Hi-Ten Bomberman (Japanese: HI-TEN ボンバーマン, Haitenbonbāman) is a video game in the Bomberman series created in Summer 1993. It was showcased and played exclusively at the Hudson Soft Super Caravan 1993 events in Japan.
Overview
Hi-Ten Bomberman is a multiplayer-only game developed to support up to 10 players at a time, and utilizes a large, landscape-style HDTV screen to display its vast battlefield.
Gameplay Modes
There are five different gameplay modes featured in the game;
- Battle Royal: Battle Royal is a multiplayer battle between 10 players, with the same tried-and-true gameplay formula as seen in previous games. The last Bomberman standing is the winner.
- 2 Group Battle: 2 Group Battle is a multiplayer mode where two teams of five players battle against each other.
- 3 Group Battle: 3 Group Battle is a nine-player-only battle mode in which three teams of three players each are pitted against one other.
- 5 Group Battle: In this mode, five two-player teams battle against each other.
- 1 VS 9 Battle: 1 VS 9 Battle is ten-player mode where one player must go up against a team of nine other players.
Battlefield
The widescreen battlefield of Hi-Ten Bomberman featured Curve Marks that change the trajectory of kicked bombs, along with crate-themed Soft Blocks.
Characters
Depending on which controller port that the player uses, the Bomberman that he/she controls will be one of ten different colors:
- White Bomberman
- Pink Bomberman
- Brown Bomberman
- Cyan Bomberman
- Purple Bomberman
- Yellow Bomberman
- Green Bomberman
- Blue Bomberman
- Red Bomberman
- Black Bomberman
Hardware
Hi-Ten Bomberman is run on custom hardware, which consists of a joint effort between two PC Engine game consoles with two 5-player multitaps for the basic hardware and controller input, and a computer system with special custom-made circuit boards for the high-definition video display and 16:9 resolution (three times as that of the PC Engine's native 4:3 resolution). Five of these units were produced for the 1993 Super Caravan events. According to Caravan legend Master Takahashi, each unit had cost 200,000,000 Japanese Yen (about $2,000,000 USD by 1993's transfer rate) to manufacture. This hardware configuration wasn't meant for home gaming in mind; Specifically, it was meant to demonstrate video gaming on the Japanese analog HDTV standards.
This hardware would eventually become the basis of the 32-bit HuC62 (A.K.A. Project Tetsujin) development system, on which NEC's PC-FX game console was based.
Hudson Soft Super Caravan 1993
As mentioned before, Hi-Ten Bomberman was played exclusively at the Hudson Soft Super Caravan events in Summer of 1993. A tournament for the game was held at each of the forty-four venues (from July 19th 1993 to August 31st 1993), using the game's multiplayer modes. The winners at each venue were awarded a trophy, certificate, and a PC Engine DUO-R game console, the finalists a Bomberman staff t-shirt, semi-finalists the Hudson Super Shooting Watch, and all participants each received a copy of Deden no Den, a promotional version of Bomberman '94 based on the Far East of Eden RPG series.
NHK Studio Park
For a time, the original game was set up as an interactive exhibit, housed at the NHK Studio Park in Tokyo, Japan.
NEC PC-FX port?
At one point, there were rumors that Hi-Ten Bomberman was going to be released on the PC-FX game console, but it was cancelled, due to NEC's software publishing guidelines that emphasized on the system's FMV capabilities. These claims of such a port are unsubstantiated.
According to a Gamasutra.com interview with Master Takahashi, Hi-Ten Bomberman was never meant for the PC-FX console, and was only developed for use in HD. Another reason why Hi-Ten Bomberman was not released on the PC-FX, is because the console wasn't capable of running games in HD resolutions, even though it is based on the prototype Tetsujin board, which in turn was a development of Hi-Ten Bomberman's special custom hardware.
Status
As of 2010, the game was in possession at Hudson Soft's Japanese headquarters. However, it may possibly be in possession at Konami's headquarters since the merger between Hudson Soft and Konami in 2012.
Gallery
Videos
Hi-Ten Bomberman - 1993 High Definition System (Now in HD)
Excerpt of the Hudson Soft Summer Caravan promo video featuring Hi-Ten Bomberman. Video by ASSEMblergames.com
Hi-TEN BOMBERMAN BATTLE part.1 （Live play at the NHK STUDIO PARK August 31th,1997）
Hi-Ten Bomberman played at NHK Studio Park as an interactive exhibit in 1997. Video by caravanforever. Part 1.
Trivia
- The ten-player mechanic, along with the large, widescreen battlefield was carried over to Saturn Bomberman.
- "Hi-Ten" comes from "high-definition" and "ten-player".
- Hi-Ten Bomberman earned the Committee Chairman's Award at the 1993 High Vision Awards hosted by the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
- Being a title that demonstrates video games on HDTVs, Hi-Ten Bomberman could be seen as the very first high-definition video game.
- In 1994, an updated version of the game featuring characters from other Hudson Soft properties, Hi-Ten Chara-Bomb, was showcased and played at the 1994 Super Caravan events one year after the original.
- During the early 1990s, HDTV sets like those used in the Super Caravan events had price tags running up to millions in Japanese Yen.
- NHK, the Japanese national public broadcasting organization that helped to organize the Super Caravan events, were advocates of HDTV technologies for years.
Sources
- http://randomhoohaas.flyingomelette.com/bomb/arc-hiten/ Random Hoo-Haas article
- http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=142585162430279 Facebook page "The Advent of HD Gaming...in 1993?!" from the official website of Bomberman Live: Battlefest
- http://www.pcenginefx.com/PC-FX/html/pc-fx_world_-_f_r_-_hi-ten_bom.html PCEngineFX page on Hi-Ten Bomberman