Review: Bomberman - 30/04/2008 by Andrew
Platform
Nearly every gamer has played Bomberman, but not every gamer played the first incarnation of it back in 1987 on the NES (if you didn't know, the original Bomberman was a multi-platform release). The Bomberman series spanned multiple generations and even branched out with RPG versions and other spin-offs. It's still available too, in DS and PSP format and there's even a WiiWare version.
The very first Bomberman was a simple affair. You had to kill all the enemies and find the exit. That's it. One thing I did notice was that the item drops were a lot less than the sequels. Newer versions of the game seem to have items under every second wall, making it quite difficult to even remember what power-ups you actually have. You'll be hard pressed to find items in the original though the good news is these stay with you throughout the game, even if you die.
Gameplay is good, there are 50 levels to play with bonus levels after every 5th level. There are also bonus items, which you'll probably never stumble across without first reading a walk through guide and these can be nearly impossible to gain.
Points are awarded for killing enemies or for gaining bonus items. The hardest bonus item is called 'Dezeniman-san' and to be awarded the 20,000,000 points on offer you need to destroy every single wall on the stage, you must detonate a bomb on the exit three times and not destroy a single enemy. And you can only do this feat on level 5, 13, 21, 29, 37 and 45. Doesn't sound hard does it?
In all honesty, you'll get much more enjoyment out of the newer versions of this game (especially for the multiplayer aspect), though the original is...well the original. This is the one that started a huge franchise that's still going today and will probably be still going into the next generation of consoles.
80/100