Bomberman Special

The goal of every stage is to defeat all enemies, then find the exit door which is hidden beneath a random soft block; you cannot exit until all enemies are defeated. Bomberman begins with only one bomb and a blast radius of one tile; one power-up item is hidden in each stage, allowing Bomberman to gain better equipment as he progresses. New enemies are introduced along the way, each with unique traits.

The game is 50 levels long. Completing the game will display the ending sequence before looping back to Stage 1, but with all of the power-up items you had collected so far.

timer

You are given 200 seconds to complete each stage; each in-game second is approximately 1.46 real-time seconds. If the timer reaches 0, play will continue, but all enemies will be removed and replaced with 10 Pontans.

Bonus Stage

After every five stages is a Bonus Level, wherein the goal is to destroy as many enemies as possible within the 30 second time limit. Bomberman is invincible for the duration, and enemies will continuously spawn (to a maximum of 10 at a time), encouraging reckless bomb usage.

enemy spawns

If you bomb an item, the item will be destroyed, and it will spawn multiple enemies of a single type; enough enemies to fill the population to 10 (unless there are already 10 enemies, in which case no new enemies will spawn). Bombing the exit door will get the same results, and prevent you from exiting until the new enemies are defeated. What enemy type is spawned varies between stages; see the "enemy spawn" marker in the Stages section.

lives

Bomberman begins with 2 lives. Completing a stage will award Bomberman with an extra life. Once all lives are lost (that is, dying when the HUD reads "LEFT 0"), it's Game Over. You must re-enter your password to resume progress.

passwords

You will be given a 20-character password on the Game Over screen. This will record your items, what stage you were on, and even your score. It is possible to modify a password to begin with items you wouldn't normally retain after death, or access stages beyond the default 50; see cheats and codes.

Controls

Items can be found inside of soft blocks; each stage only has one item. All items are worth 1000 points.
All items except Bomb Up, Fire Up, and Speed Up are lost upon death.
Japanese item names are sourced from the Famicom Disk System release.

Bomb / 爆弾

Allows Bomberman to lay an extra bomb. Maximum of 6.

Fire / ほのお

Extends the blast radius of bombs by one tile. Maximum of 5.

Skate / スケート

Makes Bomberman walk slightly faster. Maximum of 1. No joke! Cumulative speed ups wouldn't be a thing until later games.

Remote Control / リモコン

Bombs no longer detonate on a timer, but can be detonated at any time by pressing Button 2.

Wall Pass / ブロックすりぬけ

Allows Bomberman to walk through soft blocks. Standing inside a soft block as it is destroyed will still kill you.

Bomb Pass / 爆弾すりぬけ

Allows Bomberman to walk through bombs.

Fire Barrier / 火炎バリア

Allows Bomberman to survive his own bomb blasts.

Invincibility / 無敵

Makes Bomberman completely invincible (to enemy collisions and bomb blasts) for 28 seconds.

Each stage can contain up to 10 enemies
Slow speed is slower than Bomberman. Medium speed is on par with Bomberman's default walking speed. Fast is on par with Bomberman equipped with the Speed Up.

If more than one enemy are bombed by an explosion, each successive enemy's score value will be increased in the following orer: 100, 200, 400, 800, and then repeating with an additional 0. (for example, the 1st Minvo will award 800 points, the 2nd 1000 points, the 3rd 2000 points, the 4th 4000 points, the 5th 8000 points) The multiplier caps at 10,000.

Ballom / バロム (Valcom)

An orange balloon. Slow speed. Does not react to Bomberman. Can change direction every 2.2 to 7 seconds.
Points: 100

Onil / オニール (O'Neal)

A blue onion-shaped creature. Medium speed. Will turn towards Bomberman if it sees him on the Y-axis. Can change direction every 1.4 to 4.4 seconds.
Points: 200

Dall / ダル (Dahl)

A red barrel that squashes and stretches. Medium speed. Will turn towards Bomberman if it sees him on the X-axis. Can change direction every 1.4 to 4.4 seconds.
Points: 400

Minvo / ミンボー (Minvo)

