Overview

bomberman is a series about a silly little guy who places bombs. usually, each entry is like the original top-down puzzle game that most people are familiar with. story modes typically look like blasting your way through dungeons and beating a couple of bosses, but sometimes there are games with overworlds and explorable 3D worlds too. something important to understand about bomberman is that the games are disconnected from each other - there's no right or wrong place to start if there's basically zero continuity between games save for a small few exceptions.

What Does It Mean To Me?

growing up, i only had 3 bomberman games - generation, jetters, and tournament. i'm pretty sure i also had bomberman collection (the 2002/2003 CD ROM) as well, but i didn't touch it much. as a very young kid, i had a tough time completing video games, so i'd get stuck on bosses or have no idea where to go (in the case of tournament), but at that time i thought of them as just another couple of games in my collection. around middle school, i decided i'd see what the heck the 2002 jetters anime was about, and boy did that open a can of worms. since then, i've branched out a little by playing more of the games and doing additional research on the titles i haven't played. it's kinda weird though; it's both niche and not niche at the same time, isn't it? everyone *knows* bomberman, but it feels like not many truly appreciate bomberman.

cool ass photo i took

Bomberman Games

Bomberman Generation (GCN, 2002)

generation is probably my favorite bomberman game by a long shot (if you couldn't tell by the shrine button being the box art for generation). it has my favorite style of gameplay, being a 3d free-roaming type of game rather than the usual top-down puzzle style in most of the other games. i really wish they'd bring this type of game back, because the overworlds were really vibrant and the progression of it was just genuinely fun. the voice acting was (mostly) great, the characters were very fun, and the usage of leitmotifs throughout the worlds? dare i say camp. backtracking for 100% completion didn't feel so bad because the levels themselves were fun enough to justify going back to. the minigames are just alright though honestly. they exist i guess.

the plot begins by giving us some exposition about how professor ein's lab team were able to secure 6 bomb elements, which are mysterious crystals with great power. during transportation, the hige hige bandits attacked the ship, and the bomb elements were lost and scattered across planet tentacalls. white bomber's whole thing is getting 'em back and beating up the crush bombers, which are a group of bombermen within the hige hige bandits. the crush bombers are kind of really cool.

eagle bomber is of course one of my favorites. hes so stupid.

Bomberman Tournament (GBA, 2001)

if you like the top-down style of 2d zelda games, you'd probably like tournament. charaboms in this game are sometimes useless (being for one-time only events just for story progression) but the rest are alright.

ironically, the story is not actually about a tournament. it's about the five dastardly bombers crashing onto planet phantarion and also a weird fortress shows up which is slowly causing the world to freeze. professor ein calls max to figure things out, but he gets his ass handed to him and gets captured - leaving you, white bomber, to put an end to it once and for all.

Misc Media

sometimes there are just some things i'm less passionate about but want to share my thoughts on.

Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden (TV Anime, 1998)

more of a footnote than anything - i haven't watched the series in full, but i might actually get around to it at some point! the first episode of it was kind of crazy but like.. crazy in a good way. i love whenever theres something with silly looking mascots that sets up some absolutely bonkers lore. like what do you mean white bombers dad sentences him to death for going against (checks notes) his evil plot to take over the entire solar system. thats cool i guess. also the theme song kinda slaps unfortunately.

Bomberman 64 (Nintendo 64, 1997)

i haven't played this game in full, but i think it's both really cool but also a bit challenging? i think maybe i'm just a bit too stupid for some of the later levels. i'd love to play both 64 games fully some time. aside from that, i'd just like to take some time to praise the lower-poly environments of this game - they really are a certain type of beautiful i think. or maybe i'm just a sucker for N64-era graphics.

