The purpose of this 1991 DOS game is to make bombs run across the board and into the goal. At least one bomb must survive in order to advance to the next level. The game has 30 levels in total; Some levels serve as bonus stages where points and extra bombs can be obtained. Level 13 is the latest stage you can select from the main screen.
More information can be found in the
forum topic, where I posted screenshots for all mandatory levels, information on scoring and game mechanics, etc.
Disclaimer
With all due respect to the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, any connection between that and this game is coincidental. Discussion about and promotion of this game should not be viewed as ill-intended.
Objectives
- Uses death to save time
- Bombs are sacrificed to complete the game as fast as possible.
- Uses warps
- By clicking on a certain person on the intro screen, the run starts in Level 13.
- Manipulates luck
- Random tiles are clicked on in order to manipulate luck, such as score plate drops and the babies in Level 28 + 29.
- Uses hardest difficulty
- On the intro screen, you can click on the bomb to make its fuse shorter. This reduces the lifetime of bombs in the game. This run uses the shortest fuse with each bomb lasting up to 60 seconds. Not that it matters because bombs don't expire in this run.
- Genre: Puzzle
- Genre: Action
Getting the game to run
- Obtain the game (Make sure it's not the pirated version.)
- In JPC-rr, go to Drives_>Import Image
The following files must be included:
Baby.io
best.fic
bille.io
black.io
blancpc.io
bobo0.io
bobo1.io
boboi.io
bobop.io
bonus.io
boston.exe
boum.io
cc.io
dirk.io
flowers.io
frise.io
game.fic
gat.io
hand.io
jingle.io
logo.io
main.io
menu.io
meuf.io
montre.io
moulin.io
onyx.io
photo.io
plateau.io
present.io
rob.io
saxo.io
son.io
souris.io
special.io
times.io
train.io
zing.io
Set Image Type: Hard Disk
Set Tracks to 64 (Still not sure what this does but I did it again like in my Star Trek TAS)
Save the game image.
- System->Assemble
Fda image: FreeDOS
Fdd image: Game image
Keep everything else as is and click Assemble.
- System->Start
- Load the movie
This was one of the few DOS games I can clearly remember from my childhood days. I never managed to complete it back then.
In ~2012 I played it again in DosBox and finished it with the use of savestates.
I figured since I'm able to make DOS TASes now, I'd tackle this game. I was well aware this game lacks in entertainment but I still wanted to see how fast I could breeze through the levels.
I might make another run aiming for highscore and as many bombs as possible, starting from Level 1. But it would be difficult to plan and luck-manipulate so perhaps it would be a free run, not intended for submission. Let me know what you think.
To explain the scoring system briefly: 1000 points gives you an extra bomb, but said extra bomb will spawn in the same level which is unfavorable. It does not spawn if you get it in a bonus stage though (Level 18 and 24). In other words, you want score to go past the 1000-threshold only while in levels 18 and 24.
When sinking a bomb, you gain as many points as the current level number (So in level 15, for each bomb you sink you gain 15 points).
RNG (= guys interacting with the table, score drops, the baby) cannot be directly manipulated except when clicking on a random tile (which has a blue line on it). This knowledge was used to manipulate luck throughout the run.
- Level 13
Baby's War - I sink two bombs and destroy the rest. I get an early 500 points. Despite the title, the baby doesn't show up.
- Level 14
Men and Women - I'm using the tile spinning trick to save some time. You will see this trick often in the run. I waste the other bomb since it is not needed.
- Level 18
Bonus Stage - I rather coincidentally ended up with just the right amount of points to go into the goal, gain splash points, and end up with an extra bomb, without having to pick up a score plate. I need the 2nd bomb in Level 20.
- Level 19
Botanicus - I used what I think is the most optimal route for both bombs.
- Level 20
Women only - This level cannot be completed with a single bomb. The 2nd bomb is required to hit the switch to make a path appear. Again, I used what I think is the best possible strategy here.
- Level 21
Tea Time - Clicked on the random tile to manipulate for a 500pt drop.
- Level 22
It's Full - I couldn't use the tile spinning trick in the bottom right with the bridge, because as long as the "bridge removal" animation is going on, no action can be made. So I used the intended way.
- Level 24
Bonus Stage - It seemed impossible to end up with a score between 1976 and 1999 here, so this time I picked up a score plate to receive an extra bomb for the next stage.
- Level 25
Sweet Smoke - I have the 2nd bomb hit the switch while the 1st bomb is sent to the goal.
- Level 28
Baby Strikes Back - The luck manipulation for this level was very tedious. The baby could travel at different times and in different rows and drop the bomb in different places. Since there is no random tile here I had to rely on the random tile from the previous level. Since JPC-rr is running so slow, it took quite a while until I ended up with this fastest result, although I think there might be an even faster way... I considered having the baby go to the right and then come back to the left to drop me near the goal, but this took too long and I have also never witnessed this happening.
- Level 29
The Return of the Baby - I'm thankful this level had random tiles, so I could easily manipulate the baby here. I didn't manage to have the baby appear in one of the top rows, though. This is the best result I got after hours of testing.
- Level 30
See you Later - Input ends after doing the final tile spinning trick. All the other tiles are prepared for the bomb to roll to the finish without my further ado.
Techniques and Glitches
- Tile Spinning Trick
- This is the only trick in the run and it's used every so often. When a bomb travels onto an spin-able tile, with precise timing, you can click on the tile to make the bomb travel onto the tile while also spinning the tile. This allows the bomb to travel straight through curve tiles, allowing for a faster course through the level.
Links
Thanks
- DrD2k9, c-square for their feedback.
feos: Nice run. There are several reasons to consider starting from level 13 the legit technique: it is mentioned in available manuals for this game (although ports for different systems may let you skip to farther levels), mouse clicking is the primary method of playing this game, so clicking a certain clearly visible object can't be a "secret cheat combination", and finally, clicking on those old men looks like the only way to even start the game (at least the only one that's obvious enough to get to work first).
The pace of this game, however, doesn't feel appealing for regular viewers, as opposed to actual players. When you play it yourself, this slow pace is mandatory, because you don't have much time for reaction. But when you're just watching an optimized run, the game gets old incredibly fast, no matter how crazy the puzzles are.
As for other way to play this game, playing all levels sounds like a solid full completion goal. But I'm not sure if delivering all bombs to the goal is vaultable. The
manual says that the goal of the game is to get maximum number of bombs t the target, but judging by your ability to get extra bombs, it would only be full completion if the total number of bombs that would need delivering is known and limited.
Accepting for Vault.
I have to agree with EgixBacon, the run could do without the groping pointer on Level 20. It's easy to remove that from the movie file without desyncs, and I'd be happy to help if you're interested.
