That's weird, about the credits. Maybe they're different copies somehow? Oh well.

I don't think that Hudson intended Baguro to be the same character as Bagura, at least not by the time he appears in Panic Bomber World under the same name. Bagura had already appeared in Bomberman '94 and Super Bomberman 3 by that time. Baguro is distinctly different from Bagura not necessarily in his size and shape, but in the fact that he has no beard, whereas both aforementioned versions of Bagura had a beard... Anyway, that's just what I think. Who knows.

I know, I know, I need to start translating those guides you scanned... I've just been really busy with other things. But, here's what it says about Baguro...

バグラ-
Bagura

特ちょう
能力
Special Ability[?]

ぱにボンの最終ステ-ジで出現. 格闘
ゲ-ムが大好きというヤツで, その強さも
なかなか. 積むスピ-ドも速い.
Appears in the final stage of Panic Bomber. His strength is said to be in fighting games, which he loves. Also, his stacking speed is fast.

[Caption 1]
かなり手ごわい
Considerably tough

[Caption 2]
やられる寸前
On the verge of defeat

攻略法
Screenshots

[Left]
すばやく3連鎖以上をつ
くって消していく, 強敵.
大連鎖はあまりしない.
Quickly clears chains of 3 or more, a formidable enemy. He does not make large chains often.

[Right]
アイテムがあればいいけ
ど... とにかくいつものよ
うに確実に消して行こう.
[I'm really not sure what this says, exactly. It seems to say something about using items and how that will usually be of help to defeat him.]

First, you may be wondering about the whole "fighting game" or "beat-em-up game" thing. All the Panic Bomber World characters have one of those little things about them when they appear in the game (the lower text box, name is on top and "fact" is on bottom). Anyway, nothing about his origins here.

Here's Bagura's "fact" from the in-game text, though:

格闘ゲ-ムがとくい
Good at fighting games

OFF-TOPIC:
Click! Because I don't think anybody really saw this... All but one of the views are my own. Maybe the sub-forum icons should be more noticable?...

That's a pretty cool spritesheet you did... was the mystery about the secret final boss for that game ever solved?

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Metroid: Other M - As in "There's the good Metroid games... we chose to do one of some Other Make altogether."

Nope... Well, I've looked through all the tiles before, and I never saw any more sprites for Bagura than what he has in the two boss cutscenes. I think that's probably why I opened up the tiles in the first place. So, I don't believe that there is really a secret boss... If there was, it would be pretty freaking difficult to get to anyway, since getting a really high score and completing the game without dying don't do anything.

Actually, all three versions of Panic Bomber with Baguro in it were released before Super Bomberman 3 (SBM3 came out in April 1995, PB came out in December 1994), though I assume they were all developed around the same time. I'd like to think it's probably explained in some manga or something, but I think I just like to cling onto theidea that it's officially explained somewhere so we won't have to start throwing theories around the place.
In that thread I posted a few findings among the tiles, but I didn't see anything that looked like an unused boss, though I'll have to double check it again. It's a pity the game doesn't have a debug mode like Metal Slug or Shock Troopers 2, as that would solve all our issues. Loving the sprite sheet, by the way, though knowing me I'll probably attempt a rip myself sometime with the body and head separated, just because I'm a horrible completist. =P

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Thought so.

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Metroid: Other M - As in "There's the good Metroid games... we chose to do one of some Other Make altogether."

Oh, that's true... but in any case, I still don't think he was supposed to be Bagura...

On a side note, Panic Bomber World's story clearly states that it takes place after Bomberman has defeated the Fiendish Bomber 5. But, then Pretty Bomber shows up in the game! Then, in the next game (Super Bomberman 3), Pretty Bomber's back in the ship wreckage, waiting to be revived. What...

Oh hey, I saw your other Neo Bomberman findings on your website, pretty awesome. Somehow I missed your post, though. I'll post in the other thread.

EDIT: I've got all but 2 of the Neo Bomberman ridable enemy characters translated; well, those that are listed, anyway. From left to right, top to bottom on this page:

ドキューン - Dreadnought
ガイコッツー - Skeleton
チャージ - Charge
ヌチャ - Nucha
リッジレザ- - Razoredge
ダチョン - Ostrich
トリさん - Bird-san/Mr. Bird
オンブー - Carry
タマゴン - Egg
バケタマ - Baketama

Also, I think that perhaps the character on Hayate Bomber's forehead may be this:
炎 - Fire/Blaze

I guess Panic Bomber World may be postponed to after SBMan 3 (making the latter an interquel, essentially).


I was told that it meant fast hand, signifying his being a thief.
Guess that might have been wrong.

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Metroid: Other M - As in "There's the good Metroid games... we chose to do one of some Other Make altogether."

That could be, after all the games were only released about a month apart. Presumably that would make them both under development at the same time.

I remember you saying something about "fast hand", but I can't find it anywhere. Do you know who said it? Although, Hayate is not necessarily a thief, he turns into a fake bomb.

It was David  

He was good enough to translate Ys(1 and 2) and Bomberman GB 3, but I seem to remember him not being too sure about those two kanjis.

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Metroid: Other M - As in "There's the good Metroid games... we chose to do one of some Other Make altogether."

Oh...

Yeah, I don't question his translating ability. The problem here is that the kanji in question is so fancified, it could be a number of things.

EDIT: Okay, I forgot about this, but "hayate" means "hurricane". So, I propose that we start calling Hayate Bomber "Hurricane Bomber" or "Squall Bomber" (not "Gale Bomber", that sounds feminine >_>).

