Hello again!
Why, is this Saturn Bomberman?
It is! But this time...
I'll be showcasing a different mode.
The MASTER MODE!
I'll just be popping a a quick run-through of it. No speed running, no pro gaming, just playing and trying to not be a bore.
(that's the challenging bit!)
I'm playing the Japanese version, so you might be smothered in a bit of moonspeak. I'll try and translate the important stuff.
"A lone Bomberman is about to enter the temple, to face the ultimate challenge of the Way of the Bomb."
Translation lifted from the English version.
Also, the text scrolls upwards in that version. It's like a whole different culture!
The first floor! Let's show these monsters who's boss!
It's pretty familiar gameplay. Fry the baddies to open the exit. No surprises.
What makes Master Mode stand out is the emphasis on score.
The Normal Game had a score, but it was for, like, extra lives and stuff, I guess???
It didn't even keep track of it, for cryin' out loud.
Master Mode has a high score table, and it WANTS you to show what you're made of.
Completing stages quickly gets you a big Time Bonus...
... and frying multiple baddies in one blast gets you a fat multiplier bonus.
And that's your Master Mode recipe right there!
There's 20 floors to go through, and the level setups are always the same.
You're always going to find the same items in the same locations, and so forth.
Thus, you want to plot the best path through the floors if you want to clear them quickly and efficiently.
Let's explain the end-of-level score tally!
Every second left on the timer is worth 50 points, so I get a 4550 point Time Bonus.
The score on the left was the level's high score, and the one on the right was mine. I didn't beat it. =(
This level's a bit of a lark.
It took only 14 seconds to smash those Terupyos, but you can waste the entire time limit trying to clear those soft blocks.
There's a Heart in them somewhere, but it ain't here.
On every fourth floor is a fight with one of the Masters. 
And here's the first one!
This chappy is called the Bomber Bomb Deity.
(or Bomber Bomb Kami if you wanna be pedantic about your translations)
He's a dude made entirely out of bombs.
Also he can separate his head from his body.
And turn his body into a bomb. It's not a very effective attack, though.
Be careful when laying lines of bombs. He might kick a bomb and detonate them instantly.
And here's his last attack - shooting four Rubber Bombs across the room.
It's not very good either.
I admit I'm letting these bosses show off their moves before toasting them.
Only a couple of bosses have measures to prevent you just relentlessly bombing the snot out of them.
And he's down!
...
Take your time, guv'.
RINKY DINK DINK HIGH SCOOOOOOORE
Here comes the second batch of floors!
These squirmy dudes are Boyons. They were all over the place in Bomberman II and Bomberman for PC-Engine.
They're worth a whopping 10 points.
I'm not sure if it's even worth trying to chain-bomb them for multiplier points...
... but I'm no pro. If there's any Saturn Bomberman Master Game pros in the audience, let me know!
YO BOMBER GO GRAB THAT BIGASS APPLE
Apples are worth 1000 points, and ice creams are worth 4000 points.
I don't go out of my way to grab them, but I assume they plump up your score ve'y nicely.
It's a Bomb Kick!
Unlike Hearts and Bomb Ups and so on, power-up items like Bomb Kicks only last until the end of the level.
So don't get attached, or else you'll be blowing yourself up rather foolishly come the next floor.
DON'T DO IT NOOOOOO
... it seemed like a good idea at the time.
All the enemies in Master Mode are plucked from the older games.
For interpretations of tiny, crappy sprites, they all look particularly nifty in this game.
The only oddity is Ballom up there, the mascot enemy of the series.
They are always a vivid orange, but for whatever reason in this game are coloured a strange off-red hue.
Just weird, is all.
Here's our second Master!
His name translates as Bomber Debugon...
"Debu" means "fat", but the "gon" part is lost on me.
His main schtick is using that stick of his for nefarious purposes.
Throwing it like a boomerang can detonate bombs, and you just saw him using it to fly earlier.
His dumb projectiles are nothing to worry about.
What you should worry about is him shielding your bomb blasts.
Like this!
It's not a perfect defence - you can chain bombs behind him, or even underneath his stick, and he can't do a thing to stop you.
Get out of here.
A new threat approaches!
ENEMY GENERATORS.
Those glowy blue light things need sorted out fast, or else they'll spawn more Pontans.
It depends on the level, of course, but it's usually Pontans.
Whoops.
This is when the game wants you to start abusing the Power Glove.
Without it, this would be a pretty slow-going stage.
I could've beaten that score if I'd grabbed those ice creams.
New foes!
The penguins (Pegi, I think?) are pretty unremarkable. Minvo likes to speed up occasionally for no discernible reason.
Yeah, there's not much reason commenting on them, is there?
You want to visit this side first, not just because there's less enemies...
... but so you can get your paws on the REMOTE CONTROL!
It's not quite as amazing since it only lasts until the end of the level, but it's such a thrill having it, y'know?
