Raizing, who largely worked on arcade shoot’em ups from the company’s conception during the ’90s with the Mahō Daisakusen trilogy (having worked on Sorcer Striker and Kingdom Grand Prix before developing this game with the third game Dimahoo debuting in the year 2000) and Battle Garegga for example before they eventually merged with and became one with Eighting (who previously was Raizing’s publisher with certain arcade titles), I personally feel did a good job developing this game.

Though the gameplay is simple it can be fairly addicting to play especially when things get very intense (particularly when Dokuro mode is enabled in the options during boss fights which would either help you, like blocks or bombs vanishing, or hinder you depending on what it is, like with briefly reversable controls or Bomberman bubbles obscuring your view), I love that this 16-bit edition in particular takes place in a facsimile of a world like our own with real countries (e.g. Jamaica, USA, Kenya), I love how a good chunk of this game’s normal enemies have made appearances from the older installments (a few having been around since the prior decade while some made their debut with the NEC Bomberman games) as well as the different expressions they show depending on whether they’ve got the edge over you or if they themselves start to become overwhelmed, I felt it had a high level of charm, and I love how the visual of the playing field you maneuvered and positioned your blocks and/or bombs cycled over time (e.g. Shiro Bom drinking from a coconut and swimming with the dolphin, my favorite, in Jamaica, drinking tea in fancy attire with a mustached and dressed in a scientist’s white robe while Nessie is viewed in the background in England, dressed as Lady Liberty and playing basketball in USA, wearing a black and white striped shirt next to a zebra and wearing safari getup in front of a mountain in Kenya, and flying a kite on a string in Japan, et al).

The boss characters this time around are endearingly designed with a high level of distinction on which country they hail from: I like how laidback and carefree Raster Bomber is as he shakes his maracas, Metal Bomber makes his affinity to death metal well-known with his yellow mohawk and leather, Bom Gunman has got a cool Western attire, and then there’s the feral Animal Bomber whom I found to be very likably designed (even after having regained consciousness after having defeated him) especially with his green and yellow color combo.

I like too that in later difficulty settings there are a couple secret opponents to deal with, whom you know will make an appearance once you see a brief red flash followed by abrupt change in music, in Pretty Bomber (who is under the impression she was the sole survivor of the Five Dastardly Bombers in Super Bomberman 2, when as we all know with Super Bomberman 3 which would come out almost two months later that that is not the case for the other four are still alive) and Shadow Bomber (who turns out to be Kuro Bom in disguise, perhaps after having been sidelined in Super Bomberman 2’s story mode and not being offered to go on vacation with Shiro Bom in this game he did not appreciate that and so he took it out against him… which must sting after having teamed up together in Super Bomberman’s story mode to go after and thwart Carat Diamond’s nefarious scheme). It’s also neat because there are different endings (a first for the series) depending on whether you defeated both of them or not, thank goodness for unlimited continues sometimes the difficulty can really ramp up at unexpected times.

Super Bomberman: Panic Bomber World is also among the first installments in the franchise to have voice acting which adds even more character to the proceedings than it has already, and this game’s music by Jun Chikuma (with Kenichi Koyano and Hitoshi Sakimoto this time around) is absolutely fantastic. I like the Jamaica, England, and USA themes with the proper Bomberman touch, I enjoy that each World Bomber has their own theme (like the bouncy music for Raster Bomber, heavy death metal for Rocker Bomber, primordial drums and menacing melody for Animal Bomber, and when Karaoke Bomber challenges you while Enka music is playing in the background). One theme that impressed me was Bagulor’s theme as it is highly orchestral in terms of its intensity which I felt sounded outstanding with its sound quality. One of my personal favorite soundtracks from the series.

I caught up with this game a year after I caught up with the SFC Super Bomberman games and Saturn Bomberman (Japanese version), and I grew to enjoy this game quickly. I haven’t beaten Super Bomberman 5 yet so I’ve yet to reserve judgement for it (I’ve only really played that one a few times since I got it), but if I were to make a list of games based on how much I enjoyed the Super Bomberman games (and yes, I’ll include this one because it too has got “Super Bomberman” in the title even though it’s a puzzler) I’d place the first Super Bomberman at the top followed by Produce’s Super Bomberman 4 (Produce’s Nintendo 16-bit swansong is so good), this game, Super Bomberman 3 (which I have a soft spot for), with Produce’s Super Bomberman 2 at the bottom which I was genuinely disappointed by (I didn’t hate it but I honestly didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to, given the previous Super iteration set a high standard and precedent for the franchise, for I felt it did plenty of things that I disagreed with–ugggh, those last set of levels for instance–which impeded my overall enjoyment, and compared to its predecessor and even its 16-bit successors I cannot shake off the feeling that it comes off as the odd one out). In my opinion, this puzzler’s a blast to play!

Hope you’re doing good, Steve!
To each their own

Wild how nearly 35 years later and Griffey still astounds. Timeless classic!

I second everything you said about the game plus I’ll add some little nuggets on the ratings after 30 years playing and 27 recorded 162 game seasons for last 20 years (plus at least 10 seasons before keeping records).

1. For those who didn’t know, DEF rating is both arm and fielding speed. I observed this when putting fast and slow players with same fielding at same position and saw they had exact same range. Plus slow players with higher DEF ratings have way more range. This made me realize how snubbed guys like Bonds 6 DEF got. Lol. Can’t have his overall be as good as Griffey after all.

2. SPD is actually in 5 tiers, I’ve stop watch tested 90ft and 360ft times. Tiers are 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10. I like to call it tortoise/slow/avg/plus/elite. This includes Pat Kelly and Al Martin, they time the same (I double checked) so I don’t believe there is a “+” and “-” with ratings. Likely an illusion due to circumstantial experiences.

SPD time averages in seconds by tier: 1 and 2: 4.2/16.8, 3 and 4: 4.0/16.0, 5 and 6 (average speed): 3.8/15.2, 7 and 8: 3.6/14.4, 9 and 10: 3.4/13.6. As you see it makes a HUGE difference when multiple bags are involved, like scoring from 1st, single into double, double into triple etc. Plus speed can really pressure the defense, elite is just dominant.

3. I can’t test it but I suspect POW follows the same with tiers. The jump from 4 to 5, 6 to 7 and 8 to 9 is stark as I’m sure you noticed.

4. As far as I can tell, BAT contributes to the length of the bat (how far outside it reaches) and frequency of line drives. This might mean a bigger sweet spot but not sure. Doesn’t change much in production overall.

Another nugget to those who didn’t notice: the 9 hole in the AL has a slow speed bug. Put a plus runner there and they’re still slow. Maybe it’s because the NL pitchers have 3 spd and it’s coded the same? Pinch running doesn’t help the AL 9 hole runner either, unlike for NL pitchers. Don’t waste speedsters batting 9th in the AL!

Operation Logic Bomb is definitely a unique and fun little title in the vast ocean of SNES goodness. I don’t think anyone will ever rank it among the best of the very best, but every system needs unsung heroes like this one. Games in which you can easily lose yourself in over the course of a solid weekend or two. I too enjoy the strafing and unlimited ammo. IIRC, it does get pretty hard but is definitely the kind of methodical blaster that I could see myself revisiting every once in a long while.

Take care!

He got:

The yellow gem in the mine;

The bluish green one in the forest (or rather the worm)

The bright green one in the pyramid.

The orange one from the pirates;

The blue one from the mech on the island of ruins.

And Visconti got the purple one.

But that makes only six. Where did the red one come from?