Bomberman ’93 (TurboGrafx-16) Review
Bomberman 93 is a barrel of fun, as long as there isnt a fuse attached to this barrel. Released on the TurboGrafx, this game never saw Aussie shores and doesn’t quite equal up to the brilliance of the Super Bomberman titles but this game remains true to the concept of Bomberman, blowing all virtual console competition aside.
There are 2 modes of play. Normal Play has you going through a series of worlds broken up into even more levels of blowing up rocks, enemies and finding warp portals. The enemies vary from moving rocks to green blobs and ghosts that can pass any and all objects, unless the ill desirable bomb ignites in their face. As the player, you must plant bombs around the level, searching for the warp portals while blasting bad guys to smithereens. Doing this is essential to progress and actually proves quite fun after you obtain a few upgrades that give you more control over your arsenal.
Battle Play is the core essence of Bomberman in my journalistic opinion, which is as sound as say, a writer for the Herald Sun. You and four other friends (yep, 5 in total, havent tried this out myself as of yet so it beats me how you actually do this) start with nothing but one bomb and stuck in the corner of the level. When the timer starts counting down it’s mayhem to see who can outwit and outplay their opponents first. As basic as this sounds, it’s a hell of a lot of fun and lives up to even today’s standards of games that have become so complex you need a PHD in Gaming to be able to master them. Bomberman can be as unfriendly to hardcore gamers as Wii Sports is to die hard Nintendo fanboys. In a matter of minutes your friends will level the playing field in this chaotic, yet extremely exhilarating mode.
The sound and graphics are steps ahead of the NES but not quite as well as I remember Super Bomberman. Level design is almost as basic as it comes with little rock variants as well, a huge disappointment. There is only one explosion effect as well, which is just not good enough for a game that is centred around blowing things to smithereens. Okay, I wasnt completely serious there, but aside from being colourful eye candy, Bomberman 93 is miles away from being artistically beautiful. The tunes are memorable in all their midi greatness.
The only way to obtain Bomberman 93 is to exploit a certain, shall we say, over looked aspect of the Wii, so I definitely recommend getting this game while you still can. Its a brilliant way to pass the time, reminding us just why it is so much fun to play together.
