As someone who does not like Tetris I actualy enjoyed playing this game. I can see why this one is rated highly unlike most other games on this console. Its simple fun and easy to play so I may replay again one day.
Virtual Boy Complete - Game #2
Accidentally played this game second, when I was attempting to go in alphabetical order. Anyway, I'm very surprised by the praise for this game, it's certainly compotent, no denying that, the music is great and the art and character design are as good as to be expected from a Bomberman game (not titled "Act Zero" or "Bombergirl"), but the gameplay just doesn't stack up (NPI) for me. It feels very akin to Pac-Attack, a game I already consider to be a bit of a low-tier block-stacker - you have to create a row of bomb blocks, then plant a lit fuse bomb when it appears - the lit bomb will explode in the classic Bomberman plus shape, expanding for every bomb it hits, destroying all blocks. I think falling block games where it entirely revolves around waiting for one specific block are very tedious (with the exception of Yoshi, that one's good, but it could just be nostalgia speaking since I played that as a kid), and Panic Bomber's bomb system seems to be a bit weird. Maybe I just didn't play it enough to properly figure it out, but it felt like the radious of each bomb was based on RNG, as sometimes lighting a bomb away 2 blocks away from another would light them both, while other times the explosion wouldn't go far enough - there are giant bombs, I didn't figure out the cause of these, but they erase a big chunk of the screen - it's very hard to tell when one is coming up, I believe you're supposed to watch the HUD signifier expand, but that isn't as intuitive as a bar or a number-of-turns - another problem with the big bombs is that they make the same sound effect as a stage clear - sometimes it seems like your opponent has lost, but they actually just got a giant bomb, and you're suddenly blindsided by garbage blocks and a power-down. Speaking of which, power-downs such as super-speed and control reversing do exist, and are a welcome hurdle on paper, but barely ever appear unless you're fighting bosses, which are completely unlabled beyond being the 3rd in each world (and uh, I guess looking more humanoid? That seems to be the shared theme?), where they are bombarded on you non-stop, creating a case of polar extremes. Unlike 3D Tetris at least, I can tell what's going on on a basic level.
I may have been biased here as I only had the title in the ROM list to go off of, and expected a regular Bomberman game. Perhaps if I went in knowing what it is, I'd enjoy it more.
Accidentally played this game second, when I was attempting to go in alphabetical order. Anyway, I'm very surprised by the praise for this game, it's certainly compotent, no denying that, the music is great and the art and character design are as good as to be expected from a Bomberman game (not titled "Act Zero" or "Bombergirl"), but the gameplay just doesn't stack up (NPI) for me. It feels very akin to Pac-Attack, a game I already consider to be a bit of a low-tier block-stacker - you have to create a row of bomb blocks, then plant a lit fuse bomb when it appears - the lit bomb will explode in the classic Bomberman plus shape, expanding for every bomb it hits, destroying all blocks. I think falling block games where it entirely revolves around waiting for one specific block are very tedious (with the exception of Yoshi, that one's good, but it could just be nostalgia speaking since I played that as a kid), and Panic Bomber's bomb system seems to be a bit weird. Maybe I just didn't play it enough to properly figure it out, but it felt like the radious of each bomb was based on RNG, as sometimes lighting a bomb away 2 blocks away from another would light them both, while other times the explosion wouldn't go far enough - there are giant bombs, I didn't figure out the cause of these, but they erase a big chunk of the screen - it's very hard to tell when one is coming up, I believe you're supposed to watch the HUD signifier expand, but that isn't as intuitive as a bar or a number-of-turns - another problem with the big bombs is that they make the same sound effect as a stage clear - sometimes it seems like your opponent has lost, but they actually just got a giant bomb, and you're suddenly blindsided by garbage blocks and a power-down. Speaking of which, power-downs such as super-speed and control reversing do exist, and are a welcome hurdle on paper, but barely ever appear unless you're fighting bosses, which are completely unlabled beyond being the 3rd in each world (and uh, I guess looking more humanoid? That seems to be the shared theme?), where they are bombarded on you non-stop, creating a case of polar extremes. Unlike 3D Tetris at least, I can tell what's going on on a basic level.
I may have been biased here as I only had the title in the ROM list to go off of, and expected a regular Bomberman game. Perhaps if I went in knowing what it is, I'd enjoy it more.
