Bomberman Online

Bomberman online was a game I sought after for quite sometime, and I must say it didn’t disappoint.

I remember the golden days of the Super NES when Super Bomberman 2 came out and for weeks, months even, no one could put it down. My friends and I would still play it today on occasion, that is, until I found Bomberman Online! The Bomberman games for the N64, although they brought us the first taste of Bomberman in 3D, broke away from Hudson’s roots too much, and the explosions were circular, and the whole thing was less appealing to people whose history was rife with the old Bomberman game play.

Bomberman Online brings it back. In fact, in many regards, the game feels like a Super Bomberman 2 redux. The characters are 3D, though cell shaded, and the levels are 3D, with a stationary overhead camera angle, much like the older games.

It has all the old modes, with survival, team survival, and a few new ones, like Submarine, which adds flavour to the franchise without taking away any of the fun. In Submarine you and a friend are on one side of a divided map on top of water, and wherever you drop your bomb, it will surface on the opponent’s side. It’s a great addition and a lot of fun. There is also a paint mode, and a sumo mode that can also be a lot of fun.

The story mode simply involves you playing these matches against CPU controlled opponents for medals, and fighting bosses. It’s good practice for fighting your friends, and I prefer it to the story modes in the older Bomberman games since it was really for the multiplayer that we played the game in the first place anyways.

In the story, by completing specific tasks, you acquire pieces of different Bomberman costumes that you can then arrange and design you favourite looking Bomberman, but since the game is no longer online, the design cant be used anywhere, but it’s still kind of fun.

While on the matter of the game not being online anymore, there were 2 things that were added to the game play in order to compensate for 56K modem lag, the bombs take a bit longer to explode than normal, although it’s really only noticeable for your first bomb drop, after that thing get more exciting, and you stop taking notice. Also when you pick up a power-up, such as glove, or kick, or something, there’s a moment before it goes to you, and the computer says "judge!" when you finally get it. It was obviously designed in case numerous people walk over the same power-up before the lag give it so someone, but since it can only be played in off-line mode now, it’s just a bit of an annoyance that you can’t use the power-up as soon as you walk over it.

All in all, it’s a bold statement, and one I might catch a little fire over, but Bomberman Online is my favourite Bomberman game. Sometimes you can still get lucky and find a copy at an Electronics Boutique, and I’d encourage you to pick up the discounted game for you favourite defunct console.