Patreon button  Steam curated reviews  Discord button  Facebook button  Twitter button 
3DS | PC | PS4 | PS5 | SWITCH | VITA | XB1 | XSX | All

Bomberman (NES) artwork

Bomberman (NES) review


"I hope you like long passwords... "

Reviewing games has one weakness: it can be difficult to express that you appreciate a game even if you don't give it good marks. Appreciation and recommendation are different concepts, and my brain naturally gravitates to the latter. I might burn a game to the ground, as I have with titles like Action 52 and Doom on SNES, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate them in some way. Game development is a difficult, sometimes frustrating labor of love, and it's hard to show you understand that when you're practically grinding someone's hard work to a fine powder.

Now that I have that out of the way, I can tell you that I appreciate the original Bomberman. I think you know where I'm going with this...

Bomberman features a cute little sprite who walks around a top-down maze built of destructible blocks. This might shock you, but the guy can drop bombs. The bombs explode. The explosions destroy things. Also, they kill; both him and anything else caught in the blast. That's handy because there are also weird, abstract beasts running around the maze. All of them look kind of adorable, so you might be hesitant to scotch them. Then again colorful smiling faces, living balloons, and severed animal heads probably look horrifying in Bomber's eyes...

Like the ghosts in Pac-Man, these creatures swarm you from various directions, curving their way around the labyrinth in an effort to do whatever unspeakable thing it is colorful monsters in cartoony games do. I mean, really. What happens to Pac-Man or Bomberman when they get caught? Do they just erupt into a cute bunch of pops and disappear, or do they get ripped apart and eviscerated? You know, in a cartoony sort of way? I digress... Controlling the titular lead, you fight off these creatures by dropping bombs and praying you don't get caught in the fire while hoping the monsters do.

Your initial explosives don't deal much damage. Their blasts barely reach beyond a single square on the environmental grid, making them mainly handy for blowing up bricks. However, power-ups expedite the killing process. With these, you can plant additional bombs, increase their blast range, or even earn a manual detonator. The last of those upgrades really speeds things up and helps ensure your safety, provided that you pay attention and don't inadvertently set them off while you're right next to them.

Admit it: you've done that before. We all have...

Sadly, most of your opponents don't expire as a result of expert placement or planning. More often than not, they die as a result of their own carelessness when they mosey into an explosion or venture too close to your murder devices. The detonator allows you to plan things out more effectively, but it also renders the experience a little too easy. You see, the randomness of each stage is part of what lends the game its sense of difficulty, and without that it's just a mindless “blow things up” sort of job.

Also, the early phases of the affair move at a plodding pace because you only leave so many bombs that only burn so much real estate while what few opponents you have remain on the other side of the arena. It's a slow process waiting for them to eventually wander into your trap, especially when you're waiting for it to spring. It's even more frustrating when you plant some explosives and wait, only for your adversaries to run in the opposite direction.

Repeatedly...

And yeah, it's satisfying for a bit. You get a kick out of leaving devices around for beasts to find, watching as they leave the battlefield in smoldering pieces. But hey, the others are still smiling, so it's okay! Now and then, you get too happy with the placement and end up annihilating yourself, which gets frustrating. More than anything, death via negligence inspires you to consider the power-ups you nab, ensuring you don't drop too many bombs with too large of a blast radius.

Run out of lives and you start over. You receive a password that allows you to continue the proceedings where you left off, assuming you have the patience to enter the lengthy code every time you get a 'game over.' This is where you should ask a critical question: who the hell forgot to include a 'continue' option after death? Many games from this era allow you to continue or give up after you've been defeated, saving you the hassle of entering passwords every time you want to resume violence. This one, however, forces you to abuse save states enter a long, exhausting code any time you want to pick up where you left off.

Yes, Bomberman proves cathartic for a bit, but then it starts to ramp up its difficulty rating. Most titles do so by transforming the layout of the levels you play, but this one does no such thing. Instead, it takes the same scheme and adds more foes and walls. That alone gives the experience a dry, samey feel from start to finish, and it only gets worse as action picks up. Your targets become faster and more numerous, and you don't quite have the space to deal with them. You compensate for this by dropping a ton of bombs and hoping you didn't just screw yourself.

The enjoyment of the kill diminishes as the challenge increases, transforming into a doable, yet irritating struggle. Through perseverance, you can survive the onslaught and eventually witness the game's underwhelming ending sequence.

Honestly, this one works best around the middle of its campaign, when there are just the right number of enemies and a perfect balance of power-ups and walls. You don't feel as much like you're mindlessly blowing things up and praying and more like there's some skill and planning involved. Yes, I've played other titles in this franchise, and the best of them tends to get the job done more effectively by balancing its qualities and providing campaigns with some variety.

However, I would never have witnessed those installments without this one's existence and core concept. And yes, it's a hell of a concept! It's just—how does he put it?—“humble beginnings” rather than a fully formed idea. Bomberman brings a classic premise that saw the inception of numerous worthwhile sequels. However, it all started with a basic, and somewhat annoying, first chapter. Yet, I appreciate that first chapter because of its inventiveness and influence. It's hard not to marvel at any idea so simple, and yet so satisfying.

It's just not presented in a way that holds up for fifty levels... Geez...



JoeTheDestroyer's avatar
Community review by JoeTheDestroyer (January 12, 2025)

Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.

More Reviews by JoeTheDestroyer [+]
Little Nemo: The Dream Master (NES) artwork
Dimensity (PC) artwork
Dimensity (PC)

Borecraft
Shining Force II (Genesis) artwork
Shining Force II (Genesis)

A force to be reckoned with...

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Bomberman review, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!

You must be signed into an HonestGamers user account to leave feedback on this review.

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998 - 2025 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Bomberman is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Bomberman, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.