"In the infinitely expanding universe... This is where energy unfathomable... to human kind is overflowing... In the search for this unknown energy... many researchers have challenged outer space... The time is Cosmic Year 200X..."
Bomberman Generation is the first
Bomberman title for the
Nintendo Gamecube, released in 2002. Developed by
Game Arts, it was the fourth fully-3D game in the Bomberman series following the three
Nintendo 64 titles.
note Bomberman 64, Bomberman Hero, and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack. Fifth if you include the Japan-only Bomberman 64In the story, Dr. Ein sends a space freighter to collect the "
Bomb Elements", six crystals with unfathomable power, to bring to Planet Bomber so he can study them. However the
Hige Hige Bandits, led by
Big Bad Mujoe, attack the freighter, scattering the crystals across Tentacalls; the Bandits are on the move to find the crystals, meanwhile teaming up with Bomberman's rivals, the Crush Bombers. Ein sends Bomberman out to fight off the Hige Hige Bandits and the Crush Bombers, lest they find the Bomb Crystals and send the universe into peril.
Generation was also one of the first Gamecube titles to use
Cel Shading, and it was one of the first Bomberman titles to use complete voice acting. Regardless, longtime Bomberman fans probably just stuck to the
multiplayer.
The game had a
Spiritual Successor in the form of
Bomberman Jetters, which played like a watered-down version of
Generation while instead being a
Recursive Adaptation of the
Bomberman Jetters anime.
This game provides examples of:
- Artificial Stupidity: It is fully possible for enemies with ranged attacks to kill each other. The player need only catch the mook's attention and line themselves up behind one of its friends.
- Ax Crazy: Assault Bomber. From the moment he crashes into the arena in a freaking meteor and you hear his insane cackle, to him trying to fill you full of lead while laughing maniacally, to him flying all over the arena shooting enough bombs to level a small town without much care for anything resembling accuracy, it's pretty clear that the guy is absolutely unhinged.
- Big Bad: Mujoe.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Bomberman has a very intense-looking pair through the entire game.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Some of the phrasing in the game is noticeably awkward. Just read the page quote; it's from the intro.
- Boss Only Level
- Calling Your Attacks: The Crush Bombers
- Constructor-X. "I will destroy you... with my Laser Blade!"
- Cel Shading
- Combining Mecha: Constructor-X
- Continuing Is Painful: When you die, you lose all of your powerups. It is actually smarter to not continue, as you will retain the powerups if you simply quit to the title screen and reload the save.
- Dark Chick: Beauty Bomber
- Demoted to Extra: Pommy was a semi-playable main character in Bomberman 64: The Second Attack, but in this game he is just a Charabom. He would stay that way for the rest of the franchise.
- Elemental Powers:
- Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Stegodon and Dorako
- Expy: The Crush Bombers are largely these to the Four Bomber Kings from Super Bomberman 4.
- Friendly Rivalry: Between Bomberman and Max. Max intends to fight the Hige Hige Bandits on his own terms, but he will occasionally drop in to lend a hand, particularly during a difficult boss fight.
- Heart Container: One of the two collectibles alongside Lightning Cards.
- Humongous Mecha: Constructor-X, who qualifies for Super Robot-hood with:
- A Drill Rocket Punch.
- Drill hand opening up to reveal a Laser Blade which, when swung, spontaneously causes explosions for no apparent reason (other than it's cool).
- Calling Out Attacks. Some of them are almost incomprehensible, but the point still stands.
- It's formed by two talking construction vehicles who are brothers or have pilots that are brothers. The combination sequence reeks of Super Robot.
- 100% Completion: Collecting all of the Lightning Cards unlocks Max in multiplayer, who plays no differently than the Bombers.
- Hurricane of Puns: The devs took every chance to make squid and octopus puns in the level and world names, even when they made no sense. They even managed to make a "Tako"*
short for "takoyaki": grilled octopus
and "taco" pun for Tako Desert by having the Higes and ghost enemies wear sombreros. - I Was Just Passing Through/Think Nothing of It: Max will sometimes aid you during a boss fight by taking out a full heart of the boss' health and giving you a full heart healing item. Either of the two tropes apply depending on what he says afterward.
"No thanks needed"
- Large Ham: Mujoe.
- Larynx Dissonance: Bomber Elite is voiced by a woman in both the Japanese and English versions. They make no effort to sound male, thus copious amounts of Viewer Gender Confusion.
- Bomberman himself, though it's easier to suspend your disbelief with him.
- Let's Play: One is on the LP Archive by
TheStrawhatNO. - Mineral MacGuffin: The Bomb Elements.
- Mecha-Mooks: The Hige-Higes.
- Mission Control / The Professor: Professor Ein.
- Mon: The Charaboms, which are used to enhance Bomberman's abilities.
- Nice Hat: The Higes occasionally wear hats, including sombreros and Metool-esque hard hats. Ghosts in Tako Desert also wear sombreros.
- Oh Crap: In the multiplayer mode, the characters will say some things when they realize they're stuck between bombs, like:
Oh no!!!
AAAAHHHHHH!!!
- Pokémon Speak
- Gratuitous Japanese: Unlike most everything else in the game, the Charaboms' voices were not dubbed in English. They're still just saying their names, but they say them very Engrish-ey.
- Pickup Hierarchy:
- Primary: The Bomb Elements
- Secondary: Charaboms, Bomb Merge items/bombs
- Tertiary: Powerups, Charabom food
- Extra: Lightning Cards, Heart Containers
- Polygon Ceiling: If Bomberman didn't break through with the N64 titles, he managed it with this.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Crush Bombers.
- Shifting Sand Land: Tako Desert, complete with quicksand and Mayincatec-esque architecture.
- The Smurfette Principle: Beauty Bomber. Not only is she the only female in the Crush Bombers, she's the only female in the game (though you'd be forgiven for thinking Bomber Elite was a girl).
- Spiritual Successor: Bomberman Jetters
- Standard Evil Organization Squad: The Hige Hige Bandits.
- Violation of Common Sense: "Jump in the quicksand!"
- Year X: The game is set in Cosmic Year 200X.
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