Out of all of the classic video game franchises that have existed since the 80s and 90s, there are many that casual video game fans could easily point out and recognize, such as, of course, with Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Mega Man, and several others. But, in terms of Bomberman, who has been around longer then all of those other series, I feel like it doesn’t really get talked about as much anymore, or many people don’t really remember it that fondly. Being the main mascot character for Hudson Soft before they eventually shut down, Bomberman had A LOT of games, and from the NES all the way up the the seventh generation of game consoles, there would always be a definitive Bomberman title for that system. Hell, maybe there would even be SEVERAL titles for that system, that’s how much Hudson Soft pushed the series. It must’ve worked for them, considering how often they made these games, but not too much to the point where the company ended up going defunct, and now we only get Bomberman games every so often thanks to Konami. So, with all that said, in order to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this franchise, I wanted to start taking a look at the series, starting with the original title simply known as Bomberman.
This series is probably going to be one of the hardest game series I will review on this website, even compared to other repetitive game series like Mega Man and Gradius. Given how many installments of this series would come out after this, even per year, it’s going to be hard to talk about them all separately and make them feel unique when, at the end of the day, aside from some key elements, all Bomberman games are pretty much the exact same thing. But, in the case of this game, we have the game that would lay the groundwork for what would be the main gameplay style for every single game after this, so did it manage to knock it out of the park in their first go around? Eh… kinda. It is still Bomberman at its core, and if this was the only version of the game that you owned, you could have fun with it, but I’m pretty sure many fans of the series can agree with me when I say that there are plenty of better options in the series to choose from.
The story is all about Bomberman trying to become a human, and doing so by blowing up everything and everyone that stands in his way (it only makes perfect sense), the graphics are… ok, but they are pretty bland and uninteresting when compared to plenty of other games on the NES, the music is good, and the sound quality is pretty impressive for the NES, but for most of the game, only one song plays for all the stages, and you bet it can get pretty annoying after a while, the control is alright, with Bomberman controlling how he should, but I dunno, something about the way he turns around corners does feel kinda off, and the gameplay is pretty creative for the time, even though it would quickly become the standard Bomberman affair.
The game is an isometric maze game, where you take control of White Bomberman, go through 50 levels of mazes (yes, seriously), blow up whatever you come across, including blocks, enemies, and even yourself (this will happen a lot, trust me), gather plenty of powerups to help you along the way, such as ones that increase the range of your bombs’ explosions, how many bombs you can place at a time, and how fast you move, and locate the exits in each level to go through them after defeating all of the enemies. This is pretty much how the game goes for every single level, and as you would expect, there are plenty more enemies introduced as the game goes on to make it even harder, and all of the level layouts are randomized, even when dying, so you won’t always be taking on the same challenge every time, which is good for replay value. But, all in all, it isn’t enough to where I would really want to take on all 50 levels in one sitting, especially when the passwords of the game are bigger and longer then the Great Wall of China
This game carries the same issue as the original Adventure Island/Wonder Boy, where it is dragged out waaaaaaaaaaaay longer than it needs to, and while this game doesn’t bother me as much as that other one in terms of that, it can get pretty repetitive pretty fast, especially when visually, the levels never change, staying on the same basic green and gray basic layout, which looks nice, but after a while, you wanna look at something new. Not to mention, there aren’t really any new elements introduced throughout these levels to make you wanna play through them, aside from the enemies and I guess the more powerups you can find, which really don’t incentivise me to want to play any further either.
But, undeniably, the biggest problem that this game hold is that, frankly, it is just outdated. There have been so many different Bomberman games released after this that carry the same basic formula as this one, but does it much better, with more powerups introduced, more types of levels, bosses, worlds, more characters, pretty much everything you could expect from these sequels, making going back to the original not exactly the easiest task. Also, this game lacks any kind of multiplayer mode, which is undeniably one of the defining features of Bomberman games, being able to have fun with friends, blowing each other up, and seeing who was the best Bomberman of them all. Without that, this pretty much makes the original Bomberman obsolete, despite the fact that it can still be fun when played in short bursts.
