is a 1988 beat 'em up video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. Described as a "comical action game", the player controls the titular character, a bionic superhero with telescopic limbs, as he must defeat the villainous Dr. Bomb ("Dr. Bakuda" in Japan) before he takes over the world. Bravoman can use his arms, legs and head to defeat enemies, and can also crouch and jump over them. The game runs on the Namco System 1 arcade board.
Conceived by Namco composer Norio Nakagata, Bravoman is a homage to 1960s tokusatsu films, parodying common tropes found in the genre, and Nakagata's love for synthesizer music. Many former staff members from Toei Animation were hired for the project, leading to the game's distinct art style influenced by anime. Bravoman's real identity, known as Hitoshi Nakamura, is a caricature of Namco's then-president Masaya Nakamura, whom the game was dedicated to. It is Namco's only video game to use pressure-sensitive buttons, which were reportedly easy to break. Following its initial release, Bravoman was ported to a handful of systems, including the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, which received an international release, and Japanese mobile phones.
In Japan, Bravoman was widely successful, receiving high praise for its gameplay and humor. However, it received much more negative coverage from western publications, who disliked its mechanics, difficulty, and inferiority to other games in the genre. The game spawned a shooter spin-off, Pistol Daimyo no Boken, in 1990. Bravoman has since gained notoriety from its revival through the now-defunct ShiftyLook division of Namco Bandai Games, who produced a webcomic and animated series based on the game. ShiftyLook also produced an endless runner based on the comic, Bravoman: Binja Bash!, for cellular devices. A true sequel was in production towards the end of the 1980s, but was cancelled when the developers grew concerned that its concept would not work as a game.
Gameplay
thumb|left|Bravoman fighting Black Bravo, the game's first boss.
In Bravoman, the player controls the titular character, a bionic superhero who possesses telescopic limbs, in his mission to stop the evil scientist Dr. Bomb from taking over the world. Bravoman can punch, kick, and headbutt enemies to defeat them; the game uses pressure-sensitive buttons, where the harder the button is pressed, the stronger the player's attack is.
Plot
The storyline in Bravoman is told through the game's attract mode sequence, alongside various pieces of promotional material. He had previously directed the arcade game Genpei Tōma Den (1986), a hack and slash platform title that is claimed to be an early precursor to Bravoman. His goal for the project was to create an arcade game based on things he personally enjoyed, such as synthesizer music and films from the 1930s. running on the Namco System 1 arcade hardware. It was ported to the TurboGrafx-16 in October 1990, The TurboGrafx-16 version was digitally re-released onto the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, Bravoman was ported to Japanese mobile phones on October 28, 2010 for the EZweb, i-Mode and S! Appli network services, featuring new stages and remastered visuals and audio. Hamster Corporation released the game as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in June 2023.