Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!: Difference between revisions

The game shares its objective with other ''Bomberman'' games. The player has to blow up between one to three opponent(s) via the use of bombs to advance, while they try to do the same to the player. The entire game is played from a top-down perspective. The player maneuvers around a grid-like playing field, setting off bombs to blow up unsuspecting enemies, and destroy [[block (Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!)|block]]s to clear the way and to reveal occasional power-ups. The player wins by defeating the enemy [[Madbomber]]s (which take on the appearance of the character not chosen). Every level is played with a best-of-3 rule. If the player wins two times, they gain access to the next level. Failure to do so results in a [[Game Over]].

At the end of each round, the player faces a boss that requires a strategy.

While ''Bomberman GB'' was getting ready for a Western release, [[Nintendo]] approached [[Hudson Soft|Hudson]] about doing a [[Mario]] collaboration.<ref name=ohbuko>nori_bomber (August 18, 2023). [https://twitter.com/nori_bomber/status/1692744409488765431 Tweet by Norio Ohkubo]. ''Twitter''. Retrieved September 2, 2023.</ref> Concerns about [[Bomberman]]'s overseas popularity prompted the idea to replace the main character.<ref>nori_bomber (March 21, 2023). [https://twitter.com/nori_bomber/status/1638034407692058624 Tweet by Norio Ohkubo]. ''Twitter''. Retrieved September 2, 2023.</ref> Mario was considered as the protagonist at first, but there were concerns that having him use bombs to defeat his enemies would be out-of-character and off-brand.<ref name=nori>nori_bomber (February 27, 2021). [https://twitter.com/nori_bomber/status/1365848274960146432 Tweets by Norio Ohkubo]. ''Twitter''. Retrieved February 28, 2021 ([https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1365874820395589638 English translation by PushDustIn]).</ref> The development team suggested [[Wario]], who had his own games on the market, and since it was insisted to keep Bomberman, the game became a crossover.<ref name=ohbuko/> Even though Wario was a new character at the time, Nintendo sent the developers a list of approved and forbidden actions for the characters, which designer Norio Ohkubo likened to the approval process for using {{wp|Disney}} characters in term of strictness.<ref name=nori/>

''Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!'' is not directly referenced in later games, but it began a trend in Nintendo spin-offs that associates Wario with [[bomb]]s. Technically, bombs having any relevance to Wario first appeared in ''[[Wario's Woods]]'', but in this game, they are solely used against him. Beginning in ''[[Mario Party]]'', Wario has an association with [[Bob-omb]]s as his home stage, [[Wario's Battle Canyon]], features the landscape of a canyon wrought with explosions from a war between Bob-ombs and [[Bob-omb Buddy|Bob-omb Buddies]], which Wario appears to be manipulating out of greed. In ''[[Mario Party 3]]'', Wario's association with Bob-ombs continues, as one is his default partner in the game's duel mode. In ''[[Mario Tennis]]'', Bob-ombs line the walls in Wario's home stage, [[Wario Court]], as well as his joint venture with Waluigi, [[Wario & Waluigi Court]]. In ''[[Mario Kart: Double Dash!!]]'', Wario's special item is the Bob-omb. In ''[[Super Mario 64 DS]]'', Wario is one of the two characters who has a Bob-omb themed minigame in the [[Rec Room]]. In ''[[Mario Hoops 3-on-3]]'', Wario's home stage [[Wario Factory (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)|Wario Factory]] has several Bob-ombs (ones larger than the Bob-omb one gets as an item) that appear as stage-exclusive hazards for the players. In ''[[Mario Super Sluggers]]'', Wario hits a bomb in addition to a baseball as his special move. In the ''[[Club Nintendo (magazine)|Club Nintendo]]'' comics, Wario is the owner of a bomb shop. Lastly, the timer and logo for the minigames in the ''[[WarioWare (series)|WarioWare]]'' games is a [[bomb (WarioWare series)|bomb]] with Wario's mustache on it.