Overall, despite establishing the main gameplay style for the series and still being fun in parts, the original Bomberman is simply just ok, being important for being where the series would properly launch, but there isn’t really any reason to go back to it when compared to any of the other games in the series. I guess I could recommend it for hardcore Bomberman fans, if they wanna see where the series started and compare it to what it would become, but for everyone else, any other game in the series will work out much better for you. But hey, for all the criticisms I give this version of Bomberman, at least it didn’t try to reboot the series in an edgy, serious way……… oh yeah, didn’t expect shots at that game this early, did ya? Trust me, when I get to that one, I’m gonna have so much fun tearing it to shreds.
Game #349
This series is probably going to be one of the hardest game series I will review on this website, even compared to other repetitive game series like Mega Man and Gradius. Given how many installments of this series would come out after this, even per year, it’s going to be hard to talk about them all separately and make them feel unique when, at the end of the day, aside from some key elements, all Bomberman games are pretty much the exact same thing. But, in the case of this game, we have the game that would lay the groundwork for what would be the main gameplay style for every single game after this, so did it manage to knock it out of the park in their first go around? Eh… kinda. It is still Bomberman at its core, and if this was the only version of the game that you owned, you could have fun with it, but I’m pretty sure many fans of the series can agree with me when I say that there are plenty of better options in the series to choose from.
The story is all about Bomberman trying to become a human, and doing so by blowing up everything and everyone that stands in his way (it only makes perfect sense), the graphics are… ok, but they are pretty bland and uninteresting when compared to plenty of other games on the NES, the music is good, and the sound quality is pretty impressive for the NES, but for most of the game, only one song plays for all the stages, and you bet it can get pretty annoying after a while, the control is alright, with Bomberman controlling how he should, but I dunno, something about the way he turns around corners does feel kinda off, and the gameplay is pretty creative for the time, even though it would quickly become the standard Bomberman affair.
The game is an isometric maze game, where you take control of White Bomberman, go through 50 levels of mazes (yes, seriously), blow up whatever you come across, including blocks, enemies, and even yourself (this will happen a lot, trust me), gather plenty of powerups to help you along the way, such as ones that increase the range of your bombs’ explosions, how many bombs you can place at a time, and how fast you move, and locate the exits in each level to go through them after defeating all of the enemies. This is pretty much how the game goes for every single level, and as you would expect, there are plenty more enemies introduced as the game goes on to make it even harder, and all of the level layouts are randomized, even when dying, so you won’t always be taking on the same challenge every time, which is good for replay value. But, all in all, it isn’t enough to where I would really want to take on all 50 levels in one sitting, especially when the passwords of the game are bigger and longer then the Great Wall of China
This game carries the same issue as the original Adventure Island/Wonder Boy, where it is dragged out waaaaaaaaaaaay longer than it needs to, and while this game doesn’t bother me as much as that other one in terms of that, it can get pretty repetitive pretty fast, especially when visually, the levels never change, staying on the same basic green and gray basic layout, which looks nice, but after a while, you wanna look at something new. Not to mention, there aren’t really any new elements introduced throughout these levels to make you wanna play through them, aside from the enemies and I guess the more powerups you can find, which really don’t incentivise me to want to play any further either.
But, undeniably, the biggest problem that this game hold is that, frankly, it is just outdated. There have been so many different Bomberman games released after this that carry the same basic formula as this one, but does it much better, with more powerups introduced, more types of levels, bosses, worlds, more characters, pretty much everything you could expect from these sequels, making going back to the original not exactly the easiest task. Also, this game lacks any kind of multiplayer mode, which is undeniably one of the defining features of Bomberman games, being able to have fun with friends, blowing each other up, and seeing who was the best Bomberman of them all. Without that, this pretty much makes the original Bomberman obsolete, despite the fact that it can still be fun when played in short bursts.
Overall, despite establishing the main gameplay style for the series and still being fun in parts, the original Bomberman is simply just ok, being important for being where the series would properly launch, but there isn’t really any reason to go back to it when compared to any of the other games in the series. I guess I could recommend it for hardcore Bomberman fans, if they wanna see where the series started and compare it to what it would become, but for everyone else, any other game in the series will work out much better for you. But hey, for all the criticisms I give this version of Bomberman, at least it didn’t try to reboot the series in an edgy, serious way……… oh yeah, didn’t expect shots at that game this early, did ya? Trust me, when I get to that one, I’m gonna have so much fun tearing it to shreds.
Game #349