Bomb Jack (Set 2) is a MAME ROM revision of Tehkan’s 1984 arcade classic Bomb Jack, an arcade platformer built around a single, deceptively deep jump button. As Jack, you leap and glide around a static screen collecting all 24 bombs it holds, dodging birds and mummies that drop in from above and mutate into flying saucers and orbs on contact with the ground.
How to play
Collect every bomb on screen to clear it. Bombs light up one at a time in sequence — grabbing the currently lit bomb causes the next one to ignite, and collecting 20 or more lit bombs in a single round earns a large bonus (10,000–50,000 points). Occasional letter pickups add extra twists: P turns every enemy on screen into a collectible coin for a few seconds, B raises your score multiplier up to 5x, and E grants an extra life. Five different backdrops rotate through the game, and the final one has no platforms at all — you have to fly the whole screen.
Jack’s single button does most of the work. Tap it for a short hop, tap it while holding up to jump to the very top of the screen, tap it again in mid-air to flap and stay aloft, or hold it down to float back to the ground slowly. Controls: Arrow Keys to move, Z to jump/flap, Enter to start, Shift to insert coin.
Tips
- Chase the lit bomb deliberately instead of grabbing bombs at random — stringing together 20+ lit bombs in a round is where the real points are.
- Use short flaps rather than holding the button, since tapping keeps you airborne with much finer control than a long float.
- Grab the P power-up when the screen is crowded with enemies — turning a swarm into coins is worth far more than dodging them one by one.
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