Bomberman
System: TG-16
Release Date: April 1991
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Puzzle
Save Dr. Mitsumori’s daughter in Bomberman! Dr. Mitsumori created the original Bomberman, who possesses awesome power. However, his second robot, Black Bomberman has a programming error that has driven him berserk. The doctor’s daughter, Lisa has been kidnapped and now it’s up to you to travel through 64 rounds bombing everything you can to find her.
There is a gridded play field with impassable blocks every other square. There are also bombable blocks that you will need to destroy to get through the level. Each round consists of a number of enemies that all must be destroyed. You begin by being able to drop one bomb at a time. When you drop a bomb it will shoot flames up, down, left, and right. The impassable blocks can’t be destroyed, but the bombable ones can. Killing each enemy unlocks the hidden exit that you have to find.
Each level has a powerup hidden in one of the blocks. You can run across it organically, or get an alert to where it is when you kill the last enemy. These powerups increase the range of the flames, or increase the number of bombs you can drop at once. Some allow you to pass through the bombable blocks or the bombs you drop. There’s also a detonator block that allows you to choose when the bombs explode instead of waiting for a countdown. Occasionally you’ll find a vest that protects you from your bomb blasts, but not enemies.
Where you need to be careful is dropping your bombs. There were plenty of times I accidentally trapped myself in the blast radius by a bombable block. Or times where I dropped a bomb and detonated it before I got out of the blast. These times always made me groan in frustration. It’s preventable 90% of the time, but occasionally you’ll just get unlucky in your quest.
Every eighth round is a boss battle. You have to bomb the boss several times while dealing with its minions. Finally beating them reveals the exit and you can go. I got through half the game before deciding I really didn’t want to keep going, so I quit. There’s multiplayer modes that are probably the real draw, but I’m all alone, so there’s that.
Graphics: 1.5
It’s Bomberman, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impressive in any way.
Sound: 1.5
Music and sounds are alright, but they don’t really change it up at all.
Gameplay: 3.0
The controls and abilities you’re given are solid.
Difficulty: 3.0
Levels are fair and you get plenty of tries to get through the game, as well as passwords to keep going.
Fun Factor: 2.0
I enjoyed myself for awhile, but I got bored pretty quickly.
Overall Rating: 2.2
Bomberman earns a C+. This is definitely better than the NES version, but it’s only worth a bit of your time.