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Space Bomber

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Space Bomber (スペースボンバー) is a shoot 'em up arcade game released in 1998 by Japanese company Psikyo. The parodic versions of Space Invaders are almost a genre in their own right, a genre of which Space Bomber is a beautiful incarnation. After a kitschissime intro that puts immediately in the bat...

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Developer
Psikyo

Released on
1998

Size
1–2 Players

Version
Arcade

Requirements
Arcade

Downloads
Shooter

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

Cooperative
Yes

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Description

Space Bomber (スペースボンバー) is a shoot ’em up arcade game released in 1998 by Japanese company Psikyo.

The parodic versions of Space Invaders are almost a genre in their own right, a genre of which Space Bomber is a beautiful incarnation. After a kitschissime intro that puts immediately in the bath (the wicked aliens arrive, oh! Pabo!), One attacks a part of a game completely to the west.

On the bases of a Space Invaders (no scrolling, enemies coming from above) the game adds a greater freedom of movement, a system of power ups but above all a system of capture of enemies: the ship has A grapple allowing him to kidnap and store up to 3 opponents. You can then use it as a weapon: each type of enemy captured having a different effect, the possibilities are very numerous, with quite a few weak gags to the key.

The game especially plays the map of the comic, with rather stunning enemies (giant pig and flying trash are only glimpses …), and on an excellent and very funny gameplay, especially (as usual in this genre Of games) to two players. The graphics are quite special, in a 3D not always very successful but rather original.

Space Bomber

Overview & History

Released into smoky, neon-lit arcades in 1998 by Psikyo, Space Bomber stands as a brilliantly eccentric outlier in the vertical scrolling shoot 'em up genre. Eschewing the grim, star-faring military dramas typical of late-90s shooters, this hidden gem introduces a deeply surreal storyline where mechanized, militarized plush animals and cartoonish cyborgs must defend their planetary system from an invasion of grotesque, kitchen-utensil-themed alien armadas. Unlike its contemporaries that chased photorealistic 3D hardware, Space Bomber leaned heavily into a vibrant, hand-drawn aesthetic that felt like a Saturday morning cartoon crossed with a fever dream. The game earned a cult following for its relentless pacing, colorful sprite design, and the sheer audacity of its boss battles, which feature giant robotic toasters and sentient blenders.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

At its core, Space Bomber combines traditional bullet-hell dodging with an aggressive risk-reward scoring system. Players pilot one of three distinct, quirky craft, each piloted by an eccentric animal commander equipped with signature attacks. The defining mechanic of the game is the dual-shot system: players must balance standard rapid-fire weapons with a chargeable "Bomb Gauge." Unleashing a bomb does not merely clear the screen of incoming ordnance; it triggers a screen-shaking, localized spatial distortion that sucks in enemy debris to convert into high-value currency and score multipliers. The game features six increasingly chaotic stages, scaling in difficulty dynamically based on how many enemies the player eradicates without taking a hit. Hidden power-ups alter the ship's payload, upgrading basic lasers into homing missiles, spread-shots, and energy boomerangs.