Bombergirl

Bombergirl

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Developer(s): Konami Digital Entertainment Publisher(s): Konami Platform(s): Arcade Release date(s): August 30, 2018 Genre(s): Action, maze, strategy Mode(s): Single player, multiplayer

Bombergirl (ボンバーガール bonbāgāru) is a Bomberman spin-off video game developed by Konami and released exclusively in arcades across Japan.

Arcade Cabinet

The game is played on a standard arcade cabinet. A player may insert a credit to play the game. A player who uses an e-Amusement pass (a special smart card used in Konami's arcade games) may save game data, including customizable content.

Modes

There are four modes in Bombergirl:

• Online Battle - Compete online in 4 versus 4 battles. The game is networked across Japan.
• Locker Room - The player can customize their skills, chat voice, Bombergirl's appearance, and more.
• Single Battle - Various single-player challenges are available.
• Tutorial - Learn the basics of how to play Bombergirl.

Maps

The following sets of maps have been featured in the game:

• Aquablue Castle
• Bomb Town
• Christmas Town
• Cyberspace
• Halloween Town
• Holy Evil Ruins
• Karakuri Castle
• KONAMI Arcade Championship
• Panic Island
• QMA Collab Town

Characters

Bombergirl contains a growing roster of playable characters. There are four types of characters:

• Bomber (ボマー bomā) - Can place a lot of bombs.
• Attacker (アタッカー atakkā) - Can execute short-ranged attacks.
• Shooter (シューター shūtā) - Can execute long-ranged attacks.
• Blocker (ブロッカー burokkā) - Specializes in defense and obstruction.

Roster

Bomber
Shiro	Kuro
Shiori Fujisaki	Grey
Shiron	N/A

Attacker
Oren	Urushi
Sepia	Asagi
N/A	N/A

Shooter
Emera	Papuru
Tsugaru	Pastel
Olive	N/A

Blocker
Momoko	Aqua
Grim Aloe	Pine
Prune	N/A

Skills

Gathering Team XP items will gradually boost the Team Level, which impacts all team members. Each character has at least two skills that are unlocked at specific Team Levels. Only two Skills may be set to the control panel, but if a player owns three or more of a Bombergirl's Skills, they may swap the set Skill with a reserve Skill by pressing the button above the Skill button (see Controls).

After activating a Skill, there is a cooldown period before it may be used again. This cooldown period is also triggered if a Skill is swapped out for another one. The same Skill cannot be set to both buttons, so two different Skills will always be set to the control panel.

Non-Playable Characters

Honey makes cameo appearances on in-game menus and in the comics.

Gameplay

Bombergirl is a MOBA-style 4 versus 4 cooperative battle game. Each player must work together with their team members to achieve victory. The object of the game is to deplete the enemy team's Power Gauge (勢力ゲージ seiryoku gēji) to 0 and destroy the enemy base.

Each team begins in a 5x5 square near their base. When gameplay begins, players can place bombs to destroy blocks and gather the items that are hidden within. Collecting Team XP items will boost the Team Level, unlocking special skills for all team members, which can be used to gain an advantage over the enemy.

Players progress by bombing and destroying the enemy's gates and towers in order to reach the enemy base. Bombing the enemy base will deplete the enemy's Power Gauge. Once the enemy's Power Gauge has reached zero, the Detonation Button may be pressed in order to destroy the enemy base and win the game.

The player's team and team objects are depicted in blue, while the enemy's team and objects are depicted in red. Likewise, bomb blasts from allies are blue, while enemy blasts are red. Enemy blasts deal damage, but if the player character is hit by a blue blast, she will only be stunned and unable to act for a short amount of time (thus, it is impossible to harm one's own allies). Additionally, blue blasts will not damage blue towers or gates, or the ally base - they will only damage enemy objects.

Objects

Game Objects
Base ベース? bēsu	Bring the enemy's Power Gauge to 0 and press the Detonation Button to destroy the enemy's base and win the game. Protect your own base. When you are standing inside your base, you sustain less damage from enemy attacks.
Tower/Respawn Point タワー/リスポーンポイント? tawā/risupōn pointo	Destroy the enemy's tower (left) and it will turn into a respawn point (right). When your HP reaches zero, you will be eliminated for a brief amount of time, after which you will respawn at the respawn point nearest to the enemy base (each team begins the game with one respawn point near their own base). If a block is placed over the 5x5 square area of the respawn point, it will deactivate and become unusable until all obstacles are cleared from it.
Gate ゲート? gēto	Gates are comprised of two blocks, each which can fire a Shock Ball (ショックボール shokku bōru) at the enemy. Ally gates are passable, but enemy gates are not. Enemy gates can be destroyed with bombs.
Supporter サポーター? sapōtā	Supporters are basic enemy characters who generally appear in the shape of Minbos. They spawn at bases and towers, and loiter aimlessly around those objects as defense units. When an enemy draws near, a Supporter will become visibly angry and begin to pursue her. Enemy Supporters deal contact damage, while ally Supporters are freely pasaable. Supporters may be destroyed with a single blast, but will slowly respawn so long as their tower or base is still active.

