Bomberman games (traditionally) are top-down view involving some slight strategy, a moderate action game with some wonderful colorful graphics. You are bomberman, a cute little robot looking guy whose only attack is to lay a bomb down, then get out its line of fire. He bombs, or interacts with bombs, thats about all he does. The bomb(s) becomes a temporary wall for you and the enemies, and the bombs can hurt you just as much as the foes. You can't just lay bombs down willy-nilly, as you will end up trapped by bomb or enemy, and will lose a life. You have the chance to get a lot of different powerups from blowing up walls, which might contain them. There are always walls (squares) you cannot destroy, and these are used as breaks and safe havens from your explosions.

This game is best played as a party game, as four players trying to blow each other up in the confines of the screen can be quite hilarious. The main story mode is not too bad though, rushing you right into the action. This is a pretty good introduction for bomber-beginners too, as it starts out pretty slow, only throwing two new things per level for the first two levels.

Story: 6
All the action takes place on a combination of space stations stuck together to form the levels. Our loveably little robot has been robot-napped by the bad bombers - a crew of other bomber robots. I suppose they want to prove who is the best. Each will whisk you to their themed lair - the case of fire bomber is a smelting factory with highly explosive oil ditches. The Pretty bomber (seems female) has a lego-brick looking area with lots of toys to use and blow up. When you defeat one of the enemy bombers in a duel, they will challenge you to a large room against a giant construct they create. The first boss usees boxing gloves, for example.  Destroying that with your bombs will defeat them and you proceed onto the next level.  The battlemode features ideas not used in the main game, and thats a shame. I would have liked the bad bombers stages to not be so cut-and-dry - maybe if one had an ice stage, or a warp stage like the battle mode - it would have added more variety. The story is quite predictable, but being an action game - i'm going to give it a average for having a plot, but not doing much with it.

Battle Mode
This is the other gameplay option -a  non-story multiplayer mode, something bomberman games do very well. Up to four players comepete but you can use computer AI (and set its level) also. Other options include setting up as a free-for-fall or teams of two, how many rounds to go (Best of 2-3,etc), a timer, and the golden bomber mode - which gives a potential start up prize to the overall winner and changes their color to gold for the duration of the next match.

There are ten stages, which may not seem like much, but only one is a standard vanilla stage - the rest include special features. One stage seems right out of story mode, it includes an oil trench that any bombs put on it will light up a wide ring of flame. Another has icy floors and tunnels, another floor tiles to regulate walking speed and only a single, recurring location to get powerups from.  My personal favorite is the 10th stage, which has regrowing mushrooms instead of blocks, and you can jump over the walls.


Graphics: 6
The art style is nice and clean, but lacking detail. Its very cartoony, from the giant, breathing bombs, and unrealistic explosions. These cutesy graphics are common to the bomberman series (the good ones anyway). The backgrounds are more realisitc than the enemies and bombers themselves. Each level has its own foes for it, and its own hazards. These stand out well, such as the giant magnets and U-headed enemies of Magnet Bomber's stage.
The simple graphic style comes in handy for the battle mode, where all the cartoony bombermen pop out from the rest of the background, but everything could still be much better. I was surprised more was not done with the flooring, having it light up or create its own hazards would have made this even more interesting.

Sound: 7
Overall, its pretty good in my opinon. Its a bit saturday morning cartoon, a little asian influence and some rapid electronic music sections. I would probably say plasma bomber stage theme is my favorite, however all the music is quite passable here.. My main complaint is that its comprised of short loops. If they could have made the songs less repetitive, it would have scored even higher. But for title music to ending to all be enjoyable, its an achievement.

The sound effects are pretty good. The bomb explosions sound good, and this is a bit funny. Me and my brother used to love picking up the kick power up, the bomberman would say "HIC!" in a kiddie voice. It was the only time he talked. 

Addictiveness: 6 = 7 for mutil player / 5 for story mode
As stated, battle mode is a lot of fun, causing random mayhem, and the story mode has themes for each of the five bad bombers you take on. There are a lot of powerups as well, and they can be fairly creative. Battle mode would be the main reason to keep playing this, story mode has passwords but its actually fairly short. Treat this score like a party game -or if you don't mind playing those with cpu enemies, then you should like this. The fun power ups and the random opportunity to get them add some value to the battles, i'll just touch on some of them in the depth section.


Depth: 7
With two modes to play, and both providing new areas and battles, this game has quite a bit going for it. While the formula of empty space/blocks vs. unbreakable walls doesn't change its 1x1 ratio pattern (i wish it did on some parts). The variety of items you can acquire add a lot to the game.

Power ups:
You get a lot of different types, probably about 15, these range from extra walking speed, to rubbery jelly bombs, a remote control detonator (very nice), or a skull with inflicts random badness on you- such as laying all your bombs randomly, or turning you invisible. The more important powerups that make up the core game I'll detail below. This is just a sample though, so you can see what sort of counterattacks and moves you can plot with just the basics.

• Bomb symbol: this the ability to lay more than one bomb. You can do them all in a row, or spaced however you like. There is a limit.
• Happy fireball symbol: this increases your bomb's explosion. As neccessary as the extra bombs, as your explosions start out weak. This also has a limit, but the blast gets so large it can actually be detrimental to your efforts if you don't pay attention.
• The leg symbol: A picture of bomberman's foot with a tiny ball-like bomb on the end of his toe - this gives you the kick power. This means rather than having the bombs block you in, you can kick them until they hit a wall. You kick in the direction you first touch the bomb.
• Blue Glove symbol: One of my favorites. With this, you can deadlift a placed bomb and throw it over the walls. Never get stuck in the corners again! The bomb bounces along the walls until it runs into an empty space. If you use this in battle mode and the thrown bomb lands on an opponent, it won't kill them, but make them drop their acquired power ups.

Difficulty: 4
Its easy to play and easy to master. The only variable difficulty is in the multiplayer for setting the cpu drones' AI. The different stages in Battle mode can allow one to learn the tricks of the stages, but some are still very simple. Story mode is not very challenging, which is good for younger gamers.


Final score: 7.1
While its great for the younger set, this game also has the battle mode which adults and kids can enjoy. We spent a lot of hours going over the battle mode - but also played the regular story several times. The bright graphics disguise there is not a lot of depth to these types of games. If you don't like party games, or seeing lots of explosions, look elsewhere.

endings : Wow! That was quite a long review for a super nintendo game like bobmerman! Good job making this endings. I'm sure that this netted you some good words and cp! Uh-oh...better check the stats!

FaithFighter : This is nothing. I can pontificate and glib and gossip about old-school games all day.