Developer: Hudson Soft Publisher: Hudson Soft Release: 02/93 Genre: Action
I was not a fan of the first Bomberman. It was novel at the time and pretty cool but was plodding and repetitive and not able to hold my attention for long. But I became a fan of the series with its later 16-bit installments. While the single player was not the focus they were at least able to inject the campaigns with enough variety to make them interesting and fun. Multiplayer was still the focus however. Until then the games took baby steps to become what they are. Bomberman II is very much an iterative sequel that improves on its predecessor but somehow still feels dated.
Bomberman II has a story even if it is slight. Black Bomberman is on the loose and causing trouble, this time robbing a bank. While making his escape White Bomberman appears and is mistaken for the culprit. Not wanting to spend his life in jail he blows his way out of prison and chases his rival around the world to clear his name. There are brief (and I do mean brief) cutscenes introducing new areas showing that you are hot on Black Bomberman’s tail. But that is all you get. There is no climactic final battle to wrap up the story, just a goofy cutscene that does not resolve anything. We do not play Bomberman for the story though so I digress.
The first thing you will notice is the better presentation. The original Bomberman received a nice visual overhaul on the Turbo Grafx and some of that has been brought back to the NES sequel. The sprites are more detailed and expressive but most importantly there are a large variety of environments to blow up. This was my biggest issue with the first game; every level was the exact same grassy backdrop with grey bricks shuffled around. Each of the six areas takes place in a new environment and with eight levels per area it changes before they wear out their welcome. It sounds simple but it goes a long way toward holding your attention over the long haul.
Mechanically not much has changed. All of the previous power-ups return allowing you to increase the number of bombs you can drop simultaneously, increase the blast radius, remote bomb and walk through walls. The only addition is two versions of the fireproof suit, one that lasts 30 seconds and pushes you away and a 15 second version that makes you completely immune to your own blasts. The game is incredibly stingy with power-ups; I did not find my first item until close to the second area. This means you spend an agonizing amount of time slowly clearing obstacles until you get lucky. It only gets a little bit better later on. Once you find a few power-ups do everything in your power to hold on to them.
Despite the changes in venue the campaign in Bomberman II is still stale. The pace is slow, plodding and lacking in excitement. The level design is repetitive as it is clear they are simply reshuffling the destructible blocks. The maps alternate between single screen hijinks and scrolling warzones but it does nothing to make the game fun. In fact the scrolling maps make it worse; it is tedious to slowly bomb your way to the few enemies that populate each level. Speaking of enemies the variety is very low and it gets old killing the same few monsters ad nauseum. The occasional boss battle would have gone a long way toward spicing things up at least. Instead you blast through 48 repetitive levels for an anticlimactic conclusion. To be fair the story mode is something Hudson would struggle with for a while. But it makes this one no less disappointing.
This time around the game has a multiplayer mode for up to three players. You will not find a robust set of options to vary up the gameplay as it is incredibly basic. Playing against another player is a unique challenge of course but it grows old fast without unique gameplay elements. Sadly I never got to try the three player mode as it requires the four score but I cannot imagine it would be any different. They get points for trying though.
In Closing
Bomberman II is decent for what it is. The single player campaign is better but only slightly. The addition of multiplayer is cool but the slow pace means it is a novelty at best. A sequel this iterative feels like something that should have come out in 1988 or 1989, not 1993 when the system is on its last legs. Bomberman II is respectable but not something I can see myself ever revisiting.
