Mighty Bomb Jack NES Online: Jack Of All Trades

How mighty is a Bomb Jack? Not as mighty as Jill, but then again Jack did stumble with a concussion. True story. I heard it in the playground. So these ramblings that are laid upon you are words on Mighty Bomb Jack, or rather, the title placed here and there a few times and content that is most likely irrelevant.

My first encounter with Mighty Bomb Jack was the Amiga 500. The best Amiga that ever lived. I had this around the same time as Bomberman and Impossamole. The only connection is the word bomb and platforming. I loved Impossamole and I love YouTube as you can find these old games without having to find an overpriced Amiga on eBay.

So, Mighty Bomb Jack (typing that to stay on track and to keep the keyword going) is an NES game that later had a port to the Amiga. I don’t recall spending that much time with it though as it was very repetitive and I didn’t find any real joy with it. I was too busy playing Rainbow Islands or Leander. Look them up, I don’t want too many links to Amiga related stuff as this is about the NES Online game.

Now that I replay this on the Switch, I remember why I didn’t really play it. It’s boring and in typical NES fashion, pretty hard for chumps like me. What’s it all about then? Jack gets fired from his job at the bread factory so decides on a career change to diffuse bombs. To diffuse bombs he simply collects them and either eats them or puts them in his pockets as there’s nothing remotely explosive about this game.

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. I can’t think of anything that rhymes with that. Right… Well, Jack’s only skill is the power of jumping and boy can he jump. He makes Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2 jump like a rock. There are a few other comparisons to the Mario franchise – the level design looks inspired by the games and erm… Jack jumps. He can’t jump on enemies though and he doesn’t even have any weapons. Our Jack is quite the fragile type. What he can do though is open treasure chests by jumping on them. If you get a power-up, you can even open them up from the side. Mind blown.

Aside from Jack’s new career path and his lack of skills, he also has a mission of sorts: he needs to rescue his girlfriend Pamera. Correct spelling – it’s a Japanese game made by Tecmo of Ninja Gaiden fame. They fared better with the latter. Mighty Bomb Jack is basically a fusion with Luigi’s mad jumping skills and the narrative of Double Dragon. Without the fighting. And fun. But you can collect coins, so it’s not all that bad. Or is it?

Collect too many coins and the game brands you greedy and sends you to a torture chamber where you repeatedly have to jump while watching back-to-back unseen Friends episodes like The One Where They Watch The Grass Grow and The One Where They Lay-In. There’s no need to be sent to a torture room simply for investing in one’s future and there’s certainly no need to be tormented in this way. The difficulty with most NES games is punishing enough.

Is Mighty Bomb Jack worthy of your precious NES Online time? Nope. Instead, play one of the Mario games or any other platform game at that. Kirby’s Adventure is perhaps one of the best. Jack is not the bomb, he has bombed and quite frankly should have stuck to baking bread.