Bravoman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bravoman
Arcade flyer of Bravoman.
Arcade flyer of Bravoman.
Developer(s) Namco
Publisher(s) Namco, NEC
Designer(s) Takao Yoshiba (Arcade version)
Platform(s) Arcade Game, TurboGrafx-16, Virtual Console
Release date 1988 (Arcade)
1990 (TurboGrafx-16)
April 9, 2007 (Virtual Console)
Genre(s) Platform game / beat-em-up
Mode(s) Single player, Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Input methods 8-way Joystick, 2 Pressure Sensitive Buttons (Arcade),
4-way Control pad, 2 Buttons (TG16)
Cabinet Horizontal
Arcade system Namco System 1
CPU 6809
Sound Sound CPU : 6809
MCU : HD63701
Sound Chips : YM2151, Namco advanced 8-channel stereo WSG, DAC
Display Raster, 288 x 224 pixels, 24-bit RGB color

Bravoman or Bioboxer (complete Japanese title: 超絶倫人 ベラボーマン, Chou Zetsurinjin Beraboh Man, roughly translated Super Unequaled Man: Absurd Man, sometimes referred to as Berabow Man) is a humorous combination of a platformer and a beat-em-up arcade game originally developed by Namco for the arcades as Beraboh Man in 1988 and later translated to English and ported to the NEC TurboGrafx-16 as Bravoman in 1990, which is also the most popular and best known version of the game to date. In 2007, Bravoman was released on the Wii Virtual Console.

The game takes a light and humorous approach to an otherwise trite theme, by using a lot of humorous elements, both graphics, plot and sound-wise, usually ridiculing or parodying stereotypical elements of Japanese tokusatsu and videogames, in a manner similar to the Konami game series Parodius.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The plot starts when a business man named Nakamura encounters a mysterious flying man named Alpha (spelled as "Alfa" in the English Turbografx-16 version). Alpha tells Nakamura that an evil scientist named Dr. Bomb ("Dr. Bakuda" [爆田博士; Bakuda-hakase] in the Japanese version) is planning to set an "End the World" weapon. Then Alpha gives Nakamura an odd metal rod, a fork and a coin, which turns him into Bravoman, a bionic superhero who possesses telescopic limbs which can be used to fight against Dr. Bomb's henchmen. After Bravoman defeats Dr. Bomb, he turns back into Nakamura and walks home to his wife, daughter and son.

[edit] Gameplay

Bravoman can mainly use his telescopic limbs to attack enemies. Depending on his position (jumping, crouching etc.) he will either use his arms, legs or head to attack. The arcade version had 2 pressure sensitive buttons that allowed the player to control how strong an attack and how high a jump would be. In the TurboGrafx-16 version, pressing on the fire button for a long time will result in a ranged but slow attack, while pressing it shortly results in a quicker, though less ranged attack. When walking normally, he can either attack frontally or perform a diagonal forward and upwards kick, by moving the joystick up and right (or left) while attacking.

Most enemy projectiles can be blocked by Bravoman's attacks. Also, Bravoman can occasionally collect some bonuses giving him greater range, temporary invincibility, increased speed, powerful punches, the ability to fly through most of the level without being hurt or the ability to fire energy bolts for a short while.

Bravoman can reach quite high when jumping, but some places require a slightly more advanced technique, the so-called Bravo Jump. It essentially means performing an attack at the top of one's jump, which will cause Bravoman to stop for a while in mid-air. At that point, pressing the jump button again will result in a smaller, mid-air jump. This technique gives Bravoman a little extra jumping height, which is essential in some stages of the game. This can only be done once per jump. The arcade version uses three different jump buttons and has no Bravo Jump technique".

In underwater stages, Bravoman turns into a submarine, and the game then works like most side scrolling shoot-em-up games. At the end of the game, Bravoman morphs back into an ordinary Japanese working man with a family, wife and children, since it turns out that he was only temporarily transformed into Bravoman by the alien from planet Alfa mentioned below.

