Space Bomber (Arcade)

Finally, the bombermen had enough with Konami so they went into space, away from it. Or Mann Co. have sent Demoman into a gigantic meteor so he can blow it into smithereens and save the day. Who else better to destroy space rock other than Demo? Bruce Willis and his crews like in Armageddon (1998)? Ach, no! Of course neither are the case of space bomber that i review. It's an Arcade vertical shooter made in 1998 by Psikyo.  

The 'o' shape's like bomberman's head so we can assume that's the bomber part. Psikyo is in my blacklist of Arcade game developer, because their shooter games tend to encourage credit-feeding and bomb-spamming, especially toward the end of them. No room for skillful play. Though my senior in colleague really like them. But space bomber is the rare case of Psikyo's relatively favorable shooter game. Before we jump into the action. How about backstory first? [If you answer 'No', HUSH please be patient for bit!]

 

Finally, we make contact with alien (funny looking ones not "real" ones)! He delivers heartily poem about peace. No, of course not. He asks to surrender earth to him. Though judging by his words, he is quite polite to ask a harsh demand. Also corny.

 

"No!! Go to star!!" said the American president. Why American? I learn from many many movie about alien invasion: Aliens will invade America and thinks it as whole earth. Ignoring Switzerland, Indonesia, Japan, German, Brazil, etc. Also, the president sure loves double exclamation mark. Personally, it's either too polite or lack of impact to tell the alien to go to star (presumably where he belong). Why not "go to hell"? I learn from Doom there's hell on outer space. I settle with the president must acts charismatic lest he won't be allowed to be president candidate on next election.

 

The alien isn't pleased to the answer. His eyes turn mean red from adorable black pearly. Also he starts swearing. A lot. He's rude hence he's clearly the Antagonist.

 

Thus the president order space bomber to dispatch. Hey, look! He doesn't have tongue. We have discovered the dark secret of this American president.

 

Here goes the space bomber (player) on the bottom of the screen, the most adorable science-fiction plane ever in any video game. I can guarantee that. My 1st task: destroy alien's invasion in the United States itself by shooting the aliens. I know that i'm in America because of that skyscraper. That's quite famous landmark, i believe. But my knowledge about American landmark is as shallow as dwarf's bathtub. Sorry.

Beside octopus aliens, there's also squid ones. Space bomber isn't typical vertical shooter in most arcade games in which there's 2 button to shoot and to launch screen-clearing bomb. Well, the first button is to shoot (cute plasma), indeed. But the other button is to make the space bomber launches grabbing claw to grab the enemy. The captured enemies won't go to maximum security prison for extraterrestrial being or research laboratory. We aren't that barbaric, right?

 

But said enemy can be used to take out their comrade. Still, we aren't barbaric. We are shifty as freak! Soldier_laughevil03.wav. To release the captive and turn them against your enemy: hold the shoot button and release. In this case, "my" squid shoots 3-way homing squids at the enemy squid. So much squid in this screenshot, right? いかにも(read "Ikanimo"). It means "Yes, indeed" or "Very much" in Japanese.  While squid in Japanese: いか(read "Ika"). >_o     

 

Here i found the emissary. He isn't tough or anything. He's just like regular enemy that i encounter so far:  they die within couple hits. But, my ship is built using one-hit-get-destroyed technology. But again, he about to get plasma right on his eye and i'm away from his plasma ring shoots. Take that, you fat-lip git!

 

There's sub-boss fight right near the Liberty statue. *So American movie!* The UFO looks like the ones in Super Mario Land (Gameboy) that's used for the famous plumber's transportation. But this one is evil invader despite its googly eye. It can spawn smaller version of it (which can be grabbed) and spew bullet quite fast. But still no match for the space bomber.

 

The boss is in wacky flying sentient garbage-bin. After some thrashing, it turns into robot head like in this screenshot. It's fantastic! As i ponder of its awesomeness. It start to shoot big laser from its eyes and fire bullets. Fine! I'll beat the scrap out of you, junkhead! You may think that this is like common vertical shooter on 90's, likes Fighter & Attacker or ThunderDragon 2. That's quite incorrect as Space Bomber's stage doesn't scroll continuously forward like the ones in them also it doesn't feature screen-clearing bomb, remember? It stops at one screen, player clear the enemies and then change the screen. It's more like advanced version of Space Invader or Galaga. Especially when i deploy turtle alien's assistance here, it act like cover in Space Invader.

