BombermanBoard

BlueFire4101 · #7 Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:14 pm

I spared some thoughts about Bomberman in Smash a little bit ago that I could share but I haven't caught up on the chat, so maybe it's been mentioned. My thoughts involved more general design directions rather than specific abilities.

The Bombs for instance could blow up in either more round hitboxes or have + explosions like in traditional games, and whether or not these abilities are upgradable, either through stats or a charge ability like pumping. It's a pretty big distinction right out the gate that defines how to handle a lot of other abilities.

There's also the question of how Bombs will detonate. Traditionally, there's a timer, but I believe there are abilities or games where it's possible to have a Bomb detonate on impact (although the only one that comes to mind is Hero atm). There's also the possibility of a timer but if Bombs are thrown with enough force they detonate prematurely. This also is a big fundamental change to the overall design of the character.

Another big thought about Bomberman is his ability to manipulate. A general theme in Bomberman is his ability to manipulate Bombs once they're already placed with Kick, Punch, and Glove, but there are abilities that go beyond that. For example, in Super Bomberman 4 there's the Push ability that allows him to push other player characters around, and Bomberman also has the ability to lift and throw other player characters. In B64 and TSA, there's the prerequisite of stunning enemies first, but that also opens up another option in and of itself, which is the ability to stun enemies or at least create a knockback by using the bombs as a ranged weapon.

Then of course, what should Bomberman's general range of effectiveness be. If there is any focus on upgrading his abilities through stat ups during the match, then that also means his range of effectiveness could be more dynamic as he could, at the very least, upgrade his speed as apart of the core stat up options.

There is the thought of what sort of Bomb types to use, as there's a lot of different approaches. There's the 7 Elementals in TSA but also fewer Elementals in other games like Generation, and there's the B64 approach of just having Red Bombs as an upgrade, or maybe a more classic approach where Bomb types aren't elemental based but like Power Bomb, Pierce Bomb, etc. It could also be a custom selection of Bomb types, like maybe just Fire, Ice, and Wind so you have damage, slow/freeze debuffing, and movement manipulation to keep things more focused.

Bomberman does have a charabom theme that could be reflected, but I wouldn't bother with that if I were designing him. I believe it deviates the focus a bit too much when you already can have a lot more themes that are both more core to Bomberman and also unique to him.

I think that's all of the thoughts I spared. I probably won't really contribute more as tbh I don't really see the point to spend the time, as this post already took a fair bit of time to write, more than I want to spend on pure speculation and daydreaming anyway. But there you go, some food for thought I guess.

Sora G. Silverwind wrote:

Quote:

the argument I've seen around that he "wouldn't work"

Someone please powerslam a copy of DreamMix TV World Fighters in that argument's face. Please.

DreamMix TV World Fighters only has like 3 moves and it doesn't really compare to that of Smash. Now, if you don't come up with a full moveset for Bomberman right this very instant as you read this message, I'm afraid Bomberman is going to be permanently disqualified from Smash.

Aaannd time's up.

Sorry Bomberman, I guess you can't make it. Maybe next universe.

/sarcasm