look sort of toned down washed out like look the GameCube ones have (I use component for my PS2 so you can see a visual detail difference between its battlemode and that of Bomberman Hardball which is really polished and render heavy). Mind you, I like the washed out basic look. There are blue toned power down icons like in other titles. There are several modes of battlemode, of which I have not tried at all, save for the normal mode. It's not overly shiny and gaudy, and gets the job done, you know? Flashy is sometimes blah. Oh, the tile sets are big enough but not overly big so your screen doesn't feel tight and closed in like some other battle modes that people love, but I don't much care for. Big tiles and boards that feel smaller just don't do it for me. Give me more visual space to blow up bricks in, and I'm happy. Even if the alley counts are the same versus another game, and it just feels different. I don't think that makes any sense, but I'm fickle on some types of graphics.

Bomberman Hardball uses a 3D rendered shine design, as in there are reflections and a textured lighting feel to the bombers. They have depth and bulk to their bodies, real weight. The bomb blasts have more vivid colors, the bricks are more detailed, and so forth. It's not so ugly or shiny that I get a headache though. Good graphics and not an overpolished look, though it's distinctive in its design from other battle modes of other games. For example, Bomberman Party Edition for PS1 to me is too shiny/polished visually and it actually makes my head hurt after a while. My eyes strain to discern too much detail and reflections on the surfaces, or something else like that. Sprite size wise, Bomberman Hardball is slightly bigger than Kart but not so big it bothers me, like I am bothered by some games with huge blocks and fewer alleyways/rows of action.

Mind you, this could all be some odd fantasy world delusion I live in where only I see it, and no one else is insane enough to care. I need to visually compare screenshots and count the pixel sizes, rows and columns of play, and so forth. Only then will my madness abate.End Edit

Well, there are 5 variations on BattleMode's settings, and it takes place in an open arena with ramps, hills, and a lot of weapons waiting to recycle in their containers. You play first to 5 kills. It's ok. You mostly get the green rockets to chuck at one another, tho bombs, invisibility, and all that are also around. I have played much worse. The big red arrow over the players would be fun to turn off since it's too easy to see that and then lob rockets in that general direction hoping for rebound and the distance they cover to bring the target in your shot path. It may be on a radar as well, but I forget now.

Some of the minigames are enjoyable distractions from cup races, time races, and battle races. Battle race not to be confused with battle mode. I will mention those more below. It would be nice to have more than the maybe 6 racers you have to choose and 1 left to open up/unless that's a random pick. Maybe others add themselves and their empty boxes are not shown. I don't have the manual here at work and did not play enough to find out yet. I need another save card honestly before I can save any of my progress in these games. :/

Duke Serkol wrote:
DragonBomber wrote:
I appreciate Bomberman Kart a lot, as I am a sucker for kart racers. It looks and plays much like a hybrid cross between Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing, misc Rare platformers

Rare platformers? How so?

It is more a visual comparison really. The textures used, coloring, and tone of the level design reminds me slightly of stuff like Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and so forth. When I try to compare one game to other games, it often is easiest using this method of blended description.

Duke Serkol wrote:
DragonBomber wrote:
and SNES Street Racers.

Oh God the horror! :xeyes: 

That game overall wasn't bad, as long as you got it for a mere $20 like I did. Street Racers has its charm. Bomberman Kart and it both have soccer, though it's better on Kart to be honest. You have better control and chance to get the ball in this one. You can play with or without computer controlled players like other game modes, can play on a half or full sized field, can elect to have computer controlled goalies or not, etc. Another reason I think I compared this to Street Racers is that Street Racers had some hectic to drive courses turn wise, and this one does as well, depending on what mode you're in. Another comparison to Street Racers is the sumo minigame, where you're on a pedestal and have to muscle the other one off the top. It is MUCH better on Kart though, and my wife loved it.

Other minigames include a sort of target practice where you have to clear progressively more and more total target shots, a braking minigame where you have to be good with braking on command/as needed or you fall off the end of a road, and other games as well. Some are only 2-4 player and you cannot play alone, and others can be played alone.

