Mighty Bomb Jack
System: NES
Release Date: July 1987
Developer: Tecmo
Publisher: Tecmo
Genre: Platformer
So, I’d never played Mighty Bomb Jack before, despite seeing the box a million times. I’m kind of glad I never wasted my time, because this is not a very entertaining game. Its one of a trio of Tecmo games released in July of 1987. It’s a platformer, but not one that is particularly enjoyable. Basically, Mighty Bomb Jack is flying into a pyramid to challenge Belzebut to save King Pamera and the royal family. Blah, blah, blah.
Jack can jump really high and float in order to collect bombs scattered around each level. Jack jumps with the A button, jumps higher while holding up, and lower while holding down. You can stop Jack’s jump with another press of the A button, and have him float by rapidly tapping the A button. The instruction manual gives the insight that mastery of the controls will lead to an increased level of game satisfaction. I don’t believe it.
On each level, you will find bombs and treasure chests. In order to open chests, you have to be on top of them and then jump. Inside you’ll typically find bags that will give you points, but every once in awhile will find other items. One of these items is a mighty coin. You want to collect these, because with them you can unlock Jack’s Mighty Power. Using one coin will allow Jack to open orange treasures. Two will allow you to walk into treasures to open them. Three will turn all of the enemies on screen into coins.
The mighty power will count down based on the number of times you press the A button. From Mighty Power 3, you can press the A button 5 times before going down to Mighty Power 2, then 10 times before Mighty Power 1, then 20 times before being back to normal. I found it was useful to continuously go back to Mighty Power 3 right as Mighty Power 2 was almost used up.
The most annoying part of the game is if you collect more than nine mighty coins, you are told you are greedy and get sent to the torture room. You have to jump 50 times while avoiding enemies to get sent back to the beginning of the level. This was indeed torture. I played for about a half hour and quit this turd.
Graphics: 1.5
The graphics are alright, I guess. I wouldn’t nominate them for any awards or anything.
Sound: 1.0
Below average. The normal play song is annoying and the sound effects are nothing special.
Gameplay: 1.5
Jumping works like it’s supposed to. Only having a passive way of defeating enemies is not useful, though.
Difficulty: 1.5
The difficulty comes from having to avoid enemies instead of having a direct way of killing them.
Fun Factor: 0.5
I was very eager to quit this game.
Overall Grade: 1.2
Mighty Bomb Jack earns an D+. Tecmo’s first game on this list is not impressive. I know they get better as developers, but this is not it.