[edit] Lottery Man

Bravoman hitting a friendly character, with hilarious effects.
Bravoman hitting a friendly character, with hilarious effects.

Lottery Man is a sort of Bravoman's partner, aiding him with various bonuses during gameplay, and even being rescued by Bravoman in one stage.

Lottery Man looks like a yellow robot riding a unicycle, and floats in the game's screen each time Bravoman collects a special bonus, offering him a random item, usually points, health or power ups.

Also, during most stages, Bravoman can collect some special "lottery tickets" bonuses. After a stage's boss is defeated, Bravoman meets Lottery Man, who asks "Hey Bravoman, want to eat?" and then gives Bravoman some health bonuses, depending on how many "tickets" he has collected during the stage.

Some of the humour of the game comes from the fact that Bravoman can hit Lottery Man when he appears at the end of a stage, thus prompting some increasingly annoyed comments from Lottery Man, like:

  • "OHCH! (sic) What are you doing?"
  • "Hitting me will lose you a friend!"
  • "The strain is too much for my patience."
  • "That's enough."
  • "How many times do I have to tell you?!"
  • "I hate you."

etc. up to a final, after about 7 or 8 hits:

  • "You jerk! I'll give you nothing."

Lottery Man's anger is cumulative, and if hit 10 or more times total, he will refuse to give any health to Bravoman at the end of a stage, and will appear only to mock him. After a few more stages, his anger will be reset and he'll start helping again, but angering him only makes the game harder, without his aid.

[edit] Alien sidekick

An alien character, claiming to be "Bravoman's friend from planet Alfa" occasionally appears floating in mid air, mostly to give Bravoman mostly useless or obvious tips, and to remind him of his mission. He will also stop talking if hit too many times by Bravoman.

[edit] Stages

The TG-16 version of the game has a total of 22 stages while the arcade one has 32, being in both cases a relatively high number for a side scrolling platform game, although there are only 5 stage designs, which eventually become repetitive:

  • City (Urban Area)
  • Ninja Dojo
  • Caverns
  • "Heavenly" stages, used as bonus collections stages, only 2 in the entire game.
  • Plus, there are several "underwater" stages where Bravoman turns into a Bravo-submarine and can shoot missiles and depth charges.

Many stages have got two alternate paths to the end of the level, or multiple paths to choose from inside a stage.

[edit] Enemies

What has gained the game a certain degree of ridicule is, among others, its selection of enemies, which are supposed to be Dr. Bomb's "Robot Corps".

In the first stages at least, it seems that Bravoman's enemies consist mostly of contraptions such as flying toasters and slow remote controlled cars, but on later stages Bravoman gets to fight more powerful and dangerous enemies, including flying bombs, electrocuting robots, ninjas, stone golems, bats and various traps. However, in underwater stages, Bravoman's enemies are mostly underwater animals such as squids, jellyfish and frogs, which do not seem robotic in nature, though making some reviewers ironically criticising Bravoman for "destroying fragile ecosystems".

At the end of each stage there is a big boss, although many of them show up more than once. They are, officially:

