Booming Blasters

Booming Blasters Preview image for Booming Blasters in Merry Magoland. Details Type(s) Shooting - elimination Levels 3 Players 4 Appears in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Booming Blasters is a Sub-Game which first appeared in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, accessible as one of the ten primary games in Merry Magoland and the Lor Starcutter (the latter after having collected 25 Energy Spheres). In it, Kirby and three other characters are placed in a top-down view square arena with various walls and obstacles with laser blasters, and are tasked with shooting each other down in an elimination-style setting while avoiding getting hit in return. Contestants have limited health (being knocked out in four hits), limited mobility (able only to jump upward a short distance to dodge regular blasts), and limited ammunition. The last contestant standing is the winner.

Booming Blasters is also available to play in the demo version of Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, though with only three Missions to complete.

Gameplay

In Booming Blasters, four contestants are dropped into a static top-down view arena with a grungy futuristic aesthetic in the middle of a desert. Each contestant is equipped with a laser blaster that resembles the Super Scope and fires pulses of energy. Each contestant has four hit points, and the objective is to be the last contestant standing by shooting down rivals while avoiding being hit in turn.

The blasters have two primary means of fire: the first is a regular shot that travels straight ahead quickly, though it can be dodged by jumping over it if fired on the ground, or blocked by firing at it. The second, used by charging the blaster, is an "Overhead Shot" that fires a mortar-like round in an arc that then creates a large explosion on impact, though it has shorter range and can hit with the shot itself at point-blank range or if an opponent collides with the projectile. Each of these shots requires one unit of ammo to fire, and contestants can carry up to 10 units. If they run out, they cannot use their blaster. Energy Capsules will appear periodically around the stage, refilling five units of ammunition when picked up.

There is also a leveling mechanic around the blasters: hitting opponents twice causes the blaster to increase in power, causing the shots to be bigger and faster, as well as increasing the radius of Overhead Shot explosions. The blaster can level up twice to a maximum of three. Leveling up will also slightly increase the movement speed of the contestant. Additionally, a Super Blaster can appear in the stage, and picking it up allows the contestant to fire a gigantic Super Shot (similar to a Blaster Bullet) that cannot be jumped over and passes through all barriers and can hit multiple opponents. This can only be used once before the blaster returns to normal. Attacking an opponent will make them lose their Super Blaster.

There is no time limit to battles in Booming Blasters. However, if a minute and 15 seconds elapse before a winner is decided, Kabula will show up on the stage and start raining down bombs, making it more difficult for contestants to avoid elimination. Each time a contestant is hit, they are knocked down for a moment, and afterwards have a brief invincibility period. Once they lose all four hit points, they are out of the match. Ranking is determined solely by how long the contestant lasted, regardless of how many hits they scored.

Levels

Booming Blasters has three stages which correspond with the three difficulty levels. They are as follows:

Levels of Booming Blasters
Level	Description	Notes
Level 1	A simple metal platform surrounded by bright sand. There are four inner corners that can be jumped over and four short pillars in the middle forming a diamond-shaped array.	CPUs in this level are very sluggish and only shoot occasionally.
Level 2	A simple metal platform surrounded by red evening sand. There are four inner corners that can be jumped over, five tall pillars bunched up together to grate a + shaped barrier, and a line of breakable barricades spanning the midsection of the arena.	CPUs in this level are moderately active, and will shoot frequently, but have slow reaction speed.
Level 3	A simple metal platform surrounded by dark dusk sand. There are four inner corners that can be jumped over, six tall pillars forming two groups of three creating inverted corners around the open center, and two lines of breakable barricades spanning from the tall corners out to the edges.	CPUs in this level are very active, and will jump at any shot fired at them unless caught in a situation where they cannot move (firing air shots at a long distance is almost guaranteed to hit them, since they will jump regardless). A medley of "Air Ride: Sky Sands" and "Air Ride: Machine Passage" plays in this level.

