The Lives is a recurring gameplay element in the Bomberman series.

Description

Lives are commonly used in video games, and so are the Bomberman games as well. In the classic Bomberman games, the player basically starts with a certain number of lives (that could vary from 2 to 5 depending of the games), and when they run out of stock, it leads to a Game Over. The lives counter is most of the time displayed on the hud directly visible on the screen, and in less common cases, when pausing the game. The maximum limit of lives is generally 9 in most games (99 in very rare occasions).

The player generally loses a life when they collide with an enemy, a projectile, certain traps, being blasted by their own Bombs, or in some occasions, if they don't finish a stage under the Time Limit. The player generally restarts at the beginning of the stage with reset enemies, Time Limit and destroyed Soft Blocks when that happens in solo play mode — but the player is forced to continue the stage via instant resurrection without reset enemies, Time Limit and destroyed Soft Blocks in dual/group play mode. In less common cases, they could also have their previously acquired Power-Ups downgraded or completely lose them, or in Bomberman (DS), keep them.

The lives counter can be increased by collecting 1-Up power-ups, some special items (like Mini Bomber), or after reaching a certain score. In addition, hearts, vests or rideable creatures obtained from eggs could also protect the players from losing lives. Flame passes also protect the players from losing lives.

In Bomberman games that feature a Health Points system, such as the RPG games, there is no lives system, and running out of HP would automatically lead to a Game Over.

When clearing some games or modes, such is the case of the Classic Mode of Bomberman Portable, remaining lives will be converted into score points.