Bomb Jack

Discuss Review + Want + Have Contribute

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 (1096)
A truly classic arcade game brought to life superbly	ZX Spectrum	Martin Smith (73468)
A little different to the coin-op, but just as much fun!	Commodore 64	pottyboy (73)

Critic Reviews

Your Sinclair	ZX Spectrum	Oct, 1988	9 out of 10	90
Amstrad Action	Commodore 64	Jul, 1986	84 out of 100	84
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	Commodore 64	May, 1989	9 out of 12	75
Tilt	Amstrad CPC	Jul, 1986		67
Commodore User	Amiga	Sep, 1988	6 out of 10	60
Computer Gamer	Amstrad CPC	Jul, 1986	12 out of 20	60
ST Action	Atari ST	Oct, 1988	55 out of 100	55
Amiga Computing	Amiga	Nov, 1988	47 out of 100	47
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Atari ST	Aug, 1990	40 out of 100	40
Your Commodore	Commodore 16, Plus/4	Oct, 1986	3 out of 10	30

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Browser version	3	Mtik333 (3970) 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

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)