 

Apparently the aliens don't ignore Brazil. That's Amazon river, you see! There's new enemy type: Dog aliens that throw bright bones as their attack. But i didn't manage to capture the good screenshot of them. So here screenshot of the fat-lip aliens that wear safari hat and throw pickaxe, instead.      

 

The sub-boss: Hamm's alien cousin. Instead of coins, it stores intense hatred toward humanity, pighead aliens and tons of bullets. He's ruthless, is my point of thinking.    

 

Then there's rabbit aliens, chucking torpedo carrot while hopping merrily. Then they got blasted by "my" pig's plasma barrage. I wonder what Reisen Udongein Inaba will be thinking about this.

 

Hey! The boss is Flatwoods Monster. How appropriate! It looks fiercer than the last time we meet in Tumblepop. It makes quite the same mistake as before, it sent its underlings to destroy me but i can use them for its disadvantage. This time, they are armadillo aliens that can be used for makeshift cover like the turtle ones.

 

Next stage takes place in Mesoamerican temples. The sub-boss: golden skull which is no way related with the crystal skull. *little sarcasm*

Oh my god! Kitty aliens. Let me grab you all! Sadly, i can only carry up to 3 aliens before using previous one or dead. If you happen to have 3 of them and you grab another one, the first one you catch will be replaced. Eh, what? There's Nazca lines. I don't care, sorry!  

 

The cat aliens are purfect melee assistant. They will fly slowly and big slash forward left and right. Nyaice!

 

The boss stage: giant Dogu statue. Even though it's big target. It's hard to defeat thanks to its massive durability and wide variety of its armament. It also assisted by leech aliens, i think? Whatever they are. They don't look adorable at all.

 

Beside used as your "option", the captured alien can also be used as immediate suicide bomb as demonstrated here. By pressing the grab button while holding the shoot button, instead of release the shoot button. It's very satisfying as the kamikaze unit, not only can make big explosion that can kill lesser enemy in one shot but also said explosion can make chain reaction of explosion thus efficiently clear the enemies. Beside expressing "You want your comrade back? Here take it!". This method of eliminating aliens will net you bigger score especially when you manage to create longer chain explosion. Also the deceased alien will drop white money bags that can boost your score more than the regular ones (brown money bags).

 

The sub-boss is alien combination between kettle and elephant. And it can "pour" me with lots of small bullets. How appropriate. Here you can see power-up icon that either appear from destroyed enemies or space bomber itself. But the max powered version of your shoot only: twin way with fast rate. Nothing spectacular like 3-way wide shoot or anything like that.

 

I kind of owe you dog lover to show the dog aliens. I could tell that their mouth and head are really boxy. They are boxer species. Get it? Because the words contain box, you see! Ok, no more pun.   

 

Another type of enemy is frog. They can shoot lethal notes if they're act as your "option". Useless trivia: young Werdito is afraid to frogs because their skin is warty and slimy that he consider them very disgusting to the point have fear on them.  

 

The boss is either nuke bomb or traditional rocket. Whatever that is, i died a lot by its barrage fire. "But it looks dodgeable. Just stay in the center, see!" Things doesn't happen that simple, my friend. It has another firing pattern besides this and simply fly in front of it, is no longer safe. Also the delay between the pattern is really brief and the bullets are as fast as Ostrich on steroid. It doesn't surprise me, though. As i know too well what's the nature of shooter game made by Psikyo.

Apparently that was just the casing of this horror! Bodiless giant monkey toy with cymbal. Be very afraid! [Whether this is sarcasm or real intent, is your decision]. Its firing patterns are definitely more hectic than before and 4 circling rubber ball protect it. On the bright side, you can grab them to your advantage. Though, they will be replaced if they get destroyed or captured.

 

This time, the space bomber attacks the HQ of the invaders. That flying castle must be it. What else could be better as its guardian than knight(ed) fat-lip aliens? Space dragon?! Yeah, that could be much much interesting than these sods. We're all disappointed.

 

When i about to storm the castle, a battalion of knight fat-lip hamper me to do so. Also yellow squid aliens. The fat-lip aliens have adapted durability system from zombies of Plants Vs Zombie 2: wearing knight helmet will enhance their damage resistance greatly. Here's my advice: instead make them absorb plasmas till they explode which is quite tiring procedure, you should grab them instead. It only take one well-aimed grabbing claw to snatch them and make them either your "option" or kamikaze unit.

