- For the Bomberman Jetters character, see Bagura (Jetters).
—Bagular, Bomberman Hero
Bagura (alternatively Buglear, Bagulaa, Bugler, Buglar, Buggler, Bugglar, Burglar, or Bagular) is the head of the Robot Army, White Bomberman's nemesis and primary antagonist of many Bomberman games.
He usually looks like a blue and white, large, elderly Bomberman with a bushy white beard, wearing a monocle and cape. Bagular appeared out of the vastness of space, with his history being unknown but his brilliance clear. Bagura is a brilliant (but mad) scientist and a dark magician, having controlled and created many evil creatures such as Bomber-Cyborgs, with the only purpose of conquering the universe. As one of Bomberman's more resilient enemies, he will stop at nothing to achieve his goals — it seems that he will always return.
Biography[]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Bomberman '94[]
In Bomberman '94, Bagura, known as Buglear in the original version and Bagulaa in Mega Bomberman, was the main villain and final boss. He attacked Planet Bomber with his Robot Army, splitting the Spirit Pictures to throw it into chaos. Even though the planet shattered into smaller pieces, White Bomberman put it back together by repairing the Spirit Pictures. When his plans were ruined, Bagura sent his artificial comet on a collision course to the planet. Bomberman infiltrated it before it was too late and confronted Bagura. After defeating him and his dragon robot, he revealed his Bomberman form, but was still no match for the original. In the end, his comet was destroyed.
Bagura in Bomberman '94
Super Bomberman 3[]
In Super Bomberman 3, Bagura, now known as Professor Bugler or Professor Buglar, appears as the master of the resurrected Five Dastardly Bombers, taking over five planets of the Bomber Nebula. White Bomberman and Black Bomberman were able to attack and defeat the Bombers, but upon losing control of the planets, Bagura targeted the planets for destruction with his Battleship. The heroes entered his ship and were able to take him and the Dastardly Bombers down, rendering them unconscious as the ship exploded. Bagura's body did not survive, but a light is shown emitting from his body. In the post-credits, his brain is revealed to have escaped in a mini saucer.
Super Bomberman 4[]
In Super Bomberman 4, Bagura summoned the Four Bomber Kings and Bomber Great to attack White Bomberman, Black Bomberman, and their friends and exact revenge on them. Bagura's minions sent the heroes hurtling through time, but they once again fought back and confronted Bagura in the giant mech he formed himself into. The mech was destroyed and his mini saucer was lost in the time void somewhere.
Although his original body was destroyed since his debut, Bagura still appears in an identical body in most appearances. How this is possible is unknown, but the most likely way of this being possible is that his body was never completely organic in the first place, which would explain his ability to create Rubber Bombs. Given that he is the "creator" of the Five Dastardly Bombers, it would make sense that he could have installed the same bomb-making ability into his own body.
Neo Bomberman[]
In Neo Bomberman, he is shown in his original body just fine without explanation to reclaim Pretty Bomber with his new creation, Atomic Bomber.
Bomberman World[]
In Bomberman World, he appears to reawaken the Dark Force Bombers, but is defeated on Planet Black. He is not seen escaping the explosion, but remarks that he will return.
Bomberman Wars[]
In Bomberman Wars, which is a prequel to the previous game, he appears under the name Dark Bomber in what appears to be a reconstructed body in samurai armor with a crescent moon on his helmet from the Edo Era, perhaps explaining where he wound up after the events of Super Bomberman 4.
Stats[]
- Move - 2
- Range - 4
- Special - Dark Transfer, Dark Ichimonji, Dark Tiger Murder, Dark Dragon Wave.
Bomberman Hero[]
Bagura in Bomberman Hero
Now known as Bagular, he makes another major appearance in Bomberman Hero, in which the Garaden Empire sets out to collect four Data Disks to form a different body. The army apparently had a difficult time creating a new body, or at least one suited for him, though this is largely because Princess Millian of Primus Star stole one of the disks from them and managed to send it to Planet Bomber before being captured, resulting in the disk coming into Bomberman's possession. The Garaden Empire finally reclaims the disk on Mazone Star thanks to the efforts of Natia, who disguises herself as Millian and tricks Bomberman into handing the disk to her. Despite Bomberman's best efforts, Natia manages to escape. Bagura is then revived on Garaden Star, regaining a corporeal body. This corporeal form is short-lived, however, as Bomberman defeats him, causing him to detonate the Garaden base as a final act of desperation in an attempt to kill Bomberman. Bagura's revival, Millian's kidnapping, and the creation of the Garaden Empire were plotted by Devil Bomber, who was just using Bagura to get his own revenge on Bomberman.
