Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 11:18:21 -0800

Created by: Mike Fox

E-mail: rennard@spiritone.com

"Bomberman 64 - How to be a Winner"

Sick and tired of losing to the B-man 64 pros who are always kicking yer
butt? Well, this FAQ is for you. This will include how to win at any level
in the Battle Stages, with specific details about tricks of the trade. The
stages included in this FAQ: Rock Garden, Up and Down, Pyramid, Greedy
Trap, Top Rules, and Field of Grass. Also included in this FAQ, just how to
set up a game! Now, on with the show!

BOMBERMAN 64 - HOW TO BE A WINNER!

Contents-
1. Introduction
2. Setting up a Game
3. Using "Custom" Pieces
4. How the Items Work
5. The Buttons
6. How to Win!

1. INTRODUCTION-

In Bomberman 64 (hopefully that's the game you're trying to figure

out), the object of Battle Mode is, well, just kick the other guy's butts.
There's another mode, Team Mode, that will let you play on a team, but
that's a little boring.
When you start a Battle, you will start in one of four corners,
depending on your color. White starts in the top left corner, black in the
bottom right, blue in the bottom left, and red in the top right. "Go!" is
shouted, and you're off! Using your unlimited supply of bombs and items,
it's up to you to be the triumphant bomber and become the hero of thousands
(probably an action figure too!). Good luck, Bomberman!

2. SETTING UP A GAME-

Setting up a game. Alright. There are three options when you go to

"Battle" on the main menu. I'll go into detail for each of the three
choices below.

A. Single Battle- Single Battle is the option that lets you

go all out with your friends or with the
computer, or possibly a combination of both. I prefer Single Battle over
everything else in the entire game. It's loads o' fun. To set up a game,
select "Single Battle" when you're cursor is over it. The screen will now
show four players, white, black, blue, and red. White is 1st player, Black
is 2nd, Red is 3rd, and Blue is 4th. You can turn the players into computer
opponents, or human opponents, whatever you wish. You may also turn OFF the
other players to go 1 x 1 or just practice alone. Simply move your cursor
over the corresponding area, and move the control stick right and left to
change it. Now you select your level, and then, you're off! Good luck!

B. Team Battle- Team Battle is a lot less fun than the

Single Battle, I think. It has it's good points (everything does). You
select teams when you choose "Team Battle". These teams can be Human and
computer vs. Human and computer, Computer and computer vs. human and human,
however you'd like to make it. Now, the level selection part comes up.
Choose the level, and start your game. However, this game is much different
than the Single Battle game. The "Blue" team, shown on the left side of the
screen, has to protect the blue crystal by any means possible while
destroying the red crystal at the same time. The "Red" team must do the
exact opposite, shown on the right side of the screen. Each team can take
hits on their crystal 5 times before losing. Good luck!

C. Options- Options mode. Something you've NEVER seen

before! :) Here, you can set the number of wins that it will take somebody
to totally win a tournament, all the way up to 5 wins. You can also set the
length of each battle, all the way up to 5 mins. You can also select
whether or not their is "Sudden Death" and "Ghosts". Sudden Death is a
security system that every battle level has. Very soon after there is only
one minute left, traps will begin to fall or crush or flood, depending on
the level, to speed you along your journey to victory or defeat. Rock
Garden has fireballs that fall from the sky, Up and Down has water that
floods, the Pyramid also has a flooding system, Greedy Trap has walls that
close in on you from the sides, Top Rules also has walls that close in, and
Field of Grass has the fireballs that fall from the sky. "Ghosts" are the
little bombermen that didn't win. When and if you die in Battle mode, you
become a Ghost. Ghosts cannot lay bombs, but may hop onto the back of
another bomber player and control them for a short period of time. Ghosts
may throw anything as usual, including bombs and people.

