Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!

"Wario! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with Bombermen?"

What a crossover. It seems that meddling with his pure-hearted cousin, Mario, just isn't enough for the greedy, narcissistic Wario; hungry to invade yet more games that he doesn't rightly belong in, 1994 saw him enter the explosive realm of Bomberman. Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman should really be called "Bomberman on Game Boy: Featuring Wario", since for all intents and purposes, this is just a plain-old portable Bomberman game with Wario's unsightly mug slapped on the front.

Running around a maze formed by a random deposition of explodable blocks is how it works here. Playing as the chubby Wario, you have to eliminate the one, two and then three Bombermen in each level through strategic positioning of timed bombs about the place. Destroying blocks not only gives you a route to your opponents, but they occasionally yield power-ups to increase the number of bombs you can set at one time or extend the blast radius of your explosions. Of course, your rivals can also make use of these power-ups to gain the upper hand if you're not fast enough to grab them before they do. Later on, Wario will be able to kick bombs around, trounce enemies into a vulnerable state of dizziness, or jump over walls with his two-wheeler to escape otherwise suicidal scenarios.

When Wario blasts, Wario Blast really is a blast.

There are also a range of environmental hazards to look out for, though, so it's not just the Bombermen that'll be causing some grief for Wario. Icy roads make for a lot of slipping and sliding along with ice blocks that regenerate with time; warp portals aid in helping you to locate the enemy in record time, but it can be worrisome to arrive at the other end only to find a nice, big-fat bomb pulsing vigorously, ready to explode at any given moment; one level decides that short fuses are the only way and as such, bombs will give way within seconds of being placed. The variety will really keep you on your toes.

But only you. No-one else may join in on the fun. What is most shocking about this Bomberman game (other than it's Wario versus the Bomberman OR Bomberman versus the Warios *shudders*) is the lack of multiplayer options. Sure, it may have been quite difficult and unwieldy to connect for a game back in those days (link cables and/or a Super Game Boy device link to the Super NES was needed), but that's no excuse for a lazy multiplayer mode that disappointingly omits the full level diversity and range of power-ups present in the solo adventure. Co-op would've been nice too.

Left in solitary confinement, Wario Blast is decent Bomberman derivative. Its fast-paced, bomb-ridden mayhem is backed by some suitably energetic beats. Interspersed between the many last-man-standing bouts, there are inventive boss fights to challenge your bomb-lining skills outside the usual mind-set of trouncing, set, go. (Trouncing your opponents is incredibly broken.) For a monochrome Game Boy title dating back to the days of Mariah Carey's rise to fame, the sprites look pretty spiffy and are generally well-defined. And at heart, this is a Bomberman game, and as we all know, the mouthless robot is always a winner. (Well, not in recent times - he positively sucked on the N64 and the realistic Xbox 360 incarnation was truly abysmal.) Wario may have his ugly mug plastered onto here, but this is still an excellent, bomb-arific free-for-all. It just needed a bit more cowbell.

VERDICT – 7.5/10 Mr. Bombastic, semi-fantastic...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/07

Game Release: Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (EU, 1994)