Bomberman Fantasy Race[]
Bagura makes an appearance in the spinoff Bomberman Fantasy Race, where he appears as a selectable racer.
Bomberman Kart DX[]
In Bomberman Kart DX, Bagura appears as the final boss of the Survival Mode.
Bomberman Portable[]
Bagura reappears as the main antagonist of Bomberman Portable, being the source of the shadowy threat looming over the nearby planets. He is fought 4 times throughout the game. One time as direct one-on-one battle against Bomberman in Spook World, and 3 other times later, using and piloting upgraded inventions in an effort to eliminate Bomberman, such as Bigaron, SkeleGuard and Robo Bomber.
Super Bomberman R[]
Calling himself Emperor Buggler and with a more human appearance, he finally returns in Super Bomberman R. Evil Emperor Buggler revived the Five Dastardly Bombers (who had ended up as deactivated on Planet Scrapheap before the events of the game) to conquer the five planets of the Starry Sky Solar System in his name. The Bomberman Bros. (White and Black along with Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Pink and Aqua) set out to stop the expansion of the Buggler Army's intergalactic conquest and liberate the invaded planets. Along the way, it is revealed on Planet Scrapheap that the reason the Five Dastardly Bombers were so dastardly was because they were forcibly under Buggler's control all along.
Buggler is chased to World 6: Black Hole, an artificial anomaly which threatens to engulf the solar system and eventually the whole universe. He summons the Five Dastardly Bombers to form Great Gattaida, Pink Bomber then gets put in distress when she finds out that Buggler used her big sister, Pretty Bomber in the combined mecha, White Bomber, then yells that he will never forgive Buggler. The Great Gattaida then was defeated by the Bomberman Bros. As a last resort, Buggler uses his own power to grow into Ultimate Buggler. The Five Dastardly Bombers finally regained their senses after Great Gattaida was destroyed and voluntarily give their strength to the Bomberman Bros., defeating Buggler for now. With his final words, Buggler warns that he will always continue to return as long as evil exists in the hearts of all life-forms. Afterwards, the formerly Dastardly Bombers peacefully resumed their previous lives, again on good terms with the people of Planet Bomber.
Super Bomberman R 2[]
Buggler does not reappear in Super Bomberman R 2, but he was mentioned by White when he said "that the new monsters and their leader are a much bigger threat than him".
Personality[]
His personality has never really been made clear or expanded upon in the games, but he is shown to be incredibly evil.
In the Bomberman Jetters anime, his personality is initially perceived as incredibly evil and selfish, just like in the games. But it is revealed that he isn't evil at all, he merely has a strong, bitter rivalry with Dr. Ein because of a childhood crush on Momo, White Bomber's grandmother.
Despite his so-called evil intentions, he never intends actual harm on and does not want to hurt anyone; this is shown when Max led a direct assault on Planet Jetters without his permission, and is in fact strongly opposed to it.
Near the end of the anime, Bagura gains the role of the victim after Dr. Mechado seizes control of the Shumulvault and imprisons him, but gets freed from his imprisonment by the heroes as he shows gratitude to them. Bagura's relationship with Mujoe is then revealed to be more of a close friendship than that of a boss and his lackey, and Bagura begins to show genuine remorse when it seems that Mujoe has perished. He even joined the heroes along with Mujoe, who apparently cheated and faked death thanks to Achoe, and to defeat and punish Mechado, save Planet Jetters and restore peace for good in the end.
In Super Bomberman R, however, he is unequivocally evil, broadcasting his universe conquering ambitions to all planets, giving the choice of submission or termination, alongside brainwashing the Five Dastardly Bombers and amalgamating them into the Great Gattaida, as well as creating a giant Saturn-esque black hole by using the Sun, making him far more crueler, heartless and diabolical. When defeated, he even goes as far as to claim that the evil in the hearts of all life-forms in the universe created him, and he will return so as long as that evil itself exists.
Anime[]
Bagura in the anime Bomberman Jetters
- See Bagura (Jetters)
In the anime series, Bomberman Jetters, Bagura is the true leader of the Hige Hige Bandits with an adjusted personality and motive. However, he appears to be unaffiliated with them in the game continuity, and the anime's depiction serves to combine the forces of two of Bomberman's persistent rivals.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
Powers[]
Although he appears to be an elderly man, Bagura has some rather powerful abilities at his disposal.
- Rubber Bomb — Typically, these are cast in four directions while Bagura is protected by either a shield or by floating. They bounce around the arena and have max blast radius.
