BombermanBoard

Ragey · #2 Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 7:17 pm

Super Bomberman 1: I love how this game just takes the formula of the NES and PC Engine games and just streamlines it - no scrolling stages, no level gimmicks, just simple arenas with the enemies and their tricks as the main challenge. It's a real arcade sensibility! I don't play it often, but I do enjoy how simple it is, especially its unique quirks like bludgeoning foes with kicked bombs.

Super Bomberman 2: It's the only instalment without co-op, which I'd consider a strike against it if I ever actually played any of the SNES games in co-op! Removing that does give it the freedom to make large, sprawling stages with unique and varied gimmickry, which I really respect in theory... but in practise I don't find the stages terribly fun to play. World 2's furnace traps are enough to make me turn the game off. And the passwords only take you to the start of a world, not a specific level! Boo! Points for creativity though.

Super Bomberman 3: I'd argue this is the most fully-featured Normal Game? It's got all the gimmickry of Bomberman '94, its Louies, its level hazards, the mine carts, the huge weird bosses... all that and co-op! Later on it uses some really intriguing level design and screen-wrapping to make stages feel larger than they really are, but still fit in the confines of a single static screen. There's a lot to like, though I confess I don't play this one often, and I think my stupid reason for that is because I just don't like the background art. I hate that water backdrop in the first world. Bomberman '94 was so much prettier...!

Super Bomberman 4: I find myself playing this one the most, perhaps because of how short it is, but the game feels half-baked in a lot of ways. The level design is very simplified in comparison to SB3, the amount of rideable creatures and their powers is hard to keep track of, and the bosses are probably some of the worst in the entire ranchise, taking an eternity to kill with only a narrow window to hit them. The ability to replay levels is good though, and it's better just entering a late-game password and skipping over levels as you wish.

Super Bomberman 5: Honestly kind of wishy-washy on this one? It's got some quirky level designs later on, and the branching path system is an interesting attempt at replay value, but it just feels a bit blah. With so many paths the difficulty curve is negligible, and tracking down all the individual exits feels pointless when I can't tell any of them. It's perfectly serviceable, but to think this came out after Saturn Bomberman!