Items

Bombergirl arcade cabinetes.

The following items may appear when blocks are destroyed:

Game Objects
BOM	Increases the number of bombs a player can place.
FIRE	Increases the length of the player's bomb blasts.
SPEED	Increases player's movement speed.
Team XP チーム経験値? chīmu keikenchi	Gradually increases Team Level.

A Heart item also exists, which replenishes health. It is not officially documented.

Rush Time

If the difference between the two teams' Power Gauges is too great, Rush Time (ラッシュタイム rasshu taimu) will activate for the losing team. When this happens, all team members' HP is fully restored. While the effect lasts, all team members' bomb count, firepower, and speed stats greatly increase, and skill charge time is greatly reduced. Rush Time can only be invoked once per team in each battle.

Screen Overview

The image to the right depicts the typical game screen, with the following features:

1. Power Gauge
2. Team Level
3. Remaining Time
4. Stats
5. Current Bombergirl
6. Bombergirl in play
7. Chatlog
8. Status Button

Controls

The control panel.

The image to the right depicts the control panel:

• Stick: Movement.^? Left.
• Bomb Button: Place a bomb.^? First button, lower-right.
• Skill Buttons: Use a special skill.^? Second & third buttons, lower-right.
• Detonation Button: When the enemy's Power Gauge is at 0, press this while within range to destroy the base and win the game.^? Upper-middle button.
• Return Button: After a few seconds, return to the base.^? Upper-right button.
• Chat Button: Send messages to friends.^? Bottom row.

Chat

A row of ten chat panels is set up at the bottom of the control panel. By tapping a chat panel, a player can send a message to friends. Messages can also be sent by tapping the button at the top of the map. Chat panels can be customized in the Locker Room screen by tapping the red arrow above each chat panel.

Results

There are two ranking systems in Bombergirl:

• Player Class (プレーヤークラス purēyākurasu) - Points are gained upon victory and lost upon defeat. The more points a player accrues, the higher their class becomes, which is intended to indicate their skill level. At the initial "Beginner Class" (ビギナークラス biginākurasu), a player can only network with friends.
• Bombergirl Rank (ボンバーガールランク bonbāgāru ranku) - As a player continues to play as a certain Bombergirl, her rank will increase. At certain ranking levels, new Chat Voices will be unlocked.

Bomber Gacha

After each game, the player gets one try at the Bomber Gacha (ボンバーガチャ bonbā gacha). New Bombergirls, Skills, Chat Voices, and Dress Up items may be earned through this minigame. By inserting additional credits, a player is able to pull the gacha multiple times to earn more rewards. If the same item is obtained more than once, the player will earn CP, which can be exchanged for items in the CP Shop (CPショップ CP shoppu), available through the Locker Room.

List of Bomber Gacha items

New items are periodically added to the Bomber Gacha during special events. Each event only runs for a short amount of real-world time, during which certain item-types may be locked (e.g. when a character is obtained, it is a specific one) and certain items may appear that cannot be obtained normally once the event is over. Events tend to be advertised on the official Twitter account and on the news feed of the offical website. Additionally, characters' birthdays tend to be celebrated with events.

List of Bombergirl Events

Comics

Comics are occasionally posted on the official Twitter account.

Bombergirl comics

Development

When designing Bombergirl, Konami staff decided to use "cute female characters" in the hopes of attracting more attention from gamers. Some concept art appears to show very different character designs, though the context and chronology for them is currently unknown. In an interview, a staff member suggested the possibility of adding male characters in consideration of female gamers, but said that it was undecided.

On a scanned page containing design concept sketches for the character Shiro, posted on the official Twitter account for the game, in the lower-right corner, the names of a number of pre-existing female Bomberman characters can be seen, including Lady Bomber, Cutie Bomber, Lewysia, Lily (Lilith), Capella (Artemis), Mermaid Bomber, Aqua Bomber, and Misty. It is currently unknown whether or not these writings were significant to the conceptualization of the game at some point in time.

Bombergirl first debuted at JAEPO 2017. On August 18, 2018, a PC port of the game was announced. The PC version is planned to be able to communicate with the arcade version, so that both arcade and PC players can play with each other over the network.

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  Concept art shown at an event on August 18, 2018.

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  Names of pre-existing Bomberman characters are at the lower-right.

Gallery

View Gallery

External links

• ボンバーガール Official website