Super Bomberman R (PC/Console, 2017)

(peter griffin voice) I Did Not Care For Bomberman R. sorta. i actually really love the colorful round-yet-edgy art style they used, it really feels like something straight from puyo pop fever. i think it's really nice that they took the time to distinguish each color of bomberman by giving them different personalities and subtle design tweaks. ironically though, the characters themselves are somewhat... boring. a little too one-dimensional if you ask me, but i get that it's not meant to be super deep or anything. the buggler redesign/overall vibe shift sorta bothers me, but in a way its sorta cool. anyways best character is magnet bomber & one time i had a dream where we were friends

Jetters Canon

when i say things like "jetters lore", it's all tied to this section here. all media related to jetters is supposed to carry some continuity with the characters/setting *separate* from the rest of the games (though i'm aware that there isn't much continuity between most bomberman games)

Bomberman Jetters (TV Anime, 2002)

the 52-episode bomberman jetters anime follows a pretty simple premise at first: there's an organization known as the jetters who stop the hige hige bandits from stealing the unique objects of the universe. this makes the anime mostly episodic in nature, but they actually build up an overarching story throughout the series which interrupts the usual flow of events. i genuinely believe that, if you're fine with watching a children's show, you should give bomberman jetters a shot. it might have slightly annoying "this anime was clearly meant for kids" moments, but honestly i think the story is a wonderful heartfelt piece about growing up and the trauma of grief. you wouldn't expect angst in a bomberman anime, but it's there. i don't want to give an entire plot summary, but i'll at least describe the setup as to hopefully encourage whoever may read this...

the leader of the jetters, mighty, goes missing shortly after an incident involving the hige hige bandits. his younger brother, white bomber (shirobon) ends up joining the jetters. no one knows of his whereabouts, but suddenly a rogue space thief shows up - and his fighting style seems oddly familiar. this guy, max, quickly ascends the ranks of the HHBs, but not without some internal conflict. he might be good at his job, but he's also stealing the work of the commander of the bandits, mujoe, which leads to him trying to constantly win over the leader's favor lest he gets laid off. the lead scientist of the bandits, mechadoc, invents a machine that creates special combined bombermen, which eventually leads into a 12-episode arc where a certain 4 elemental bombers are created to try to take down the jetters. i bring this arc up specifically because i consider those 4 bombers (known collectively as bomber shitennou) to play a major part in furthering the conflict between max and the hige hige bandits. meanwhile the jetters are still trying to figure out what the hell is up with max, and shirobon is convinced that max is actually his missing brother. is mighty even alive at this point? how does max know all of mighty's techniques? you've just gotta watch it to find out.. hohoho...

go check out @whataboutfractions for more gifs and other jetters content

Bomberman Jetters (GCN/PS2, 2002)

i have some nuanced opinions about this game. disclaimer: i played the game in the localized english version, so some things i say about this game might not be true for the original release. really i have no idea what the hell i'm talking about. the gameplay itself? its fine, genuinely! it's a teeny step down from generation, but it still maintains the whole 3d exploration thing with the collectables and charabom system overall. i still actually like to replay it from time to time, it's just the story that i take issue with, because they just scrap the entire anime. the only thing this game has in common with the anime is the setting and characters. i might be able to partially forgive it given the fact that when this game released there were only 12 episodes of the anime out, but even in those 12 episodes they still establish quite a few things including the setup for the overarching plot. i'd actually love to know about the development process of the jetters project as a whole - did they plan *everything* out, or did they just kinda make stuff up as they went along? anyways..

the story goes as follows: mujoe and his co-conspirator, mechadoc, build a giant artificial planet so they can crash it into planet bomber. the jetters catch wind of this plan, and white bomber is sent to destroy all of the engines and its headquarters before it crashes (Ignoring the fact that this very much defies the laws of physics). what's more is that for some reason max joins up with you, saying something like "they went too far", which uh... is literally the opposite of his characterization in the anime. they change basically everyone in the game - bongo's only gimmick is "I Can Smell [insert charabom here]", shout barely gives you any room to breathe (partially the fault of the voice acting, maybe, but i don't want to sound rude), gangu is only there for bomb fusion, and birdy only tells you about bomb advantages followed by a very stiff "Be CAREful >:(". obviously you can't have any of the intricate nuances of anime storytelling, it was just rather jarring seeing how different things were. the story was a little bit awkward, but probably fine as a standalone game.

Bomberman Jetters: Densetsu no Bomberman (GBA, 2002)

if you liked bomberman tournament, i'll go ahead and say that you should absolutely play this game. the overall mechanics and exploration are basically entirely the same with maybe some slight differences. this game is actually very compliant to the jetters lore, as it primarily takes place during mighty's last mission outside of the opening/ending cinematics. the story is about mighty chasing after the hige hige bandits, who are trying to steal a beam cannon for their own evil purposes of course.

guys look at the hige hige bandits

i want to squeeze them so bad