Sorry to post nearly a month late, but there is a correlation. Kinda.
Might be hard to explain, because I don't know all of the story, but from what I know, it goes kinda like this: In the beginning, there were tiny little Bomberman B-Daman made by Takara with license from Hudson. As you know, an entire anime was structured around the concept to help sell these little guys. (Bakugaiden) However cute, though, the little toys were quickly being phased out by the "J-League" edition B-Daman characters, which originally bore more of a resemblance to Bomberman. (They had eyes, for one, and were generally brighter colored) There were also a handful of Hudson-made games that eased this transition for the public. (Check out B-Daman II for SNES and notice how it progressively goes from cute little Bombermen to squat little B-Daman) ... and then a new anime was created, focusing solely on the heroes of J-League and their B-Daman toys. Hudson switched to a more RPG style for these games, seen on the GB and GBC. So there became a split, and Bomberman B-Daman went one way, and J-League B-Daman went the other way forever. Long story short, the anime cartoon we're getting now is like the second to last or something created in Japan to sell B-Daman, one of the earlier "Battle Collectible Figure Toy Model" type toys we keep importing in droves. (Beyblade, anyone?)

And that's why the reference sticks in our brains, but doesn't seem to make sense at first. The B-Daman partnership swung off in two entirely different directions, and the more successful one was the Takara side, where little toy robots rapid-fire marbles at each other for no real reason. Go figure.