Old Technical [Bomberman] Documents Re-Emerge!

 

With Hudson Soft's unfortunate closure back in 2012 following talks of becoming a subsidiary of partner Konami came an erasure of their immediate legacy. After the Wii U era, as many of us have since seen, we haven't seen too many of their IPs actually return.

No, seriously. 

It seems like ALL of the Hudson Soft franchises that weren't either Bomberman, or to a very light extent, Momotaro Dentetsu. None of their titles have gotten any re-releases or anything. Certainly not helping is what I've heard around about numerous of Hudson Soft's employees bailing ship in the months prior to their closure, including numerous big figures like the Kudo brothers or Yoshiyuki ('Takahashi') Meijin. If you're someone like me who really cares about the lasting legacy of a series, as well as the overall artistic integrity of a product, then the current state of Bomberman, as I've gone over numerous times before, has been a very sobering one. 

Additionally, when most people think of Bomberman, their minds immediately go to the multiplayer or some vague memories of playing one of the 3d titles from the early-2000's as a child or something. The series is generally seen as a novelty more than anything, basically-put. Most folks just don't seem all too interested in actually looking into what makes up these games on a fundamental level, rather that be musically, aesthetically, functionally, etcetera. 

This genuinely bothers me more than anything else because as I've continued my dive into Bomberman and just Hudson Soft overall, I've come to appreciate just about everything this company strove for. There was always this sense of community these guys sought out, whether that be through the emphasis on competition through their earlier arcade-y titles and the subsequent caravans they would appear in, or- y'know- multiplayer titles like Bomberman. They strike me as this company that ultimately wanted videogames to be something anyone could enjoy... for the most part. 

Because of this apparent dismissiveness, not a lot of research or anything has gone into Hudson, it's members, or (once again) their works. There's this risk of the hard work put in by numerous passionate artists and the likes disappearing that I feel would seriously invalidate and mortalize their own legacies, and that's quite cruel. That said, then... imagine my surprise when I, out of nowhere, came across this Twitter account:

An account created a few years ago, I was instantly taken aback by just how much they put out, as well as some of the cool insights offered into certain games. They're also quite active, too, answering people's questions about almost anything. Then and there, I knew this was likely a former member of one of the older Hudson Soft teams, immediately following them. Upon some light research into the games they seem to talk a lot about, I found that this is the Twitter account of game designer/director Norio Ohkubo! 

Here's the thing, too. He's not the only Hudson Soft member still alive and well in the onlinesphere. No, Hudson Soft exec Takahashi Meijin also has a Twitter account, as well as a YouTube channel seemingly dedicated to documenting tapes and the likes taken around the time of Hudson Soft's many caravans and gaming competitions from the mid-80's to the late-90's. These two, regardless of their duration, were absolutely pivotal to both the success of Hudson Soft, as well as Bomberman. All of the pages spoken of here will be linked down below.

During their tenure on Twitter, and much more recently, too, they've been putting out a lot of artwork only meant to be seen by fellow developers and the likes. Given Hudson Soft's inactivity, a lot of NDAs [Non-Disclosure Agreements] associated with these are pretty much gone. Let's look over a few of these, shall we?

1.) Bomberman GB [A.K.A 'Wario Blast'] (1994)

Being this game's director, as well as the creator of the Bomber Moto (at least as far as I can tell), of course he probably has more of this game's documents than anything. These are all quite interesting in of themselves, too, because 1994 was the first full year of series character designer Shoji Mizuno's run at Hudson Soft. Having helped with Bomberman '93 and Super Bomberman just the year before and eventually Super Bomberman 2, a lot of his artistic flourishes are quite apparent, especially with a few redraws he did as revisions of Ohkubo's (and one other guy whose name I can't find) work.

Going off of some of Ohkubo's doodles on Twitter, I'm assuming this is his work.

100000% Mizuno's.

This is the original drawing and storyboard for the game's ending cutscene.

If the tweet this originally accompanied is anything to go by, then this is the work of Hidenori Oikawa.

