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xexex · Nov 13, 2005

Hi-Ten Bomberman (Hi for Hi-Def, Ten for 10-Players) is said to be the first HDTV formatted game. although it most likely was low-resolution, it was widescreen. Hi-Ten Bomberman was either made for the PC-FX and not released, or it was *intended* for the PC-FX but actually ran on two PC-Engine systems to get the widescreen output. Hi-Ten was basicly a demo used to promote the PC-FX. as said, Hi-Ten was never released on either the PC-Engine or the PC-FX.

however, Saturn Bomberman was derived from Hi-Ten Bomberman. Saturn Bomberman had a few changes and some additions. (NetLink play for the U.S.)

my question however is, what was in Hi-Ten Bomberman that was *not* in Saturn Bomberman? (i.e. Bonk) was there anything about Hi-Ten that is better than Saturn Bomberman? any info, comments, screenshots, etc on Hi-Ten would be most appreciated.... I remember seeing an article on it in Next-Generation, in their PC-FX preview, in one of the earliest issues. ((#2, February 1995 perhaps?)

USENET quote
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.sega/msg/a33203bba929277b?dmode=source&hl=en

Hi-Ten Bomberman was not a PC-FX game, and was not a commercial product. It
ran on a modified PC-Engine (maybe plus some other hardware) and was part of
a traveling exhibit, perhaps one of those "Summer Carnival" contests Hudson
held in Japan. I believe it supported 10 players.

In fact, there's no Bomberman game on the PC-FX at all so far as I recall.

Saturn Bomberman in the 10-player mode is probably based on Hi-Ten
Bomberman; hence it runs in a letterboxed mode to replicate the 16x9 aspect
ratio.

http://www.pcenginefx.com/PC-FX/html/pc-fx_world_-_f_r_-_hi-ten_bom.html

Hi-Ten Bomberman
Developed by Hudson Soft - Action - Unreleased

Hi-Ten Bomberman was a game that was originally planned to be released on the PC-FX, however due to NEC's publishing guidelines, Hi-Ten would never be released for the unit. The game in its original form would never be for sale, but it did however make an appearance in the Hudson Soft Gaming Caravan back in 1993 as part of a competition. Hi-Ten Bomberman was a 10 player version of the popular PC Engine/TG-16 game "Bomberman", and was formatted for play on wide-screen HDTV's - the first game ever for the HDTV standard (at the time, HDTV's have been in Japan for many years). You could play as many different characters like "Bonk" or "Bomberman" (Woman or Man) and many more. It is believed that Hudson Soft later released this version, redone slightly, as "Saturn Bomberman", which includes the PC-FX "widescreen" 10-player mode. Saturn Bomberman is basically what the PC-FX version should have been like.

edit: more info
http://www.tinyurl.com/bohw5

HI-TEN BOMBERMAN WAS A SPECIAL VERSION OF THE POPULAR GAME BOMBERMAN THAT WAS FORMATTED FOR A WIDE SCREEN, HI-DEFINITION TELEVISION MONITOR. THE LARGER PLAYING FIELD AND IMPROVED PICTURE ALLOWED FOR UP TO 10 PLAYERS TO COMPETE AT THE SAME TIME.
IT WAS USED ONLY AS A CONTEST GAME IN THE ANNUAL HUDSON "GAME CARAVAN," AND WAS PROBABLY NOT PLAYED ON A PC ENGINE SINCE IT WAS BEING DISPLAYED ON AN HDTV.

