Surprise!
This was a project 13 years in the making. I was a teenager back then in 2010 when I first said I was going to do this. But now being an adult, graduated from a university, and now being married, I finally decided to finish this TAS. I hope you all enjoy it.
Specifics
- Emulator: BizHawk 2.8
- Core Type: Pure Interpreter
- Active Video Plugin: GLideN64
Description
This is a 100% TAS of Bomberman Hero. What consists of 100%? The goal is to get a score of 5 in every level while unlocking the true final level and boss by collecting purple orbs called Adok Bombs. Typically you would need to collect all items and defeat all enemies in a level in order to get a 5, but there are some levels where that is not necessary as they can give you more than what is needed. One final thing to note is the version of the game. The North American and Japanese version of Bomberman Hero are very different. I chose the USA version because it is considered harder than the Japanese version. The USA version has more items, enemies, and bosses have more HP. Some levels require explanation, so below is a description of each level in the game:
Battle Room:
I use the technique where if you drop a bomb on a corner, the bomb will explode on impact. This saves time by not having to either wait for the bomb to explode, or throw the bomb directly at it. In this case, it’s used on the hole where the chicks pop out.
Hyper Room:
Here’s the first level where you had to do it twice. There are two exits, which unlocks two different areas. Choosing which exit to go through first saves a couple of frames because of where the cursor is when you go through a certain exit. Some levels require doing it twice due to unlocking other levels.
Secret Room:
Very straight-forward here. There are some levels where you have to collect 4 shards to open the door to progress through the level. Also, here is demonstrated that while I was waiting on the moving platform, defeat all the enemies down below. This saves significant amount of time.
Heavy Room:
Here is the first level where defeating all the enemies and collecting all the items will overshoot your goal of getting a 5/5. If you do everything, you get 50 more points than you need. Since killing enemies gives you 100 points, you need to skip an item. There were two items at the beginning that I could’ve skipped. Choosing between the crystal on the static field, or the bomb upgrade next to an enemy, I tested both routes and decided getting the crystal was VERY slightly faster.
Sky Room:
Pretty straightforward. One crystal can be skipped here, and the decision knowing which one was very easy. Near the end though, I had to defeat all the spiked enemies using the minimum amount of bombs I could. The first throw I did can take out 3 out of 4, but I had to move in a little closer to the enemies so that one of them walks into the blast radius. That saved some frames.
Blue Cave:
Straight-forward to the finish line. I try planting bombs instead of throwing them wherever I could to save time. For some enemies, I move into specific places so that when I lay a bomb, the enemy moves right toward it, like the flying cyclops at the beginning of the level.
Hole Lake:
These are the most boring levels to do. With too many items to collect to go way over the 5 point limit and with limited movement, there’s very little entertainment value here. You just kind of have to go with it.
Red Cave:
Bit of bad luck here. I wasn’t able to reach the spiked platform in time before it went up near the end. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for the skull bombs to explode to get points, you just have to hit them.
Big Cannon:
The Bomber Jet levels are much more fun than the Bomber Marine levels. Much like that one, not everything has to be collected or defeated. Still, I hold down the A button and try to get as much done as possible.
Dark Wood:
Pretty straightforward. The tornadoes make for good shortcuts.
Dragon Road:
Here’s the first level where the amount of enemies and items far surpasses the amount needed to get 5 points. It’s impossible to get 5 points without going to the lower part of the level. Then the level finishes when you defeat the giant rock enemy.
Vs. Nitros:
The bosses are pretty easy to get the fastest time. Get them the very moment they can be damaged, and when their invulnerability ends, get them again. Neat trick with Nitros is that if you deal the final blow while he’s in the air, you cancel a defeat animation he does. This saves several seconds.
Clown Valley:
This one was a little tricky. From here, we’re starting to see more enemies that require more than one hit to kill. I had to use a lot of heavy enemy movement manipulation to kill them at the right times. The reason is because if I hit an enemy once and go far enough away from them, their health will regenerate. So I had to make sure I kill them at the right time at the right position.
Great Rock:
Big climb up. I really had to lay my bombs wisely for those tree stump enemies alone.
Fog Route:
For the cloud enemies in particular, if you “activate” them, and then go far enough away from them, they rise back up. So the fastest way to take care of them is to blow them up once you get close enough to them. You can’t go far away and throw a bomb from a distance unfortunately.
Vs. Endol:
There’s a neat little trick here that makes this battle faster. If you hit Endol and then take damage (not by your own bombs), Endol does a laughing animation that’s much faster than, and cancels, his invulnerability state.
Groog Hills:
Here, I use a trick that acquires me to jump into the water and grab a diamond from the air. That same diamond returns once snow covers the level. I can skip items and enemies this way, and therefore, saves time.
Bubble Hole:
Enemies galore here. I had quite a bit of fun tossing bombs everywhere near the end due to 6 jellyfish enemies all in the same place that take two hits to kill. I aim some of my shots to get two with one blast wherever possible and fastest.
