Bomber Man 83: Eric and the Floaters

This ROMhack is a demake, restoring the earlier artwork and characters from the 1983 and 1984 MSX games. The player character is once again Eric, in his suspenders and hat. The different enemies are now all variations on the Floater enemies, with the different faces the Floaters had originally.

Most people first encountered Hudson Soft’s Bomberman in his 1985 NES/Famicom game. But there was an earlier, forgotten version of Bomber Man for home computers in 1983. The MSX and ZX Spectrum versions were localized in Europe as Eric and the Floaters, due to concerns over the title of the game being associated with terrorism. This was followed by a first-person sequel, 3D Bomberman, in 1984.

You play a man who is trapped inside a maze. Place your time bombs wisely to defeat the balloon monsters. If the balloon monsters get caught up in an exploding time bomb, they will pop and disappear. Don’t let them get you, and don’t blow yourself up. You can break down weaker walls with your time bombs. These walls can hide treasures and exit doors. Pick up treasure to receive bonus points. Defeat all the monsters on the screen and find the exit to proceed to the next stage.