My brother and I used to do sumo battling in the pools on the SNES beach board, with one of us waiting until the other grabbed a feather. First one that was pushed out or couldn't stay inside the pool on their own volition if they improperly steered, had to pull over and allow the other to shoot them for one balloon kill. We also had what we called Shell City, where we put a ban on red shells, stars, and the idea what to fill the boards with as much green shells (both stationary and moving), and bananas as humanly possible. If you were a good driver or lucky, you made it out alive. If you were not, you either got hit somewhere or found yourself shot by the other person with the safe powerups. Breaking the red shell rule brought you a loss of one balloon. We played for hours and hours every day (both n64 and SNES versions), so had to make up fun games like this to keep it fresh. Friends and I did something similar on Halo and banned bullets. You could use grenades and the butt of your rifle to kill people, but that was it.

The natural comparison is to say, Mario Kart or Diddy Kong Racing, and it fits. But there is more to it than that and that's when I have to try to fit other titles in to figure out what that comparison is missing. You cannot say it's just a Mario Kart ripoff, because it isn't. It has a lot more in some modes, that even Mario Kart has never and may never have. There are cues it could have taken from MK to make it better as well, I imagine. Grabbing a powerup when you have one already (except when for example it's a green rocket, and you have a green rocket so you just get more green rockets) usually means you lose your other one. I have not yet found out how to shoot anything backwards besides items that are meant to be dropped. Minor points.

I hope some of that makes sense. The game is well worth checking out if you like Kart racers.


Post 2

Here is an idea of how the non-racing battle modes compare that were mentioned above in my prior comment. I had photos but did not want to link too much and bore people. I took a lot of photos. I took the effort of verifying how many rows and columns each title has to see why I am so daft on the subject of visual space in battlemode. :sad: 


Bomberman Kart DX normal battlemode. You will notice the bomber design is similar to Bomberman Land, which is not surprising considering when the game came out AND due to the fact that it has a story mode where you have to wander around getting licenses to be able to drive. I have to explore this much more when I get a spare memory card. (17 wide by 11 high)



Bomberman Kart normal battlemode. The bombers in battlemode here are more like Super Famicom/SNES, PCEngine/TurboGrafx16/Genesis/Megadrive, or GameCube ones, with only a hint of the Bomberman Land era character design. The blue louey shown is the only one I have seen as of yet, though he has no special tricks and merely serves as a free hit. (17 wide by 11 high)


Bomberman Hardball normal battlemode. The visual look here is something less detailed and heavy visually than Bomberman Live, with smaller sprite weight (to me at least). It is more developed than PS1 Bomberman World or PC Atomic Bomberman. For me it melts the line between having detail without being too fancy. It has structure and options and visual space, but it doesn't jam it down my throat with it. The bombers here are almost too big for my liking compared to the sprite sizes used for the bricks and hard barriers. :/ Almost but not quite. The joy of playing it outweighs my issues with their size thankfully, since the board does not retract me from the gameplay by admiring it. I guess too much detail distracts me. This game also has a Tandem Battle (unless I'm thinking of Kart) where one player controls the bomb dropping and one controls the movement. It switches controls somehow so you have to stay on your toes or you get blown up, since you have to move just enough to keep your player behind a brick and their player out of harm's way without going too far to push you into harm's way. (13 high by 13 wide)


classic normal

lost world normal

Both Live boards are 9 columns wide by 6 rows high open (17 wide by 11 high total including barriers) and look more spacious than I recalled while playing the game before. This is the same as two of the three prior games. The only difference is space around the board between the like board sizes. Kart DX has a square rather than a rectangle, and its bottom outer edge surrounding the board is cut off due to the PAL to NTSC conversion and Y fix.

After looking at photos of Bomberman Live boards I wonder if the resolution mode my friend had on his TV is the reason why the game screen and sprites used had such a "big" feeling. He only just now went back to HD cables, and had been using component before that. Plus his TV is 50" and everything just feels bigger. Not sure for my dislike of the look of Live. I think I am totally spazzing out and finding reasons not to like it because it [b]is[/i] flashier than I usually like and I do get distracted by the visual data. Maybe the extra space around the game board, filled with whatever that board's theme is, bothers me more than anything. I don't even know anymore. :sad: 

Maybe I just and training myself not to like the game because I like simpler versions sometimes, with lower end graphics despite a lot of powerup options and creatures being favs. I do have a history of hating on a console or telling myself I didn't like it, mainly because I couldn't yet enjoy it for my own. :veryhappy:  I think I solved the mystery. lol
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