Year released: 1997 (SEGA Saturn)

Number of Players: 1-10 simultaneously

You've got classic Bomberman. You've got so many powerups you can't keep 'em straight. You've got evolving dinosaurs with some pretty key powers. You've got a co-op story mode. You've got Saturn Bomberman.

Graphics: Pretty standard for 2D graphics after 1994--well shaded, colorful, distinct. Sometimes the bosses don't quite connect with their sprites, though, which is because a game is taking on a 3D concept with 2D sprites. More in gameplay.

Play control: I've never had a sprite overload, and I'm in the last level. Everything comes naturally, and you won't use any more than three buttons (at the very most) for the game. Unless you count the shoulder buttons, which are used for getting off dinos... but that really doesn't matter. You can't move past bombs, but you can walk over them right after you've laid them, so you'll need to come in steady-thumbed. (heh, that just sounds weird. )

Sound: Sound effects and music are top-notch... save for music composition. This music belongs in a lobby! The only tunes in the game I can really appreciate are in the Battle Mode battles (more later) and Master Mode masters (also more again later), but since most of your time will be spent in the lobby-music-filled Normal Mode (called story mode above).

Challenge: ...Eek. Normal Mode starts out freakishly easy, and just rides the game out that way until you reach level four (out of five levels). I wouldn't be surprised if someone beat Normal Mode in under a week, though. This game's real challenge lies in the Master Mode, which only gives you one life.

Gameplay: Normal Bomberman stuff--but for those of you who have never played a 2D Bomberman game (a party I was in before purchasing this game), here's how it goes: you lay bombs along a checkerboard of sorts. Blocks are arranged so that they are all one block away from each other. Picture a plus sign: in the empty spaces in the top right and left and bottom left and right corners are where blocks would be, and Bomberman would be able to pass through those lines in the middle between the blocks. There are also soft blocks which inhabit the spaces that Bomberman could, if he just blew them up. By blowing up soft blocks, you open paths and can uncover items and dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs
Each one has a different power:
-kick bombs two blocks away (over hard blocks, and if it lands on a block, it just keeps hopping until it lands on an empty square)
-jump over soft blocks (and evolve it with points to make it jump over hard, indestructable blocks)
-blow up bombs from a distance (usually by the time this power takes effect the bomb has already blown up)
-run (at first without stop and an abrupt stop at the end when you hit a wall--then you get to slow down a bit--then you get complete control; getting to that third level will take forever, though, because it takes forever to evolve one of these dinosaur creatures)
-scream at monsters (paralyze them for a few seconds, range gets bigger as dinosaur evolves)
Items
Items help you in moving bombs or increasing your blast radius/amount of bombs you can lay at once (Bomberman, at first, can only lay one bomb at a time). Some, however, increase speed, give Bomberman points or a life, and some even make him invincible or allow him to take one hit of damage without penalty. There are many more, but they mostly follow along these lines.
Bosses
Bosses take a lot of hits from bombs to go under, and each has individual tactics. Bosses can be pretty easy, but you also have to guess whether or not Bomberman is in a place that would be considered occupied by the boss. This area is also the area that a bomb's blast radius must reach if you want to hit the boss. The fancier the sprites get, the harder it is to tell just where you can hit the boss... But after a few battles, you'll get it down.
Normal Mode
Play alone or with a friend and blow up pretty dumb enemies to get to the posts. In each stage, there are a set amount of posts to blow up, and after blowing them up, the exit appears. These stages would be impossible if the enemies didn't have next-to-no intelligence, because at all times (and this goes for all modes), the player needs to keep track of their bomb(s) and their blast radius, enemies, and if applicable, other players. This may not sounds like much, but it is. Most bosses have some pretty nasty tactics, but as long as your bombs have really long blast radius, you can beat them in no time.
Battle Mode
Multi-player mode. This is the same as Normal Mode without bosses or enemies. Up to ten players, and as many of those players as you want can be computers.
Master Mode
In this mode, Bomberman faces off in stages akin to the Normal Mode, except they're smaller. He also gets points for how fast he clears a stage and cannot have anyone else participate. The real catch is that he only has one life. This mode might seem useless if not for the fact that your top ten scores are saved, unlike the other two modes.

Bottom line: Well, as I found out from playing this game, I'm not a very big fan of 2D Bomberman. This review had next-to-nothing opinion... so here it is: if you like other Bomberman games or games like Lolo from HAL (although Bomberman is definetely more action-based than Lolo), Bomberman is definetely something you want to go after. I'd have injected an air of dissappointment into this review if it weren't for all of the different items and dinosaurs you can get; all these extras just make the game fun. I guess it's comparable to someone liking Super Mario Bros. 3 mainly because of all the colorful suits it offers. If you have a SEGA Saturn, try Saturn Bomberman out. I got my copy at SEGA-Parts.com.

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