Collection essentials #255 & #256: Super Bomberman 4 (SNES) & Super Multitap (SNES)

This is the first game from Hudson’s popular Bomberman series to make my list. Bomberman originated on the NES with two titles on that console, and it’s one of those series that saw many, many releases over a huge variety of platforms in the couple decades after its debut. 

What kind of game is Bomberman? I guess you’d call it an action game, but there isn’t an easy comparison among well-known releases. You control your character (usually Bomberman) from an overhead view, and you move around a grid-like area with the ability to place bombs. A bomb will sit there for a few seconds, serving as an obstruction in its pathway, and then it will explode, and the flames will extend in the four cardinal directions, dealing damage to whatever they touch, including Bomberman himself! So you have to be careful about placing your bombs. You almost always have to place bombs to carve a pathway to proceed through the level. It’s pretty clear what’s destructible and what’s not. And when you blow stuff up, oftentimes there will be temporary power-ups, which will do things like let you move faster, let you place more bombs at a time, make flames from your explosions travel further, let you kick or throw bombs, and more. 

Single-player modes in Bomberman usually aren’t too exciting. But these make for excellent multiplayer games! That’s why most people, including me, play them. You ideally want a party of four or more people for an ideal Bomberman fest. And a good Bomberman game like this one will have a variety of stages to pick from, which may have various gimmicks to spice up the gameplay. The SNES natively only has two controller slots, and that’s where the other essential here comes in. The Super Multitap lets you connect up to a total of five controllers to the console at one time. They can be used for certain other games aside from Bomberman, but blowing up groups of friends is the #1 reason why I have to have it.

I want to note that there are FIVE Super Bomberman games on the SNES. And I actually own all five of them! The first two were released worldwide. The third one came out in Japan and Europe, but oddly not America. And then 4 and 5 were reserved for Japan only. I’m not totally sure that 4 is the actual best one of the bunch, but it’s the one I have the most play experience with, and therefore the one that makes the list. Sadly I didn’t have any of these five games earlier in life and haven’t had much time with them other than 4. 

At this point in gaming history, there hadn’t yet been very many “party” games that allowed for more than two players, but Bomberman was a wonderful exception that proved just how great group gaming sessions could be. Bomberman, in at least some form out of the very many out there, deserves to be on any retro gaming essentials list.