Ludography
More scores
GameFAQsTough
2.86/5
Player reviews
37% positive8 reviews
Runs on
Windows, Linux
Price
US$6.99

Where to get it

Bombuzal cover

1988 · Image Works · Adventure · Puzzle

Bombuzal

Nintendo console exclusive

Little Bombuzal has to blow up bombs on little islands in this puzzle game. In order to advance to the next level, all bombs need to detonate. There are various sizes of bombs. Bigger ones have such a huge blast radius that Bombuzal cannot trigger them directly - instead, he has to explode smaller bombs first and cause a chain reaction. So as one might imagine, later levels turn into loud blastfests that need to be carefully planned.

Released
1988
Platforms
AmigaAtari STAtari ST/STECommodore 64Commodore C64/128/MAXLinuxMS-DOSSNESWindows
Genres
AdventurePuzzleStrategy
Developers
Image Works
Publishers
Kemco
Modes
Co-opLocal multiplayerMultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Third personBird view / Isometric
Themes
Action
Country
United Kingdom
Age ratings
ESRB E
Languages
English
Time to beat
7hmain story12hcompletionist

About

Bombuzal is a puzzle video game designed by Antony Crowther (credited as "Ratt" in the game) and David Bishop for Image Works. The game was released in 1988 for the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64. It was also released in 1989 for MS-DOS and in December 1990 in Japan for the Super Famicom, with the North American version released in August 1992 renamed as Ka-Blooey.

The game has a sequel/remake available for the Nintendo 64 called Charlie Blast's Territory. Among its notable features is the ability to play using either an overhead or isometric view.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

To complete each of its 130 levels, the avatar has to destroy all bombs on the level. It must stand on top of the bomb to light it, then is only able to take one step away before the bomb explodes; it can also pick up and move bombs, but only the ones that are on Rail tiles. Bombs come in different sizes and it is only possible to ignite the smallest kind without dying. In most cases, the bombs must be set off using a chain reaction to prevent the avatar from being killed in the explosion.

On other occasions, separated small bombs can be destroyed one at a time. Each bomb/mine has a reaction zone. For example, a small bomb will only destroy the tile it is on, but will affect any other bombs/mines one tile away in the four main directions. A large bomb will destroy 13 tiles, and its reaction zone will be one tile further away than the tiles destroyed in each of the four directions, and diagonally between these four points.

Reception

The game received mixed reviews. It received 97% and 92% ratings from Zzap!64 magazine for the C64 and Amiga versions respectively, compared to a review in Commodore User magazine awarding a mere 49%. The former reviews hailed it as an addictive puzzle game with "cute" graphics, while the latter criticized gameplay, graphics, and controls.

It was released in Japan for the Super Famicom on December 1, 1990.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Amiga31 December 1988Europe
Commodore C64/128/MAX31 December 1988Europe
Atari ST/STE31 December 1988Europe
MS-DOS1 June 1989North America
Windows15 August 2019North America
Linux15 August 2019North America

Editions and related releases

Ported as
Ka-Blooey
Built on it
Ka-Blooey

Games like this

Collections4 collections

Platform libraries

Years

Genres

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.