Disparado o melhor jogo de Virtual Boy para mim até agora (apesar de ter me divertido bastante, pena que não sou tão fã desse gênero, preferiria um bomberman "normal"), o visual e as trilhas sonoras são muito boas apesar das limitações, só não sei opinar sobre o 3D.
holy shit this was a fantastic surprise!! so rarely do you see such a fun pick-up-and-play battle puzzler with so much personality crammed into it. the music is top-notch and it's one of the more manageable single-player puzzle campaigns i've seen
Had no idea what to expect from this one aside from recognising Bomberman on the cover. I was surprised to find a pretty fun puzzle game with a solid story mode to work through.
The core concept of this is a match 3 puzzle game where your blocks are linked in an L-shaped 3 blocks and you can rotate them as they fall. Once landed, if there's a gap below any blocks, they will fall onto the line below. It's kind of a mix between Tetris and Puyo Puyo in that way.
The better you do, the more you can fill you side up with bombs and by dropping a lit bomb onto that, you can explode a large portion of your field to send a bunch of junk blocks to your opponents side. It's incredibly satisfying and simple to pick up fun which is exactly what you want from a puzzle game. Throw in some chaotic items like giant bombs and making blocks fall much faster, and you've got a great puzzle game on your hands.
There's no messing with viewing angles to try and make an impressive 3D display here - this is exactly how a puzzle game would look in 2D but they added depth to a few layers like the characters in the middle of the screen or making explosions pop out of the screen and that simplicity, not complicating thing for the sake of being flashy, is what makes this on of the better Virtual Boy games.
Panic Bomber knows what it wants to be and doesn't compromise on that to chase a 3D effect that has minimal effect on the gameplay. It's simple puzzle fun and because of that it's a great experience.
The core concept of this is a match 3 puzzle game where your blocks are linked in an L-shaped 3 blocks and you can rotate them as they fall. Once landed, if there's a gap below any blocks, they will fall onto the line below. It's kind of a mix between Tetris and Puyo Puyo in that way.
The better you do, the more you can fill you side up with bombs and by dropping a lit bomb onto that, you can explode a large portion of your field to send a bunch of junk blocks to your opponents side. It's incredibly satisfying and simple to pick up fun which is exactly what you want from a puzzle game. Throw in some chaotic items like giant bombs and making blocks fall much faster, and you've got a great puzzle game on your hands.
There's no messing with viewing angles to try and make an impressive 3D display here - this is exactly how a puzzle game would look in 2D but they added depth to a few layers like the characters in the middle of the screen or making explosions pop out of the screen and that simplicity, not complicating thing for the sake of being flashy, is what makes this on of the better Virtual Boy games.
Panic Bomber knows what it wants to be and doesn't compromise on that to chase a 3D effect that has minimal effect on the gameplay. It's simple puzzle fun and because of that it's a great experience.
weird tetris
So they made the Virtual Boy version of Panic Bomber horror themed because the visuals in the game are only red and black?
Wow, a good Virtual Boy game! Someday I'd like to complete the entire library but that's for another time. This Panic Bomber title was the last one released before the PSP come back years later and it pretty much plays like the Neo Geo version with the same idea of blocks and power-downs you can get fucked over with by yourself or the enemies, not too sure if I like them or not...
The lack of link cable multiplayer makes this game a massive bummer since it's pretty much the famous feature for Bomberman games, being able to play with other people.
Graphics wise it's alright, the red will hurt your eyes but it's totally playable, well if you are playing on an emulator that is because I played it with an emulator and I don't think it would be worth it to play a puzzle game with a massive pair of goggle on legs, but that's an issue with the hardware and not the game itself.
Verdict, this game was kinda unnecessary to have but hell, I love that Bomberman had a game on almost all consoles ever released. If you have just heard about this game because of the Virtual Boy I can't blame you with the other entries of the franchise being japan only so if you want to play the best Panic Bomber game go play the Super Nintendo version!
Wow, a good Virtual Boy game! Someday I'd like to complete the entire library but that's for another time. This Panic Bomber title was the last one released before the PSP come back years later and it pretty much plays like the Neo Geo version with the same idea of blocks and power-downs you can get fucked over with by yourself or the enemies, not too sure if I like them or not...
The lack of link cable multiplayer makes this game a massive bummer since it's pretty much the famous feature for Bomberman games, being able to play with other people.
Graphics wise it's alright, the red will hurt your eyes but it's totally playable, well if you are playing on an emulator that is because I played it with an emulator and I don't think it would be worth it to play a puzzle game with a massive pair of goggle on legs, but that's an issue with the hardware and not the game itself.
Verdict, this game was kinda unnecessary to have but hell, I love that Bomberman had a game on almost all consoles ever released. If you have just heard about this game because of the Virtual Boy I can't blame you with the other entries of the franchise being japan only so if you want to play the best Panic Bomber game go play the Super Nintendo version!