3. CUSTOM PIECES-

Custom pieces are one of my favs about B-man 64! They're awesome!
Throughout the Adventure mode, you may happen upon little "?" marked
circles. They have four different colors, blue, red, green, and yellow,
corresponding with head, arms, body and feet (not in that order). These are
called "Costume Pieces" and they're available to view in the "Custom" area
of the main menu. Simply go the the Custom area and select your file, then
go ahead and dress Bomberman up!
Should you have a controller pak, the fun really begins! You can
have Bomberman dress up in Battle Mode! Gives you a kinda edge, doncha
think? Here's how:

1. Go to the "Custom" area from the Main Menu.

2. Once there, select your file and dress up Bomberman.
3. When satisfied with his new apparel, go to the
bottom of the screen
to "Copy to Controller Pak" and select this.
4. Copy it to the controller pak, simply by
selecting "Yes". You may
have to do so twice.
5. Now, when in Battle Mode with your controller
pak in, you go to the
part when choosing whether characters are human or
computer.
Go to "Custom" at the very bottom of whichever
controller has the
pak in, and move it to the right or left. Voila!

As this is only about Battle Mode, I'm only going to talk about
Battle Mode, not how to get the Custom Pieces. If you want to know that,
e-mail me.

4. HOW THE ITEMS WORK-

There are 5 different Items in Battle Mode available to help you in

the destruction of your buddies. "Flames", which just look like orange
flames with eyes. These make your bombs' explosions a little bit bigger
each time you get one, though they stop growing at a certain point.

"Bombs", which are just black bombs. These will let you set down
one more bomb when playing. You can have a lot of bombs, but they also stop
at a certain point.
"Hearts" which are large pink hearts. They are very rare, and you
should try to get one ASAP. Hearts will stay with you until you get hit by
an explosion, when they will fly out but you will live on. After getting
hit, you can go get your heart again, should you be fast enough. A word of
warning: Hearts DO NOT protect you from being thrown out of the arena.
"Diseases", which look like little skulls. Diseases aren't rare,
and some are good, some are bad. Most, if used correctly, are good. I'll go
into how to use them later; for now, I'll just tell you what diseases there
are. "Quick Bomb Disease", which doubles the speed of bombs blowing up.
"Big Bomb Disease" which makes all of your bombs' explosions maxed out.
Careful with that one. "Small Bomb Disease" which makes all bomb explosions
tiny. Another I call "Disability Disease", in which your controller will
not let you move unless you tap the direction you want to move in and let
it run, then tap it again in another direction. "Big Bomber Disease" in
which you bomber doubles in size (pretty fun) as well as "Small Bomber
Disease" in which Bomerman is about 10 times smaller (AWESOME!). "No Bomb
Disease" in which you are unable to lay a bomb at all. "Flame Disease"
which sets you on fire for about 30 seconds. You can torch any person, but
watch out for bombs or you'll get torched. All diseases may be transferred
to somebody else by touching them, and you're free of it.
"Evils". "Evils" are little masks that will apear ONCE in every
level in Battle Mode. These are tons of fun, but can also be a pain. The
types: "Disco Inferno" turns the entire screen rainbow colors for a long
time. "Tornado" which causes a very big tornado to appear in the arena (try
throwing things, and yourself, into it!) "Growth Spurt" in which everybody
is huge, "MLB" in which everybody throws anything they touch. "Knockout" in
which everybody is, at totally random times, knocked out. "WW3" in which
everybody has gigantic red bombs.
If I've left any Evils of Diseases out, please e-mail me.

5. HOW THE BUTTONS WORK-

Here's the fundamentals of Battle Mode:

A Button: lays down a bomb. Pretty simple.

A Button 2x: lays down bomb and kicks it.
B Button: picks up a bomb or person on the ground, when bomb or
person in hands,
press again to throw.
B Button+A Button: bomb appears in hands.
Control stick: walks around. I REALLY hope you knew that.
R Button: stops bomb if you just kicked one.
Walk into a bomb: you kick it in the direction you're facing.
Press B Button+A Button to get bomb in hands, then repeaetdly hit A
Button: get HUGE
bomb.
If ever knocked out: swing control stick wildly and press all buttons.

5. HOW TO WIN-

Well, here's what you've been waiting for. Everything that I know.
I never lose at Bomberman 64, so if you just use this stuff right, you
won't either. I'll start with tricks I use in general, then go to in depth
for the levels.

