FAQ/Walkthrough - Guide for Bomberman Story

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Bomberman Story for Game Boy Advance FAQ v0.02
by Ben Gertzfield 

Copyright (C) 2001 Ben Gertzfield

Dedicated to Baja

This document is Open Content; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the Open Content License v1.0, available at
http://opencontent.org/opl.shtml .  In short, you may copy and
redistribute this document exactly provided you conspicuously include
this license, but you MAY NOT charge a fee for this document unless
given prior consent by the author.  This prohibits magazine
publication, for-pay online publication, and selling as a part of a
collection on CD-ROM, for example.

The latest version of this document will always be made available at
http://www.cheatcc.com/
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ and
http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/~ben/bomberman-story-faq/faq .  Any other
sources may be out of date!

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v0.02 (2 May 2001): A few spelling mistakes fixed.  Added Charabomb Battle
  section, and kept going on walkthrough until my batteries in my GBA
  ran out. :) Mention this is a Game Boy Advance game's FAQ in the title. 
  Add names of towns/areas in walkthrough.

v0.01 (30 April 2001): Initial release.  Story, controls, menus, and
  beginning of a walkthrough.

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Normal Game (Single Player)
---------------------------

+ Pad: Move Bomberman in any direction (including diagonal)
A Button: Lay currently equipped bomb (with remote control, set off a bomb)
B Button: Use current Charabomb's power
R Button: Bring up equip/item/Charabomb menu
L Button: Bring up map of current area/dungeon
Start Button: Pause
Select Button: Bring up save menu

Battle Game (Multi Player)
--------------------------

+ Pad: Move Bomberman in any direction (not including diagonal)
A Button: Lay a bomb
          With Power Glove power-up: Lift up a bomb
          With Line Bomb power-up: Set maximum number of bombs in a line
          in front of you in the direction you're facing,
B Button: With Bomb Kick power-up: Stop a kicked bomb/cancel an item (?)
          With Punch power-up: Punch a bomb away from you
L/R/Start/Select Buttons: Unused

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At title screen, push Start to begin.

Top title screen menu items: 
 Normal Game (single player)
 Battle Game (multi-player)

Normal Game menu items:
 From the Beginning
 Continue (if save game is available)

Continue menu screen:
 Left side: File 1
 Right side: File 2
 
 Pressing A asks you 'Do you want to load this file?'
 Left answer is Yes, right is No

In R button submenu:
--------------------

Pressing right or left cycles through three items: Item Select,
Bomb Select, and Charabomb Select. Pressing B or R returns you
to the main screen.

Item Select
 Pressing up and down selects which item you have equipped currently.
 Some items let you press A on them to view them or use them.

Bomb Select
 Pressing up or down selects which type of bomb you will lay when you
 press the A button.

Charabomb Select
 Pressing up or down selects which Charabomb (or none) you have equipped.
 On the right are stats: level, strength, defense, special, wins, and losses.

In Select button (save) menu:
-----------------------------

Menu at bottom of screen:
 Save
 Do not save and end game

Choosing save:
 Pressing right or left selects the save slot to use. (There are two max.)
 Press A to select a slot.

After slot selected, asks: is this slot OK?
 Left answer: Yes
 Right answer: No (If selected, goes back to slot selection)
 
If Yes selected, says "Game saved" (press A to keep going) then asks
"Do you want to continue your game?"
 Left answer: Yes
 Right answer: No (If selected, asks "Are you sure?" then returns to main
 screen.)

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One day in outer space, the Bomber Base received a SOS from the always
peaceful Planet Fantalion in the Bomber Galaxy.  The commander of
Bomber Base, Dr. Ain, received the message, and dispatched Max to
search and investigate.

However, Max sends as his last message, "All over the planet, they're
building these strange buildings!"  What in the world could have
happened on Fantalion?  Is Max still alive?

Now then, undertaking orders from Dr. Ain to rescue Max and
investigate the source, Bomberman headed off to Fantalion and sent an
emergency transmission.

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Normal Game (Single Player)
---------------------------

The player becomes Bomberman, and must investigate Planet Fantalion 
as well as save Max.  You can have fun with the RPG elements in the field,
and the classic Bomberman action in the dungeons.  In addition, raising
Charabombs lets you make them fight in the arenas, gives you new kinds of
bombs, and lots of other things.

Battle Game (Multi-Player)
--------------------------

You can have fun with the good old Bomberman Battle Game. Of course
it's compatible with the Link Cable, and you can even play with up to
4 people at the same time.  In addition, with the "One Cartidge Mode",
even your friends who don't have the Bomberman Story cartridge can
battle!  You can heat it up with a single screen battle like a cell
phone game! (? well, that's what it says...)

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The Planet Fantalion can be divided into four areas.  In various zones
there are bases, and in these bases, if you can beat the boss, you'll
clear the zone.  Your orders are the investigation and resolution of
the incident that happened on Planet Fantalion, and the rescue of Max.

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Rules of the Battle:
--------------------

A Charabomb Battle is a one-on-on Auto-Battle, comprised of three
rounds, after which, if your opponent's HP is reduced to 0, or your
remaining HP is higher than your opponent's, you win.  If your
remaining HP is the same as your opponent's, it'll be a draw.

Tactics:
--------

For a battle, you choose three tactics from the 6 possible
combinations of the three varieties of commands.

