Gameplay
Released by Tehkan in 1984, the frantic speed of Bombjack ensured that this was quite unlike any other platform game around at the time. With it's lovely music and fantastic background graphics (for its time!) Bombjack really stood out in the arcades of the day.

The object of the game is simple; collect all the bombs to advance to the next stage. Sounds easy, but of course, it's not. The longer you stay on a level, the more enemies appear, but as well as that, the longer an enemy is on screen, the more powerful he becomes. An enemy which starts off as a small robot walking left and right quickly transforms into a high speed seashell-like homing ship, or a heat-seeking bouncing ball, all intent on bringing you that bit closer to the gamers nightmare,`Game Over`.

Apologies for the quality of screenshots on this page, but due to the screen resolution used, Mame refuses to display a full screen when F12 is pressed to create a snapshot.

Strategies
Bombjack can be played using two strategies. You can either chose to clear the level as quickly as possible by collecting all the bombs, or you can go for a more high-scoring but riskier approach by only collecting the bombs which are sparking.

Should you collect 20 or more sparking bombs on a level, you will be awarded extra bonus points enabling you to rack up a high score.

One way to make clearing a level by only picking up sparking bombs easier is to learn the pattern of the bombs. Once one sparking bomb has been collected, you will find another on the level will begin to spark. All bombs start their fuses in a certain sequence, learning the sequence means a level can be completed quicker and with less risk of Bombjack meeting his maker.