Mr.Boom is a Bomberman clone by Remdy Software, originally written in assembly for MS-DOS. The principle is that of the Hudson Soft series: a top-down maze of blocks, timed bombs that explode in a cross, power-ups hidden under the destructible bricks, and the last one standing wins the round.
The libretro port, released in 2017 under the MIT licence, is not a rewrite: the original assembly code was converted automatically to C using the asm2c tool, which preserves the game's behaviour down to the detail. What sets Mr.Boom apart is its scale: it goes up to eight simultaneous players on the same screen, where most Bombermen of the era topped out at four or five.
The core adds AI-driven bots, team modes, a monster-free mode, the ability to push bombs or ride a kangaroo, and netplay support — rare among Recalbox ports. All these options can be set from the core menu, in game.
| Author | Remdy Software |
| Year of the port | 2017 |
| Engine | Native libretro port |
| Game type | Action, arena multiplayer |
| Players | Up to 8 on the same screen |
| Port licence | MIT |
| Controller | Mandatory |
Mr. Boom is entirely free, shipped complete with Recalbox: there is strictly nothing to provide or install. See the Included games page.
The system is called Mr. Boom, but the game shows up in the list under the name Bomberman: that is the name written in the metadata shipped by Recalbox. It is one and the same game.
Emulator availability per board:
| Emulator | RPI3/RPI02W | RPI4/400 | RPI5/500 | OGA/OGS/RG351 | PC | RG353 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Libretro mrboom | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Libretro mrboom is the only emulator for this system and is therefore used by default on every machine, including the Raspberry Pi Zero 2: the game needs no horsepower at all. It is one of the few Recalbox ports that is netplay compatible — see the Netplay page. RetroAchievements are not supported. CRT output is handled by the core.
To play together on the same screen, simply plug in as many controllers as there are players and configure them in Recalbox: the core picks them up automatically.
Mr. Boom is a read-only system: the game is shipped complete and its folder is not meant to be modified.
/recalbox/share_init/roms/ports/Mr. Boom/
Supported extension: .game
The folder holds a single file:
/recalbox/share_init/roms/ports/Mr. Boom/
└── mrboom.game ← the game entry, launched by the core
The mrboom.game file does not contain the game: graphics, levels and music are all embedded in the core itself. It is simply a marker that makes the entry appear in the game list and triggers the launch.
Unlike the other ports, this system does not read
/recalbox/share/roms/. Dropping files into/recalbox/share/roms/ports/Mr. Boom/has no effect: they will not appear in the game list.