Erars Lake:
Another Bomber Marine level. The worst part about this one was I had to do it twice for two separate pathways. Groan.
Waterway:
Pretty straightforward. Not a single enemy or item missed.
Water Slider:
At the end of this level, it’s not possible to grab the ledge without dropping a bomb beforehand. Avoiding the lift to the left, this saved quite a bit of time.
Rock’n Road:
That door at the end is a pest. It’s only possible to first damage it when you’re close enough, and after it does a little animation. Great use of time to collect other stuff though.
Water Pool:
Some heavy enemy movement manipulation, in particular for the bomb rat near the end of the level. As soon as I stand on top of the highest pipe, I stay on longer than usual so that the bomb rat walks into a bomb I laid. It saves a throw for me once I hop onto the platform, and therefore, saves time.
Millian Road:
Standard Bomber Jet level.
Warp Room:
A couple of things can be skipped. The biggest ones are the bomb enemies at the beginning. It takes two hits to kill them, and leaving their area will regenerate their health, so the option to skip them was an easy one.
Dark Prison:
Standard level where you have to collect 4 gold crystals to open the door.
Killer Gate:
First Bomber Copter level. In this one, it is required to defeat all the submarines. Only then will the door at the end open. I will also say that the Bomber Copter levels are absolutely the hardest levels to optimize.
Spiral Tower:
A tad tricky to kill the enemies here considering not only when they rise they go high up the ground, but also since I’m going up a ramp most of the time, I can’t just jump over them and drop a bomb. Still, I managed to make it work.
Snake Route:
In this level, you can go 300 points over the needed goal. The obvious things to skip were the wheeled enemies because they take two hits to kill. Also, you will notice that the last winged-enemy I threw a bomb instead of dropping one on the way. This is because the enemy is so high up the ramp, not only will I miss the opportunity to defeat it by dropping a bomb, but if I wait until later to do so, it will drop to the lower level, which will waste a big amount of time.
Vs. Baruda:
A couple of things to note for this battle. The first is me taking damage at the beginning. I did this because Baruda starts out higher than me, and getting in as close as possible allowed me to take the first hit earlier, which saved quite a bit of frames. The second thing to mention is that he is a chore to manipulate his movements. I had to do some big maneuvering to drop bombs at the exact moment he loses his invulnerability state, but I managed to make that work.
Hades Crater:
Not much to mention here. The slow descent is good for defeating enemies as it doesn’t waste too much time.
Magma Lake:
The next couple of levels decrease your HP the more you stay in it. You can refill it by entering one of those light panels, but obviously that wastes too much time.
Magma Dam:
There’s an item in a transparent box that usually requires opening the “lava-fall” to break open. But while carrying a bomb and going at it at the right direction, you can grab the item without breaking it open. This isn’t possible with the other items in the other transparent boxes because they are not wide enough.
Crysta Hole:
Unfortunately for this one, no matter how fast I get, I am unable to reach the spiked-platform on time before it raises. Because of that, I took some time to jump for it as you’ll see.
Emerald Tube:
First Bomber Slider level of the game. The idea is simple, but precise. It’s fastest if you move as straight as possible, especially when making swift turns which I don’t do. It’s also fastest to not attack enemies, as that will slow you down by only a couple of frames. So I go towards the items that reward the biggest amount of points.
Death Temple:
I can’t believe Bomberman got himself caught twice, making me do the level twice. Oh well…
Death Road:
There’s so many items and enemies here, the amount for collecting and defeating all of them FAR surpasses the amount for 5 points. I tried the best possible route I can manage.
Death Garden:
The plant enemies here are very annoying to deal with. Not only do I have to get very close to them just to spawn them, but the moment that I walk away, they disappear. So if you see me lay bombs right next to them so that it explodes sooner, that’s why.
Float Zone:
Three things to note here. The first is the total amount you can get here is 550 points more than needed. So, skipping the bomb enemies once more was an easy choice for the same reason as in Warp Room. The second thing is the bubbles you can go in eventually disappear allowing you to drop, but obviously it is much faster to have an enemy damage you to get rid of it earlier. Thirdly, you might want to turn down the volume for the first half of this level.
Aqua Tank:
More bad luck here, as I wasn’t able to make either lifts on time. A tad bit of waiting had to be done, which thankfully doesn’t take long. As you can see, the level ends when the water tank gets destroyed.
Aqua Way:
This one is interesting because not only is the needed score insanely high, but it requires you to go through the skeleton enemy. Normally you can kill the enemy for a whopping 2000 points, but it takes way too long to do that. So I settle for going inside the enemy twice. Luckily the items and enemies respawn.
Hard Coaster:
Without a doubt, the longest level in the whole game. It mostly consists of waiting on platforms.
Dark Maze:
Couple of things to note. The first is that in order to kill the slugs, you HAVE to get the salt bombs. This makes the routing complicated, because not only are regular bombs necessary to kill other enemies as well as boxes, but this also requires some going back and forth of the level. The second is you see me kick a bomb somewhere. This is for a lone crate not possible to destroy because of the salt bombs. I also stay in place for just a bit to be in range for the box to get destroyed.
