Bomber Man is a game that doesn’t really have much to explain. You play as the Runner from Lode Runner in a robot body as you dispatch bombs to destroy enemies and walls. Grab powerups and make it to the goal through 50 levels. As you all know, this game would be a good success for Hudson Soft and while it wouldn’t be till the PC Engine where he would shine more, Bomber Man is a good game despite the simplicity.

You have to remember that by this point, we were still in the Famicom era of games being somewhat simple and more arcadey. While not every Hudson Soft game was like this, there were some examples like Nuts & Milk and Binary Land which happened to release the same day as Bomber Man. I think if you look at it from that POV, it’s easy to understand what makes the game shine. There’s something about the simplicity of it all to the basic but charming sprites, the catchy minimalistic music that adds more to the melody if you grab the powerup of the stage, and who could forget that amazing bomb explosion sound.

That’s not to say Bomber Man is perfect because it can feel repetitive and once you get fully powered up and find the ability to be resistant to flames, you basically erase any challenge. The game lets you become powerful but can hurt all of your precious dreams if you make one mistake, you better be careful regardless. There’s also just a lot of depth like learning all of the enemies movement, being careful not to blow up the powerup or doors which respawns enemies, and some super obscure point items that you’ll probably never find without a guide though two of them did spawn for me which confused me. Another small issue I have regarding the enemies is that I wish the block placement didn’t lead their pathing to glitch out and basically be easy to defeat, making the game seem a little sloppy at times.

That isn’t even all I have to say but you probably all know but I wanted to write the review to let people know that despite some imperfections, Bomber Man is one of the better Famicom games of 1985. For a game that was (allegedly) made in about 3 days, it’s impressive it never really feels dull in my eyes. It would get a cheap rerelease on the Disk System in 1990 and it would also show up on the GBA twice, first in 2004 on it’s own and then in 2005 along with Bomberman II for their Hudson Best Collection series. It would also get a US release but sadly it came out in 1989 which feels a little too late for a game like it and oddly it uses art from the MSX version of Bomber King. While there will be later games that will obviously improve the experience, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to go back to a classic.

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

Bomberman for the NES, or as I like to call it "Spaceman VS geometry"

This game is ok, it's a basic NES game and there's nothing else to it. Who would've thought this would lead to 75+ games? I'd like to see Clu Clue Land do that.
I can't play this game for more than 5 stages, the levels are too big and it is just the same thing for 50 stages until you get the ending, even the enemies feel the same all they do is change shape, color, and movement speed they all behave the same.

But yeah, no point going back to this one unless you like wearing NES shirts.

Bomberman is a slow and methodical game. I find it repetitive in an enjoyable way, even if it doesn't manage to keep my attention for every level. I wish the concept had been explored more in sequels.

It's gameplay is immediately understandable and sets up some interesting contradictions for the player. Clearing the field allows you to find power ups and the exit to each levels, but makes trapping enemies more difficult. The unpredictable enemy patterns are best managed by slowly trapping them into a corner, but the time limit on each stage forces some riskier plays to make it out in time

Accumulating power-ups speeds up the pace of the game but increases the risks of the player blowing themselves up, creating a slow but appreciable difficulty curve. I think the upgrade which makes you immune to your own explosions oversimplifies the game to the point of boredom.

The games singular music track has an interesting progression that develops near the end of the track, indicating to the player when their time is running out without being stressful or aggressing.

There is clearly room to touch up this formula into a better game with a more interesting progression. Maybe with different stage layouts or diversified enemy behavior.

Retro Yearly List #11 [1985: Bomberman]

The first ever Bomberman, the classic, the original. ...Except it's not, since I just learned this was based on "Eric and the Floaters" (what?) for MSX and ZX Spectrum.
So this is one of those rare cases where I will play not the first ever, but the most well-recognized/popular version.
Bomberman gameplay is already known, with not too much to say about this version, except that it is EXTREMELY repetitive and tiring, you will see almost all game content by level 10, but it has 50, which will randomize the walls and enemies' positions with an increasing difficult, as expected.
There are a lot of power-ups for Bomberman spread along the stages, and if you manage to gather them without dying, you have an overpowered hero destroying everything in your path, and in that case, the game will be funnier, right?
No. It's just boring.
On ending we will learn that Hudson was ahead of its time and already thinking in multiverse and crossovers.