
A series that's been around since 1983. It was reasonably popular in the 80's for its simple yet addictive maze games, but would explode (pun not intended) in the early 90s when the iconic multiplayer modes would make their debut. Bomberman is a series that was synonymous with multiplayer gaming for decades. The character himself essentially became the mascot of Hudson Soft after Bonk failed to catch on and has continued to have an entry on almost every single major and minor console from the NES all the way up to the Xbox 360 and arguably the 3DS before Konami shut down Hudson Soft. The series has made a comeback in recent years.
Since this is a franchise that spans 4 decades with titles on almost every console in that timespan, it can be intimidating to get into the series. That being said, here's a few personal recommendations from me to try if you're curious about the series (note that all of these are on older consoles as Konami has made no recent effort to make them available on modern hardware).
- Bomberman 94 (TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine) - This is the game where the series formula really took shape. It also introduces the Louies (those cute kangaroo things you sometimes see him riding)
- the Super Bomberman series (SNES) - The games i see most people bringing up when they mention classic Bomberman games in the classic style. There are 5 entires with 2 and 5 especially being considered excellent titles.
- Saturn Bomberman (Sega Saturn) - The one that most fans still consider the best one. Has a great single player mode with co-op as well as one of the most fleshed out and varied battle modes in the franchise with support for up to 10 players.
- Bomberman 64 (N64) - An interesting experiment in translating the series to 3D. The game's single player seemingly embraces the weird jank of early 3D gaming and focuses its puzzles around exploiting said jank. The multiplayer is also unique for the series having open areas or stages with more focus on verticality.
- Bomberman Tournament (Game Boy Advance) - The standard multiplayer, but also with a story mode heavily based on Legend of Zelda.
- Bomberman Generation (Gamecube) - Possibly the best of the 3D style games. Theres a couple annoying quirks here and there but the game and level design is all really solid. Plus it has some of the best multiplayer modes in the series like Dodge Battle.
Another thing to check out is Power Bomberman, a fan game heavily based on Super Bomberman 5 and Saturn Bomberman that has been actively worked on for over a decade with dedicated online servers and options to create custom ones, as well as having countless stages, items, and even characters from the franchise. Its honestly the best way to play the series online as of me making this post. You can download it here.
Feel free to post here to discuss the game or even try to play together.