While the first few titles in the Bomberman series were pretty middling on their own, since they just gave us the basic gameplay with no more extra bells and whistles to make it more exciting or preferable over other titles, Super Bomberman thankfully came along to reignite that spark that Bomberman desperately needed. It may not have done anything too new or extraordinary for the time, and had some annoyances here or there, but it managed to deliver the classic Bomberman gameplay that you have come to expect, enhanced by the new coat of paint and music, and changed up just enough to where it made for a very satisfying and fun time throughout playing through it. Not only that, but it did manage to become successful enough to where it would spawn an entire sub-series that is still going on to this day, and it was no surprise that we would see the sequel to this game in just one year, with it simply being known as Super Bomberman 2.

It has been a good while since I did play and review the original Super Bomberman, so I was actually pretty excited to go into this game. There was no way that it was gonna be a masterpiece by any means, or even be able to top the original game most likely, but as long as it managed to deliver just as much fun gameplay and changes as it did in the previous game, I was gonna be all in for it. Thankfully, this was almost entirely the case, as on its own, Super Bomberman 2 was a pretty good game, giving us plenty more about what made the original game so great, while also expanding upon it in several ways to where you could say it is definitely better then the original game….. even though I wouldn’t.

The story is fairly basic for a Bomberman title, where an evil group known as the Five Dastardly Bombers are sent to Planet Bomber with the intent of taking it, and the universe, over, managing to capture the White Bomberman and imprisoned in their space fortress, so it is up to the White Bomberman to escape this prison, storm their fortress, and take down the Dastardly Bombers before it is too late, which is as basic as one of these games can get for a story, but I will admit, the Five Dastardly Bombers are much cooler villains then Carat Diamond ever was, and I hope they keep appearing more and more as the series goes on. The graphics are… almost the exact same as the original game, with there being some changes made to the HUD and some elements in the stages, but that’s about it, which is fine for me, seeing as the game still looks just as wonderful as ever, the music is still pretty sweet, still having a good amount of tracks that I did like such as this one and this one, but I will admit, the tracks didn’t grow on me as much as they did in the first game, which kind of sucks, and the gameplay/control is the exact same as every other game in this franchise, but just like its predecessor, it does add several new elements to make it more exciting than before yet again.

The game is an isometric maze game, where you take control primarily of the White Bomberman, go through five different worlds throughout the space prison, each containing their own set of levels for you to go through, use the limitless supply of bombs that you carry with you to destroy everything in your path, such as debris, enemies, or whatever else you could think of, while also making sure not to destroy yourself in the process, gather plenty of different power ups to assist you in your ongoing quest, with thankfully no other power ups that can be a detriment to you (thank god), and take on plenty of bosses, ones that are fairly difficult if you aren’t prepared and don’t know how Bomberman works, but should be easy enough to deal with once you figure them out. Once again, we have a pretty typical Bomberman experience through and through, ones that onlookers would just dismiss as yet another copy-n-paste entry in the series, but to its credit, not only does it add in just enough to make the game interesting, but it also manages to still provide that same level of excitement and satisfaction that I felt from the first game… almost.

If you are one who did play through the first Super Bomberman, or even any other Bomberman up to this point, you know how this goes: ya go through a bunch of stages, ya blow dudes up, ya get powers, ya blow yourself up, and ya get terrified by this thing (skip to 4:49), it’s all just another day at the office at this point. However, from the start of the game, you will notice plenty several changes to the formula immediately, mainly when it comes to the levels. No longer will you be stuck traversing through the same, box-shaped arenas over and over again, for now the levels all have different layouts, each being pretty different from the last, and these different level layouts also integrate gimmicks that wasn’t seen in any other game beforehand, such as moving platforms and trampolines to bounce on. Not only do these provide a refreshing change of pace from what we had in most other games beforehand, but it also provides different opportunities for puzzles and challenges, making the game much more interesting to go through as a result.

With this new change in terms of how the levels are laid out also comes a new way that you are meant to proceed forward in every stage, with you needing to not only eliminate all of the enemies and finding the exit (even though most of the time it is plain as day), but you will also be tasked with activating all of the switches in said levels to make the doors open in the first place, with there being plenty of instances where you need to actively blow up everything around you just to find these switches and enemies. It can be tedious at times, but for the most part, it does feel pretty rewarding to go through, especially when you are able to hold onto a lot of the powerups you get throughout the game. And of course, this wouldn’t be a Bomberman game without some sort of Battle Mode, which this game definitely has, bringing about the same chaotic 4-player mayhem you have come to expect, along with some new gimmicks to implement into the games to spice things up. Once again, Battle Mode is not my cup of tea, but it is still good to see it there for those that love them.

However, as a whole, I don’t think I can say with confidence that this game is any better than that of the original Super Bomberman, because not only is the jump in quality here not that much of a substantial or standout factor of the game, but there were several bits of frustration that can be seen all throughout. Given that this is the first game to have these kinds of layouts for stages in a Bomberman game, they aren’t perfect by any means, making some of the stages, as well as the gimmicks in said stages, pretty aggravating to get a handle on. Once such case I found myself facing time and time again would be with the trampolines I mentioned earlier, and while you can easily get a grasp on what you are supposed to do with them, sometimes the levels will lay these out in the most asshole-ish way possible, making you have to pull some magic shit on your D-pad in order to properly get over huge gaps, which more then not turns out to be a complete gamble that will ultimately lead to your death. Also, unlike the original game, there is no option to play with a friend in the story mode, which is pretty shitty. I wasn’t gonna play this game with anybody either way, so that wasn’t too much of a big deal to me, but for those who did play through the original game’s main mode with a friend, I can only imagine how disappointing having this feature removed is.

Overall, despite the annoying stages and puzzles here or there, as well as the removal of some features that really should’ve been left in, Super Bomberman 2 still manages to be a pretty good game all the way throughout, providing the same explosive action I have come to know and love, plenty of different and fun levels to traverse through, and the same amount of charm and quality that made me love the original game so much. I would definitely recommend it for those who loved the original Super Bomberman, or for those who are fans of Bomberman in general, because while it, once again, probably doesn’t compare to later entries in the series, it still manages to be simple and fun all the same, which is all that anyone could ask for at the end of the day. But man, now that I managed to get that out of the way, I can’t wait to get my hands on the third game! Let me just go and get a copy and- oh….. it was never released in the USA……. and neither was most of the other Super Bomberman games for that matter……… welp… puts on pirate hat we all know what I have to do now.

Game #609

The only Bomberman with a possibly superior multiplayer mode than the first game, adding some nice variety in bombs and special arenas.

The adventure mode is nowhere as memorable unfortunately, with arguably more cheesy (and annoying to fight) boss designs. The game loses a lot of it's charm and roundness here and the soundtrack isn't quite as good but on the other hand the difficulty is more of a challenge though, it overall feels less fun. No crazy arena level, no running around with bomb diarrhea while desperately trying to punch a bomb on an evil CEO's UFO. What were they thinking?