10 Obscure Video Game Spin-Offs You Totally Forgot Existed
4. Bomberman: Act Zero
Remember Bomberman? The cute little dude with the bowling-ball hands and giant bonce was a major video game icon in his time, and the face of some of the greatest local multiplayer experiences around. Well, forget all those fond memories, because in 2006 Bomberman went through a 'mature', 'gritty' makeover on the Xbox 360 - if your ideas of mature and gritty are based on Micheal Bay's Transformers movies. Played from a jarring rotating perspective, and set in a strangely dark, purpley-blue world that looks like it belongs in the Lawnmower Man, Act Zero completely violated the cheery spirit of the series. Thankfully, it was so forgettable and dissimilar from the rest of Bomberman, that hardly anyone remembered it even existed. As if to emphasise its bad will towards gamers, the game had 99 levels, offering players one life and no way of saving. Not that you'd want to put yourself through 99 levels of this mess anyway, but still, it's the principle, dammit!
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
