Bomberman Fantasy Race

miscellany

Manual artwork

Click to enlarge. Art was cropped from the Japanese game guide and has not been touched up to remove extraneous junk.

FMV cameos

Dave Bomber and Muscle Bomber from Super Bomberman 5 can be seen early in the intro video, seated behind and in front of Bomberman respectively.

The first crowd shot features Muscle Bomber again on the far-right, along with Pirate Bomber, Pretty Bomber and a trio of Hige Hige Bandits scattered to the left of the "Tyra" flag. It's possible there's more cameos, but the video compression has obscured them beyond recognition.

Pirate Bomber can be seen again near the end of the intro, along with Bomber Wan in the video screen on the top-left.

Japanese to American

Japanese - European

The Japanese version uses numbers on the save file to show which courses are available or completed. The English release changes them to graphical icons. In addition, both Bomber Circuit and Bomber Coaster Lake are available from the start of the Japanese game; the English release requires you to buy a ticket for Coaster Lake.

Japanese - American

The American version adds hints to the loading screens; a feature no other version of the game includes.

Japanese - American

The title screen has an English logo, naturally. The copyright details are changed.

Japanese (top) - American (bottom)

This logo change also applies to the file select menu and other minor textures.
This is an extremely pedantic observation, but the Japanese version uses a slightly different render of the "Bomberman" logo in these instances (the same one from Bomberman World, in fact!). The American version keeps the logo consistent.

Japanese - American

The prices for tickets and runners are jacked up in the English release - tickets cost twice as much, while runners usually have an extra zero added to the end of their cost... which results in the King Tirra and Black Louie requiring a ludicrous amount of grinding to afford.

Japanese - American

In the Japanese version, Circle accepts and X cancels in menu selections. The English release has both X and Circle accept, and Triangle and Square cancel. The graphical icon for advancing through text is also changed from the Circle button to the X button.

Japanese - American

The English version allows you to toggle vibration and turn signals in the pause menu; something the Japanese version does not.

Japanese - American

The runner's satisfied sigh after dumping Poopie was translated and given a wider speech bubble.

Japanese - American

This billboard in Bomber Circuit was corrected from "Terra" to "Tirra".

Japanese - American

The "slippery floor!!" sign in Bakuzan Ski Course was translated. The map sign was given a heavy wood texturing in the American version, curiously.

It can't really be conveyed through imagery well, but the English version is much more challenging. Enemy AI is tougher, more vicious, and faster than they should be physically capable of; I'm talking using a Hyper Louie and being outrun by an opponent on a Green Louie!
My guess is that "rubberband AI" is in effect in the English release, and enemy stats are boosted beyond what the player is capable of. In essense, it makes the game nigh-unplayable by the time you access Mirror Mode, and victory comes purely down to extreme flukes.
... which is quite the contrary to the Japanese version, where the first seven races can be easily won on a Green Louie, and it's only when Mirror Mode is accessed that you get a legitimate challenge. Funny, that.

American to European

European

The European version opens up at a language select screen, with options for English, French, German and Spanish. All other versions boot up at the load file screen.

American - European

The bouncing "LOADING" graphic is changed to one that shimmers and changes colour. The hints are gone.

American - European

New graphics are used for the main menu selections...

American - European

In fact, a huge chunk of the textual graphics are simplified for the European version, to maintain a consistent look across the four language options. This is but a mere sample - the kooky unique graphics for the course titles are sadly neutered for the European release.
Just for fun, here's all the course names between languages:

English	French	German	Spanish
Bomber Circuit	Le Circuit Bomber	Bomber Strecke	Circuito Bomber
Bomber Coaster Lake	Les Rives de Lac	Bomber Coaster Lake	Lago Bomber
Wacca Isl Beach Side	L'Ile de Wacca	Wavva Isl Beach Side	Playa de la Isla Wacca
Bakuzan Ski Course	La Piste de Ski	Bakuzan Ski Course	Carrera Esqui Bakuzan
Star Express	Le Star Express	Star Express	Expreso Estrella
Dyna Mountain	Le Mont Dyna	Dyna Mountain	Montăna Dyna
Bomber Castle	Château de Bomber	Bomber Castle	Castillo Bomber
Highway Star Road	La Voie Rapide	Highway Star Road	Autopista de Estrellas

This preliminary sprite of Kepo is found alongside his finished ready-set-go graphics.

The Petit Rescue 7 member used for Bomber Circuit and Highway Star Road has a few unused sprites, probably as a base or template for the others - appearing as a blank body, being squashed with only one arm raised, and having a number on its chest for one frame. The official artwork of the Petit Rescue 7 has their respective numbers on their chests, but in-game they have no such ornament.

Screenshots can be found on this page!
(for course-specific screenshots, see the course pages)

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page last modified: 02/01/2018