- Shield — Bagura can create a square (or circular) shield which acts as a barrier against his opponents' attacks and can damage or kill anyone else who touches it.
- Teleportation — Bagura can teleport to another area in the arena, but upon reappearing he is stalled for a short time.
- Mechabomb Summon — Bagura can summon several Mechabomb monsters, who will spread out and explode, causing trouble for his opponent(s).
- Demon Summon - Bagura can summon several Demon monsters, who will evade damage and swoop in on the opponent.
- Bagura can create and revive Bomber-Cyborgs.
Boss Forms[]
- Dragoon (Bomberman '94)
- Gattaida (Super Bomberman 3)
- Bagura Head (Super Bomberman 4)
- God-Header/God Bomber (Bomberman World)
- Great Gattaida (Super Bomberman R)
- Ultimate Buggler (Super Bomberman R)
Translations[]
The following is a list of official renderings of the name 「バグラー」 (Bagurā), sorted by game.
| Game | Name | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Bomberman '94 | Buglear | In unlockable Sound Room and unused Boss Room. |
| Mega Bomberman | Bagulaa | In manual. |
| Bomberman Panic Bomber | Bugler | Wii U Virtual Console digital manual (PC Engine) and ending (Neo Geo). |
| Super Bomberman 3 | Professor Bugler / Professor Buglar | PAL manual; inconsistent spelling. |
| Bomberman World | Buggler (PAL) / Burglar (NTSC) | Game had two English translations depending on region. |
| Bomberman Hero | Bagular | Also used for the naming scheme of Bagulor. |
| Bomberman Fantasy Race | Bugglar / Burglar | The former is in credits of all versions; the latter is English localization only. |
| Bomberman Portable | Bagular | |
| Bomberman '08 | Bagura | |
| Super Bomberman R | Emperor Buggler | "Bugler" is written on the emblem of his army. |
| Pixel Puzzle Collection | Bagular |
Note that the Japanese word 「バグ」 (bagu) translates to "bug", as in a computer bug.
Trivia[]
Babylon looks familiar
- There is a theory that Bagura could be somehow considered a bomber because he is able to make bombs.
- In Bomberman: Panic Bomber and Super Bomberman - Panic Bomber W, Bagura appears with a design based on his shadowy overworld sprite from Bomberman '94. As he is redesigned in Super Bomberman 3 onward based on his battle sprite, this particular design was altered and reused for the copycat character Bagulor in Saturn Bomberman Fight!!. However, actually, Bagulor appeared in Bomberman: Panic Bomber and Super Bomberman - Panic Bomber W, as Bagura is absent in both games.
- Bagular makes a cameo in the opening animation of the Bomberman Jetters video game.
- He is not seen directly in Bomberman GB 3, but Devil Bomber is said to be an experiment of his that he locked away.
- In Pocket Bomberman, the final boss, Babylon, looks very similar to Bagura. It is unknown if this is Bagura's ancestor, a disguise or a wannabe.
- Of all his appearances, Bomberman Fantasy Race is the only game in which he is a playable character.
- Bagura appears as a nonogram picture in Pixel Puzzle Collection.
- According to an interview with a Super Bomberman 3 staff member, there reveals a very different backstory that was once proposed for Buggler in the game. He was originally intended to be the younger brother of a character named Mother Bomber. Bomber Mother would have been the creator and birth mother of Bomberman, who would be a copy of her human son. Were it not for the whole storyline being scrapped, Buggler would have effectively become Bomberman's uncle.
- Apparently, there are unused audio files hidden within Super Bomberman R that indicates that Buggler was intended to be a playable character at some point in development. These clips include the clips that play when a player selects for Buggler ("You're using me, eh?"), clips for Buggler being eliminated from play, victory lines, and a line saying "Dark Power", which mimics similar unused lines from other characters.
Gallery[]
.jpg "FB IMG 1494620982065 (1).jpg (112 KB)")
Theme[]
Note: These files aren't compatible with Internet Explorer
| Title | Music | Description | Composer | Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final Area | The theme is used on Final Area. | Jun Chikuma | Bomberman '94 | |
| Stage 8 | The theme is used on challenge against Green Wing. | Bomberman: Panic Bomber | ||
| Subspace | The theme is used on Subspace. | Jun Chikuma | Super Bomberman 4 | |
| Yasuhiko Fukuda | ||||
| Zone 4 | The theme is used on Zone 4. | Jun Chikuma | Super Bomberman 5 | |
| Yasuhiko Fukuda |