SURPRISE ATTACK: Konami's 1990 Arcade Action Game Bombs and Bonus Quiz

"BLACK DAWN" and the Mission to Reclaim Space

In Surprise Attack, the player works to recover three locations held by the forces of Black Dawn: a space station, a shuttle, and a moon base. Black Dawn is identified as an international terrorist group that threatens the universe, and its forces occupy these locations across the game's stages. Each stage is structured around bomb recovery rather than a simple fight to an exit: the stage clears only after every bomb in it has been recovered and the final location has been reached. That means the route through each area is tied to sweeping the bombs first, with the endpoint counting only once the last one is gone.

The three recovery targets give the mission a clear shape: the space station, the shuttle, and the moon base are all in Black Dawn's hands, and play proceeds until each one is reclaimed. Within a stage, the two documented clearing rules interact directly. Bomb recovery supplies the completion condition, and the final location provides the place where that condition is checked. Reach the final location before all bombs are recovered, and the stage is not cleared; recover every bomb and then reach it, and the stage ends. After the stage's boss is defeated, a bonus quiz follows, and a correct answer awards bonus points.

Bomb Recovery: The Core Stage-Clearing Loop

In each stage, every bomb must be recovered before moving to the final location. This means the stage route requires a full sweep for bombs first, and only then can the endpoint trigger the clear. If you reach the final location before all bombs are recovered, the stage is not cleared. The two rules work together: bomb recovery supplies the completion condition, and the final location provides the place where that condition is checked. So the action order is fixed: recover all bombs, then reach the final location.

The documented clearing rule is precise: the stage is cleared when all bombs in the stage are recovered and the final location is reached. This ties the stage structure to bomb recovery rather than a simple fight to an exit. After the stage boss is defeated, a bonus quiz follows, and a correct answer awards bonus points. So the loop is: recover every bomb, reach the final location to clear the stage, defeat the boss, then answer the bonus quiz correctly for extra points.

Boss Battles and the Post-Stage Bonus Quiz

After all bombs are recovered and the final location is reached, the stage is cleared. A boss then appears, and defeating that stage's boss leads directly to a bonus quiz. The quiz is a separate round that follows the boss fight, and answering correctly grants bonus points. This sequence is fixed: clearing the stage triggers the boss encounter, and defeating the boss triggers the quiz. The bonus quiz is not optional; it occurs after every stage's boss is defeated, providing a chance to earn extra points based on correct answers.

The bonus quiz presents a question, and a correct answer awards bonus points. This occurs after defeating the stage's boss, so the player must first clear the stage by recovering all bombs and reaching the final location, then defeat the boss, and finally answer the quiz correctly to receive the points. The quiz is a distinct phase that follows the boss battle, and its outcome affects the player's score. There is no indication that an incorrect answer penalizes the player; only that a correct answer grants bonus points. The quiz is therefore an opportunity to increase the score after each stage's boss is defeated.

1990 Arcade Action from Konami

Surprise Attack is a 1990 arcade action game published by Konami. The player's mission centers on recovering three locations held by Black Dawn, an international terrorist group described as threatening the universe. Those locations are a space station, a shuttle, and a moon base, and play continues until each one is reclaimed. Each stage is built around bomb recovery rather than a simple run to an exit. A stage clears only when every bomb in it has been recovered and the final location has been reached. Reach that endpoint before all bombs are collected and the stage does not clear, so the route through each area stays tied to sweeping the bombs first.

After the stage's bombs are recovered and the final location is reached, the stage is cleared, and a boss then appears. Defeating that stage's boss leads directly to a bonus quiz, a separate round that follows the boss fight. The quiz presents a question, and a correct answer awards bonus points. The sequence is fixed: clearing the stage triggers the boss encounter, and defeating the boss triggers the quiz. The quiz occurs after every stage's boss is defeated, offering a chance to add to the score through correct answers. The published documentation gives no indication that an incorrect answer penalizes the player; only a correct answer grants bonus points.

First published Oct 17, 2026.