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...
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 series following the Nintendo 64 titles.note
In the story, Professor 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, Mujoe of the Hige Hige Bandits hired the Crush Bombers to attack the freighter, scattering the crystals across Planet Tentacalls; the villains are on the move to find and collect the crystals. Ein sends Bomberman out to fight them off, lest they find the Bomb Crystals and send the universe into peril.
Generation is also one of the first GameCube titles to use Cel Shading, and is one of the few Bomberman titles to use complete voice acting.
The game had a Spiritual Successor in the form of Bomberman Jetters, which played like a watered-down version of Generation while being a Recursive Adaptation of the Bomberman Jetters anime.
Bomberman Generation contains examples of:
- Affably Evil: Bomber Elite. For the leader of a nebulous mercenary group predominantly themed around explosives, he's surprisingly down-to-earth and playful, and even thanks Bomberman for a good fight when he loses to him.
- 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.
- Attack Drone: Beauty Bomber commands three of these as she fights. They resemble floating spotlights, and assist her in various ways - from acting as a shield to firing lightning as part of her "The Lure of Elegant Flash".
- 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.Assault Bomber: So.. are you BOMBERMAAAN!?!
(laughs maniacally, and forms himself) I... am the Master... ASSAULT... BOMBEEEEER! I am the Reaper of the Crush Bombers! And... I WILL DESTROY YOU! (takes aim and fires his Gatling Gun into the ground at Bomberman's feet, startling him) BY RIPPING, AND TEARING YOU APAAAAAAART! - Big Bad: Mujoe, returning from Saturn Bomberman and Bomberman Max 2.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Bomberman has a very intense-looking pair throughout the entire game. Notably, these are the same eyebrows that only show up when he's angry in other games (notably Bomberman Hero). So apparently, Bomberman is taking this game very seriously.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Some of the phrasing in the game is noticeably awkward. Just read the page quote; it's from the intro.
- There's also a few typos, with the most glaring one being a stage name: you apparently fight Bomber Elite on the "Phsyco Elevator". Evidently, Majesco skimped on the editing process to beat the Japanese release out the door.
- Blood Knight: Assault Bomber, without a doubt.Oh yeah? GO CRY TO YO MAMAAAAAAAA!
- Boss-Only Level: Every boss and sub-boss is fought in one of these. (The mini-bosses, however, tend to be fought at the end of their levels.)
- The Brute: Megaton Bomber.
- Calling Your Attacks: The Crush Bombers. Beauty and Eagle Bomber are especially guilty of it.Beauty Bomber: The Lure of Elegant Flash!Eagle Bomber: TWISTER! BUUUUUUUURN!Beauty Bomber: It's Gorgeous Showtiiiiiime!Eagle Bomber: PiiiiiiiiileDRIIIIIIIIIIVER!
- Constructor X. "I will destroy you... with my Laser Blade!"
- 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.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Most of the bosses explode when you beat them. However, it's averted with a few exceptions, who simply fade away after they're defeated.
- Dub Name Change: Dr. Ein evidently misplaced his doctorate for this game.
- A more obvious example is World 5, which isn't known as Majestar in Japan (as Majesco didn't publish the Japanese language version). It's Mujodethstar.
- Dumb Muscle: Megaton Bomber.
- Elemental Powers: The Attribute Bombs are these to the basic Fire Bombs.
- Making a Splash: Aqua Bombs.
- An Ice Person: Ice Bombs.
- Blow You Away: Wind Bombs.
- Light 'em Up: Light Bombs.
- Easter Egg: As seen here, using a Big Wind Bomb on Beauty Bomber for the first time in a battle against her will cause her to hold her skirt down and say "Ooh, that was intense!" in a sultry manner.
- Epic Flail: Megaton Bomber in World 1 wields a massive ball and chain that extends from his arm. He can either throw it forward, swing it around in a wide arc, or when he's down to his last few hearts, smash the floor with it to stun you and force you to drop any bombs you are currently carrying.Megaton Bomber: Megaton...CRUSH!
- Expy: The Crush Bombers are largely these of the Bomber Shitennou 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.
- Gratuitous French: If you leave a Big Bomb near Assault Bomber after he's done charging around on his tank tracks, he'll convert one of his Arm Cannons into a vacuum and suck it to him, quipping the below line just before he launches it back out with multiple mortar-like explosives.Assault Bomber: BON APPETIT!
- 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.
- Green Hill Zone: World 1, Tentasia.
- Hearts Are Health: The game uses a very The Legend of Zelda-style system for health. You have three large hearts (each consisting of four small hearts) to start out with, getting hit by attacks can take a maximum of one large heart at a time, and you can attain more maximum health via Heart Containers.
- Amusingly, the bosses use the exact same method of health indication - although instead of Bomberman's pink smiling hearts, the ones belonging to the bosses are pale blue with an angry scowl on them.
- Heart Container: One of the two main collectibles alongside Lightning Cards. Finding them all maxes out Bomberman's health meter from three big hearts to eight.