Attack (Sword Icon): Carries out a normal attack.
Defense (Shield Icon): Defends against the enemy's attack.
Special (Star Icon): Performs a special attack based on the Charabomb's
                     element.

Elements:
---------

A Charabomb can have one of four elements: fire, water, electricity,
and earth; with the "Special" attack, you can carry out a powerful
attack using that element.  However, the elements can interact,
and according to your opponent's element, the damage you'll do might 
be increased or decreased.

Element Interaction Chart:
--------------------------

-> indicates effective
<=> indicates ineffective

Fire -> Earth
Earth -> Lightning
Lightning -> Water
Water -> Fire

Fire <=> Lightning
Earth <=> Water

Flow of the Battle:
-------------------

1. Select Charabomb
  - Choose the Charabomb you want to have battle.

2. Choose Tactics
  - Decide on the order of the tactics you'll use for the 3 rounds of
    battle. When you've chosen a tactic, a confirmation screen will
    appear, and if your preparations are done, select "Done".
    (NOTE: You will not be able to select the same tactic twice!)

3. Battle Commencement
  - The battle will take place automatically.  When the victor
    has been decided, the battle results will be displayed.

4. Deciding the Winner
  - If you win the battle, you may receive some money.  In addition,
    you can even have a battle and gamble your winnings.  You can
    continue battling for even more money if you win, but if you
    end up losing you won't get any money.  Your opponent's Charabomb
    will keep getting stronger as long as you keep winning battles.

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Alpha Town:
-----------

In the closest house to where you start, a girl lost her mother's ring
in the Lost Forest to the north of town.  She last saw it in the mouth
of a "Myuu"; you say you'll go get it for her.

In the next house to the left, the photographer, Tenmei, wants you to
take a picture of a "Louie", the big blue kangaroo you ride in
Bomberman games, in the forest.  He gives you a camera to take the
picture.

The next house to left, the one with a bomb icon on top, is the bomb
synthesizer shop.  You can't do anything here until you have something
to combine with a bomb to make a new type of bomb.

The bottom house is the Charabomb Research lab.  The researcher there
explains how you can raise different types of Charabombs, and how they
have powers both on the map and in fights.  He also tells you about
the four types of Charabomb elements: water beats fire, fire beats
earth, earth beats lightning, and lightning beats water.  He also
tells you that you can mix two Charabombs and get new ones, with
strange new powers.

The boy at the top left of the village wants to battle you with his
Charabomb, but you don't have one yet, so you can't battle him.

Lost Forest:
------------

In the Lost Forest to the north of town, you can bomb tentacle plants
and they will temporarily move aside. You can jump into hollow
tree-trunks and warp from place to place, as well.  Bombing bushes
gives your current Charabomb powerups (sword=attack, shield=defense,
star=special) -- you might want to save them until you have your first
Charabomb. Also, balloons are enemies, not power-ups. :)

You can find Myuu trapped in the northeast side of the area between
two tentacle bushes. Free him and you get the girl's mother's
ring. Take it back to the girl's house and she'll give you a Small
Potion (heals one heart) in return.  Go outside and you'll see Myuu
waiting there for you.

Myuu thanks you for rescuing him and says he'll help you out, and that
he's a "Pomyuu" type Charabomb.  His special power is "teleport", which
can take you back to the village or any place you've visited in an
instant via the B button.

Back in the forest, explore some more and you'll find Louie, the cute
blue kangaroo, in the top left corner.  Take a (super cute!) picture
of him and take it back to the photographer's house for a Sensor. This
lets you combine bombs together at the bomb shop for new bombs.

Bring the sensor to the bomb synthesis shop and you'll get land mine
bombs! Equip them by hitting R button and going right or left to the
bomb screen, then down and then A to select land mines. These will not
go off unless stepped on, so use them only for enemies that are
walking at you, but they're much more useful to kill enemies than
timing it with a normal bomb.

You can now go to the boy at the top left of the village.  This will
be your first Charabomb Battle!  Battles are simple; choose your
Charabomb to challenge the opponent (you only have Myuu for now),
then choose your tactics.  The battle will have 3 rounds;  you
choose 3 tactics in order, one for each round.  See the Charabomb
Battle section above for details.  If you win, the boy will run
off, telling you he'll challenge you again later!

Tokotoko (Endless) Prairie
--------------------------

Just follow the path, blasting bushes and fighting enemies.  The
land mine bombs you got in Alpha Town will come in handy here,
but get comfortable with switching between them and normal bombs
to get through bushes and other obstacles. 

The path will eventually fork; going north takes you to a small
area where you'll notice a mountain blocking your path.  On the
right side, you can blast open a part of the mountain wall that
looks different from the rest; inside is a girl who asks you what
you'd do if you were at a river you couldn't cross.  She tells
you what SHE'd do: she'd find a way to knock down a tree and cross
the river. (Hint, hint.)  There's nothing else to do here, so
go back south and go west at the fork in the path.

Zabuzabu (Splish-Splash) Lake
-----------------------------

Simply lay a bomb at the foot of any of the tall, slim trees next
to the many rivers to knock it over, allowing you to cross.  Work
through this area to the north side.  Cross up to the next screen;
you'll see a cabin on the right side, but you can't get there yet.
Fight to the north-east corner.

Head north after you exit this area and you'll see a cave entrance.
Enter there, and a man there asks you if you've been taught about
Charabombs.  He tells you a dangerous Charabomb called the Seadragon
has been terrorizing the area, and tells you to be careful too.