Panic Bomber (Virtual Boy)

Panic Bomber
Also known as: Tobidase! Panibon (JP) Developer: Hudson Soft Publishers: Hudson Soft (JP), Nintendo (US) Platform: Virtual Boy Released in JP: July 21, 1995 Released in US: December 1995 This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

Panic Bomber is the exciting tale of Bomberman's quest for the fabled Golden Bomber statue. (You'll have to take our word for it about the "Golden" part.)

To do: More regional differences, including character names and dialogue changes.

Debug Menu/Stage Select

Download Debug Menu and Stage Select patches File: Pbomber.rar (1KB) (info)

The two patches in this archive enable a debug mode and stage select menu. Note that the patches can be used with either the Japanese or US ROM. The debug menu/stage select will come up immediately after starting up the game.

Note that only one patch can be applied to the ROM at a time, as the two patches conflict with one another.

(Source: Parasyte)

Debug Menu

The main debug menu consists of five options:

• Game Start starts the game as normal.
• Debug Game Play and Debug Auto Play open an additional menu containing various game parameters; pressing Start or A on this menu will begin the game. The former starts a normal game, while the latter pits two CPU players against each other. When the game is over, the former returns to the menu regardless of your outcome, but the latter automatically restarts the game and the only way to exit is to reset.
• Sound Test does exactly what it says on the tin.
• Ending takes you straight to the game's ending. Watch out for spoilers!
• The build date is shown at the bottom of the screen.
  • Japanese: 1995/06/02
  • US: 1995/07/21

Debug Game Play/Debug Auto Play

The "debug play" menu consists of several options including background and enemy selection.

• SCROLL (00-01) - set to 00 to disable background scrolling. Same as in-game option "BG Scroll".
• ANIMATION (00-02) - unknown. Doesn't seem to affect piece animations.
• DOKURO (00-01) - set to 01 to enable Skull Mode.
• TUBU (00-05) - selects which puzzle piece set to use.
  • 00: Bomberman and common enemies.
  • 01: Multi-colored Bombermen
  • 02: Bomberman and the World Bombers (from Super Bomberman: Panic Bomber W)
  • 03: Powerups.
  • 04: Shapes.
  • 05: Multi-sized Bombermen (normally unlocked with the password 9782).
• ENEMY (00-0A) - selects which opponent to appear on the screen. This also affects music, but the actual AI is selected by CPU option.
• WORLD (00-03) - selects background.
• SPEED (00-05) - selects how fast the puzzle pieces fall.
• COLOR (01-05) - selects how many different kinds (or colors) of puzzle pieces to appear in the game.
• ERASE (01-06) - selects how many puzzle pieces are required to clear the group of it.
• ITEM (00-10) - if not 00, this option forces which effect to appear on Skull Mode.
• EVENT (00-04) - if not 00, any bombs spawned by clearing pieces will immediately explode. By forming 2 or more chains, a special animation is played and your field is completely cleared.
  • 01: Golden Bomberman shoots your field.
  • 02: A spacecraft shoots your field.
  • 03: A whirlpool sucks every piece from your field.
  • 04: Sparkles appear and some multiple explosions happen.
• WIN (01-02) - 01 sets a one-point match (default), and 02 is two-points match (used by final bosses).
• CPU (00-0F) - selects the opponent's AI.

Sound Test

Lets you listen to the game's sound effects and music, even giving you control over music playback with the pause/fade/fast options.

Stage Select

Using the other patch will enable this stage select menu in place of the debug menu, allowing you to jump straight to any stage in the game. You can return to the actual title screen by losing the game and choosing not to continue.

Regional Differences

Title Screen

Japan	US

"TM&" was added to the Hudson Soft copyright line, and "1995" uses a different font. The line as a whole was also moved up a bit to add "Licensed to Nintendo".

The Japanese title translates to "Jump Out! Panic Bomber".

Difficulty

Japan	US

Japan	US
N/A

The game difficulty is selected in the Options screen in the Japanese version, whereas the US version adds a separate screen to do so. The default setting is Very Easy in the Japanese version and Normal in the US one.