- Humongous Mecha: Constructor X, who qualifies for Super Robot-hood with:
- A Drill Rocket Punch.
- His drill hand opening up to reveal a Laser Blade which, when swung, spontaneously causes explosions for no apparent reason (other than that it's cool).
Constructor X: I will destroy you...WITH MY LASER BLAAAAAAADE!- 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 and even features a lawyer-friendly rendition of Combattler V's theme.
- 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 TakoDesert by having the bandit and ghost enemies wear sombreros.
- I Regret Nothing: Constructor X, upon defeat, will take a knee for a moment before standing proud with his drill arm held up in salute:Constructor X: Glory... to the Hige Hige... (thrusts his drill upward before collapsing seconds later) BANDIIIIITS!"
- I Was Just Passing Through: 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.MAX: What are you doing, Bomberman? (Spanish guitar riff, as he throws a Big Bomb at the boss) No thanks needed./Get a grip.
- Jet Pack: Eagle Bomber sports one, complete with wings of silver.Eagle Bomber: If you don't fear these beautiful wings of light silver... (Audible Gleam) ...THEN COME BATTLE WITH ME!
- Just Toying with Them: Bomber Elite does this for the first part of the battle, using the bare minimum of his powers on Bomberman for his own amusement. However, once you get him down to one heart...
- I Am Not Left-Handed: ...he'll pull out all the stops on you and the difficulty ramps up several times over. His attacks become a lot harder to avoid as well
- Large Ham: Mujoe. Dear God, is he ever. Especially during his Badass Boast at the end.Mujoe: I suppose I should commend you for making it this far! But praise you? NOOoOOOoOOOoOOO! Note
- CONSTRUCTOOOOOOOOOOR-X!
- Assault Bomber, beyond any conceivable measure. Seen here.
- CONSTRUCTOOOOOOOOOOR-X!
- Larynx Dissonance:
- Though Bomber Elite is clearly voiced by a woman in English, the character is referred to in dialogue as "he." (Elite's Japanese voice is male, although one with a softer and lighter tone (as seen in this NicoNico video at around 1:50). It should also be noted that Japanese Elite uses the male-associated first-person pronoun boku.)
- Bomberman himself, though it's easier to suspend your disbelief with him, in part because he's been voiced by women ever since he first acquired a voice in the series.
- Though Bomber Elite is clearly voiced by a woman in English, the character is referred to in dialogue as "he." (Elite's Japanese voice is male, although one with a softer and lighter tone (as seen in this NicoNico video at around 1:50
- Mineral MacGuffin: The Bomb Elements.
- Mecha-Mooks: The bulk of the Hige Hige Bandits.
- Mile-Long Ship: World 6, ArmorJoe.
- Mission Control: Professor Ein.
- Mon: The Charaboms, which are used to enhance Bomberman's abilities.
- Oh, Crap!: In the multiplayer mode, the characters will say something when they realize they're stuck between bombs, like...Oh no!AAAAAAARGH!
- Pickup Hierarchy:
- Primary: The Bomb Elements.
- Secondary: Charaboms, Bomb Merge items/bombs.
- Tertiary: Power-ups, Charabom food.
- Extra: Lightning Cards and Heart Containers.
- Pokémon Speak: The Charaboms.
- Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": In fitting with his character, Assault Bomber laughs like a complete maniac as he tries to fill you with lead from his gatling gun.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Crush Bombers.
- Red Baron: The Crush Bombers each have their own little title that they declare alongside their names, which follows the standard pattern of "The [something] of the Crush Bombers".
- Megaton Bomber - "The Strength of the Crush Bombers"
- Beauty Bomber - "The Red Jewel of the Crush Bombers"
- Eagle Bomber - "The Blue Falcon of the Crush Bombers"
- Assault Bomber - "The Reaper of the Crush Bombers"
- Bomber Elite - "The Leader of the Crush Bombers"
- Scarf of Asskicking: Bomberman (and playable bombers in Battle Game, for that matter) wears one exclusive to this game.
- Shifting Sand Land: World 3, TakoDesert, complete with quicksand and Mayincatec-esque architecture.
- Simpleton Voice: Megaton Bomber has this, in fitting with his Dumb Muscle status.Megaton Bomber: Here I, here I, here I come!
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Arctic Ice, the second part of World 2, OctoOcean.
- 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.
- Sore Loser: Beauty Bomber. After you defeat her, she'll throw a tantrum and complain that "this really stinks!" before exploding.
- Space Zone: World 5, Nekki Moon.
- Spell My Name With An S: "Charabon-Battle Program" is mentioned in the credits, but the rest of the game calls them Charaboms.
- Standard Evil Organization Squad: The Hige Hige Bandits.
- Under the Sea: Oceans, the first part of World 2, OctoOcean.
- Violation of Common Sense: "Jump in the quicksand!"
- Wrestler in All of Us: One of Eagle Bomber's moves involve using an airborne piledriver on you, if you get caught while he's flying around the arena.
- Year X: The game is set in Cosmic Year 200X.