  • Unbab: 3-tiered robotic totems (only appear once as bosses, then appear as regular enemies on a later stage)
  • Attack Bomber V-9: Missile-shooting robot (only appears once)
  • Pistol Load: Also known as "Pistol Daimyo", another bizarre Namco character who appears twice as a boss in Bravoman, who fakes being defeated. Bravoman gets to face him twice. He eventually spun off into his own game in 1990.
  • Black Bravoman: also known in Japan as Black Berabow, an "evil" Bravoman twin in a black Bravoman suit, appearing several times within the game, even as an underwater boss, only to reveal to Bravoman before the final boss, Dr. Bomb, that his purpose was to "make him (Bravoman) stronger" and even helps Bravoman with a health bonus.
  • Kyosho Shoshosai: An eldery ninja master who can transform himself into a "ricocheting" 4-point star.
  • Benjamin: Blonde flying ninjas appearing several times in the game, usually in pairs.
  • Zortan: A robotic winged harpy shooting energy bolts and using an "indestructible" shield.
  • Waya-princess: A purple haired ninja woman, called "Waya-princess" by Pistol Daimyo.
  • Twin Sqrain: Green two-headed seadragon enemy.
  • Overlord of Atlantis: An obese green frog-like triton king commanding an army of smaller frog-like tritons.
  • Dr. Bomb: the final villain, has two forms: at first he looks like a tall man with a weird hairdo (described variously as a purple mushroom cloud or purple broccoli), which is also his vulnerable spot. When damaged enough, he turns into a flying Dr. Bomb head which shoots laser rays and can teleport. Dr. Bomb repeatedly makes hilarious or trite statements, such as "I'm a nice grey-haired guy" and, when defeated, repents for having trying conquer the world, and offers as an excuse: "But I was alone, can you understand?", "It's tough to be single."

[edit] Differences between versions

Bravoman North American Turbografx-16 box art.
Bravoman North American Turbografx-16 box art.

Besides the original arcade version of the game being released exclusively in Japan in 1988 under the title of Beraboh Man or Berabow Man, while running on Namco System 1 hardware, the graphics and sound are considered superior to the console version. The key differences between the arcade and PC Engine/Turbografx-16 versions:

  • The arcade version contains more extensive use of speech sampling, and Beraboh Man's attack call is "Beraboh" instead of "Bravo."
  • The arcade version features a series of screens detailing the game's backstory, including Beraboh Man's origins and Dr. Bomb's plan for world domination.
  • The first level of the arcade version provides a walkthrough of the game's controls.
  • The arcade version contains ten more stages, although the various secret areas of the console version are lacking. Dip switches can be set to give the player a choice of starting stage.
  • The arcade version had 2 pressure sensitive buttons.
  • The text messages provided by various objects only appear once, rather than continuously.
  • The infamous Bravo Jump glitch does not appear in the arcade version.

The original Japanese title, Chouzetsu Rinjin roughly translates as "Unequaled Man", thus underlining the humorous point of view of the game vs the superhero concept, arguably making the hero, Beraboh Man, appear egomaniac and ridiculous, when combining all of the game's elements together. The exact name of the game is somehow of a mystery, since sources tend to vary between "Chou Zetsurin Jin" and "Chouzetsu Rinjin", and the words "Berabow" and "Beraboh" seem like an Engrish form of the word "Bravo", and Namco's references themselves tend to be cryptic and error prone.

[edit] Criticism

Bravoman hitting a phonebox, with hilarious effects.
Bravoman hitting a phonebox, with hilarious effects.

The game, along with the spin-off Pistol Daimyo no Bouken (released in 1990) and Wonder Momo (released in 1987) is usually looked upon as one of Namco's less successful or obscure games, and usually receives humorous comments and reviews. It is often perceived as a ripoff of Ultraman, and frequently ridiculed for its odd storyline and humour, as well as its use of Engrish texts.

For example, Bravoman constantly shouts "Bravo" each time he performs an attack, something which has gained the game and the character a lot of ridicule. Bravoman can also bizarrely attack phone booths inside the game, and the message "Hello, I'm Japanese telephone box" will appear. A post box on stage 5 can also be attacked, and will result in it saying: "OUCHH!!! OUUUCCHHHHH!!!!".

The game also uses an unusual text message popup system, similar to Wonder Boy in Monster Land or Cadash.

[edit] Other appearances

[edit] Namco x Capcom

Bravoman appears in Namco x Capcom alongside many enemies from his game. Sadly, Dr. Bomb only makes a token appearance in an early dialog sequence. Two notable characters that do appear in the game are Black Berabow and Waya-Hime (both as bosses). However later in the game Waya-Hime joins your party and teams up with Taki. In the game, Bravoman is partnered with Wonder Momo.

[edit] Other

[edit] External links

Languages