Almost a decade and a half ago, Hudson was working on a PS2 game titled Bomberman 2001 that had a radically different premise and art style from previous Bombermans (nonetheless it looked a lot better than the 360 reboot which would be Hudson's later attempt at a serious change). However very little info was given and the title appeared to be cancelled.
At the E3 convention 2000 Hudson showed a short movie with a new game they were working on. The working title was Bomberman 2001. A game that had a little girl as main character. She was a hacker that got trapped in a maze of digital problems. Now she needs to get out and will use bombs to do it. We wern't actually allowed to take pictures there but it was a bit of shocking news so we did it anyway (sorry Hudson). What will happen to good old Bomberman? These photo's and scans from they're flyer are the only thing we have right now.
I am wondering if anyone here has the game screens/promo material screens of the game that no longer are up. I remember Bombermania being run by Bomberman community fixture Johann, though I don't know where he is at this time. If someone can reach him, he is probably the best bet to get the media of this game. It is an interesting curiosity that I'm certain Bomberman fans would like to see more about.
Oh, man, talk about a blast from the past! Thanks for digging this up; I've been wondering about it for a while. If this is the game I'm thinking of, this was actually where I initially got the inspiration for my human version of Bomberman, because I am almost certain I recall one of the screenshots being that of a young man with brown eyes and white hair. I vaguely remember the girl as well, though.
(Damn, though, Bombermania...now that takes me back. Anyone also remember Bomberman Fantastic Site?)
Ha ha, I do vaguely remember Bomberman Fantastic Site. Mostly in name only. It was there that I found my way to this forum I've been visiting regularly the past 10 years or so.... ugh holy crap.
!!! I'm so glad someone else remembers this! This game crept into my head recently, but I couldn't find a lick of information on it anywhere. (looking now, it seems this thread and another one on NeoGAF are the top search results now, haha. make our lives tougher, why doncha? =P)
Sadly, I've got nothing to show. I never saved the page, and I don't remember if I even saw any images back in the day. I want to say I probably read about this on an actual game site, but...
Does anyone know if this game was actually covered on any news sites at the time? Or, like, anywhere? It's really difficult finding another source that even mentions the game; the best I can find are these Japanese pages, one on proposed PS2 releases in 2000/2001, and one on unreleased games (though it claims Bomberman 2001 mutated into Bomberman Jetters). Where they got their info from, I'd like to know.
Hudson's site makes no mention of it (E3 isn't even mentioned on its news in 2000 page!), and I can't find any E3 2000 reports that even mention Hudson's presence - though I've only glanced through IGN on the Internet Archive, I'll need to look elsewhere.
Unless it was mentioned in any magazines at the time, the only physical evidence that would confirm the game's existence is Hudson's E3 2000 flyer... and how the hell you'd get that nowadays is beyond me. Anyone wanna pester Video Game Ephemera?
If you're going to ask further, Lost Levels might be worth a bash. Personally, I can't help but wonder if the page was a joke that somehow fooled people even in Japan; I mean, that's gotta be why there's no leads, right? (sorry for being a pessimist!)
Hi all. So this is a bit weird, but I am Sander, the person behind Bombermania, and the person who made that photo and article of Bomberman 2001.
This thread is only a month old, to my surprise. It's so cool to see that people remember my old site. I recognize some of the names of people on this board, in fact.
Johann, from the defunct site bomberman.info, mailed me out of the blue. We met up only days ago for a beer and a night of reminiscing. I decided to dig into the bomberman forums again, and ended up here.
These are the two Bomberman 2001 photos I took:
I carefully cut out the logo for my website. If you take the logo on the top of this thread, and paste it on top of my photo, you'll see it is the exact same.
Sad part is that I have no more information. I remember the trailer they showed, but I didn't have a video camera with me. In a time when my camera was analog, it was a bit too expensive for me :)
Oh wow, good to see you popping by, Sander! Thank you so much for the photos - I feel a little crazy now for having doubted the game's existence, haha. (especially after finding a bunchmoresources from when the PS2 was unveiled) The screenshot on the flyer looks so familiar, I feel as if I saw it on a news site years and years ago... though it may actually have just been one of the images on your page, now that I think about it. :p
Hi. I haven't been here in years, but I started this thread, and am still looking for any screens/footage/info on Bomberman 2001.
I have had no luck in finding screens. I am certain I saw them back in 2000 from an E3 trailer, and that they were posted again on a previous iteration of this board in 2003. If anyone knows anything, please feel free to share. I have been in regular contact with the poster SvdV about this game recently, and we are both fascinated by it, but have had no luck finding the trailer footage/screens.
In my research for this game, I have reason to believe Bomberman 2001 wasn't cancelled, but reworked into a different game. That game being D.N.A.: Dark Native Apostle.
Like Bomberman 2001, it retains the bomb mechanic of Bomberman, while having a more mature tone/artsyle, it was published by Hudson in Japan, was developed for the PS2, and was released in 2001 (I assume Bomberman 2001 was slated for a 2001 release due to its title).
It doesn't have the same artstyle, cyberspace setting/story of Bomberman 2001 though. I assume these things changed when Hudson decided to ditch the Bomberman IP for something new (even though Bomberman 2001 was already unrecognizable from Bomberman except for its name and use of bombs).
I just thought that this was some interesting information to share. That a nearly forgotten PS2 game called D.N.A.: Dark Native Apostle likely had origins in a nearly forgotten PS2 game called Bomberman 2001, which had a footage shown and posted online, that now appears to be completely lost (though hopefully not forever).
If anyone knows anything about Bomberman 2001, or has played D.N.A. Dark Native Apostle, feel free to share.
This is an interesting idea. I've never heard of D.N.A. until you mentioned it but your theory makes a lot of sense. I tried some googling but turned up nothing.
The cutting room floor does have a page for this game. They mention a debug menu that has the title KillerB on it. Maybe the tentative title became Killer Bomberman at one point?
The darker theme here reminds me of the one in Custom Battler. Maybe the concept was revisited later in that game?
Yeah, the B in KillerB could definitely be Bomberman.
Interesting that you mentioned Bomberman 2 (Custom Battler) for the DS, as that game has a cyberspace/hacker theme like Bomberman 2001. Perhaps concepts from Bomberman 2001 where worked into that game, while retaining the classic Bomberman artstyle.
I watched some gameplay videos and the style feels very Hudson-y for them at the time. They also made Virus on sega saturn which had that dark sci-fi thing going on. As taboo as it is to say, this game almost feels like what could've been a precursor for Act Zero. Like they were curious to try a gritty bomberman but then changed it for whatever reason.
The first cutscene in the entire game shows a silhouette of the protagonist. This looks similar to the one seen on the Bomberman 2001 flyer.
The female character in the poster could likely have been reworked into Sarisa, the character in D.N.A.
Lastly the second boss in the game takes place in this grid-like room. Coincidence?
These are a bit of a stretch but I think it's arguable that these things were reworked from Bomberman 2001 into D.N.A. Here's a link to a playthrough on youtube if anyone wants to see more.
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