newly unearthed vids of Hi-Ten Bomberman

SuperGrafx16 · 03/18/2013, 07:23 AM

enjoy.

Tatsujin · 03/18/2013, 07:40 AM

Wow, great find monseur. Thx a lot

JoshTurboTrollX · 03/18/2013, 09:37 AM

F'n amazing!

Flare65 · 03/18/2013, 11:10 AM

Is this some prototype or was it actually released?

Ji-L87 · 03/18/2013, 12:39 PM

I forget, how many inches is that TV? I suppose it still would've been pretty mind blowing to see at the time

Too bad all movies on that channel has pretty bad PQ, but what can you expect given the age :p

Nazi NecroPhile · 03/18/2013, 12:56 PM

Man, that looks pretty sweet. Hectic, but in a good way.

SignOfZeta · 03/18/2013, 01:10 PM

From 1997 eh? Interesting. At some point it came out of retirement. I wonder where it is now.

SuperPlay · 03/18/2013, 04:42 PM

Nice find, thanks for sharing :-)

Tatsujin · 03/18/2013, 11:21 PM

Does now someone smart know on what platform that rare gem really runned? I think it isn't clear down to the present day. Most claim that it run on a PC-FX kinda hardware. I think we all can agree that it didn't run on a parallel wired PCE or such. Also because of the HD output.

PunkCryborg · 03/18/2013, 11:26 PM

I can only dream of 10 player pce bomberman

Tatsujin · 03/19/2013, 12:10 AM

OK, most reliable sources saying that it run on a PC with modified inputs using two PC Engines (for controller purpose only).

This site claims that it run on an IBM workstation:

http://www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/tadabomland/SAMPLEROM2.htm

It also says that the Shibuyas NHK studio Park (video from above) cleaned the system out in 2002. Asking the person in charge about the reason, the answer was simply "it broke down".

SignOfZeta · 03/19/2013, 01:44 AM

I've never heard a real answer as to what the hardware was either. As far as I know there was only every one running example, and it output HiVision, so it makes sense that it was just a high end computer running a Bomberman game made just for it.

Tatsujin · 03/19/2013, 02:43 AM

I've read now on several japanese bomberman related sites, that they indeed had used an IBM workstation to run the game on, so I would assume that this information must be right in a way.

Next question would be, what kind of workstation in particular, using which OS and what software etc.

NightWolve · 03/19/2013, 03:18 AM

Purty cool.

SignOfZeta · 03/19/2013, 03:56 AM

Quote from: Tatsujin on 03/19/2013, 02:43 AMI've read now on several japanese bomberman related sites, that they indeed had used an IBM workstation to run the game on, so I would assume that this information must be right in a way.

Next question would be, what kind of workstation in particular, using which OS and what software etc.

I would assume DOS. As for the hardware...something pretty good with a unique video card, probably made for TV broadcast. Most computers back then could barely generate a HiVision quality image and obviously very few could actually output actual HiVision since it wasn't even used outside of Japan. It might have output RGB and then gone through a HiVision conversion box, or maybe it never actually was HiVision since, I think, the pro monitors capable of doing HiVision back then (that display had to be $20k for real) were just as able to use RGB which would have been higher quality anyway.

Whatever it ran on, NHK probably had a bunch of them and nobody else.

Psycho Punch · 03/19/2013, 09:43 AM

At least it had only one game with one game mode in a clunky setup with incompatible video output with our modern tvs. Else everyone would be crying that NHK threw the machine(s?) at the garbage bin.

It's funny how it bears resemblance to Chris Covell's dream Supergrafx addon, well at least to me.

/supergrafx.png

TheClash603 · 03/19/2013, 06:48 PM

I understand that the cost of the actual hardware / setup would be prohibitive, so only one physical example exists.

What I don't understand is why they wouldn't have kept the code for this game someplace else. This would be the ultimate PSN release.

SignOfZeta · 03/19/2013, 07:53 PM

I have a feeling that aside from the resolution it's probably not very impressive.

esteban · 03/20/2013, 12:02 AM

For a trip down memory lane (this isn't gospel, but it's something):

Quote"... The game will only run on Hudson's in-house hardware--a combination of custom PC and stripped down PC Engine technology."

SOURCE: Hi-TEN Bomberman (Next Generation, 1995)

Quote...[Hi-TEN Bomberman] has to use HDTV technology--the first game to do so.

SOURCE: (continued)...

STATUS: I've commented on this before, but I am curious if we can verify the claim that Hi-TEN Bomberman was, indeed, the first HDTV video game.

SignOfZeta · 03/20/2013, 01:02 AM

That depends on your definition of "HDTV", which is hugely variable, but think it obviously was.

Since they called it "HiTen", and it apears to be running on a pro wide HDTV we can *assume* it ran either in HiVsion or in a custom RGB resolution roughly equivalent to HiVison. HiVision was 16:9. Furthermore, that screen shot of in Next Gen was obviously way more high res than the 1990s industry standard 240p

By the time HiTen was shown Pioneer was selling MUSE laserdisc players which allowed for HiVision LDs. Also, while few people owned HDTVs (they were fabulously expensive) it was really common for people to own set top boxes that could tune HiVision TV and convert it to NTSC because you ended up getting a better picture that way.

So, "Hi" was very much in the mind of Japanese people as an HDTV thing, and while I can't make out the exact make and model of this monitor its almost certainly an HDTV, one that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

esteban · 03/20/2013, 09:12 PM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 03/20/2013, 01:02 AMThat depends on your definition of "HDTV", which is hugely variable, but think it obviously was.

Since they called it "HiTen", and it apears to be running on a pro wide HDTV we can *assume* it ran either in HiVsion or in a custom RGB resolution roughly equivalent to HiVison. HiVision was 16:9. Furthermore, that screen shot of in Next Gen was obviously way more high res than the 1990s industry standard 240p

By the time HiTen was shown Pioneer was selling MUSE laserdisc players which allowed for HiVision LDs. Also, while few people owned HDTVs (they were fabulously expensive) it was really common for people to own set top boxes that could tune HiVision TV and convert it to NTSC because you ended up getting a better picture that way.

So, "Hi" was very much in the mind of Japanese people as an HDTV thing, and while I can't make out the exact make and model of this monitor its almost certainly an HDTV, one that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Yes, if your knowledge of hardware (and when it was released) is accurate (I have no reason to doubt it), then it certainly corroborates many of the important features of Bomberman Hi-TEN.

BOTTOM LINE: I don't care, I would love to have played this version! DAMN IT.