I'm a big Bomberman fan, as my past few reviews might indicate, so I was pretty excited to play some more of the retro games I never got around to when I got my PCE Mini. Bomberman '94 is technically a game I have owned before, as I used to own Mega Bomberman on my Genesis back in the States, but it was never a game I played terribly much of. I'm happy to have finally properly seen what the game has to offer. I beat the Japanese version in one sitting, only using save states on the final boss (because heck that guy XP).

Bomberman '94 has you traveling through 6 worlds trying to piece back the planet after a comet shatters it. You can replay old levels after finishing them before, and certain levels have specific powerups exclusive to them. This is super important if you wanna do something like go back to world 2 to get remote detonating bombs again if you die and lose them. There are technically only a couple dozen levels, but many levels have several rooms you need to travel through, so they feel like several levels over one larger stage.

The stages also don't play like most other Bomberman games, as your goal isn't often to destroy all the enemies and reach an exit that's hidden, but you need to destroy several shield generators protecting either the medal piece at the end, or the door leading to the next area. Each of the 6 worlds has a boss, and some of them are quite tough, but their difficulty and hit boxes are far better balanced than what I've played of Bomberman '93. Another very cool addition to this game is the addition of Louies (or Roois in Japanese), the kangaroo companions that frequent in so many other Bomberman games after this. Their special powers and ability to take an extra hit for you, on top of how cute they are, make them a welcome mechanical addition to the game for me.

The presentation is very nice, with a vibrant, colorful, and a bit slicker style than Bomberman '93. Bomberman is no longer so chonky, and this is where we start to see a svelter Bomberman. His enemies are also a bit more richly detailed, and despite not being on a CD, Bomberman '94 has some really nice music and boss graphics compared to the game released only a year prior. The final boss is a really massive difficulty spike, and probably the only negative point in the game for me. You only have 5 minutes to beat him, he has 3 stages to his fight, and his mechanics will likely take at least a few deaths to properly decipher, so he adds a LOT of playtime onto the game if you aren't using save states. At the very least you have unlimited continues.

Verdict: Recommended. This is an excellent Bomberman game and great fun. It's certainly Bomberman as you've seen it elsewhere, but especially on the PCE Mini, it's a great time alone or with friends. It's not my favorite Bomberman from this era, but it's certainly a good, more balanced Bomberman experience among the 16-bit era of the series.

I think we finally have a worthy successor to Bomberman '90.

They finally did it... They removed the exits and finally turned Bomberman into a more modern video game rather than the old "kill all enemies and find the exit". This game was the first step in the right direction for the future of the franchise and I'm glad they finally moved on from that old gameplay loop.
Compared to '90 and '93, what's new? Nothing actually other than the singleplayer getting revamped, if anything we lost some features such as the ability to save and load files. We still have the option to use passwords and thankfully they were shortened to only 4-digit numbers. But in the process, we also lost the PC Engine GP link cable multiplayer like how the two previous entries had, it's not so much of a big deal nowadays but maybe back then people in Japan maybe were disappointed to see that feature gone.

Alright, so the new singleplayer changed the goal for each stage from killing all enemies and finding the exit to finding all crystals in a stage and breaking them while avoiding or killing enemies, enemies being totally avoidable and optional.
The story is separated into 5 worlds with 4 stages each and my god, we finally did it, good pacing in a Bomberman.
All stages have some of their own gimmick and enemies with each of them not overstaying their welcome and just being overall fun, plus with most of the stages being pretty fair I think most of them have the right difficulty to them.

In terms of complaints, I guess the two last worlds are pretty tough, but my issue like with most Bomberman games with original bosses I find them all to be too hard since we still have to play with the one-hit death rule, I do wish someday they'd give us like 3 damage to deal with them only during the boss fights to make them feel less frustrating and tedious.

Multiplayer-wise, this game gives you a wide range of stages to choose from and for the first time lets you choose a unique costume for your Bomberman and I think that's a really neat addition, fun customization in multiplayer games is always welcomed.

I do hope the best for the future of this franchise and we really need some more innovation because even though we got a revamped singleplayer for this game I think it's still lacking content, especially when we look at a game like Super Mario World which released three years priors to this game and has plenty more gameplay and features to offer.
I know this is a Bomberman and you are not supposed to get hundreds of hours but it's still the third Bomberman game on the PC Engine and they barely have any feature worth whatever price they charged this game at launch compared to Bomberman '90.

In conclusion, yes I do think this game is an upgrade from '90 but I also think this franchise should stop relying on being just "Bomberman" and try to come up with more ideas.

The most accessible of Bomberman's 16-bit escapades, 94 de-emphasizes the arcade side of the franchise's gameplay loop. The minute differences in structure and level design make powerups less significant, and thus there's less penalty for losing them. Couple that with fewer stages, Louies for extra health and abilities, and you have a Bomberman game that is one parts more comfort food-y, another part somewhat gentrified. The more chaotic side of the formula gets muffled hard.

Of the two ports, avoid Mega Bomberman. Slowdown makes the latter half of that game's campaign nigh unplayable - a shame, since it arguably has the better soundtrack.

Gosto bastante da gameplay de bomberman e com esse não foi diferente, o jogo de quebra é muito bonito, colorido, top dos 16 bits, mas, é um jogo com musicas boas e outras tanto esqueciveis, boss que variam de faceis para dificeis demais, e o ponto negativo, achei a construção dos levels ruim, apertados demais, o respawn do bomberman por vezes ja te coloca para morte instantanea, de brinde, um pico de dificuldade na fase final que faz o jogador pirar com ele. Jogo okay, indico para quem curte a gameplay de bomberman, demais jogadores talvez não gostem tanto do titulo.