Revision by Shoji Mizuno

These are the game over screens, with a previously never-before-seen early version. Mizuno's is definitely far more dynamic, though.

Here's the storyboard for the post-credits scene.

...and last, but definitely far from least is the original drawing of the sprite that accompanies every pre-stage screen. I genuinely like this piece a lot.

Now, if only we could get these for the illustrations from either GB 2 or 3. 

2.) Bomberman Story [A.K.A 'Tournament] (2001)

Being the designer of this not at all continuation of Hudson Soft's long-dead Neutopia series game, it's no surprise that he happens to have stuff for this game as well, though he hasn't shown EVERYTHING from this yet. Anyway-

So far, all that's really been shown are these 3 pages containing descriptions and really cool artwork for some of the Charaboms. More than anything, I'm honestly only interested in these ones for the art... at least for now. I'd love for Ohkubo-san to scroll ahead a few pages and show some Max stuff, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers, huh?

3.) PC Genjin [A.K.A 'Bonk] Virtual Boy (1994/5?)

Enjoy this super cursed image of American/European Bonk because I hate you.

Anyway, a FAR more recent discovery thanks to Ohkubo-san is that of a planned, though ultimately scrapped PC Genjin title for the notorious Virtual Boy. This one must've been scrapped super early, too, because there's nothing for this game whatsoever besides the following pictures taken of the game's very proposal:

What I'm assuming is a cutscene of some kind.

Minigame

Some planned obstacles for the game.

More obstacles, though this time focusing on a background/foreground switch.

Like an explanation for the game's parallax, as well as a hint into the game's theater setting.

Okay, I actually have no clue what this is. A camera change, maybe?

Another cutscene, I'm assuming?

While I am glad Hudson Soft didn't waste their money investing into a dying console, I would've loved to see what this game could've looked like. I also find it super amusing that even in mere planning documents, the illustrator just goes freaking bananas and inserts a bunch of visual gags anyway.

Not Bomberman, I know, but I think a lot of Hudson Soft's other franchises are just as interesting, plus I'm the one writing this article, so I make the rules here.

Anyway, last, but FAR from least...

4.) Bomberman Hero (1998)

It's kind of a well-known fact that this was originally intended to be the first 3d Bonk title until some swap to Bomberman occurred for whatever reason. Okay, onto the documents!

I'm assuming this was a planogram of some kind for the game's cutscenes, as well as their trigger in-game.

An outdoor shot of the entrance to the base.

These are kind of all we have at the moment, though you can just barely make out the outline from what I'm assuming to be another page containing concept art. Regardless, I'm actually a little upset this was never put into any manuals or something. Putting aside from the off-looking perspective with the trees and Bomberman, this is actually REALLY gorgeous. 

All in all, this is all super cool stuff to see! Both in part because die-hards love to see how their favorite games are put together, including some interesting bits of what was scrapped, as well as because of the preservation of people's work becomes all the more easier with previous staff showing off just the sheer amount of effort put into what are essentially childhood experiences many players hold near and dear to their hearts.

This also helps immortalize the sheer scope of what all can be accomplished when we, as humans, are able to set aside our own differences and work together, paving the way for many more after us to come on along and do the same, enriching the world we live in and continue to make it a better place. That's what I've always believed Hudson Soft, in a way, was all about.

***

Okay, enough of me sappily waxing poetic! Thank you all for having taken the time out of your day (or night) to read (or listen) to me ramble on and one about Bomberman or something. I hope you were able to take something away from this, even if it is just new Twitter/Discord PFP material. If you like stuff like this, then please help spread the word to other Bomberman/Hudson Soft fans, as well as liking the post and subscribing to the website to stay informed on the newest of updates regarding all things Bomberman!

Links to the pages I mentioned earlier:

• Caravanforever [Meijin's archive channel]: https://www.youtube.com/c/caravanforever
  
  
• Norio Ohkubo's Twitter: https://twitter.com/nori_bomber