Editing Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!

|release={{release|Japan|August 10, 1994|USA|November 1994|Europe|June 29, 1995|Australia|June 29, 1995}}

|ratings={{ratings|esrb=K-A}}

|media={{media|gb=1}}

'''''Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!''''' (Japanese: ボンバーマンGB, ''Bonbāman Gēmu Bōi'') is a crossover game between the [[Wario (franchise)|''Wario'' franchise]] and [[Hudson Soft]]'s {{wp|Bomberman|''Bomberman''}} series that was released in 1994 and 1995 in North America and Europe, respectively. The game is a reskinned version of ''Bomberman GB'', which was released in Japan in August 1994. The ''Wario'' series theme was exclusively added to Western releases. Aside from Wario's presence, the game is mostly unchanged and plays like other ''Bomberman'' titles. The ''Bomberman GB'' released in the West is actually the Japanese ''Bomberman GB 2''.

 

The player takes the role of either [[Wario]] or [[Bomberman]] and fights against up to three copies of the other character. Wario's goal is to rob [[Bomberland]], while Bomberman's is to protect it. In every round, the player has to defeat the enemies by strategically placing [[Bomb (object)|bombs]], while the enemies are able to do the same.

'''Story from the instruction booklet'''<ref>''Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!'' North American instruction booklet, page 4.</ref>

:'''''WARIO INVADES THE LAND OF THE MADBOMBERS!'''<br /><br />Wario, in his constant search for new lands to conquer and trea-<br />sures to gain, has found the extra-dimensional portal<br />that links his world with the one that Bomberman<br />inhabits. Thinking that the Madbombers will make a<br />nice addition to his legions of mindless minions (as<br />well as a new source of funds for his nefarious<br />schemes), Wario steps through the gate... and soon<br />finds that the Madbombers are not quite the dim-wit-<br />ted flunkies he originally thought them to be!

After completing the game, regardless of which character the player chose, Bomberman rides a [[Moto|motorcycle]] across a canyon. Wario appears, also on a motorcycle, and the two chase each other back and forth indefinitely until the player resets the game.

[[File:WarioBlast.png|thumb|left]]

The player can choose to play as either Wario or Bomberman, but this does not change any aspects of gameplay, other than reversing the passwords for each level. There are eight rounds in total, including three regular levels and one boss level per round.

The game shares its objective with other ''Bomberman'' games. The player has to blow up between one to three opponent(s) via the use of bombs to advance, while they try to do the same to the player. The entire game is played from a top-down perspective. The player maneuvers around a grid-like playing field, setting off bombs to blow up unsuspecting enemies, and destroy walls to clear the way and to reveal occasional power-ups. The player wins by defeating the enemy [[Madbomber]]s (which take on the appearance of the character not chosen). Every level is played with a best-of-3 rule. If the player wins two times, they gain access to the next level. Failure to do so results in a [[Game Over]].

When playing the game on the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] with a [[Super Game Boy]], an additional multiplayer mode for up to four players is available, known as the Battle Mode.<ref>''"Of course, what would a Bomberman game be without a Battle Mode?"'' &mdash; ''Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!'' North American instruction booklet, pages 4 and 5.</ref> In this mode, two or more players are able to play against each other, with up to four players being supported using the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System#Super Multitap|Super Multitap]].

The game also contains a secret game mode called "[[The Battle]]" (not to be confused with the Battle Mode), available by entering the password 6565 on the title screen to play as Wario, or 5656 to play as Bomberman. The passwords to access this mode can be found in [[Burn Zone]]. In this mode, the player starts with all power-ups, and the goal is to defeat endless waves of opponents to obtain a high score.

At the end of each world, the player faces a boss. A certain strategy is required for each of them. The following list uses the names from ''[[Nintendo Power]]''{{'}}s coverage from the game in ''Volume 67'', with the exception of Pukupuku and Gururin Knight, whose names come from the original game ''Bomberman GB''.<ref>[http://www.hudson.co.jp/gamenavi/gamedb/softinfo/bomcole/Gb.html ''Bomberman GB'' (part of ''Bomberman Collection'') at Hudson's Japanese website]</ref>

*World 1: [[Cup King]]

*World 2: [[Top Man]]

*World 3: [[T-Bear]]

*World 4: [[P-Flower]]

*World 5: [[Thunder Cloud (Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!)|Thunder Cloud]]

*World 6: [[Pukupuku (Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!)|Pukupuku]]

*World 7: [[Gururin Knight]]

*World 8: [[Mad-Bomber]]

At first, [[Mario]] was considered as the protagonist of the game, but there were concerns that having him use bombs to defeat his enemies would be out-of-character.<ref name="noribomber">[https://twitter.com/nori_bomber/status/1365848274960146432 nori_bomber (Norio Obuko) on Twitter] (February 27, 2021). ''Twitter''. Retrieved February 28, 2021 ([https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1365874820395589638 English translation by PushDustIn])</ref> The development team pondered which [[Nintendo]] character who could feasibly use a bomb as a weapon and not be injured by its blast, eventually settling on [[Wario]].<ref name="noribomber"></ref> Even though Wario was a new character at the time, Nintendo sent the developers a list of approved and forbidden actions for the characters, which designer Norio Obuko likened to the approval process for using {{wp|Disney}} characters in term of strictness.<ref name="noribomber"></ref>

''Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!'' is not directly referenced in later games, but it began a trend in Nintendo spin-offs that associates Wario with [[Bomb (object)|bombs]]. Technically, bombs having any relevance to Wario first appeared in ''[[Wario's Woods]]'', but in this game, they are solely used against him. Beginning in ''[[Mario Party]]'', Wario has an association with [[Bob-omb]]s as his home stage, [[Wario's Battle Canyon]], features the landscape of a canyon wrought with explosions from a war between Bob-ombs and [[Bob-omb Buddy|Bob-omb Buddies]], which Wario appears to be manipulating out of greed. In ''[[Mario Party 3]]'', Wario's association with [[Bob-omb]]s continues, as one is his default partner in the game's duel mode. In ''[[Mario Tennis]]'', Bob-ombs line the walls in Wario's home stage, [[Wario Court]], as well as his joint venture with Waluigi, [[Wario & Waluigi Court]]. In ''[[Mario Kart: Double Dash!!]]'', Wario's special item is the Bob-omb. In ''[[Super Mario 64 DS]]'', Wario is one of the two characters who has a Bob-omb themed minigame in the [[Rec Room]]. In ''[[Mario Hoops 3-on-3]]'', Wario's home stage [[Wario Factory (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)|Wario Factory]] has several Bob-ombs (ones larger than the Bob-omb one gets as an item) that appear as stage-exclusive hazards for the players. In ''[[Mario Super Sluggers]]'', Wario hits a bomb in addition to a baseball as his special move. In the ''[[Club Nintendo (magazine)|Club Nintendo]]'' comics, Wario is the owner of a bomb shop. Lastly, the timer and logo for the minigames in the ''[[WarioWare (series)|WarioWare]]'' games is a bomb called the [[Bomb (WarioWare series)|Bomb]], with Wario's mustache on it.

WBFB The Battle Game Mode.gif|The "[[The Battle]]" game mode

|Jap=ボンバーマンGB

|JapR=Bonbāman Gēmu Bōi

|JapM=Bomberman GB