Bomberman Fantasy Race

It all leads up to this. Every skill and trick you've learnt is put to the test here, and the opponents are none too happy to let you win easily. They've all got the most powerful steeds and if you're ill-prepared, won't take long to be miles ahead of the competition.

I hate to keep dissing the Tirras, but seriously, the turning and jumping capabilities of Louies is invaluable. I got this far in the walkthrough with only the Green Louie, but my word, you have a better chance with a more advanced creature; I claimed victory with a Soaring Louie, at the very least, though lesser ones may get first place by chance of a fluke. A lot of the course takes place in an actual Bomberman arena, wherein all the curves are blocky and can be hazardous to work around at high speeds; not to mention that most bends are tight and can cause you to crash if you don't handle them rightly, so more reason to work on speed control. There's only one shortcut, however, and perfecting it flawlessly can be tricky; not to mention a flub means you have to start from the last catapult you failed at, wasting time.

Buy whatever you think will help your cause in the shop; Rocket Bombs are good for slowing down opponents when they're in clear view, and Hearts are handy to have as a lot of areas are too dangerous to bomb dash in, but your stamina won't last forever. Clocks are a godsend here, so don't waste them. Just keep at it and you should be able to nail first place.

Final note: Completing this course unlocks Mirror Mode. Select a course, press Right and you can buy a ticket for the horizontally flipped race track!

[1] The entrance to the castle. I only mention this because there's pillars and the CPU have a habit of running into them, so don't do the same.

[2] Four item panels.

[3] Don't get caught behind the pools. That's a victory breaker, that is.

[4] An egg panel, an item panel and the two again.

[5] Another egg panel in the far corner, but you're better off ignoring it.

[6] Alternate path time! Going left is the long but safe route [7] while the shortcut [8] is dangerous and requires precise timing. Practise with that one before you do it for reals.

[7] Three egg panels.

[8] Slow down, move left but turn to the right; this gives you more momentum to leap to the platform. Use the catapult and not even a second later there's another; it's easy to get, but the next has a delay. If you rely on tapping the jump button to get catapults, pause for a bit after getting the second one before resuming and hopefully you'll nail the third. Then let go of the accelerator, as you'll crash into the wall like a buffoon if you don't.

[9] The two paths reunite. There's two item panels here.

[10] Welcome to trap zone. There are floating blob bombs in the air here that will knock you off your feet if you hit them. Also, two egg panels.

[11] Additionally, there are yellow buttons on the ground that detonate the bombs behind gates, creating explosions that will also knock you off your feet. If you're quick, you can hit them and let enemies get the damage, but otherwise you'll just hinder yourself.

[12] Three item panels.

[13] An egg panel, plus a field of mines. Just jump over them.

[14] An easy stretch back to the starting line. Make use of bomb dashes because this is the only time you can use them without risk of hitting a wall.

Bonus Game

You can't even rest easy after your victory! As much as one would want to just end things quickly after that hellish race, if you want to rack up major moolah then you're best aiming for collecting all one hundred coins. That nets you a ludicrous 5000GB bonus, which is way more than anything you'd get from aiming for time.

If you thought the original was hard, wait 'til you see this!

Ungodly fast opponents who will shower you with bombs at every opportunity and gain inexplicable speed bursts whenever appropriate. That change is admittedly the only significant one, but good lord is it a bastardly one, and the whole reason this course will see you through hell. On the last stretch? Tough luck. That CPU with a runner two levels inferior than yours will fly like a bat out of hell and be gone, gone, gone. If that, really. Most of the time the two "winner" CPUs will just be on the other side of the course and far out of view; and similarly, way too far to even slow them down.

With opponents this erratic, I struggle to find a way to take care of them. They generally disappear out of sight too fast for a Rocket Bomb to sort them out, and if you can get a shot then it'll usually veer into the scenery or into somebody unimportant. You can't go all speed because the level is just too jagged and dangerous for that to work. And although hoping to high heaven that you'll just get an endless parade of Time Stops is nice, those wishes aren't likely to come true.

I've found that although you sacrifice precise control, the King Tirra is recommended to have as it is faster than every other creature in the game, so catching up with the leaders isn't anywhere near as difficult as with the Black Louie. Not to mention that the leaders are usually the ones to crash into the wall at the beginning of the race, allowing you the chance to draw them back with bomb dropping and maybe knock them for six if your Rocket Bomb timing is good. Just keep going fast, do everything to hinder their progress and gain the passion to succeed.

Bonus Game

You get 100 seconds to finish the Bonus Game. I'll be blunt, I got first place by pure fluke, and pulling it off a second time to find out the stats for the Bonus Game are beyond my patience - the info I've got comes from the Japanese game guide.