 

This is just me fighting googly saucer that i have fought on previous stages. What i want to show you: initially, they are in formation of their alien symbol. Also the castle's corridor is looks like belong to horror game/movie instead of cute space invader-clone like this.

 

The boss: alien version of space bomber which is bigger and packs massive amount of weaponry and armor. Also it has 2 grabbing claw on each of its wing instead of 1 in the center like mine. Of course it can grab something but certainly not for "converting" me. It grab the giant pig alien from previous stage. So i have to fight this ship along with Hamm's alien cousin and its reinforcement. Which is tedious. Yes, seriously.

 

Of course the ship isn't the mastermind behind this invasion. It's the king of fat-lip aliens. He got thicker lips, majestic white moustache and kiddy golden crown. Engineer_mvm_loot_rare2.wav

 

Once he get beaten (and lose his highly proud crown), he enters a stance of trance (hint: his eyes) and become much tougher opponent what's with his fast wave of bullets. With lots of patience (and credits), i can beat him again. For good this time.

 

What's this? I have to fight the garbage bin again. And this time with gold plating. Whatever.

 

Ok, ok! I'm not planning to quit as i have come this far. I may underestimate the metal sod. Of course, it's big-upgraded version of the previous ones with Aluminum plating especially in defense power.

 

Did you notice that there's this round git on top of the robot head? Apparently, he is not only decor and come to destroy me once it's gone. On rare case of aliens in video game, this one can emit jet flame that happen so quick that i get blasted instantly without any dodging attempt. But i keep pressing on, as i have unlimited continues and strong will to free our earth from space invader. Especially the former ones.

 

After defeated, the space bomber grabbed the git...  

...then launch him to the background where the rest of alien's armada fly around.

 

Demoman_specialcompleted11.wav. He is exploded into the alien's symbol explosion and blasting the rest of alien invader. So here's the real part of Space Bomber. You know what else has the same size as the gigantic explosion over there? The sense of irony behind it, that's what.

 

With alien's invasion thwarted, the space bomber wander casually through exploding space castle and alien's space bomber. Then watching the sunrise or whatever more proper term for "sun that got obstructed partially by earth" phenomena.

 

The Liberty Lady witness the hero's return from the most historical (yet fictional) mission on America's history. Oh! In rare case from any American movie (example: Cloverfield), she's intact.

 

The hero flies along with his comrades. They envy him for his heroic deed despite his child-looking ship while they're in realistic F-16.

 

Surprisingly (for me), the pilot of space bomber is real-looking guy. I thought he was chibi teenager or sort like that.

 

The president waves back at the hero. With alien invasion destroyed completely, America once again is in peaceful and happy time.....until the president is replaced by horrid & incompetent ones.

 

That top-score screen over there is really American. Don't tell me otherwise! Space bomber is space-invader clone for young audience. Or so i thought until i realized that's not entirely true because of those hectic Boss's attacks. At least, the lesser enemies can be dispatched relatively easy and i rarely feel get surrounded by their shooting. Speaking of the boss, some bosses either die automatically if i use too much continue or unleash final attack before destroyed. I can't be certain which one is happening during my gameplay. The grabbing claw reminds me of another space-invader clone in DOS that i don't remember its name. But on that game, the claw's used for grabbing power-up only as the ship can't move up or down unlike in space bomber. Yes, you can move the space bomber besides left and right, but i think it's not practical as your shooting only limited to straight forward direction unless to get the power-up icon. The graphics are really beautiful, they can be used to portray both cute objects and hi-tech objects. The backgrounds are wonderful, too. The music are light that are probably quite suitable for kids. The game lasts for an hour or less. The enemy conversion reminds me of the same thing in G-Darius (PSX) but with simpler concept. They both imply that the more various your enemy, the more variety your arsenal can be. While the power-up doesn't boost your firepower to be more spectacular, but at least it can boosts retracting speed of the claw. To be nit-picking, Space Invader lacks of enemy in shape of duckling and sheep. You have to admit that fluffy sheep are cute. While duck is...perhaps tone-down version of goose in term of fierceness.

To summarize it, i heartily recommend you to play Space Bomber for fun experience of defeating alien invaders and using some of them to your heart content. I guarantee you won't be disappointed especially if you manage to grab alien that resemble your favorite animal.