HI-TEN BOMBERMAN ALLOWED FOR THESE SPECIAL MODES OF PLAY :

10 PLAYER BATTLE ROYAL
3 TEAMS OF 3 PEOPLE
2 TEAMS OF 5 PLAYERS
5 PAIR TEAMS

EDIT: more info discovered!

http://bonk.classicgaming.gamespy.com/game.ktn?Game=htbm

Overview
Hi-TEN Bomberman was the world's first HD-TV video game and was used by Hudson Soft to demonstrate their HD-TV technology. The first version demoed at the 1993 Hudson Soft "Super Caravan" as part of a Bomberman competition and ran using two PC Engine CoreGrafx (5 players on each machine) and a computer to output to the HD-TV. For the 1994 contest, the game was apparently updated to run on a Project Tetsujin "IronMan" prototype board, which many believe eventually became the PC-FX. This version of Bomberman featured up to 10 players and purportedly included Bonk, though this has not been confirmed. Hi-TEN Bomberman was later ported to the Sega Saturn under the name Saturn Bomberman, and Saturn Bomberman does feature Bonk, so it is likely that Hi-Ten also featured Bonk. In 1993, Hi-TEN Bomberman was given the Committee Chairman's Award at the "High Vision Awards 93" hosted by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Many believe that the game was never released on the PC-FX due to NEC's strict content guidelines on the system, though it was eventually ported to the Sega Saturn.

xexex · Nov 13, 2005

not even one friggin reply? comon GAF

DECK'ARD · Nov 13, 2005

If you look at the screens you'll see the stages in Hi-Ten Bomberman had arrows. The Hi-Ten stage in Saturn Bomberman was just a single no-frills Bomberman level. So overall I'd say Hi-Ten would still be the ultimate Bomberman, because you'd have the huge stages but with the extras. I expect there was more than one stage in Hi-Ten as well, although never seen enough screenshots of it to tell.

Hi-Ten Bomberman was around quite a while before the PC-FX as well. It was part of a Hudson travelling carnival thing that went round Japan I think. So it was definitely a normal PC-Engine game, although as you say probably running off 2 machines.

SkinSider · Nov 13, 2005

I played Hi-ten Bomberman (it was running on a PC) at Hudson HQ in Sapporo about ten years ago. It was fucking amazing. There were like, separate mini-battles going on between groups of two or three players. It was chaos and terror all the way.
There were definitely lots of stages. The game had been properly tested and bug checked. It was very polished, lots of power ups and a couple of things that were (at that time) new to the series.

It would be PERFECT for play on 360 Live Arcade.

I am emailing someone about it right now.

And to reiterate, it was running on a PC, which means somewhere, someone has it. The motherlode.

DECK'ARD · Nov 13, 2005

Ok, I'm jealous now!

SkinSider · Nov 13, 2005

Nash said:
Ok, I'm jealous now!

Hudson HQ was crazy. Coin and sword museum on ground floor, plus working scale model train ride on roof.

MightyHedgehog · Nov 13, 2005

If this comes to XBL Arcade, they had better include the all-powerful bear character...I love that dude in the Saturn game. You could pick up bombs and throw them (glove item) right off the bat.

Shogmaster · Nov 13, 2005

MightyHedgehog said:
If this comes to XBL Arcade, they had better include the all-powerful bear character...I love that dude in the Saturn game. You could pick up bombs and throw them (glove item) right off the bat.

If Hi-Ten Bomberman comes to Xarcade in any form with Live! play, they'll have my $15 (and my friends') in an instant.

MightyHedgehog · Nov 13, 2005

I'd love to see new 2D fighters and other stuff actually debut on XBLA, like a new arcade platform.

Katana_Strikes · Nov 13, 2005

We need 10 player Next Gen Bomberman, goddamit!!

DECK'ARD · Nov 13, 2005

Dav2k said:
We need 10 player Next Gen Bomberman, goddamit!!

Agreed, although unless they just released Hi-Ten Bomberman it would probably be a bit rubbish.

It's hard to ruin Bomberman because the concept is so simple, but none of the recent games really captured what the PC-Engine ones had. Saturn Bomberman seems to be the last one done by those people, although I'd still say Bomberman '94 is best despite lacking the 10-player mode.

WindyMan · Nov 13, 2005

It should be noted that the DS version of Bomberman has a shit-ton of features and options and supports 8 players with only one copy of the game. (It's also widescreen if you turn the DS on its side, lol.)