Third boss!
It's Bomber Jokkii!
His name also gives me grief. "Jokkii" is just katakana for "jockey"...
... but it can also mean "beer mug" or "beer stein".
And the dude's clearly a drunk.
Look at him go!
I can't think of a decent way of translating his name, unless you really just want to call him "Bomber Beer Mug".
Which would be kind of funny.
So, what's he capable of?
We've seen him swig his swill and run like mad, as well as fire a beer projectile.
And he just blocked my bomb with his tankards, the dirty swine.
He can also fall asleep and generate "Z" clouds, but I've no idea what that does.
If you just kill the baddies, this floor can be done rather quickly.
The right side of the map is jam-packed with points items, but getting to them can be slow going.
The Heart is all there is on the left side, except for a pair of Clogs to trip you up. If you're aiming for score, it's not worth it.
(though if you were aiming for score you'd probably ignore the hearts altogether)
If you're curious, I'm still playing the game via SSF (most accurate SEGA Saturn emulator around, it seems!)...
... but this time I'm using the closest equivalent I have to a SEGA Saturn Controller:
A Mad Catz Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV FightPad.
It's a pretty nifty controller! Its D-Pad isn't as nicely grooved as the Saturn's, but I'd dare say it's the best you can get without shelling out funny money for a 'real' USB Saturn pad.
The only real grief is, due to assigning the analogue triggers to face buttons, setting it up in some programs can be a bit troublesome.
In my Normal Game playthrough I used Joy2Key (and a Logitech Precision gamepad) to assign it to the right keys...
... but this time I'm using Xpadder. The interface can be a bit funny, but it's much simpler to set up controllers and a much better program, I'd dare say.
Joy2Key can be a bit funny with D-Pad commands, especially in precision platformers.
I used it for A Game With A Kitty, and if I tried to change direction mid-jump, I would just lose all momentum and fell like a rock.
Which isn't at all fun.
Xpadder doesn't seem to have that problem.
Have I mentioned Xpadder is pretty neat?
Our fourth Master! Nearly at the end, folks!
This fellow is Bomber Miyagi.
A homage to Mr. Miyagi, played by the late, great Pat Morita? NOBODY KNOWS
But yeah, this guy's pretty big on his energy projectiles.
Blasting them earns you points, so you could probably camp out here if it could top what you get from the time bonus.
We're on the final leg of the trek! DON'T STOP WATCHING YET
I always like it when games include little secondary modes like this.
Master Game may not have the level design or beautiful environments of the Normal Game...
... but it's nice to have an extra mode just for variety's sake, isn't it?
Like, your single player experience isn't just limited to playing Normal Game again, or fighting CPU opponents in battle mode. It's a neat mode, and a most appreciated gesture.
A few Bomberman games had extra modes like this, the first one that springs to mind being JUMP GAME, from Pocket Bomberman.
It was a lot of fun! More fun than the main game, I'd dare say.
Very, very simple, but short enough and engaging enough to keep you intrigued, even as just a really quick time killer.
I dig Master Game, but I think it should've taken a cue from the Jump Game and split itself into 'difficulties'.
Say, "Very Easy" for floors 1 to 4, "Easy" for Floors 5 to 8, and so on.
Seeing how far you can get is a fun challenge in itself, but it takes a few floors before they get interesting...
...and those are the ones you really want to see just how efficiently you can clear them.
But marathoning every level from the beginning every time is closer to old arcade principles, so idk.
Final boss time!
This fancy looking individual is Bomber Dragon.
He can shoot little flying dragon heads that slowly bounce around the area...
... but they haven't got a chance. Frying them earns you 2000 points!
After two hits he grows in size...
gets a ridiculous dragon head...
... and starts hopping around the place.
Those big leaps will detonate all bombs once he lands, and is a good way to score easy hits. Once there's not enough time for you to move in between his leaps, he usually stops, though.
He's more of a nuisance when he's skipping about like this, if just because you can't get a good shot at him.
Give him a wide berth when he's leaping to keep him doing it as long as possible. It's the easiest way to hit him.
You could probably earn more than you ever would from a time bonus by just bombing his projectile dragons, but that's a bore.
And he's done!
He only takes about six hits to defeat, so he's probably weaker than the other bosses. It's just a hassle securing those hits.
IT'S OVERRRR
Having mastered the Way of the Bomb, what lies in store for Bomberman?
Treasure? Glory? New challenges?
... none of the above.
Let's score tally!
My TOTAL SCORE was 211390...
My TECHNIQUE was worth 18640 points...
I cleared ALL THE FLOORS...
My time was 15 MINUTES and 31 SECONDS...
... and I can't read what my rank is.
It's probably something rad, though.
That's the Master Game!
I hope you enjoyed watching, and I wasn't too criminally boring.
No idea if there'll be more videos like this, but I'll see what happens.
I should probably finish its page on the site first.
Later!
