Bomb Jack

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Description

In Bomb Jack, the player controls Jack, who must collect all the bombs in order to complete the current round and go onto the next one. This sounds easy, right? Wrong! Making Jack's task difficult are numerous enemies such as birds, mummies, turtles, and orbs.

In each round, collecting a number of bombs results in a bonus coin appearing, and collecting this coin will make the player's score increase 2 to 4 times. More often than not, the "power ball" appears, and when you collect this, you can defeat enemies and have more time to collect all the bombs. There is also the "E" coin, which gives Jack one additional life, but rarely does this coin appear.

The more you progress through the game, the more difficult it becomes, as enemies travel more quickly to get you.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "Arcade Archives: Bomb Jack" -- Nintendo Switch / PS4 title
• "アーケードアーカイブス ボンジャック" -- Japanese Nintendo Switch / PS4 spelling
• "ボンジャック" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Arcade Archives series
• Bomb Jack series

User Reviews

A very fun arcade game	Commodore 64	Wurtzly (1138)
A truly classic arcade game brought to life superbly	ZX Spectrum	Martin Smith (78232)
A little different to the coin-op, but just as much fun!	Commodore 64	pottyboy (73)

Critic Reviews

ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	Commodore 64	May, 1986	9.25 out of 10	92
Nintendo Acción	Game Boy	1993	89 out of 100	89
Total! (Germany)	Game Boy	May, 1996	2.25 out of 6	75
Power Play	Amiga	Oct, 1988	74 out of 100	74
Jeuxvideo.com	Amstrad CPC	Feb 02, 2012	14 out of 20	70
Tilt	Amstrad CPC	Jul, 1986		67
Pocket Gamer UK	J2ME	May 07, 2005	6 out of 10	60
ST Action	Atari ST	Oct, 1988	55 out of 100	55
Computer Gamer	Commodore 16, Plus/4	Sep, 1986	6 out of 20	30
Happy Computer	Amstrad CPC	May, 1986	Unscored	Unscored

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Browser version	3	Mtik333 (12119) Dec 05, 2020
What does the burning bomb fuse mean?	2	lilalurl (732) Nov 30, 2010

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Bomb Jack appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Background graphics

The two sides of the original tape for the C16 version had different background graphics

BBC Micro version

The game was also in development for the BBC Micro, before Elite abandoned the system in late 1987. There are rumours that a few fatally bugged copies hit the shelves before being recalled, but nothing has yet been found.

Music

The A BGM of the original arcade game is in fact a cover of the theme song of the animated TV series Spoon obasan (Mrs. Pepperpot), sung by Mari Iijima.

Awards

• Computer Gamer
  • February 1986 (issue #17) - Included in the list Spectrum Collection (the best Spectrum ZX games since 1985 by editorial staff choice)
• Happy Computer
  • Issue 04/1987 - #20 Best Game in 1986 (Readers' Vote)