I did get to play Saturn Bumberman with like, 7 people, and it was a crap load of fun. About the same amount of fun as the DS version multiplayer, I'd say.

MightyHedgehog · Nov 13, 2005

Nash said:
It's hard to ruin Bomberman because the concept is so simple, but none of the recent games really captured what the PC-Engine ones had. Saturn Bomberman seems to be the last one done by those people, although I'd still say Bomberman '94 is best despite lacking the 10-player mode.

Saturn Bomberman was the last 'really fucking fun' Bomberman that I played...so I think you're pretty much right as far as having that pure Bomberman feel that's been drowned and faded by gimmicky ideas, unecessary 3D visual 'enhancements' in subsequent releases... I loved it so much, in fact, that I went out and actually bought ten Saturn controllers and two multitaps so that co-workers and friends and I could blow the shit outta each other several nights a week, back then. Worked out well for six-player Death Tank, as well.

xexex · Nov 13, 2005

SkinSider said:
I played Hi-ten Bomberman (it was running on a PC) at Hudson HQ in Sapporo about ten years ago. It was fucking amazing. There were like, separate mini-battles going on between groups of two or three players. It was chaos and terror all the way.
There were definitely lots of stages. The game had been properly tested and bug checked. It was very polished, lots of power ups and a couple of things that were (at that time) new to the series.

It would be PERFECT for play on 360 Live Arcade.

I am emailing someone about it right now.

And to reiterate, it was running on a PC, which means somewhere, someone has it. The motherlode.

whoa i'm actually jeleous as well ^__^ i wanna play Hi-Ten Bomberman so bad now.

so it was running on a PC and not a PC-Engine(s) huh? it would've been a KILLER app for the PC-FX with high-resolution sprite graphics.........

does anyone have Next-Generation #2 (i think that's the one) and could scan the article that had Hi-Ten?

xexex · Nov 14, 2005

I hope Konami / Hudson Soft releases a Bomberman collection for Xbox *and* Xbox360, with every bomberman game made.

including Hi-Ten and the Factor5-developed 8-player Bomberman for the Megadrive/Genesis, which was also never released.

Timedog · Nov 14, 2005

WOW OUT OF NOWHERE I JUST GOT REALLY EXCITED FOR "HI TEN" BOMBERMAN!!!!!

With a name like that it has to be good!

SkinSider · Nov 14, 2005

briefcasemanx said:
WOW OUT OF NOWHERE I JUST GOT REALLY EXCITED FOR "HI TEN" BOMBERMAN!!!!!

With a name like that it has to be good!

Just to state the obvious it's called Hi Ten to indicate "Hi-Scan" (HDTV) and Ten players simultaneously. Which is of course, totally stating the obvious.

Tiktaalik · Nov 14, 2005

10 player bomberman? Oh please. What we need is MMO Bomberman :lol

Rlan · Nov 14, 2005

Hudson need to release some information about Bomberman DS 2, with online play, STAT!

Did anyone here ever play Bomberman FIGHT! on the Saturn? Sort of a 4 player 3D Bomberman game? Looked really interesting.

Get rid of Oval-Head Bomberman Hudson! Bring back square head!

xexex · Nov 14, 2005

I got Bomberman Fight off Ebay last year. it IS interesting. i think the maps are kinda small though. not enough room. although i have not put alot of time into it. I wanted to get Bomberman Wars also but haven't

Dagless M.D. · Nov 14, 2005

It would be cool if they tried an online bomberman with hundreds of players on a huge map, it would probably suck, but i'd still like to see it

xexex · Nov 14, 2005

Newbie said:
It would be cool if they tried an online bomberman with hundreds of players on a huge map, it would probably suck, but i'd still like to see it

yeah, i'd like to see that attempted, at least.

xexex · Nov 16, 2005

btw, can I get:

1.) a list of all known Bomberman games
2.) some links to Bomberman-websites.

much thanks

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