In an age of subscription services and free-to-play games, it’s hard to imagine having a limited selection of things to play. Most of us remember growing up this way though, with a handful of games we’d play over and over again for our selected console of choice. Outside of Christmases and birthdays this collection would rarely change, but that certainly didn’t stop me from spending every minute I could with a Super Nintendo controller in my hands. When I wasn’t enjoying some sort of mascot platformer on my SNES, chances are my game of choice was Super Bomberman. Now all these years later I’ve got a whole lot of nostalgia to unpack in the Super Bomberman Collection.
This collection is a treasure trove of all things Bomberman. It features all five of the Super Bomberman games (complete with virtual boxes and manuals) which can be played in multiple regional versions. Two of these never came west, so for most people playing they’ll be entirely new explosive experiences. There are also the two Bomberman NES games included in the collection, and of course a bounty of official art to peruse if you’re particularly Bomberman obsessed. There are also rewind and quick save functions that make these old games way more accessible, which many will appreciate.
For those unfamiliar with Hudson’s character of choice throughout the nineties, Bomberman is a big eyed fella in a coloured helmet and outfit, who drops bombs all over the place. From a top down perspective your goal is to blow up enemies or opponents without blowing yourself up, and it’s a formula that works well in both single player and multiplayer settings.
When I was a kid I spent most of my time with Super Bomberman playing through the campaign (which apparently is just called “Normal Mode”) but rarely alone. You see in all but the second game of the five this story mode can be played in co-op, which especially for the time wasn’t exactly common. Regardless of if you’re playing solo or with a buddy you’ll be playing through dozens of stages, where the goal is to kill all the different enemies on a screen before moving on. It’s a simple setup but one I never feel gets old, especially with all the varied powerups you’ll find along the way.
By default you’ll be able to plant a single bomb at a time, that explodes with flames that stretch two squares of the grid the levels are made up of. This changes by collecting power ups though, hidden in destructible tiles. The most basic of these will allow you to plant more bombs and make them explode further across the stage, but you’ll also gain the ability to kick bombs, walk through walls, and even detonate bombs remotely instead of having to wait for the fuse to go down. Getting the ultimate combination of powerful abilities will ensure success in both single and multiplayer modes, and as you progress through the games even more stuff is added.
The variety doesn’t just come from your abilities either, it comes from the foes you face and the stages you face them on. There are little chomping enemies that eat bombs then charge for you, enemies that burrow away when you finally trap them, and who can forget the dreaded coins that zoom through walls and overwhelm you very quickly. Stages are full of teleporters, conveyor belts, and tunnels you can hide in too, and all these elements add to the delightful chaos of Bomberman.
Most Bomberman fans aren’t like me though, and focus more on the versus mode than the story. There is so much fun to be had blowing up your mates this way, and with up to five players supported you can have some truly wild matches. Each game in the series offers something a little different for you multiplayer fans, like the ability to crown winners as Golden Bombers or turn on diseases that apply negative effects like bomb diarrhoea.
Until playing this collection I’d only ever played through the first two Super Bomberman games, and I didn’t know what I’d been missing. The third game adds Louie, who is basically Bomberman’s Yoshi that grants an extra hit and additional powers based on the colour of fur. Super Bomberman 4 goes harder on these mounts by adding mechanical options, which means more variety in all play modes. My favourite of all though was Super Bomberman 5, which features a branching adventure where you choose your path and see different stages on each playthrough. It also has foes from across the entire series to fight, which makes it a particularly nostalgic mashup for a long time Bomberboy like me.
The Super Bomberman Collection is something I didn’t know I needed, but I had a blast playing through these childhood classics. I will say that not all the games are created equal, and Super Bomberman 3 especially has a particularly dull campaign with less creativity than the other titles. The NES games while a nice inclusion are also just not fun to play, and most will probably only spend five minutes with them until they go back to a better 16-bit option.
I was not prepared to enjoy the Super Bomberman Collection as much as I did, but these games are great with or without nostalgia pushing you to play them. The collection features all the bells and whistles you’d want from a bundle of SNES titles too, and whether you’re bombing solo or exploding your buddies you’ll have a fantastic time reliving the boom period of the nineties.