Mad Coaster:
Near the end of the level, the slugs I killed on the right side regenerated due to a glitch where you can respawn them by killing them at the right moment you leave their range. Killing them twice wouldn’t be faster simply because when I’m riding on the platform, I don’t have the right bombs to kill them anyway.
Move Stone:
As the name implies, you need to move 4 blocks into the slots to open the way.
Vs. Bolban:
Very straight forward fight. Two weaknesses with the head and the tail.
Hopper Land:
One of two levels where you ride on Louie. One of the downsides of this is that there’s no controlling how high you can jump here, so once you jump, you have to commit to the high jump.
Junfalls:
Pretty standard here. Those flower enemies are annoying to deal with because once you get the first hit on them, they go back into their bud, leaving them invincible for some seconds. Therefore, I had to stay a little bit to make sure I get the second hit before that happens.
Freeze Lake:
Third Bomber Marine level. One thing to note here are the giant ice rocks that fall. They’re very difficult to dodge and can only be dodged by swerving extremely far right or left, move back, or stay at or near the floor.
Cool Cave:
Freeze bombs required to turn enemies into ice cubes to jump on. For some of them, there’s a slight delay to make them rise up and get a taller ice cube.
SnowLand:
Fairly generic. Most of the enemies here take two hits to kill, which makes laying bombs to kill them a tad difficult.
Storm Valley:
The other level where you ride on Louie. There’s a neat trick where you can bounce off the edge below a wall that essentially makes it so you can bounce off the same wall twice. This was done at the end of the level.
Snow Circuit:
The other Bomber Slider level. Same concept as before, minimal movement plus absolute zero use of attacking, which is slower than anything else (except getting hit of course).
Heaven Sky:
I avoid a path where if you go in between two pillars, it will transport you to an area with more items and enemies. This is used in 100% speedruns, but luckily I was able to get enough points to save over a full minute by avoiding the area.
Eye Snake:
This one was tricky purely because of the snake enemies. They take three hits to kill, and my original idea was to keep hitting them as I ran around the level. However, when I get too far away from them, their models disappear and their health regenerates. The best thing to do was to get them when I first have them in my sight.
Air Room:
Probably the hardest level to plan out. There are several ways to go about this, and I just went with my best judgement for the best route.
Zero G Room:
With zero gravity in motion, movement is a little harder. You can’t control how high you jump unless you drop a bomb at just the right time.
Mirror Room:
Pretty straight forward. This was always one of my favorite levels as a kid.
Vs. Natia:
There’s a very hard trick to use in this battle, probably the hardest in the game. For the robot, Cronus, if you hit it with multiple bombs at the exact same time, you can do double the damage where it would normally be one damage, making the battle much faster. I’ve been unable to replicate this trick with any other boss except this one, and from what I understand, others have been unable to either.
Garaden Bosses:
This planet speaks for itself. Fighting again the bosses you’ve fought before plus the “final” boss. A couple of things to note. The first is that the animation of Endol laughing is not here this time around, so I wasn’t able to cut the battle shorter. The second is I received bad luck with Cronus. There’s a chance that Cronus appears out of the lava faster the second time around, but no matter what I did, I found no way to manipulate it so that it appears faster. And finally, the manipulation of the first part of the “final” boss, Bagular, is a little nuts. There’s an ability where he teleports from one place to another, so if you see some delay in attacking him, it was to avoid wasting seconds waiting for him to teleport back.
Outer Road:
Final Bomber Jet level. I wanted to boost through the entire level, but wasn’t able to score enough points to get a 5. I had to slow down to destroy one of the UFOs at the end, which gives a whopping 500 points.
Inner Road:
A bit of a tricky route to plan out. There’s some crystals that had to be collected on ground before I can make the platform that rises to the upper level to collect other items and just wipe out enemies on ground level from above.
Vs. ????:
For the true final boss, this fight is actually very simplistic. The tricky part is that he can dodge your attacks pretty easily. Obviously luck manipulation had to be used here to avoid that.
Possible Improvements
Besides just possible better optimizations, there are potential better routes to take per level, but I wasn't able to find them. I also have to mention the multiple-hit glitch with Cronus. As mentioned before, I was only able to use this glitch with Cronus, but it might be possible to use it on other bosses as well. But alas, my attempts have been futile.
That's about it. Enjoy!
EDIT: Upon uploading the movie, I made the mistake of uploading the wrong one, one that I had backed up prior. Whoever is the judge assigned for this, please replace the movie in this submission with this from my user file:
nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: It was nice to have the WR holder to drop in for the discussion. Since I am not as familiar with this game, i think I'll yield to
Yashichi's comments...since running the game for 10 years says a lot more than I can dig up out of this run. The only thing that I can say is that it looks like a really good run to showcase to the speed-running community. Being around 20 minutes faster is always an impressive feat of work and demonstrates a deep understanding and a great amount of work.
Accepting.
