8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
The ultimate party game
Date of Review: Sep 22, 2001
The Bottom Line: If you like computer games, you'll love Bomberman, and this is the best version out there.
Saturn Bomberman was the reason I bought a Saturn. So much so that I waited until I had a copy of the game in my hands before I went out and bought my Saturn. I'm a big fan of the Bomberman series of games. As such, this review could be a little bias.
For those gamers that have been living under a rock for about 12 years, Bomberman is a little Japanese game where you control a small sprite in a grid/maze of blocks. You lay bombs. Five seconds later they go off. You don't want to be caught in the blast. Some blocks can be destroyed, to reveal power-ups. The single player game has enemies to nuke, but the multiplayer game is where the game shines. The first version I ever played supported 5 players at once. The first and second SNES versions only support 4. Even the Playstation version only supports 5. Saturn Bomberman supports 10 players at once in the one arena. It can do this because the Saturn multitap (multiple controller adapter) supports 6 controllers, and you can plug one into each controller port.
This makes Saturn Bomberman the ultimate party game.
The learning curve is small, and chaos reigns more than strategy. Newbies can easily win games and even matches.
There is a huge depth to the game, with themed arenas, dozens of different power-ups (some of which can be a negative experience), 12 different characters to choose from, Anime-style cut-scenes with a storyline that goes through the whole game. But basically all you need to know is that you and nine of your friends can bomb the heck out of each other in a mad arena that quickly fills with flame and power-ups. Once you've been hit you don't have to sit around doing nothing -- one option lets players that have been knocked out circle 'round the outside of the arena lobbing more ordinance into the melee.
Under some circumstances you're even visited by a huge Godzilla-like monster that burns up the arena with lasers that shoot from its mouth. What more do you need?
This game is often quoted as one of THE ones to have if you own a Saturn. In auction, expect it to fetch as much as 3 or 4 times that of a typical Saturn title. Once you do get it, controllers can be found at local second hand gaming shops and pawnbrokers and multitaps can be bought from www.lik-sang.com.
Then all you need is 9 friends.