Lembrando todo mundo mais uma vez: Bomberman ’94 é o mesmo que Mega Bomberman.

Pra dizer a verdade, conheci primeiro este jogo no Mega Drive e só anos depois fui conhecê-lo no PC Engine. Sou mais um daqueles garotos de 1990 que não lia revistas e só via imagens já que possuía imagens de um tal console novo lá pra cima, mas nunca cheguei a ver um aqui no Brasil, talvez pelo preço absurdo que aquele console iria ter se chegasse aqui e nem sei se chegou porque era muito pequenino.

Enfim, Turbografx-16 == PC Engine e boa.

Por ser uma parceria em Hudson Soft e NEC, o PC Engine teve muito jogo da Hudson que brilhavam mais em um console que no outros. São casos como: Adventure Island, Bomberman e Bonk. Sendo assim a versão de Mega Bomberman é bem inferior ao Bomberman ’94.

Bomberman ’94 é muito mais vivo que Mega Bomberman em ambos aspectos. Só uma coisa ou outra que eu prefiro no Mega que é a música da primeira área que é muito gostosinha por sinal. Vou deixar um link ali na palavra para caso vocês queiram ouvir.

Só que meu: o que a Hudson fez na área 3 com o PC Engine? Aquela área como um todo é PISCADÉLICA. Cara, foi a primeira vez na minha vida que eu vi alguém fazer o uso da água de uma maneira tão gostosa que me deixou com sede o tempo todo.

Na área 4 do Bomberman ’94 tem uma gimmick interessante que foi retirado no Mega Bomberman por pura falta de vontade em fazer algo bom no Mega. Você tem a visão diminuída e possui alguns fantasmas e uns zoiudos na fase que não estão na versão do Mega. Muito triste.

Os pinguins ficam dançando na área 5, enquanto no Mega Bomberman não. Detalhezinho besta, mas é louvável ver a falta de vontade da Hudson Soft em fazer uma versão legal do jogo para o Mega Drive. Talvez a NEC visse a SEGA como potencial concorrente.

Enfim, questão gráfica do Bomberman ’94 não precisa ser discutido porque todo mundo sabe que PC Engine da um banho de cores no Mega Drive.

Assim como na questão sonora, ambos os jogos brilham de maneiras diferentes. Enquanto o Mega Drive tem uma base mais PHONKY, o PC Engine age de maneira mais chiptune puro como se fosse um NES e mesmo assim não perdeu em nada para o Mega. Uma música ou outra que muda, como eu já havia dito aqui.

Eu não queria chegar até aqui para dizer sobre as mecânicas do jogo e como me comportei até um determinado momento do jogo. Bomberman não é um jogo comum para jogadores comum, você precisa aprender a jogar o jogo da maneira que o jogo quer, caso contrário você será massacrado como uma galinha.

Até um determinado momento do jogo, eu estava feliz por jogar sozinho e ir tão longe num jogo de Bomberman e é verdade o jogo é fácil até um determinado momento. Depois se transforma num inferno do qual você não vai querer presenciar sem usar um save state de cara. Fiquei puto, irado e até mesmo pensei em dar a pior nota possível para este jogo, porém ele não merece isso. Fui ruim e compreendo isso.

Falei que fui ruim porque quero dar replay neste jogo, mas enquanto não pegar um cabo scart para o meu Mega Drive e ver que o problema está em outro local, não jogarei o Mega Bomberman por enquanto. Então minha vontade de jogar Bomberman ainda está intacta.

Bomberman has now had 3 games on the PC Engine and by this point the system was a failure in the US and thus Bomberman '94 was a Japan only game. Which is a shame because it's the best Bomberman game I've played so far.

This game has you travel through 6 worlds with them having 3 levels in the first and 4 levels for the next four worlds. The last world is just one level. The single player now has a new objective of breaking an object to uncover the pieces you need to recover parts of the planet. This means no more worrying about killing every enemy or bombing every soft block for the exit. Ending a stage with soft blocks will make them turn into coins for you to grab for points.

The worlds don't drag too much so you're getting some nice changes without feeling too stale. Worlds now have gimmicks to them like volcanoes erupting, rockets trying to land on you, and even being in darkness. It reminds me a bit of the Super Bomberman games. Levels also now go into multiple sections to compensate for the low level count.

Powerups this time are pretty much the same but I could never find remote control and some of them are very rare though to this game's compliment, it is very easy to get more firepower and bombs in this game compared to other games. There's also the introduction of Rooey which come in multiple colors that can be found in an egg by breaking a softblock. They have stuff like a fast dash, kicking softblocks, hitting bombs, jumping, and even doing a funny dance. They also can take a hit for you but you can't keep them after beating a boss sadly.

The bosses are not too challenging but they are pretty fun. This game also marks the first appearance of Bagura who will go by so many other names here it's insane. He looks kind of odd in this game compared to later games but it's nice seeing an iconic villain to the series.

This game also has a battle mode like usual and it's fun as always. Not the best battle mode to exist obviously but for the time it's fun. There's even a bunch of bombers you can choose from for variety. The battle mode also has this masterpiece if you draw and all of them are the fat bomber.

The game graphically is pretty good. This was 1993 so Hudson had an excellent talent to make their games look great by now with some good environments and color. The sprites are filled with great personalities. I like the enemy with the big eyes where when you see only those in the dark level, you expect a big enemy but nope, it's just big eyes on a small creature. The game's music though wasn't the most interesting sadly. It has good tunes and they are original it seems but not too much stood out to me.

Bomberman '94 really is a blast to this day and it's a shame it took till the late 2000s era for people outside of Japan to give it a go officially. It's a great game for people looking for single player games or multiplayer games. It's worth a playthrough if you ever have the chance to try it.