Collection essentials #321: Saturn Bomberman Fight!! (Saturn)

Previously I covered Saturn Bomberman, now here’s Saturn Bomberman Fight!! This is a tragic example of a game that is way more obscure than it should be, a unique and great entry in a popular series that got stuck in Japan on a console that a lot of people never touched. 

Many Bomberman games feel very similar to each other, for better or worse. SBF takes the concept of Bomberman and changes a lot of how gameplay works while still keeping it an unmistakably “Bomberman” experience. For starters, the game is in full 3D this time. The action takes place from an isometric perspective, and you no longer move around the field as if it were a grid of squares. The maps, like the one in the photo, sometimes resemble maps from normal Bomberman games, but they don’t play out the same. This time Bomberman and friends can jump, and the protrusions that come out of the ground are no longer impassable because of it. You have an actual health bar this time instead of dying to one hit by default. Power-ups still exist, but players aren’t as dependent on them so the action is quicker to get going. There’s a meter that charges up which allows you to unleash a gigantic bomb once full. The different characters actually have different gameplay attributes this time. It adds up to a really fun multiplayer experience!

Of course, there’s one major drawback this game has in comparison to “regular” Saturn Bomberman. And that is, you can only have up to four players in a match for this one, as opposed to ten. 

I haven’t played a whole lot of SBF, in part because I’m waiting for an English translation patch to be done so I can enjoy the story mode more fully. In hindsight, while I have played it with friends before, I feel that over the years I’ve owned it I have often forgotten to consider it as a multiplayer option. I want to play it again next time I have a small friend group over! 

It’s a real shame that this game has never been released outside Japan or on any other consoles, and it’s also a little odd to me that no future Bomberman games (that I know of at least) went for this gameplay style again. It’s a real buried treasure in the Saturn library, and a very worthy collection essential.