The Skull (also known as Poison in some games) is a recurring item in the Bomberman series. It gives the player one of a set of negative effects.[1]
Behavior[]
Typically, Skull items will not be destroyed when hit by a blast. Instead, the panel will flip onto another tile. In some games, an option can be set to allow them to be destroyed. However, in earlier Bomberman games that have the Skull item before the panel flip behavior later on, the Skull can be destroyed even without said set options.
As a "bad" item, in most games, if a "diseased" player collects a regular item, the Skull will be expelled and flip onto another tile.
If a "diseased" player touches another player, one of two things can happen, depending on the game: the other player will also get the same disease, or the disease will be transferred over to the other player.
Typically, if a player has a disease for long enough, the item will simply disappear. However, in some games, the effects of the Skull will last for the rest of the match.
Surprisingly, in Super Bomberman, despite its multiple bad effects, the Skull can possibly be counted as a good item because it also gives the players a large amount of points just before its effects start. In addition, the Skull can be destroyed by bomb blasts, but only in Super Bomberman (although some earlier games with the Skull can do the same thing, as well as in some later games like Bomberman (DS)), and is also destroyed by kicked bombs and punched bombs, meaning it's not completely indestructible. Additionally, in Neo Bomberman, the Skull is still destructible, but can also be picked up without the bad effects starting while the player is riding Gaikottsu.
Effects[]
Each game that has a Skull item has a set of possible diseases that players can get from that item. This set varies per game, with the following list showing some of the most commonly seen diseases:
- Rapid Pace Disease (駿足病) - The player moves extremely fast.
- Slow Pace Disease (鈍足病) - The player moves extremely slow.
- Diarrhea (ゲリ) - The player continuously sets bombs when possible.
- Low Power Disease (不能病) - The player's bombs explode at the minimum blast radius regardless of their current blast radius (1 tile from origin).
- Constipation (便秘) - The player is unable to set bombs.
- Change (チェンジ) - The player switches spots with a different, random player.
Bomberman 64 effects[]
- Fire - First seen in Bomberman 64 and is the only Skull effect that causes direct death and harm to the player. Bomberman is set on fire, cannot drop bombs, and becomes deadly to touch: obviously, because of this, it is the only Skull effect that cannot be "tagged" to another Bomberman. Bomberman will die when the effect expires, which takes about 30 seconds. He is not invincible, and will detonate bombs if he touches them.
- Reverse Movement - Reverses the function of the analog stick: Bomberman walks at full speed in whatever direction he is facing with the stick being set in neutral, slowing down as it is pushed further and stopping completely and turning on the spot if it is fully pushed in a random direction.
- Low Power Disease - Bombs explode at the minimum blast radius regardless of the current blast radius size, even if pumped.
- Big Bomb Disease - Bomberman drops bombs that look normal, but have the maximum radius blue explosions of a pumped-up Red Bomb: (if Bomberman already has the Red Bombs, this will be obvious as they will all be turned black, as these bombs are unofficially called Black Red Bombs). Pumping bombs also no longer has any effect on the blast areas. The Maximum effect of the Evil item does the same to all players.
- Quick Bomb Disease - Bombs explode after 2 seconds instead of 5.
- Big Bomber Disease - The game's variant of Slow Pace Disease: Slows Bomberman down and also makes him grow significantly in size. The Gulliver effect of the Evil item does the same to all players.
- Small Bomber Disease - The game's equivalent of Rapid Pace Disease: Bomberman becomes very small and incredibly fast, almost uncontrollably so fast that he will accidentally lose the round when hit with an explosion.
- Diarrhea - Bomberman continuously sets bombs when possible.
- Constipation - Bomberman is unable to set bombs.
Bomberman Quest[]
In Bomberman Quest, the Skull item may be fused with an Explosive Core in the Bomb Workshop in order to produce a Skull Bomb. There are two Skull items in the game.[2]
Notable users[]
- Baron Bombano has the ability to generate a Skull item, which will flip onto the field.
- Witch Bomber actively seeks to pick up Skull items in the Battle Mode of Bomberman World.
- Dr. Mook and Carat Diamond has the ability to generate Skull items from Uiteru V.