An orange buck-toothed sphere. Medium speed. Will turn towards Bomberman if it sees him on the X or Y-axis. Can change direction every 1.4 to 4.4 seconds.
Points: 800

Ovapi / オバピー (Ovape)

A red cartoon ghost-like monster. Medium speed. Can travel through soft blocks. Will turn towards Bomberman if it sees him on the X or Y-axis. Can change direction every 1.4 to 4.4 seconds.
Points: 1000

Kondoria / コンドリア (Doria)

A blue shapeless mass with a face. Slow speed. Can travel through soft blocks. Does not react to Bomberman.
Points: 2000

Parse / パース (Pass)

An orange sphere with vaguely animalistic features. Fast speed. Will change direction at every junction, but prone to getting stuck between walls and refusing to move.
Points: 4000

Pontan / ポンタン (Pontan)

An orange spinning disc with a face. Fast speed. Can travel through soft blocks. Will change direction at every junction, and turn towards Bomberman if it sees him on the X or Y-axis. Prone to getting stuck between walls on occasion just like Pass though.
Points: 8000

Bonus Items award huge point bonuses, but require special specifications be met before they appear. Their spawn position is random, and though they cannot be bombed, they disappear after 12.7 seconds, so act fast!
An enemy is not counted as defeated until its death animation has finished.
Kudos to MGN3303 for confirming some of the requirements for certain items.

Bonus Target / ボーナス・ターゲット

Defeat all enemies, then partially overlap the exit door (but not enough to exit the level, of course).
Points: 10,000
Stages: 6, 8, 14, 16, 22, 24, 30, 32, 38, 40, 46, 48 (multiples of 8 / 8+6)
There appears to be a glitch where this item will not spawn on Stages 6 and 16.
An object from Star Force (a space shooter by Tecmo, ported to the MSX by Hudson). Also referred to as the B PanelBパネル.

Hachisuke / ハチスケ

Defeat all enemies, then touch the four corners of the stage. (there is no stipulation to walk along the border like in the Famicom version)
Points: 20,000
Stages: 1, 7, 9, 15, 17, 23, 25, 31, 33, 39, 41, 47, 49 (multiples of 8+1 / 8+7)
The Hudson Soft mascot!

[BONUS4]

Walk over the exit door. This item does not disappear and will stay indefinitely.
Points: 30,000
Stages: 4, 12, 20, 28, 36, 44 (multiples of 8+4)
Unidentified! I assume it's another cola bottle, like its Famicom equivalent...?

BeeCard / ビーカード

Defeat every enemy, then detonate 248 bombs. Having the Remote Control prevents this item from spawning.
Points: 500,000
Stages: 3, 11, 19, 27, 35, 43 (multiples of 8+3)
Hudson Soft's periphery format for MSX games; this game was released on one of these!

Nakamoto-san / 中本さん

Defeat every enemy, but don't destroy any soft blocks.
Points: 10,000,000
Stages: 2, 10, 18, 26, 34, 42, 50 (multiples of 8+2)
A self-portrait of programmer Shinichi Nakamoto.

[BONUS5]

Destroy all soft blocks, defeat all enemies, and bomb the exit door 3 times. Any of these steps can be performed in any order; so long as there are no enemies alive when the final step is performed.
Points: 20,000,000
Stages: 5, 13, 21, 29, 37, 45 (multiples of 8+5)
There appears to be a glitch where the "soft blocks destroyed" value might not record every soft block that is destroyed; known occurrences include destroying the block containing the item or exit door, or destroying 3 soft blocks in a tight C-shaped cluster. The safest workaround seems to be ensuring only one soft block is destroyed per explosion, but it's a crapshoot...!
Unidentified! A clock or clocktower?

All stages are 29x11 in dimension, and Bomberman will always begin in the top-left corner. They otherwise feature randomised arrangements for the enemies, soft blocks, item and exit door. The first stage features 55 soft blocks, and that amount increases by 1 every stage, until Stage 50 has 104 soft blocks.

Passwords are generated based on your item inventory, stage, and score. Passwords from the Famicom version should be compatible with Bomberman Special.

RAM addresses

Addresses are referenced from BizHawk 2.11.