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