Missions

There are nine Missions for this Sub-Game. They are as follows:

• Rookie Blaster - Play Booming Blasters for the first time.
• Super Shot, Double Hits - Hit two or more rivals with a single Super Shot.
• Extermination By Blaster - Play Booming Blasters while wearing the Susie dress-up mask.
• Overhead Shot Master - Hit rivals with 3 Overhead Shots in a single game.
• Every Rival on Level 2 - Defeat all of your rivals in a single game on Level 2 difficulty.
• Half Health on Level 3 - Win on Level 3 with at least half of your health remaining.
• 30 Total Hits - Hit rivals with a grand total of 30 or more shots.
• Clear All Difficulties - Win on all difficulty settings. (Level 1 / Level 2 / Level 3)
• Star Blaster - Complete all other missions for Booming Blasters.

Once all 100 regular missions are completed, two final missions related to this Sub-Game are unlocked, as part of the "True Extra Missions" category:

• Perfect Blaster Ace - Win without taking any damage on Level 3 of Booming Blasters.
• Triple Hit with a Super Shot - Hit 3 rivals with a single Super Shot in Booming Blasters.

In the game's demo version, only the "Rookie Blaster," "Super Shot, Double Hits," and "Clear All Difficulties" missions can be completed.

Tutorial transcript

• "Blast your rivals with shots using B/Y! Hold B/Y to fire off an Overhead Shot. Hit rivals twice to level up your shots!"
• "Be careful not to run out of ammo! Pick up Energy Capsules to recharge."
• "Dodge shots from your rivals by pressing A/B to jump."
• "When a Super Blaster appears, use it to take out multiple rivals at once with a piercing Super Shot. It can even blast through walls!"

Trivia

• This Sub-Game is likely meant as a replacement for Scope Shot from the original Kirby's Return to Dream Land: it is thematically similar, as the characters carry laser blasters that resemble those used in Scope Shot, and Kabula appears in both Sub-Games. The two Sub-Games also have very similar Japanese names (Scope Shot: ガンガンバスターズ Gun Gun Busters, Booming Blasters: ガンガンブラスターズ Gun Gun Blasters). Moreover, its title screen theme uses a very similar melody to Scope Shot's title screen theme at the beginning, and the music for Levels 1 and 2 also incorporates a re-arrangement of the Scope Shot title theme.
  • Scope Shot may have been removed because it is a cooperative game, as all of the Merry Magoland sub-games are competitive. Notably, Kirby on the Draw, which also appears in this remake, plays similar to Scope Shot but is a competitive game rather than a cooperative one.
• Unlike in the main game, Booming Blasters uses Kirby and the Forgotten Land's rearrangement of the second player death jingle when a player is eliminated from the game.

Gallery

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  Booming Blasters entry screen in Merry Magoland

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  Kirby hitting an opponent using an Overhead Shot (and reaching Max Level)

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  A Super Blaster firing and hitting two opponents

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  Kabula approaching in Level 3

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  Bandana Waddle Dee being eliminated by Kabula's bombs

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  A round finish in Booming Blasters

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  A results screen for a Booming Blasters round

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  Concept art of the Super Blaster

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ガンガンブラスターズ gan gan burasutāzu	Gun Gun Blasters
Traditional Chinese	砰砰光線槍 pēng pēng guāng xiàn qiāng	Pew-Pew Laser Gun
Simplified Chinese	砰砰光线枪 pēng pēng guāng xiàn qiāng
Dutch	Daverende blasters	Thunderous blasters
Canadian French	Blasteurs explosifs	Explosive Blasters
European French	Blasters explosifs	Explosive Blasters
German	Blaster-Ballerspaß	Blaster Shooting Fun
Italian	Blaster esplosivi	Explosive Blaster
Korean	사격 블래스터즈 sagyeog beullaeseuteojeu	Shooting Blasters
Portuguese	Zap-Pega	Zap-Tag Play on the Portuguese name for the tag game, "pega-pega".
Spanish	Pistolas estridentes	Strident Guns