At the beginning of any level, you're opponents, no matter who they

are, will most likely be looking for items, not a fight. This is a good
time to do the same if you feel more comfortable with items, or, if you're
good enough, just go after one person until the fighting actually starts.
Whenever you have a clear shot at somebody, for kicking, that is,
immediately kick one bomb so they're dizzy. Then, launch a second one right
before they get up. Do it right, you have a person down.
If somebody is throwing a big bomb at you, or a little one for that
matter, quickly pull off the A+B to get a bomb in your hands. Their bomb
will bounce off yours, keeping you safe.
When playing team mode, you can destroy the crystals with a small
bomb. However, if you use a pumped up bomb, then the damage will double,
taking away two points. Should you use a pumped up red bomb, the damage
will triple, taking off three of the opponents points.
There's actually nothing I really do in general, so I'll just start
in depth. You'll learn it all if you play, but this will speed up that
process.

ROCK GARDEN TRICKS-

FOR TEAM MODE, in the Rock Garden, try to get your partner to throw
you onto the edge of the arena. Here, there is almost no way, if you play
smart, to lose. Have your partner then throw the crystal up, and you're
invincible.
Another cool trick for TEAM MODE. Have your partner, if they get
the disease that makes them huge, throw your crystal up onto the very
middle column. In no way whatsoever, with the exception of a pumped up red
bomb, can your crystal be hurt. Have fun with this one.
Just the opposite, if you are small in TEAM MODE, grab the crystal
and just run around and around. Nobody will be able to catch you, so just
don't run into any bombs and you'll be fine.

FOR SINGLE PLAYER- There are no real tactics for Rock Garden with
single player, as it is as fair as any of the levels can possibly be. The
easiest way to kill somebody, though, is probably just throw them off of
the edge. Knock 'em out with a kicking bomb, then throw them off. If you're
fast enough, you'll eliminate everybody.

UP AND DOWN TRICKS-

FOR TEAM MODE, there's a really cheap, really easy way to win. If
you just killed somebody, and you know which corner they started in, then
you just stand in that corner. When they appear, they appear in the corner,
but the fall right onto your head, and fall into the water. They'll do it
over and over and over. If you manage to get both players into this
position, then you can just kick bombs at the opponent's crystal.
 FOR SINGLE PLAYER, stay on the top. There, you can kick bombs down
the stairs and at the passages, fending off the other players attempts to
get up there with you. This is the most tactical position available to you
here. No real tricks will help you here.

PYRAMID TRICKS-
The Pyramid is my favorite level of all time. Play this one right,
you'll never lose. All tricks listed are meant for SINGLE PLAYER ONLY.

At the very beginning, you will start right next to an opponent.

Kick a bomb at them, then throw them off. I've managed to do this 90% of
the time when I start, and you've got one down within 3 seconds of playing
time.
Try to stay as high as possible, and kick bombs at anybody that
comes up. They'll be forced to wait in the water, and you'll be dry as a
bone while they suffer. More than two bombs, preferably 4, should be used
for this trick to work.
The real key to winning at the Pyramid is throwing. You can throw
somebody off at almost anywhere in the whole arena, so be prepared - any
opportunity you can get should be taken.

GREEDY TRAP TRICKS-

FOR TEAM MODE, just have one person work on protecting the crystal,
by staying in the outer ring above everybody else, and one person attack
the other team. As a last resort, throw the crystal out of the arena to
avoid getting it blown up. Don't worry-it won't take off points.

FOR SINGLE PLAYER, at the start, kick some bombs into the middle,
and reap the awards of the items. THIS IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS! I've been
killed half the time when I try this, but it gives you a huge advantage if
you can pull it off. After getting the items, stay in the outer ring and
nail the others that try to pull off the same trick.

TOP RULES TRICKS-

FOR ALL MODES, the title says it all. The top rules. If you can
manage to control the top of the arena, you've already won. When the walls
start closing in, if it gets that far, then they will cut off all routes to
getting to the top, and you're free to kick bombs at your enemy until they
die.
More specifically, for TEAM MODE, just keep your crystal on the top
while you kick bombs at the other players. Very easy level, gets boring
fast.

FIELD OF GRASS TRICKS-

FOR TEAM MODE, just have one person run around wildly with the
crystal while the other player protects you and destroys the crystal. This
one is pretty boring, but the grass can make it loads of fun. If you must,
throw the crystal off one of the sides to prevent it from being destroyed.

FOR SINGLE PLAYER, this is probably the only level in which you'll
have to avoid fighting. Just grab items quickly, and stay out of the grass.
Bombs are hard to see, and most of the other players will probably group
into the grass, so let them fight it out and you take on the winner of the
skirmish.