The first Super Bomberman is a historically significant iteration of this 40+ year old franchise for more reasons than one: it was the first true 16-bit Bomberman game made (technically there were NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 games in the franchise before it, but that was an 8-bit console with a 16-bit graphic processor), it was the third game on the Nintendo 16-bit developed by Produce after Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima/Super Adventure Island and Elnard/The 7th Saga (which in Japan only preceded this game by five days) as well as the first Bomberman game developed by that firm (who would contribute for the series again for the second and fourth Super iterations as well as Neo Bomberman on the Neo Geo), it was the first Nintendo 16-bit title with multitap support, but most important of all it was the first game in the franchise to be released in Europe with the “Bomberman” moniker left intact!

When the original MSX title came out in 1983, there was an unfortunate series of events known as “The Troubles” occurring in Europe (or, specifically, in Ireland), so for the PAL audience (to avoid getting in trouble for having a title that sounded like it was associated with and/or promoting said events) Hudson Soft renamed that incarnation in particular as Eric and the Floaters but for the subsequent games (Bomberman II and Bomber Boy/Atomic Punk and Bomber Man World/Atomic Punk 2) they got renamed Dynablaster for that continent. Releasing Super Bomberman, with the title as is, could potentially have been a big risk for Hudson Soft (as said troubles were technically still not over back in 1993) and *yet* it doesn’t appear that anyone really had that much of an issue with the title choice and the name “Bomberman” started being embraced worldwide from then on

Super Bomberman (produced by Eiji Aoyama and Masaki Kobayashi, the former of whom also produced Inter State and Kaneko’s Star Parodier as well as Shimada Kikaku’s SNES licensed platforming adaptation of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West among other titles, and the latter of whom also produced Red Company’s Chō Makai Taisen! Dorabocchan/The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang, NICE!!!) I found to be very a strong first entry by Produce for this franchise, it’s got a vibrantly colorful and solid visual aesthetic going for it, I like the designs for White Bomber and Black Bomber who both look endearing and animate solidly (and I like their determined eyes whenever they punch the bomb ahead), it’s got an interesting enemy roster (like the floppy-eared bunny type creatures, spinning coins, evil bombs with minds of their own, occasional flamethrowing tanks, the bulls, chameleon heads that morphed its appearance to that of either of the playable Bombermen, the large lance-wielding knights, et al), the boss designs look incredible (though in the case of the clown boss it is so creepy to look at, though I really like the arachnid-like design of the first phase of the final boss), and it’s got typically excellent music by Jun Chikuma (who gave Bomberman his signature theme for the 1985 Nintendo 8-bit game, would largely be the go-to composer of the franchise until 2001, and would also compose music for other titles such as Birthday’s Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorer and Hudson Soft’s DoReMi Fantasy) and for this iteration Tomoyuki Hamada (I like the piano-styled rendition of the Bomberman theme in the first world, the third world theme is affably relaxing, the fourth world is a real head-bopper, I must reiterate my affinity for the piano usage in this game, and that boss theme sounds so epic and catchy), for the most part the sound effects are well-chosen (the audibly “squatchy” sound effects for each step made can be a bit much sometimes, I must admit), and the gameplay is quite good

What caught me by surprise was how incredibly approachable this game can be (I don’t consider myself a fan of Bomberman franchise, but I’ve played enough games in the franchise to appreciate and like these games for the fun they bring… most, anyway) compared to the other games in the franchise. Usually in a Bomberman game losing a life will result in starting the present area from the start with a newly set up maze layout… not here, though, for not only is the maze layout the same as before you’ve lost a life but you respawn with a reasonable amount of invincibility time. I don’t mind this, honestly, I’m sure there were a handful accustomed to the series’ formula who did, but I felt that this added an accessibility value for the casual category of gamers or for those who don’t frequent this franchise often (truth be told, the first Super Bomberman might be the most accessible of the seven Nintendo 16-bit games that Produce developed, in my opinion). I also love the idea of single player mode where the playable Bomberman was different depending on which controller slot you played with, White (first slot) or Black (second slot), though the inclusion of a cooperative two-player on normal game is a nice addition too. It’s not a very long game compared to what would follow, but for the time it lasts I genuinely found this Super Bomberman in particular to be very fun and enjoyable! =D

It’s a different flavor of Bomberman than what came before or after, but that’s not a bad thing in my opinion, the core gameplay still works and there’s an agreeable degree of challenge that slowly ramps itself up as you go along (even if some of the bosses require 10+ bomb blasts to take out, it sounds extraneous but they’re not impossible fortunately), and would be annually followed up by a Super sequel for the next four years (on the subject of, I recently caught up with Super Bomberman 4 and 5 as well for I ended up finding the former to be a good Nintendo 16-bit swansong for Produce, in my opinion)… oh, and Konami’s Super Bomberman R games eventually

If it wasn’t for Saturn Bomberman, I would’ve said this game was my favorite of the traditional of the Bomberman franchise, and I’ve only been acquainted with them for over half a year now as I write this; I had quite a positive first impression of the first Super Bomberman that I found it to be among the stronger of the Produce efforts on the Nintendo 16-bit console (maybe *the* strongest? But don’t hold me to that just yet, I’ve yet to play through Super Bomberman 2 and Mystic Ark as I write this)! Basically, I like this game, I’m glad I caught up with it eventually! =D
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To each their own
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