Your familiarity with Bomb Jack likely depends not just on which decade you grew up in, but your country of residence too. This colourful single screen action platformer was a hit in arcades during the mid ‘80s, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Pac-Land, Mr. Do and Ghosts ‘n Goblins. It was in Europe that Bomb Jack really exploded, though, as Elite brought it to several home computer systems – mostly with decent results. If you owned a C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga or Atari ST, you probably came across it at some point.
If you’re only learning of Bomb Jack now – which went on to gain sequels through Elite and a belated Game Boy conversion – that’s understandable, as it isn’t quite as cherished as Taito’s single screen classics. It isn’t a franchise that receives regular modern updates either, with its last airing being 2015’s Arcade Archives re-release of the original.
Bomb Jack Twin graced arcades in 1993 via NMK, with its most noticeable feature – by quite some margin – is that it supported two players simultaneously. Other than seeing a generational leap in visuals, going from 8-bit to 16-bit quality, it’s more or less a remake of the original.
For those unaware, Bomb Jack entails collecting bombs while avoiding enemies, with much of the game’s nuance residing in how it controls. Our Superman-esque hero is able to fly to the top of the screen in a single button push before gracefully floating back down. This allows you to zoom up and down the screen in a speedy fashion, avoiding most platforms entirely. Only a single button is used, and enemies can only be defeated by collecting a power-up that bounces around. Once every bomb has been collected, you’re off to the next level – each of which have a different layout and a well-known landmark as a backdrop.
Like all good arcade games, Bomb Jack Twin has a score chasing element. Some bombs are lit, which initially gives many players the false impression they need to be collected in order or in good time. While this may have livened things up, lit bombs instead help boost your score, with the idea being to collect 23 for a ‘perfect’ score boost. The aforementioned power-up will also turn all enemies into score-boosting tokens. The more enemies on screen, the more tokens you’re able to generate. Bomb collecting bonus rounds feature too, set against very tight time limits where each second is a mere split second. I’d even question if later bonus rounds are achievable, as many grant just ten seconds to collect dozens of bombs.
Bomb Jack Twin’s biggest flaw is that it doesn’t know when to call it a day. I played the arcade mode for way over an hour, surpassing level 50, and quickly noticed that stages were repeating. The only thing making them trickier is the number of enemies, which eventually appear in their dozens and will patrol almost every platform. If they reach the ground, they then turn into a UFO that homes in on your location, almost guaranteeing a lost life. Stages are intended to last around 30 seconds each, and by level 40 onwards, almost every enemy will turn into a UFO instantly – with your only shot at success being to grab the power-up the moment it appears. This makes it feel very much like a ‘90s coin muncher rather than an ‘80s classic reliant on skill.
All is not lost, however. As this is an Arcade Archives re-release it includes a bunch of modes and settings to toggle, such as the number of extra lives. Those modes include a five minute Caravan Mode with online leaderboards, a Hi Score challenge mode that grants just a single life, and a Time Attack mode with checkpoints and online functionality. As these involve playing the game fresh, when there are fewer enemies on screen, the score chasing elements here feel far fairer than the late stages of the standard arcade mode.
While I can’t see a full blown Bomb Jack revival being on the cards (Koei Tecmo owns the rights nowadays), it’s neat that one of the lesser known entries in the series is available on modern platforms. You’ll need a lot of persistence to tackle the arcade mode, which genuinely feels like it’s never going to end, but most gamers weaned on single screen platformers should find solace in the new modes Hamster has implemented. Modern features have saved the day here.
Hamster’s Arcade Archives 2 Bomb Jack Twin is out now on PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2. A standard version is available for PS4 and Switch.