Or, I guess we could just stick to "Hayate". After all, we've got fricking Cyclone Bomber and Hurricommander to deal with already.

Yeah, that's what he said too about the kanji being difficult to discern.

Squall Bomber... dammit Zaphe, now I got the urge to edit a picture of the main character from Final Fantasy VIII into a Bomber  

Seriously though, he doesn't display any wind related abilities, so to make sure that he's no confused with those other two (and because I'm used to it) I'd just continue using Hayate.

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Metroid: Other M - As in "There's the good Metroid games... we chose to do one of some Other Make altogether."

Lol, I was reminded of Squall as well... I haven't even played that game before.

Ooh, the side of me that wants to translate everything really wants to translate his name, but on the other hand, his name really makes no sense and has nothing to do with him, and just complicates the list of wind-related Bomberman names... Arrrgh!  

Seems like there was something else I was going to say before I got here. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what it may have been.

Yeah, I think we're best just sticking to the name of the source material - considering the cabinet artwork even spells Hayate in katakana, we shouldn't argue with that. Similarly, Cat Bomber is still Cat Bomber in Japanese, so you can safely whack anyone who tries to call her Neko Bomber =P Though on that subject, what's the second part of Honey's name on that piece of art? Honey's name is normally just ハーニ when I see it, but that adds another three letters to it that I haven't identified yet.
I can't imagine this being high on anyone's list of concerns, but I think I got the rest of the voice actors for Panic Bomber through a bit of guesswork, mostly because a lot of them did other Bomberman games and media. The only one giving me hassle is Junko H.; there's no voice acting Junko H-s listed on the Anime News Network, though I'm hardly dying to find out or anything.

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I love the wallpapers in some of these games, Ragey. I had started grabbing out some of them myself since they tickled me so but my patience was not nearly as great as yours. lol I read all the pages you have online and think you have done a great job on the info and visual data for people to peruse. :idea: Good to see someone with the stamina to keep going and sort out the details, making use of all the online contacts you have and such to aid in that quest.

Speaking of which, I have Super Bomberman 5 on the way, with box and manual so if you do not have the scans of that by then I can get you that easily. The manuals are simple as pie to scan. It is sort of an early xmas gift from my wife though I picked it out. Found a good deal well short of the $100 some people are trying to get and jumped on it. I am trying to flesh out my SFC titles since playing them on the PS2 SNES emulator is hit or miss. Last time we tried the multitap would not detect player 3 and 4, so we had to settle for rotating in everyone. Fail. The upside is I still have my real SNES with tabs snapped to play SFC games, and can use my bomberman multitap finally in a party setting.  

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Thanks very much, DB! I admit I've personally been a bit worried that the site is too much technical jargon and data and not enough actual reading material, though I guess when I try and limit my personal hyperbole in favour of being punctual and factual (most of the time!) it's kind of expected to be like that. I've loved the extensive reviews you do at your place (I never got replying to your email, but you can use whatever materials you want for it! Gotta share the wealth~). Looking forward to the Super Bomberman 5 scans, and I'm most envious of your ownership of a SFC, and the ability to rope people into playing Bomberman! I haven't had a good 4-player match of anything for a few years now. SO RONERY
I got the Japanese text from the Virtual Boy version of Panic Bomber; the Red Dragon emulator has got some very nifty features! First batch, second batch, third batch and the last two. Aaaand it's only now I realised two of those images have the cursor overlapping some text. Whoops. I hope that's still legible!

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You know I've had the SB5 manual all this time... I didn't think anybody was really wanting to see it that bad since it's been translated before...

Honey's name just says, ハニーちゃん, or "Honey-chan". So it's just Honey.

Is that Panic Bomber text from the entire game?

I don't know if there's a proper ending per se, but it definitely contains all the character dialogue and their descriptions.

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Ragey, yeah I never could compete on complete factual data or design of other websites not being down with the language(s). Plus I would stop work or lose harddrives of work. I got burned out of losing data and gave up then restarted. Would never upload enough to the hosting I have. heh It's a fun little side project but I have too many. My noise music efforts and doodling efforts, among others.

I commend you all for your talent in uncovering the details and translations in general though. I tip my magical hat of slackerdom to ye. You are all more awesome than we shall comprehend. A gentleman knows when he has been bested.   Now all I need is that Shiro with a tophat, monocle, and mustache as an emoticon and I'll be set.

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Already made in advance!

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hehe Yeah, that's the one. Maybe someday we will have him and 3 other new ones added as emoticons of the left side options. Until then...there is always that.

That whole proper gentleman look is perfect for some Bomberman time machine game where you go throughout history trying to chase down some foe. Your first task in each area being obtaining proper attire to blend in. One era would be Victorian with steampunkish Bombercontraptions, and hopefully a cameo by Sherlock Bomberman. The far future with light-based everything instead of physical built environments would be cool. Bombercavemen would be pretty rad in another era. I would like to see Tyras again displayed as prominent accessory characters. You could have minigames thrown in in every era so it would be like NES Caveman Games in the Stone Age level.   Maybe the foe is some manner of master of disguises who helped you all along beat on his cronies.

Sort of off topic I guess, but in the manuals are such character variations ever mentioned? The Sherlock Shiro, the Gentleman Shiro, etc. I have seen a lot of manuals but maybe you all have seen more, or noticed game text I did not/the Japanese text references them. I do not really recall getting cues as to why they appeared as such, just saw it as an amusing wallpaper/scenery decoration. The jungle-thrashing, whip-slashing Shiro is easy enough to gather from the level design and plots of some games of course since he is an actual character in more a rugged outfit and not decoration.

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